Summary of the PIC meeting held October 6, 2009

Prepared by Karen A. Koedding, Nut Swamp School

District Update:  Karen Bilbao

Answers to Questions:

1.      Consolidation of Forms?  Power School System will provide major consolidation of forms.  There is a committee that is working on consolidating forms within the context of creating a central registration process.  The Power School System was rolled out on August 15^th.

2.       Wall between Kindergarten classrooms at Village?  The NJDOE asked for new information, which technically started the 90 day approval timeline over again.  However, Mr. Doering has been asking the DOE for consideration to approve sooner, and we are confident we will get the approval sooner than 90 more days. 

3.       Touch Down Club at MHSS?  Does, for the most part, support Football.

4.       Saturday, Oct. 3, PSAT practice offered by Kaplan.  Advertised in both high schools.  Karen Bilbao was not informed of the opportunity beforehand.

At South, there were announcements made and posters put up for the class.

At North, there were announcements made and flyers given out in English classes.

The next PSAT practice will be on February 6, 2010 and made available to all sophomores and juniors.  There will be much more advertisements for this one.

This lead to discussion of the Global Connect System which is going to enable the district to “phone blast” any particular groups of parents (ie. All sophomores in district, all juniors in district, etc…).  Until this is fully up and running, check the District website.

5.       Enrollment in Honors and AP classes?  Are the classes overcrowded? 

The average class size for honors and AP classes is 23-24 students. 

At South, the largest is junior Eng. 11 honors – 29 & 30 students

At North, the largest are sophomore Eng.10 honors – 27 students, and senior Eng.12 honors – 30 students.

To accommodate the ever growing need for these courses and in planning for increased enrollment, there will be sections added.

Five courses run 10 students or less and they are being evaluated for continuation.

 Superintendent Update

1.       Mr. Jim Stefankiewicz from Red Bank Regional High school has been named the new Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction.  He will help with the redesigning of the high school program.  The redesign will be very student-centered and will show the students how all of their courses are “connected” to each other.  Their schedules will become more individualized.

2.       Professional Learning Committees (PLC)

One session per month for the next 8 months for teachers; they share information and best practices.

3.       Drug and Alcohol Survey Results Presentation will be on Wednesday, October 14 at 7:30pm at MHSN Library.

4.       Watch “Your Town Your Schools” Daily 7am, 10am, 2:30pm and 10pm on Comcast Ch.20, and Verizon FIOS Ch. 26.

Kindergarten Initiative

Discussion of daily Kindergarten schedule (see handout)

Centers reinforce what they have learned through working with one another and independent work.

An example of this was demonstrated using “good literature to teach a lesson.”

Karen Bilbao read the book One by Catherine Utoshi.  The story combines many different disciplines that are taught in a fun and effective way for the kindergarteners.  After the kindergarten teacher reads this type of book aloud to the students, then the centers will reflect the themes and core curriculum standards  touched upon in the story.  This will be the theme for the week, or one unit.  One was a story about bullying, but in addition to that, it touched upon:  vocabulary, math/counting, art/colors, feelings/affective, science/temperature/ emotions, and health and physical education.

This lead to the next topic of discussion:

Specials being taught to the kindergarten classes are World language, computers, art, music, phys ed, and the new Special #6 – “It’s Ok to Be Different.”

Mary Pat Harrington, guest speaker, discussed this initiative.  (see handout)

This Special will have a simple message – everyone has things that are the same but we all have things that are different, therefore demystifying the things that are different.

The next 8 weeks of the program is the 5 Senses Unit.  Example:  The students cannot understand blindness unless they understand the sense of sight.

The next part of the program is the 5 Disabilities Unit.  Each disability is the subject of a story and the hero of the story has a particular disability.  The students will experience what it is like to have that certain disability.  There will be guest speakers invited in with the particular disability.

There is a committee evaluating how to bring this concept of acceptance, along with other areas of Affective Education, to the upper grades, but right now it is being offered to kindergarten only.

The objective is to coexist and learn empathy.

Anti-Bully Presentation – presented to all other grades

Presentation by Jay Banks – S.T.A.M.P. out Bullies:  deals with teaching students how to deal with bullies and is not just directed to the “bully.”

Parent presentation of program is October 15 at MHSN at 7pm

Update by Board of Education:  Dawn Diorio

The district is no longer in talks with the Township regarding a Turf Field at one of the district schools.

Update for Budget Ad Hoc Committee:

Next meeting is Thursday, October 22, but is a “members only” meeting, no admin, BoE

Update for VOICES:  Next meeting is Wednesday, October 7, at 10am at Whole Foods.

Great Race – extension of applications deadline to October 15.

Next MTBoE mtg, Wed Oct 14 Workshop, Wed Oct 21 main mtg, MHSN Library.

Next Meeting, Tue Dec 8, MHSS Library Conf room, 9:15am.

Presidents Council meeting will be combined with the next PIC meeting.