CMS Accountability CommitteeMeeting Minutes

Tuesday, October 3, 2017, 6:30-8:00 PM, Library

Welcome -- Julie Mazenko, Ami Baron (Accountability Co-Chairs): Call to order and minutes approval. Julie extended a welcome to those attending. A motion was made to approve the Accountability Meeting Minutes from September 5, 2017. Motion seconded, motion approved.

Principal’s Report – Greg Connellan:

This week is Red Ribbon week at Campus; the PTO has done a great job with Red Ribbon week preparations. The students are having fun with Red Ribbon Trivia. Mark Magee created lessons related to Red Ribbon week for use by teachers; this week the theme is healthy choices.

An assembly is scheduled for students on Thursday, October 5 called At the Table with Dr. King:

At the Table with Dr. King is a multifaceted, live performance that teaches students about the American Civil Rights movement and valuable lessons of equality and respect. Through music, poetry, historical video footage and Dr. King’s own words, At the Table also challenges students to engage in creative acts of service and leadership in their communities. This hour-long show is performed by professionals from More than Music and is designed for larger audiences/school assemblies.

The assembly will be one hour long and will be offered twice, at 9:10 a.m. and again at 10:30 a.m. If others have ideas on the theme of inclusivity/diversity please share them with administration.

Campus is fully staffed with teachers but is struggling to be fully staffed with paraprofessionals; this is a district-wide issue. It has been challenging to find and retain good people in this field. Campus also needs a crossing guard for Dayton/Belleview. This is a paid position. Currently, a Campus security guard is acting as crossing guard. If anyone knows of an individual who would be interested in this role please contact administration.

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Advisory Update (formerly ASPIRE) – Charlotte Meade (Assistant Principal/7th Gr Administrator)

Last fall a survey about ASPIRE was made available to staff; the survey asked what staff felt was going well, and what needed improvement. A committee was formed to address the survey results. The committee had good turn out and good representation from all grade levels. Last winter the committee reviewed advisory programs in our district and across the country, as well as research on this topic.

In March of last year the committee formed a mission statement: It is the Mission of Campus Middle School Advisory to support the academic, social, emotional and moral growth of all of our students. Our caring and committed teachers will build meaningful relationships with our students to create a sense of belonging and connectedness within our Campus community.

What is Advisory?

o A semester long class

Attendance will be taken

Students will receive a grade of S (satisfactory) or U (unsatisfactory)

An opportunity for students to grow academically, socially and emotionally

A time for teachers to engage students in activities and discussions that encourage meaningful, empathetic relationships that support a diverse community

A place for students to be known, noticed and cared about

Breaking down the language:

o SSR: Sustained Silent Reading. This is a time when everybody reads, including the teacher.

o ASPIRE Theme Weeks: Advisory lessons dedicated to unifying CMS through the principles of ASPIRE (Accountable, Safe, Purposeful, Inclusive, Respectful, Excellent). This will include PBIS: Bully-proofing, Digital Citizenship, Conflict Resolution, Inclusive Excellence, etc. There will be one ASPIRE theme per month. These theme weeks focus on unifying Campus.

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o Student Success Days: Advisory classes at the beginning of each quarter dedicated to promoting student success at CMS through needs-based lessons (organization, study skills, growth mindset, etc.). Grade level representatives will provide curriculum to team teachers (different grade levels have different needs).

What a Typical Advisory Week Looks Like: Monday-Progress Monitoring and Ted-Talk, Tuesday-Study Hall, Wednesday-SSR, Thursday-Study Hall, Friday-SSR

The current feedback from students/teachers regarding Advisory is positive. They like the structure. Study hall is being used well and is appreciated by students given the time change this year.

At the semester students will switch Advisory teachers (the way Powerschool works some students may end up with the same teacher).

There was a discussion about team placement of students who are twins at Campus. Some parents prefer having twins on same team; others prefer having twins on different teams. Families should communicate preference to grade level counselors.

Anthony Campos (Assistant Principal)

Anthony shared the following handout as a summary of safety measures and supports at CMS:

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Some highlights from the handout and in general:

o Campus updated number of radios this year.

o Motion sensors were wired at the end of last year and are operational this year. All doors are labeled and there are now “open door alerts” available to security staff. Door labeling will help with any potential crisis situations.

o Parking lot safety and remodeling will be coming up. Campus is aware of the issue with Belleview parents leaving their cars unattended in the morning to walk their students to Belleview.

o If a CARE line call comes in after hours: the message immediately goes to district security, and if the call is Campus related it will then get relayed to Campus administration staff cell phones. How to proceed is then determined based on call information.

o 911 notification: If a 911 call is made from Campus a text alert message is sent to Campus administrators, deans, and the nurse. To dial out on a Campus phone you have to dial 9 first; at times kids make a mistake and dial 911. We are instructing students not to hang up but to inform 911 that the call is a mistake. Most 911 calls from Campus are accidental.

Mark Magee (Dean)

Mark shared the Campus anti-bullying model & messaging; how Campus disciplinary practices work.

The Deans office in general: we are educators. Discipline is an opportunity to teach and counsel students. Kids are going to push the boundaries so there is a need for consequences; Campus follows the CCSD middle school consequences guide. This guide ensures that every Dean is consistent and fair throughout the district.

The Dean’s office is utilizing a ‘restorative justice’ model for conflict resolution for appropriate situations. Dean’s office personnel receive training on how to utilize this model. This model does result in longer meetings, but ultimately saves time because there are fewer repeat offenders. The model includes a pre-meeting so students understand how the meeting will work and what questions are going to be asked; participants are asked to agree to rules/sign off. During the meeting each party talks about what happened, and ideas for a solution. Once a solution

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is reached the individuals sign an agreement to the solution. The restorative justice model provides a higher level of education, empathy, dialogue, and is more effective than just issuing detentions/suspensions.

Kristy Teigen (Counselor) & Melissa Christopher (Social Worker), along with Mark Magee (Dean)

There is a push to make community circles part of the culture of our building. These circles allow counselors, teachers to have safe conversations about topics and allow for teachers to check in with a greater number of students. Circles create a safe, inclusive environment; the sharing of emotions during community circles allows for more learning in the classroom. The staff are getting training on how to use these circles. Counselors and Deans are utilizing now, with the eventual hope of having this model throughout the school.

PBIS lessons: the goal is to create an environment for students to have open discussions and develop strategies to deal with conflict resolution. If students feel they can’t handle a situation then they are instructed to seek out a safe adult.

If there are repeat situations the Dean’s office needs to be informed; “upstanders,” or students who share information on a situation, are not identified. In addition, sometimes there are challenges because the Dean’s office cannot share consequences, so at times students think that nothing has been done to correct a situation.

Setting healthy boundaries is a constant message that the counselor’s office is working to teach students; sometimes it takes awhile for this lesson to stick. Students need to learn problem solving and self-advocacy. Quite often students in the counselor’s office are asked to role-play and practice what to say in given situations. This gives students confidence about what to say and how to say it.

There was a discussion about the Claire Davis law. Administration shared that a significant amount of documentation is kept and required by schools in situations with at-risk/suicidal students. All schools are required to do due diligence.

The role of mental health/counseling is to provide a support for school safety, and to help students navigate middle school issues. The counselor’s office has a team approach to look for trigger words, and to also team with the parents by sharing the counselor’s perspective on a student situation, e.g, recommendations for further assessment.

The Counselor’s office tells students that there will be confidentiality unless there are safety issues which need to be shared with parents.

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The counselors shared that Campus has a suicide prevention curriculum for all classes (SOS). Research has shown that this program reduces school suicides. The curriculum is slightly different at each grade level. This program gives kids tools and a common language for dealing with this issue (Acknowledge/Care/Tell).

A component of PBIS for the Dean’s office is to initiate additional positive interactions with parents at home. This includes post cards that can be sent home with positive referrals for when a student does something positive at Campus. So far this year over 200 postcards have been generated.

PBIS has a number of subcommittees: a community subcommittee which thinks of positive ways to bring families into Campus (mercado, movies, etc.); a staff subcommittee (fun things for staff); a subcommittee in charge of theme weeks (upcoming: conflict resolution/common language, strategies for when you are being bullied, cyber-bullying, creating a caring community).

There was a discussion about expanding the postcard initiative so parents can send positive postcards to school/staff.

Meeting Close: The meeting adjourned at 8:07 p.m.

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