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School Improvement Advisory Committee (SIAC)

by Cindy Beattie

February 12, 2010

School Improvement Advisory Committee

The purpose of the School Improvement Advisory Committee is to include parents and community members in helping the Riverside Community School District plan for our future needs. The committee meets periodically throughout the school year. Primarily, the committee reviews and prioritizes district needs. Any parents or community member can serve on this committee. If you would be interested in joining this committee, you can either send an email to cbeattie@riverside.k12.ia.us or call the middle school at 712-484-2291 and leave your name and address.

Here are the minutes from our last meeting on January 25^th.

SIAC

Thursday, January 28, 2010

6:26 PM

Attending: Dr. Sutton, Dave Gute, Nate Perrien, Murray Fenn, Marilyn Mickey, Jana Hensley, Jeff Buckingham, Amy Gleaves, Marcia Buckingham, Kim Gifford, Diane Keast, Dianne White, Cindy Beattie, Lisa Putnam

Review District and Building Goals

Dr. Sutton present our district’s long range goals then each building principal discussed their building’s goals for the 2009-10 school year.

Long-Range Goals:

All K-12 students will achieve at high levels in reading comprehension, prepared for success beyond high school.

All K-12 students will achieve at high levels in mathematics, prepared for success beyond high school.

All K-12 students will achieve at high levels in science, prepared for success beyond high school.

All K-12 students will use integrated technology as part of their typical experiences in reading, mathematics, and science classes/courses

All students will feel safe at and connected to school

Building Goals

Elementary:

25% of 3rd to 4th grade FAY students, currently scoring less than 90th percentile, will improve their percentile rank in reading comprehension comparing 08-09 to 09-10. (n=27)

25% of 3rd to 4th grade FAY students, currently scoring less than 90th percentile, will improve their percentile rank in math total comparing 08-09 to 09-10. (n=27)

25% of 3rd to 4th grade FAY students, currently scoring less than 90th percentile, will improve their percentile rank in science comparing 08-09 to 09-10. (n=27)

The percentage of nurse referrals from 08-09 to 09-10 due to aggressive behavior will reduce.

Middle School:

40% of 4-7th grade students performing in the low performance range in reading comprehension on the 08-09 ITBS will demonstrate growth on the 09-10 ITBS for FAY students

40% of 4-7th grade students performing in the low performance range in math total on the 08-09 ITBS will demonstrate growth on the 09-10 ITBS for FAY students.

10% of students performing in the mid proficient range (41-89 NPR) on the 08-09 ITBS will score in the high proficient range (90+ NPR) on the 09-10 ITBS.

Decrease the amount of discipline referrals in the JMC database by 10% from 08-09 in all disciplines of JMC *except the following areas: illegal acts, incident report-non referral, plagiarism/cheating, truancy & vandalism.

High School:

Decrease the percentage of students testing non-proficient in Reading grades 9-11. (22% in 08-09)

Decrease the percentage of students testing non-proficient in Math grades 9-11. (17% in 08-09)

Decrease the percentage of students testing non-proficient in Science grades 9-11. (17% in 08-09)

Lower the percentage of students with ten or more absences per semester for the 2009-10 school year.

Review Data from Surveys - Iowa Youth Survey and CREST Survey

Strengths

EL - Teachers are good, Teachers believe they can learn, positive parental norms

MS - Students Know Expectations, Parents feel welcomed at the school, very few are going to the success center

HS - acceptance of diversity, safe environment, can say no to peer pressure

Concerns

Student-to-Student Respect

Community Support

Youth Access to Substances

We broke into small group discussions about the concerns and then each group reported back to the large group.

Community Support

Why is it a problem?

Students see low attendance at games and activities

(How successful are the teams?)

Generational Gap

New families not making connections with community and community not reaching out to new members

3 separate communities not viewed as one district

Older/Parents NOT students

Open-enrollment out looks bad (but it's mostly due to convenience not because school is bad)

Ideas to Make it Better

Newsletter is great! How can we make it better (use it with businesses)

More parents in community through school activities/functions

Successful athletics

Inviting community to school and classes

Evening classes for parents - technology

Welcome package from district to people moving into all three communities

Student-to-Student Respect

What is the problem? Why is it a problem?

It’s a societal thing. It seems to be how everyone is treating everyone else.

CyberBullying

Texting

Now you can put someone down globally

It’s also not just at school

A lot of shows are the same way – people are disrespectful to one another

Who should teach the manners? Parents? Schools?

Guidance Counselor – teach kids how to be friends

As a district we have good kids who treat each other the right way and we need to recognize them. We need to tell them they are doing a good job. At the high school we have “Student of the Month” recognition. Give more recognition to the good and less to the bad.

AHST gives positive slips for good behavior

Elementary has “Good News” notes

Start with the basics – have good manners. Good social skills. Be kind to one another.

If kids don’t have these skills, the school needs to do some of it.

Manners and social skills classes?

Kids need to learn to communicate and express yourself in a way that shows you have pride in yourself, your school and your community.

The golden rule has gone out the window.

How do we make it better?

Teach social skills

Has to be modeled and reinforced

Look into programs we have had before and use them again “Steps to Respect”

Look into other programs – The Boys’ Town Social Skills”