Board Meeting Dates

Additional Details

Special Board of Education Meeting

AGENDA

Friday, May 30, 2014

7:30 AM

DeLayo Martin Community Room, Alice and Bruce King Educational Complex, 6400 Uptown Blvd. NE

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Minutes of Special Board of Education Meeting

Albuquerque Public Schools

A Special Board of Education meeting of Albuquerque Public Schools was held Friday, May 30, 2014, beginning at 7:30 a.m., in the DeLayo Martin Community room, Alice and Bruce King Educational Complex, 6400 Uptown Blvd. NE.

I.        Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 7:30 a.m.

1. A. Roll Call

Present: Dr. Analee Maestas, Kathy Korte (by phone), Lorenzo Garcia, Martin Esquivel (by phone), Steven Michael Quezada (by phone), Dr. Don Duran and Dr. David Peercy

1. B. Adoption of the May 30, 2014, Special Board of Education Meeting Agenda and Approval of the May 7, 2014, Board of Education Meeting Minutes (Discussion/Action)

Dr. Peercy motioned to adopt the agenda and approve the minutes. Mr. Garcia seconded the motion. Board members unanimously adopted the May 30, 2014, Special Board of Education meeting agenda and approved the May 7, 2014, Board of Education meeting minutes.

II.      Special Issues

A.       Emerson School Reform (Discussion)

Raquel Reedy-associate superintendent of Elementary Schools and Denise Brigman-Emerson Elementary School principal

presented an update on the Emerson School Reform Project phase three of a four-phase project that began during the 2010-11 school year. Phase I reported on the context for the reform initiative. Phase II came at the end of the 2011-12 school year and reported on the initiatives implemented. The Phase III report focused on critical performance metrics for the school for the 2012-13 school year that included information about standing initiatives, new programs and any course changes that may have occurred to improve reform outcomes.

After years of chronically low student performance Albuquerque Public Schools with the cooperation of the Albuquerque Teachers' Federation released plans for a dramatically redesigned Emerson Elementary School for the 2012-13 academic year. New staff and administrators were put into place along with having all classroom teachers endorsed as teachers of English to speakers of other languages (TESOL). Significantly more professional development time was arranged and  the mission was clarified to implement Common Core State Standards and establish Emerson Elementary School as a bilingual magnet school.

Changes since the beginning of the project included:

• Increase in proficient reading scores from 13 to 30 percent
• Increase in proficient math scores from 16 to 30 percent
• Decrease in discipline referrals by 500 percent
• Decrease in absenteeism by more than 17 percent
• Community schools environment was enhanced with parents/guardian classes for literacy development of pre-K and kindergarten children, General Education Development (GED) and English as a Second Language (ESL) classes for parents/guardians, and a Skills-Up testing center
• Resources made available to families included Southwest Family Guidance Counseling Services, Boys and Girls Club, GED for community members and monthly family nights
• Teacher morale improved, enrollment has increased and three additional teaching positions were added for the 2013-14 school year
• Reduced mobility by building relationships with parents to help them understand mobility as a factor in student achievement

Issues discussed regarding this agenda item included:

• Effect of the evaluation process on teachers
• Teachers did not let their concern about evaluation results show in the interactions with community and students
• Recognition of professionalism and communication strategies employed
• Support for Boys and Girls Club programs
• Importance of keeping students engaged and connected to the school
• Concern that the reports don’t mention the effect of improving the school physical environment on enhancing learning  achievement because students feel proud of their school
• Request for mobility statistics
• Request for plans for sustainability
• Concern for the extra cost of the daily planning hour for each teacher
• Request information about the dinner program
• Request demographic breakdown of students

B.       Title I Science Nights Presentation (Discussion)

Title I staff: Laurie Everhart-executive director, Bettina Eklund- instructional manager, Marc Wunder-resource teacher, and Stefanie McDermott-resource teacher; and Explora staff: Joe Hastings-executive director, Tamara Grybko-visitor services director, and Eric Meyer, educational services director, presented the benefits and results of the APS/Explora partnership.  In the past six years, the Family Science Engagement Collaborative has provided the opportunity to investigate more than 250 exhibit activities in science, technology and art in a safe, bilingual environment for more than 60,000 people along with many APS educators from 66 APS Title I schools.

This is the seventh year that the collaboration has focused on enriching families' experience while attending these events with goals to

• Increase family engagement with learning and science

• Improve attitudes toward learning and science

• Increase awareness of scientific phenomena and processes

C.       Graduation Debrief (Discussion)

Brenda Yager, Board Services executive director, requested input from board members regarding the recent graduations so that a listing of best practices and lessons learned could be created.  This listing is used to recommend and implement changes to the next year’s graduation planning process and implementation.

Board members discussed the follow issues:

• Request a list of each high school’s graduation allowable student attire
• Request to review the process of handing out the diplomas
• Recommendation to apply consistency across the graduations
• Concern regarding the quality of printed programs
• Concern regarding inconsistent flow of students moving through the diploma reception
• Appreciation for the closer parking site for board members at Tingley Coliseum

III.     Superintendent Report

Superintendent Brooks was not available for this meeting and there was no report. Shelly Green mentioned this was Brad Winter’s last meeting and everyone wished him well for his retirement.

IV.     Board Reports

Board members had nothing further to report.

V.       Announcement of Upcoming Board Meetings

President Maestas announced that the next Board of Education meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 4, 2014, at 5:00 p.m., in the John Milne Community Board Room and the next Special Board of Education meeting will be held on Friday, June 13, 2014, at 7:45 a.m., or immediately following the Audit Committee meeting in the DeLayo Martin Community Room.

VI.     Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 9:00 a.m.