Board Meeting Dates

Additional Details

Board of Education Meeting

AGENDA

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

5:00 PM

John Milne Community Board Room, Alice and Bruce King Educational Complex, 6400 Uptown Blvd. NE

Albuquerque, New Mexico

Minutes of Board of Education Meeting

Albuquerque Public Schools

A Board of Education meeting of Albuquerque Public Schools was held Wednesday, November 6, 2013, beginning at 5:00 p.m., in the John Milne Community Board Room, Alice and Bruce King Educational Complex, 6400 Uptown Blvd. NE.

I.      Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 5:01 p.m.

A.     Color Guard Presentation

I.      Manzano High School Navy Junior ROTC

a.      Pledge of Allegiance / Moment of Silence

B.     Roll Call

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

C.     Adoption of the November 6, 2013, Board of Education Meeting Agenda (Discussion/Action)

Lorenzo Garcia motioned to approve adopt the agenda.  Kathy Korte seconded the motion.  Board members unanimously adopted the November 6, 2013, Board of Education meeting agenda.

II.     Recognition of Students, Staff and Community

APS Council of the Great City Schools volunteers were recognized for generously sharing their time and hospitality with the delegates of the 2013 Annual Fall Conference.

III.    Public Forum

Participants of public forum expressed support for teachers and concern for the testing that is given to students that does not align to the standards that are currently being covered in the classroom.

IV.    Matters of Information

A.     Superintendent's Report

Superintendent Brooks reported on the following:

• Gratitude for volunteers implementing the Council of the Great City Schools 57th Fall Annual Conference
• Final teacher and community town hall meetings at La Cueva High School attended by 200 teachers and 300 parents and community members
• Gratitude for Shelly Green and Carrie Robin Menapace and the rest of the staff for keeping up with the constant New Mexico Public Education Department (NMPED) changes and sharing facts
• Remembrance of Amy Phipps and condolences to her family
• Dr. Peercy was a Green-Garner Award finalist for his leadership, ability to improve student achievement, help in improving the public’s confidence in the school district, and professionalism

B.     Board Member Comments

Board members commented on the following:

• Appreciation for Dr. Winter and Dr. Meurer for working on possible solutions for students living on the Pajarito Mesa with more before-and after-school services
• Concern for living conditions of families living on  the Pajarito Mesa
• Gratitude for the town hall meetings to keep teachers and community members informed
• Support for teachers as they build their careers
• Concern that parents and students will be surprised by the graduation requirements
• Importance of civil dialogue to come to consensus and resolve issues
• Addressing the needs of African American male students
• Importance of continued discussion on racial issues
• Importance of providing educational choices for students
• Concern that students have the power to cause the test results to reflect poorly on the teacher’s capabilities
• Request that board members consider not supporting end-of-course exams
• Concern that NMPED is interviewing children without the permission of parents
• Importance of relieving stress on teachers so they can concentrate on teaching

C.     President's Report

President Esquivel left the meeting before this agenda item occurred.

V.     Special Issues

A.     Overview of the New Mexico TEACH Observation Tool (Discussion)

Shelly Green, chief academic officer, introduced principals who shared their experience of using the TEACH observation tool.

Issues discussed regarding this agenda item:

• Expectations are different depending on the experience with the teacher
• What happens if there isn’t enough time to review all of the elements of the rubric?
• Importance of working with teachers to reduce stress of evaluations
• Concern that teachers are expected to accept that three out of five is an A on an evaluation when they know it is a C, which is unacceptable to the teachers
• Importance of being thorough and honest with teachers’ results in many extra hours work for principals
• Importance of reminding teachers that continual performance improvement is expected
• Importance of basing evaluation models on research-based information
• NMPED evaluations assume that all teachers are the same, with no respect for experience, training, or special certifications
• Concerns that principals  are considering the process as a “gotcha”
• Importance of helping teachers improve their practice with information gathered from evaluations
• Concern for pressures on students and the results of what will happen if they can’t pass “the test”
• Most powerful experience for learning how to teach is to observe highly effective teachers
• Photos of the classroom environment are used to record competencies
• Principals losing time with their families
• Recommendation that observations weigh more in the evaluations
• Lesson planning observed is thorough and brilliant
• Reminder that education evaluations have always included an observation component
• Teachers love to be observed and principals love to be in the classroom
• Request that teachers’ perspectives be presented at a future meeting

B.     Peer Assistance and Review (PAR) Presentation (Discussion)

Andi Trybus, assistant superintendent of Human Resources; Karen Rudys, Labor Relations executive director; Ellen Bernstein, president, Albuquerque Teachers Federation and Linda Bluestein, APS/ATF Mentor and Peer Assistance program coordinator, presented the history of  the PAR program and current statistics of mentors available to participate in the program and teachers assigned to take advantage of the program.  Currently, 143 teachers are on school-site teacher improvement plans and 43 teachers are on the PAR plan.

Issues discussed regarding this agenda item:

• Rating determines that a teacher must be put on an improvement plan
• Proportion of teachers on an improvement plan to mentors
• Concern for the possible increase of teachers on improvement plan based on the NMPED teacher evaluation system
• Cost of adding more mentors to the PAR program
• Concern that the NMPED evaluation system is the same for  new teachers and experienced teachers
• One third of teachers in the PAR program are brand new teachers
• Possibility of a teacher losing their license in the first three years of teaching

VI.    Announcement of Upcoming Board Meetings

Vice president Kathy Korte announced that the next Special Board of Education meeting will be held on Friday, November 8, 2013, at 7:30 a.m., in the DeLayo Martin Community room and the next Board of Education meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 20, 2013, at 5:00 p.m., in the John Milne Community Board Room.

VII.   Adjournment

The meeting adjourned 7:35 p.m.

APPROVED: ____________________________

Martin Esquivel, President

ATTEST: __________________________________

Steven Michael Quezada, Secretary