Board Meeting Dates

Additional Details

Board of Education Meeting

AGENDA

Wednesday, August 7, 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 (APS) was held Wednesday, August 7, 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 Provided by Albuquerque High School Junior ROTC Color Guard

I.        Pledge of Allegiance / Moment of Silence

B.       Roll Call

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

Absent: Steven Michael Quezada

C.       Adoption of the August 7, 2013, Board of Education Meeting Agenda and Approval of the August 2, 2013, Special Board of Education Meeting Minutes (Discussion/Action)

Lorenzo Garcia motioned to adopt the agenda and approve the minutes. Dr. Peercy seconded the motion. Board members unanimously adopted the August 7, 2013, Board of Education meeting agenda and approved the August 2, 2013, Special Board of Education meeting minutes.

II.       Recognition of Students, Staff and Community

A.         Albuquerque New Car and Truck Dealers was recognized for its support of academics through a car giveaway to a student who has exhibited perfect attendance.

B. Student Information Systems was recognized for its assistance to schools throughout the summer in building the schools’ master schedules so all students would have a schedule when school starts.

C. Summer School Team was recognized for organizing and overseeing summer school and summer school graduations.

D. John Dufay and the Maintenance and Operations team was recognized for excellent work in cleaning up schools and school grounds after the Friday, July 26, 2013, category-one hurricane swept through Albuquerque.

E.         Superintendent Winston Brooks was recognized for receiving the Educational Excellence in Leadership Award from the Education Research and Development Institute.

III.      Public Forum

Topics of public forum included concerns about the limitations of how funding can be spent for schools; requests that the parent engagement procedural directives be delayed in review at the Policy and Instruction Committee meeting so that English and Spanish speakers will have enough time to review the information and give feedback; recognition for the principals of Valley High School, Rio Grande High School and La Promesa Elementary School for their contribution to improving family engagement, and the importance of considering all contingencies of implementing policies and procedural directives

IV.      Matters of Information

1. A. Superintendent's Report

Superintendent Brooks reported on the following:

• Gratitude for the efforts of Dr. Winter and Kathy Korte for their dedication to the new APS  7,000-seat community stadium, which will host football, track and field and numerous community events
• APS Community Stadium will open the last weekend of this month to kick off the 2013 season
• Stadium built in a pit to keep light and noise from drifting too far into nearby neighborhoods
• APS built the Milne Stadium in 1939 and Wilson Stadium in the 1960s
• Gratitude to Mayor Berry’s support of the Work Keys qualification testing and partnership on many initiatives
• Moody’s, and Standard and Poor’s bond ratings process
• Gratitude to APS staff for their hard work and dedication to get the best financial deal for the district and community.
• Discussion with staff and families of Intel Rio Rancho about the implementation of the Common Core State Standards
• APS Graphic Enterprise Services “Blow Out at Milne” paper and supply sale at Milne Stadium with prices of the items low enough to be beneficial to the community and allow the Graphics Department to still make a profit
• Gratitude for Chief Technology Officer Paul Romero for his work on moving the district forward, specifically for the Data Center because it provides technology support and is the main hub for the district
• School beginning with professional development and a reminder to principals, administrators and teachers that we all have gone into this profession because of our love of kids

1. B. Board Member Comments

Board members commented on the following:

• Support for delaying review of the procedural directive at the Policy and Instruction Committee meeting to allow more time for members of the community to give feedback
• Anticipation of the new stadium grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony
• Concern for the Atrisco Heritage Academy High School overload beyond the capacity of students
• Appreciation for the APS Maintenance and Operations Department’s quick response and long hours of dedicated work to repair educational facilities
• Anticipation to find out who will be chosen to lead the parent institute with a recommendation that the person should be bi-lingual
• Commendations for community members coming to the board meeting to share their opinions and thanks to the community for coming out
• Meeting with principals and observing them busy working with parents and staff
• Interactions with teachers who are apprehensive of the results of teacher evaluations
• Teacher evaluation model is complicated, confusing, and expensive
• Principals requesting to have more time in the schools and less meetings away from the schools
• Concern that the new APS/CNM school was not awarded the funding when schools that did receive funding were based on the success of APS’ Early College Academy
• Request to the governor to review the funding matrix for the grant proposals that were submitted and to see the ratings for each program
• Confirmation that the parent engagement procedural directive will be available on the website in both and English and Spanish by noon on Thursday, August 8
• Recommend services for translation similar to UNM Hospital’s services
• Recommend modeling high school vocational tracks implemented at other schools with successful programs
• Mayor’s Youth Advisory Council educating about mental health issues

1. C. President's Report

• Commendation to the Administrator’s Conference on Education (ACE) team and participants for their tremendous enthusiasm
• Request to know the amount of funding raised by the golf tournament
• Importance of acquiring the highest bond rating possible to get the most financial benefit for the district
• Bond ratings affected by stability of cash reserves, conservative board policies regarding cash reserve, improvements of graduation rates, construction, stability of leadership, and professionalism of the board
• Request for AAA rating, which requires cash reserves of 20 percent, and currently we hold five percent

V.       Special Issues

A.       Update on Emerson Elementary School Redesign (Discussion)

Joseph Escobedo, chief of staff; Raquel Reedy, associate superintendent; Denise Brigman, principal, and Debra Heath, research and evaluation coordinator, reviewed the context for Emerson Elementary School’s redesign and  the redesign components implementation, results, and recommendations:

• Redesign was based on chronically low academic performance compared to statistical peer groups and other schools in the district, 91 percent mobility rate, violent behaviors averaged 185 per year, and conflicts among staff and with administrators obstructed attempts to improve instruction.
• Redesign components included new leadership and staff (76 percent), 100 percent of classroom teachers have bilingual and/or Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) endorsements, an extra hour daily, and an extra five days for professional development and collaboration, school-wide implementation of Common Core State Standards, and bilingual classes at every grade level with ongoing language and cultural equity (LCE) professional development.
• Implementation of the redesign plan began with getting to know colleagues, students and families, establishing a Parent Teacher Association (PTA), building executive function skills with classroom structures and processes, and operating with modified positive behavior support systems.
• Results are evident in the unified vision of staff members who are committed to the use of a common set of instructional strategies to improve student performance, 100 percent of the School Climate Survey respondents agreed that Emerson is a supportive and inviting place to work, teachers are consistently holding students to higher standards of academic performance, administrators and staff are sharing mutually respectful governance, and behavior problems have decreased in frequency and severity.
• Recommendations for continued success at Emerson Elementary School include clarifying the reform model and timeline for measurable academic improvements for stakeholders, developing an action plan with specific performance targets for high-priority strategies to show visible success, accessible coaching and coordination of resources to support turnaround actions, targeting the pre-school and early primary school years for intensive intervention with emphasis on executive function skills,  and development of community-school, family engagement and wellness systems.

Issues discussed regarding this agenda item:

• Research-based improvement of schools
• Importance of having measureable results
• Sustainability of leadership
• Addressing social issues
• Collaboration fidelity
• Effects of truancy on academic success
• Support for parents to continue their own education

B.       Update on eCADEMY Virtual High School (Discussion)

Principal Dave Wells explained the processes used to educate the community, especially parents and students about eCADEMY Virtual High School.  Projections for the online registration starting soon are optimistic based on the number of inquiries received.

C.       Update on College and Career High School (Discussion)

Associate Superintendent of Secondary Schools Eddie Soto and Principal Liz Abeyta reviewed the amount of work that has been done in a short amount of time to acquire furnishings, books, technology, and materials for the school with the help of many APS departments.  CNM administration has been supportive to assist in registering students.  The memorandum of agreement (MOA) is in the process of being completed.

Superintendent Brooks expressed disappointment that this school did not receive the grant funding promised as support from the governor, which she clearly supported at the news conference for the announcement of the school.

Two of the first students enrolled were introduced through a video explaining their educational experiences and plans to attend college.

D.       Update on Sandia High School's International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (Discussion)

Principal Katy Harvey reviewed the progress of training teachers and accepting students to the new Sandia High School International Baccalaureate® (IB) Diploma Programme.  Currently, 20 students were enrolled.  Periodic reports will be scheduled for the future to keep board members informed.

E.       Consideration for Approval of the Sufficiency in Education Funding Resolution (Discussion/Action)

President Esquivel requested supporting documents for this agenda item and called for a motion.  No motion was offered by board members, so the item died for lack of a motion.

VI.      Announcement of Upcoming Board Meetings

President Esquivel announced that the next Special Board of Education meeting will be held on Friday, August 16, 2013, at 7:30 a.m., in the DeLayo Martin Community room and the next Board of Education meeting will be held on Wednesday, August 21, 2013, at 5:00 p.m., in the John Milne Community Board Room.

VII.     Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 7:20 p.m.

APPROVED: ____________________________

Martin Esquivel, President

ATTEST: __________________________________

Steven Michael Quezada, Secretary