GE Update From Woodland April 2015
Testing Results & Meetings & Info You Need
Parent Teacher Learning Committee 4/16 final meeting in 2014-2015 school year
Latest District Update....
Date: April 13, 2015
What we’ve been working on:
General work
· Community Engagement is expanding middle school out-of-school-time programming for students in grades 6, 7 and 8. Maple Grove Middle School and Osseo Middle School will provide a program called The SPOT. Brooklyn Middle School and North View Middle School will provide targeted services and 21st Century learning for students during out-of-school-time.
Logistics Team
· Each building has identified a site logistics contact person. The site logistics contacts attended a kick-off meeting on March 27 and will be sharing information with building staff in April.
- The purchase of furniture, fixtures and equipment for most of the high school construction projects is in progress. Purchasing is receiving quotes for student and teacher furniture for standard classrooms. Work is also in progress for specialty equipment and furniture.
- Site logistics contact people have detailed plans for packing and moving curriculum and other classroom items; technology equipment, however, will not be moved by teachers as part of the packing/moving process.
Middle Level Design Team
- The Guide to Middle School was mailed in March to families of students currently enrolled in 5th, 6th and 7th grade. Extra copies were distributed to elementary and junior high schools and the Enrollment Center. The guide was translated into Hmong, Spanish and Vietnamese and all language versions are available on the district website. Hard copies can also be requested by calling 763-391-7002.
- The Middle School Design Team has formed two task forces to conduct research and make preliminary recommendations on middle level report cards (led by Sandra Day) and middle level conferences (led by Jake Morris).
- Each school will be assigned a full-time Staff Development Assessment Specialist/differentiation coach to support teachers in providing differentiation and high levels of rigor in every classroom.
- Current 5th and 6th grade elementary teachers will help designate students for next year’s 6th and 7th grade cluster classrooms, with the goal of ensuring that each student will be in a classroom with at least one other student he/she knows well.
High School Programming Team
· The High School Programming Team met in April to review progress to date and identify considerations for 2015-16 and beyond.
High School Facilities Team
· Construction is on time and within budget.
· The classroom additions are making great progress.
· The MGSH faculty work area has been vacated and work stations have been disassembled in preparation for the structural attachments to the new classroom addition.
· OSH had some interior work completed during spring break.
· PCSH also had some interior projects completed during spring break.
Human Resources Staffing Team
· The first round of voluntary interviews have been completed for high school and middle school.
· Internal transfers for elementary music, elementary physical education, DAPE, gifted education and student services counseling, psychology, social work, and occupational therapists ended March 27. The process for Speech and Language Pathologists did not go according to plan, so the process was restarted on April 6.
· Elementary positions will be posted for 3 days starting Monday April 13.
Technology Team
· A draft of iPad collection procedures is being shared with stakeholders who will provide feedback on the plan.
· The iPad collection plan will minimize labor required by teachers and other school staff at the end of the school year. The goal of the iPad collection plan is to optimize for both of those requirements while providing an opportunity to inspect each iPad and meet our promise of delivering the same iPads to students in the fall that they used during this school year.
· The technology team is evaluating options for summer storage of iPads.
Key decisions since the last update:
High School Facilities
· Gyms at Maple Grove Senior High that sustained water damage will be replaced by the contractor’s insurer.
Logistics
- 6th grade curriculum that needs to be transferred to middle school has been identified in detail. 9th grade curriculum that needs to transfer to high school has been identified in detail. The curriculum sub-group has agreed on a process to manage the transfer of teacher and student materials between schools. The group is working on a process to ensure high school science labs are equipped with the appropriate items.
- Maps for summer programming sites are completed and were shared with site logistic contacts.
Technology
· Final equipment lists for new classroom spaces have been completed and orders are ready to process. We expect delivery of new computers to schools in mid-August for installation in new classrooms. Other technology moves required to accommodate teachers who will be in new schools or positions next year will be done through this summer’s technology refresh process.
· SMART boards can be moved within a building but not between buildings.
What’s next?
Logistics Team
· Preparing principal and leaders to support logistics plan for staff moves, cleaning and summer programming.
Middle Level Design Team
· Reviewing the current report card to determine if any changes are needed and to identify recommended practices for parent/teacher conferences.
· Planning professional development with ongoing learning on middle level philosophy
· Working with principals on staffing
High School Programming Team
· Finished meeting for this year and has a plan in place for the start of school.
High School Facilities Team
· Continuing weekly construction meetings. The anticipated date of substantial completion for all construction is July 31, 2015.
Human Resources Staffing Team
· Continued implementation of the teacher transfer process.
Technology
· Once the staffing process is completed, the team will look specifically at which teachers are moving between sites to plan for meeting their technology needs through this summer’s technology refresh. The goal is to avoid moving technology equipment (other than iPads) between schools this summer.