Bragg Street Academy
An Inside Look:
Friday was an interesting day to say it lightly! Thank you for all of your help and support as we dealt with our soft lockdown. I want to say a special shout-out to Mr. Beasley, Ms. Fedrick, and Ms. Roper for covering during High School Lunch. A special thank you to Mr. Derrah, Ms. Bethea, Ms. Wicker and Deputy Chris for helping during the crisis situation. We will discuss at our next faculty meeting any concerns or suggestions you have about the situation and how we can make this better in the future.
During our last faculty meeting, we spoke about our PBIS system. LiveSchool data and Intervention data was shared with the group. During our meeting, we discussed the need to communicate to our students when they are earning points. If we do not do this when the positive behavior occurs, students are not reminded of the positive behavior taking place. As a goal for the next two weeks, we will continue to communicate to our students the behaviors that we want to be repeated. Please also communicate with students as they are getting demerits. This is just as important as giving merit points. Communication as well all know if the KEY to our success.
Upcoming Assessments
We will benchmark Middle School EC students on Thursday and Friday this week. Next week we will test all the other Middle School students in Reading and Math. We will have Reading on Thursday and Math on Friday. These assessments will be done in Mr. Carter's classroom. Next week, we will test all the other middle school in Reading, Math, and Science. We will assess math on the 26th, Reading on the 27th and Science (8th grade only) on the 28th. All Make-Up assessments will be done on the 29th. Reading and Math will be tested online and Science will be paper-pencil.
Reminders:
- The radios are to be used for bathroom breaks, missing students and emergencies. All other concerns need to be addressed over the phone or in an email. Do not use the radios for conversations with teachers outside of the three reasons stated above.
- Grades and lesson plans need to be updated weekly.
- Students must be monitored at all times. Where they go, you must go! If you have students working outside, you must be with your students outside. If you allow a student to go on an errand, please make sure the teacher is aware that the student is coming to your classroom. When we forget to monitor our students, issues arise.
- Respectful communication amongst one another is a necessity here at Bragg Street. This is essential to all of us working as a team. As emotions yo-yo throughout the day, please remember we are here for one another and must work together.
Good news to share:
Some of you saw my post on Twitter. The good news that I would like to share with you is that Mr. Tracey Patton has accepted the position as our Art Teacher next school year. Mr. Patton was out Interviews committee top choice. Mr. Patton comes to us with a degree in Art. He also has a certificate to teach Gifted Education and Special Education. He has worked with High School and alternative school settings. He interviewed very well and came to us highly recommended. One of my favorite quotes from his interview was when he said he is "handy as a pocket in a shirt." This was in response to him being a team player and doing whatever it takes to help our students succeed.
Graduation Rate
Last week, we sent information home to parents about the Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) towards our Low Graduation Rate. Last year Bragg Street had a graduation rate was at 35.5% the state's goal is 64.4%. With the students listed below and the credit status we currently believe they are in, we are anticipating a graduation rate of 20%. This number was alarming to me and calls for urgency on our part. This is not an easy fix and many variables play into this number. Although this may be disheartening, this data is the reality. I am working on getting the names of the students for the next 3 years of cohorts so that we can create a more strategic plan for these students.
At this time we have 16 students that are coded? What this means is that these students have not withdrawn from our campus and enrolled in another. If we can find out which schools they are enrolled in, we can unroll them at our school with the appropriate documentation from their current school. For every student that is found to be enrolled at another school, our denominator goes down. This in turns increased our graduation rate for this year. PLEASE ask your students if they recognize any of the student's names below and if they know where they may be. Students have wider connections through social media and can be a good resource for us.
Current Students on the Graduation LIst for this year: Thomas C., Marcellus D., Dalton H. Jared H., Q. Lee, Noah M, Jaiyah M, Davion N., Deyaneira T. R., and Joseph W.
Current Student Not Found: Casey Adams, Katherine Andrade, Gregory Bethea, Bryant Chambers, James Collins, Odila Espinoza, Robert F., Christian G, Malaki H., Jayden, Hodge, Ketric Payton, De Anthonie Taylor, Julio Torres, Jesus Trujillo-Torres,
Kyra Watson, Tracey Wicker
As we are approaching our 4th quarter, it is imperative to progress to monitor our Seniors. ALL of our students that are currently in the running of graduating should have all the support and cheerleading we can provide. If you have any concerns or see that the students are not doing well, please reach out to me and C. Wicker. We will work alongside you, the parents, and the supports within the district to get these students over the threshold.