01/20/2021 Community Council meeting minutes
Meeting held via Zoom
Council members present: David Ipson, Nora Peterson, Sonnie Jensen, Tausha Anderson, Ashley Denton, Becca Christensen ,Traci Buchanan, Justin Bradley.
Non Council Attendees: Amy Rasmussen
Item #1
Traci welcomed everyone and asked if we could approve the previous meeting minutes.
Becca was curious if we covered emergency procedures during the previous meeting. Becca was curious if we were able to review procedures. Mr. Ipson briefly reviewed plans/procedures. Mr. Ipson will work up some sort of summary to send to parents on procedures.
Justin moved to approve minutes and Nora seconded the motion.
Item #2 We are looking at the data for assessments and dibels. No Cumulative assessment last year, we are putting all our energy on our dibels and reading. As we are looking at our data on dibels, it looks like we have lost some ground in our reading.
Benchmark assessments are given to help students understand and manipulate the software as well as assess knowledge periodically to test knowledge as we are teaching our students. Next year will be our year one moving forward, post pandemic.
Mr. Ipson met with state literacy leaders, someone brought up a point that our students aren’t behind. The students are where they are, right now. We as a council and parents we need to do what we can to boost reading. The state is looking at giving monetary needs to assess our reading deficits. (Learning Loss) Make a plan and execute it to get our kids up to where they need to be.
Our Board and district administration are aware of the Learning Loss as well as the loss of momentum.
Sonnie Jensen was wondering if the PTO did some reading radio ads, if the parents heard them. None of the parents had heard them. Justin and Traci suggested we use ads with Channel 3 to help promote reading at home.
Item #3 Mr. Ipson is walking through the Trust Lands Plan. Goal:90% kids reading on grade level by the end of the 20-21 academic year. Action Plan: Hire 4 Paraprofessionals to lead students in Reading interventions. Poiette Lang is our BTS instructor. SHe is integrating literacy in her art instruction schoolwide. BTS Teacher: helped students create a tile mural of Eagles from 13 different students' artwork to create a MES Mural. We pay a portion of the BTS teacher’s salary, Mr. Ipson wanted to share some of the work she is accomplishing.
We purchased Ipads to help with literacy. Projectors were also added to our teacher’s classroom, we replaced about 5 projectors this year. So all students have access to technology.
The Leader In Me is paid for out of Trustland’s money. Teacher development is another $2000 in the budget. The pandemic has really put a damper on teacher development. Travel is a challenge as well as bringing in a person that is willing to come to Rural Utah. Nora commented that she enjoyed her IXL training. One on One ipads crucial and appreciated!
Becca is concerned about the reading scores going down and would like to know if it is because of technology? Mr. Ipson clarified that pre-pandemic scores are because of the loss of motivation to read. Justin said that we need the kids to be able to access their educators and be motivated to read. Ashley brought up that parents were exhausted over pandemic and couldn’t give as much attention to the students’ education while they are working.
Nora is frustrated with the masks being a deterrent to reading. She would like to motivate students to be readers. Amy is wondering if as we look at the shifts in numbers in the data on dibels. Is it indicative of certain demographics? An observation Mr. Ipson has made, that borderline to on grade readers usually do really well. Not many of them have bumped up due to pandemic. Sonnie Jensen is asking us to work as a team: School, KIds, and Home, to help our students feel successful in reading. Mr. Ipson informed the council that the take home library will be increased as well as looking into reinstating power hour. Building Literacy starts at the home from infancy. Nora commented that at the beginning of the year when students came so low, Mr. Ipson has worked really hard to give the students extra help to close that gap.
Item # 4 Reach for the Stars Read-A-Thon. Tracking reading is very motivating.
Item #5 PTC Any experiences?? All go ok? Traci Didn’t feel any different. Good time to build relationships with parents.
Item #6 PCBL Professional Competency Based Learning. Mr. Ipson is not sure if we are going to need funds to implement new State mandates. Some of the points are: Meaningful and powerful assessments. Timely and differentiated support for all students. Progression on mastery, not just seat time. Students learn actively. Equity. Rigorous and common expectations. At the elementary level we are currently set up already closely to this guideline. District will be working on a grant and this will have a 2-3 year implementation. Mr. Ipson will be receiving more training on this to see if Trustland funds are needed.
Justin is wondering if technology could be used to motivate our students and incorporate programs that parents already know. Traci is frustrated that she had to learn canvas and her 4th grader was trying to learn how to use canvas as well as curriculum. Sonnie commented that canvas seems to be easier this year. Justin would just like it to be easier for parents to transition to.
Traci announced that our next meeting in February 17, 2021
Justin moves to adjourn the meeting. Becca seconds the motion to adjourn the meeting.