Rescue Union School District

Board Of Trustees Meeting Highlights - December 10, 2019

We continue our efforts to communicate effectively and in a timely fashion with our families and staffs. We know not every parent, teacher, or staff member can attend our Board meetings, so we will provide a brief update after each Board meeting, sharing highlights and actions taken by the Board. As always, please let us know how to better serve and communicate with you! We want to be partners with you in the educational journey of the children entrusted to us.

DISTRICT RECOGNITIONS:

Green Valley School

Principal Michele Winberg provided an overview of the student population at Green Valley School with a current enrollment of 384. Mrs. Winberg went on to discuss “Equality” – giving everyone the same thing versus “Equity” – giving individuals what they need. She stated how grateful the school is for what the Board has approved and what the District Leadership has helped to provide to meet the equity goals for all students. For the past two years, Green Valley has had a full time counselor but the needs continued to grow. This year another full time counselor was hired. Mrs. Winberg stated that until we can meet all the social emotional needs, learning is secondary.

At this point in the presentation, Principal Winberg called up both school counselors, Tom Power and Danielle DeSimoni to talk about the SEL program. The counselors provided an overview of the supports in place for students that included:

• Tier Supports – Tier 1: All Students (Universal), Tier 2: Some Students (Targeted), Tier 3:Few Students (Intensive)
• Guidance – Once a week social emotional lesson taught by school counselors (Second Step lessons, Restorative Circles, lessons on bullying/kindness, community building, books and activities to reinforce and practice skills)
• Benefits of Guidance – Every student receiving the same information, all students have the same language, proactively teaches all students skills needed for success, catches the students who might otherwise “fall through the cracks”, teachers are able to reinforce lessons throughout the week, builds a safe and positive community both in the classroom and schoolwide
• Small Groups – Social skills/friendship group, girls group/self-esteem, divorce and separation group, grief and loss group
• Individual Support – Conflict with friends, issues at recess, feeling stressed/overwhelmed,home and family concerns, meltdowns/disruptions
• Check-In Check-Out – PBIS behavior intervention, provides structure in a student’s day,creates accountability, provides teacher feedback, creates internal motivation and behavior,increases academic success and creates a stronger home-school connection

Green Valley’s Difference Maker award went to Tom Power, Counselor.

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