Rescue Union School District
Educating for the Future, Together
Board Of Trustees Meeting Highlights - December 11, 2018
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.
- Principal Hope Migliaccio and Assistant Principal Todd McGinnis provided an update on activities and focus areas for Pleasant Grove Middle School.These areas included:Interventions throughout the school day, Innovative Electives, Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), the AVID program, Social Emotional Learning, (SEL) and Community Outreach.
Principal Migliaccio reported that they have been very successful with their interventions again this year. They continue looking at data and having that data drive decisions to meet the needs of all students. One thing they are very proud of is 100% of all students who are below or nearing standard have all been addressed/supported. Mrs. Migliaccio listed the many ways they are making connections with students that included building relationships with teachers, goal setting with the counselor, co-teaching, push in support with Special Education teachers, and 48 classrooms staffed with paraprofessionals throughout the day to help students in general education classes. They continue to offer interventions for reading, writing, math, and study hall with teachers still providing tutorials at lunch. She was also very proud to report that Pleasant Grove Middle School is ranked 6th in our region in English Language Arts. Math has also been another area of focus. They are working to build the fundamental and foundational skills for students to help them be successful.
Mr. McGinnis reported on their innovative electives for this year. The Game Design (Applied Technology) class has been really interesting. It covers the history of games (Sorry, Monopoly, Jacks, Pick-Up-Sticks) and progresses to digital games. They also offer Project Lead the Way (PLTW – STEM), Band/Choir (Music), Fitness (Health and Wellness) Speech and Drama (The Arts), Leadership (Campus Culture/Inclusion) and Spanish (Foreign Language).
Like all schools in the District, Pleasant Grove has been working to establish PBIS in their school. The PG team works as a small group and then brings ideas such as the PBIS Behavior Matrix to the entire staff for input, including everyone in the process. They have already implemented many student recognition practices but are working on new ideas with the PBIS model such as Puma Pride Awards where students are recognized for doing something good on campus. It can be anything, there are no restrictions and anyone can hand the awards out to kids.
Mrs. Migliaccio also reported on the AVID program. Pleasant Grove is in its third year of implementation and was a certified AVID school after two years. An AVID specialist just visited PG to review the program and observe classrooms. In turn, they have created goals for this year and will provide professional development for staff to attain these goals. In addition, they have had college fairs and two college campus tours.
Counselor Clara Saguto shared about SEL practices and how along with the psychologist, they have reviewed data, met with teachers regarding student identification, and have done classroom and lunchtime observations of students. She also talked about the counseling groups seeing the need to focus on anger management skills, social and friendship skills and emotional regulation.
Mrs. Migliaccio talked about community outreach and how we need to look forward in our community to see what it might be like when our students are ready for a career. She also elaborated on the events coordinated by the PTO and other community events (project support, career fair, and PC Pals).
- Difference Makers: Pleasant Grove presented the Difference Maker award to Dave Phillips, Teacher and Natalie Hadden, Library Media Coordinator.
UPDATES:
- Superintendent Olson reported that enrollment continues to increase, however we are still down 29 from the end of last year.We are only down 12 students from December of last year.We will also be looking at starting a new Transitional Kindergarten class in January that will give us a number of additional students.
Mrs. Olson shared that she and the Board attended the CSBA Annual Education Conference in San Francisco and it was very valuable. The Board will review and discuss topics and information learned at the event during the January Study Session.
During the last week of November, Superintendent Olson had the opportunity to sit in on the GLAD demonstration lessons held at Rescue School. She appreciated seeing the strategies and methodologies being presented to a real class of third grade students.
The first week of December is the week Hour of Code is celebrated nationally. Many of our schools had lessons across all classes and all grades. She went on to say that while attending a community event, a parent in our district came up and shared that his 8 year old daughter came home and asked if they could do more Hour of Code activities at home. The child proceeded to explain the whole lesson they did at school for the parent. He was thankful for the opportunities we provide.
Mrs. Olson shared how grateful she is to be in this district serving the Board, our staffs and our families. She wished everyone a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year and concluded her report with the latest video posted on our Facebook page celebrating our test scores.
- Assistant Superintendent Dave Scroggins presented the results from the California School Dashboard. This “dashboard” serves as the new accountability system for schools and districts across California and measures progress in a variety of areas including school climate, student engagement, and academic performance. Each area, or “indicator”, is assessed in terms of status (how well the school or district did) and change (how much the school or district improved from the previous year). Results for these indicators are displayed on a color scale, with red being at the lower end, followed by orange, then yellow, then green, and finally blue as the top score.
Mr. Scroggins first spoke about the English Learner progress. He explained that our English Language Indicator currently does not have a color associated with it, because the test the students took to measure this progress, the English Language Proficiency Exam for California (ELPAC), is new and therefore can’t be compared with previous test results. However, he pointed out that over 54% of our district’s students are testing in the “Well Developed” range. When it came to our district’s suspension rate, we scored in the green range. Our overall suspension rate was 2%, which was down .5% from the previous year. While we are generally pleased with both of these scores, our teachers, administrators, and support staff are continually looking for ways to improve and provide the absolute best services to all of our students. Next month, Mr. Scroggins will present information pertaining to the Academic Indicator and the Chronic Absenteeism Indicator.
ACTION ITEMS:
- The Board approved readmission for Student 17-18B
- The Board approved the selection of Board Officers for the Annual Organization Meeting
- Kim White, President
- Stephanie Kent, Vice President
- Tagg Neal, Clerk
- The Board approved the committee representatives for the El Dorado Schools Financing Authority (Kim White and alternate Suzanna George) and the El Dorado County School Boards Association (Stephanie Kent and alternate Tagg Neal)
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The Board approved the Board Meeting Calendar for 2019
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The Board approved the increase for Board remuneration
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The Board approved the 2018-2019 Tentative Agreement with RUFT
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The Board approved the Retirement Incentive for Non Administration Certificated Employees
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The Board approved the AB1200 Compliance for 2018-2019 for Certificated Staff
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The Board approved the First Interim Budget Report – positive certification
- The Board approved:
- October 9, 2018 Special Board Meeting Minutes
- November 13, Regular Board Meeting Minutes
- District Expenditure Warrants and Purchase Orders
- Personnel Actions
- Library Plan
- AB181 White Paper Response – Serrano Village M2 Unit 3
- Surplus Property
NEXT MEETING: Regular Board Meeting, January 22, 2019.
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