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November 7, 2011 School Board Retreat


Hopkinton School District School Board

School Administrative Unit #66

 

School Board Retreat

Meeting Minutes

November 7, 2011

 

St. Methodios Faith and Heritage

Retreat Center

Contoocook, NH

 

 

Mr. Luneau stated that unlike regular board meetings, the School Board Retreat would not be audio recorded, as no action items or policy decisions will be acted on.

IN ATTENDANCE

Hopkinton School Board: Chairman: David Luneau, Vice Chairman: Elizabeth Durant, Board Members: Louis Josephson, William Jones, Larry Donahue

Administration: Superintendent: Steven Chamberlin

 

PUBLIC SESSION

 

CALL TO ORDER/PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

Mr. Luneau called the meeting to order at 4:35pm

ITEMS FOR BOARD DISCUSSION

  1. a. Current Assessment of the Hopkinton School District: Superintendent’s Point of View

Mr. Chamberlin presented a SWOT analysis, identifying and assessing the District’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. The objective of his presentation served as foundation for a discussion of priorities and indicators of impact and accomplishment, concluding with a framework of the next steps.  

Strengths:

 

Ensuring Student Learning

 

Moving to a learning-based organization

  • What do we want our students to know and be able to do?
    • Math, reading, and science cycle state and national standards
  • How do we know if our students are learning?
    • NWEA, NECAP, AP, ACT, PSAT, and SAT data
  • What do we do if our kids are struggling and if they have already mastered a standard.
    • Differentiate instruction, remediation, enrichment/acceleration

Mr. Chamberlin stated that course grades at the upper level are not a good indicator of student learning, as they are comingled with habits of the mind and citizenship.

His goal is to continue to move away from the “wait to fail” model.

He stated that the District operates with the underlying value of what is best for kids; we are grounded in a foundation of beliefs.

Mr. Chamberlin stated the District has a hungry administration, hungry for improvement – they want to look at the data and be challenged.

Weaknesses:

Mr. Chamberlin stated that the right questions have not yet been asked regarding student achievement.

Other weaknesses:

  • 20th Century practices are too prevalent
    • Good to great paradigm
    • Economy of Scale
    • Lack of indicators

Mr. Chamberlin stated that this data should be reported to the school board quarterly.

Mr. Luneau stated the indicators can determine and track cause.

Mr. Donahue stated we should have a table of indicators quarterly for a given subject.

Opportunities

Mr. Chamberlin stated that the current economic condition has forced change; the District is replacing staff at a rate it has never seen before.

  • Hiring new staff
  • Exploring additional partnerships with other districts

Mr. Donahue asked if we ever considered a teacher exchange program with Bow and about other ways to motivate change.

Mr. Chamberlin stated that Hopkinton joined Hillsboro students for calculus and with John Stark in the FIRST program.

Mr. Chamberlin spoke about the development of a teacher leadership program and the

implementation of indicators of school success

Threats:

Mr. Chamberlin discussed the following threats facing the District:

  • Legislation /trying to change the Constitution
  • Economy
  • Deferred maintenance
  • Rising cost of special education
  • Cost of remediation vs. delivery of instruction

Mr. Chamberlin believes in early intervention. He stated that children should be assessed before entering kindergarten. The District needs to reach out to new parents to read 20 minutes a day to children from the day they are born. He suggested visiting daycares spreading the word that children need early intervention.

Mr. Donahue asked when we look at best methods do we look outside our country?
Mr. Chamberlin stated occasionally, as an example, the Scandinavian approach does not start reading until age seven.

b.    Priorities

Mr. Chamberlin stated that he would like to spend time on the indicators and then develop the priorities. He stated the indicators are proof of goodness. He will use the data that already exists.

  • Priorities will be set based on the answers to the right questions
  • Professional Development will target instruction to sub skill
  • Cost of remediation vs. cost of delivering instruction

c.     Indicator of Impact and Accomplishment

The superintendent and board members discussed the following indicators. Mr. Chamberlin stated that the data is essential to know the achievement level of all students.

Learning

  • NWEA (determine state achievement/number of students on, above, or below grade level)
  • AP Tests
  • SAT/PSAT
  • NECAP
  • College acceptance
  • Students leaving for private school (exit interview: learning/culture and climate)

Culture and climate

  • Staff retention (exit interviews)
  • Bullying data
  • Drug/Alcohol (YRBS)
  • Attendance
  • Suspension

Mr. Chamberlin stated he hopes to gain a better understanding of where our students measure (achievement).

Mr. Donahue asked what type of insight can we expect to see and what are we going to do with it?

Mr. Chamberlin stated it would identify teacher/programmatic issues of focus.

The Board asked Mr. Chamberlin if questionnaires were used to collect information on the following:

  • Student and family satisfaction
  • Areas of improvement

d. Debrief/Next Steps:

The Board and superintendent will meet in four weeks; Mr. Chamberlin will report on the establishment of the priorities.

Adjournment  

At 7:45pm Mr. Donahue made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Mr. Jones.

Respectfully submitted:

Jean Eaton