The podcast for last night's meeting is posted at http://cmsbears.podbean.com.
Among the items discussed were the rules for public input at board meetings. The board decided that their existing policy was sufficient, as it gave the board president broad latitude in placing rules on public input at board meetings.
I did ask about the ability for parents or community members to be placed on the agenda if they provided their topic ahead of time. Doug Porch said he did not think that it was necessary to place them on the agenda. Instead, he is going to have a "special place" on the school's website where he will personally place any visitor's topic ahead of time. So I guess if you want to address the board and have the topic of your discussion known ahead of time, you will have to talk to Doug Porch.
The superintendent's report addressed the new grading system that PED has in place. As you know from previous posts, the High School and Middle School got Bs, while the elementary got a C. He expressed his frustration with the fact that PED is not disclosing what their expectations are or how they are coming up with the grades.
Fred Wright reported on the results of the poll sent out last week regarding the 4 day week. He said that of the surveys returned, 71% were in favor of the 4 day week. He said that 100% of the teachers and staff were in favor of the 4 day week. Only 25 surveys were returned by high schoolers, with 188 returned by middle schoolers and elementary students.
There was no mention of the superintendent search at this meeting. With the next regular meeting scheduled for February 21st, I would start visiting the school's window on a regular basis, as I bet there is a special meeting before that.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
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Thank you again for your diligence, time and efforts to keep us informed. Even though many of our school districts employees seem to have forgotten they are "Public Servants", you continue to demonstrate what this really means.
ReplyDeleteHolly~
There is lengthy information about how the PED graded the schools on its website. You can go to http://webapp2.ped.state.nm.us/SchoolData/SchoolGrading.aspx On the left-hand side there are links titled 1) "Understanding School Grades", 2) "Understanding School Grades Module 2", and 3) "FAQ".
ReplyDeleteEasy enough to find... maybe the superintendent can now inform us of what our grade really means?
- Amanda Woeger
Margo,
ReplyDeleteI will personally let out know when there will be a special meeting called. I don't believe we will have any until after the conference we are attending next week in Santa Fe.
There will be a class on doing the search for a new superintendent. This is the exact reason I am going. I have also volunteered to be a member of a team of school board members who will be conducting mock interviews as part of a training class. I figure any training we can get to help us with our hiring of a superintendent is good to have in our back pockets.
Thanks,
Arlan
Hi Amanda,
ReplyDeleteWhen I posted the grades (see Jan. 11 blog post) I went to the PED website first and hunted all over for an explanation as to the grading system. All I could find was what I posted. They have obviously changed their website since then (perhaps they got a few complaints!) and incorporated the info. Thanks for the heads up, as I had not been back to their website to look for the data.
-Margo