The Next Generation:

Committee Members Present:

Haley Nelson, Student, Juneau-Douglas High School

Cory Hansen, Student, Juneau-Douglas High School

Shea Wilcox, Student, Juneau-Douglas High School

Darby Brown, Student, Juneau-Douglas High School

Nia Maake, Student, Juneau-Douglas High School

Jeremy Buss, Student, Yaakoosge Daakahidi Alternative High School

Barbara Cadiente-Nelson, Education Director, Sealaska Heritage Institute

Joe Nelson, Cultural Representative

Phyllis Carlson, Cultural Representative

Chris Carte, Teacher, Juneau-Douglas High School

Bill Ralson, Teacher, Juneau-Douglas High School

Tom Manning, Teacher, Juneau-Douglas High School

Clay Good, Teacher, Juneau-Douglas High School

Gary Lehnhart, Teacher, Juneau-Douglas High School

Sarah Marino, Teacher, Yaakoosge Daakahidi Alternative High School

Sonja Engle, Support Staff, Juneau Educational Support Services

Alberta Jones, Alaska Native Grants Coordinator

Joyce Kitka, Community Schools Representative

Chrissy Walker, Counselor, Dzantik’I Heeni Middle School

Jackie Kookesh, Assistant Principal, Floyd Dryden Middle School

Laury Scandling, Principal, Yaakoosge Daakahidi Alternative High School

Bernie Sorenson, Principal, Juneau-Douglas High School

Charla Wright, Assistant Superintendent, Juneau Public Schools

Linda Fiorella, Facilitator

David Schmid, Facilitator

Introduction:

The meeting began with introductions made by the facilitators, David Schmid and Linda Fiorella.  Dave, a former high school principal from Colorado, was selected as Colorado Principal of the Year in 2003.  His many years in education include experience as a teacher, coach, assistant principal, and principal.  Dave also works with schools throughout the United States as a facilitator around the topics of leadership and improving student learning.  Linda is a former instructional specialist and teacher.  She helped open up a new high school and has facilitated groups at several other schools during their opening stages.  She currently teaches graduate literacy courses for the University of Colorado at Denver. 

Dave explained to the group that the role of the facilitators is to facilitate the process and the group, but not to make the decisions.  They will also offer expertise in research on best practices for high schools. 

Grounding:  As a first step in getting to know each other and begin building a sense of community, the committee participated in a “grounding” activity.  While sitting around a circle, all members introduced themselves, told how they felt about being here and being on the committee, and shared their expectations for the group and process.

Building Community:

For a group to function well, especially when dealing with difficult topics about which people have differing opinions, it helps to have some ground rules or norms for the group to use during such discussions.  The facilitators recommend that the committee use the following as their norms:

Community Agreements:

• Participate and be engaged
• Listen with respect to understand
• Be willing to test your inferences and assumptions
• Be loyal to the group and the process
• Be willing to discuss the “undiscussables”

Advisory Committee Mission and Goals:

The following mission statement and goals will guide the work of the Advisory Committee:

Mission Statement:

• To keep the needs of our students foremost in our minds as we work
• To develop a relationship and sense of community within the Advisory Committee that respects diverse opinions
• To facilitate a planning process that values all voices, reflects the demographics of the community, and is willing to search out the less vocal members of the community
• To ensure that this is an open process that effectively communicates proceedings, issues, topics, and decisions of the Advisory Committee to constituents throughout the school district and community
• To develop an understanding of current educational research and best practices on high school education
• To reach consensus on the recommendation of a secondary educational plan that is dedicated to high expectations and success for all students. 

Points of Emphasis: 

In order to be sure that the committee respects and validates and previous work of the school district and focuses on increasing student achievement throughout this process, the following points of emphasis will be kept at the forefront of our work.

• Work will align with the Strategic Plan and Goals for the Juneau School District
• The committee will address issues of equity
• The committee will abide by the process that has been created to develop an educational plan for secondary schools in Juneau

Worst/Best Outcomes:

The group divided into three small groups facilitated by the students on this committee. Members were asked to respond to two questions: 

1. What do you think the worst possible outcome of being on this committee will be?
2. What do you think the best possible outcome of being on the committee will be?

Everyone wrote their responses on sticky notes, shared them with the group, and then put them up on chart paper. On Thursday, the students took all of the “Best Possible Outcome” statements and used them to create the following two collective statements. 

“We will come up with a model that supports successful models used around the country and it is a good fit for all of ourall Juneau students. 2) Implement changes which will improve the quality of instruction and the diversity of instruction. 3) The change from one to two high schools will be a positive one from the outset.  There will be struggles, but hopefully a plan will [be effective]. Our recommendations lead to better, diverse, learning opportunities and choices for students.  We come to a consensus (the community and us) AND we get to celebrate better success for all students, as a result of our work and our willingness to take a risk.  The community will be satisfied and those who participated and made this high school possible will be noticed for their good works.  The community will not be divided and everyone will be somewhat pleased with the outcome.  We truly listen to feedback from our community through the forums and respond to the feedback by creating a plan that truly addresses kids in the program design for both schools.  The committee will truly listen to the community and create an educational plan that improves student learning and that the community is pleased with.  Community, students, and staff will be excited to stand in a new building with a fresh plan that embraces and challenges all.  That we will end up with 2…oops…make that 3…amazing, wonderful, equitable high schools in Juneau and that everyone will live happily ever after.  Thunder Mountain High: A shining new face in the Juneau community.” students.  We will: 1) Improve the educational lives of

“We will be creating another school that results in raising the bar throughout the district and community for all students to value education and their opportunity to have high expectations and high participation.  We collectively work together to develop the best educational plan for kids, the Juneau community, and Juneau families.  We develop the foundation that can be built upon the future.  The students and the community’s concerns and needs will be met to the extent of the committee’s power.  The new high school is constructed and the improvements reflect the negative aspects of the current high school.  The majority of the committee’s goals are met.  Based on research and community needs we develop a school that serves all. We can take all of the community input and create a great school with a culture that respects all of our goals of rigor, relevance, and relationships.  That the committee makes positive decisions that impacts success for all students according to their needs by providing a high school that compliments the current high school.  We create a plan that better suites the needs of the students and the community.  That we keep on task and on time, that we leave energized.  That our plan is well accepted and looks different than what we have [now].  That it meets a large portion of the student body needs.  The high school is great, even though the sports may be split in half.  Every student finds a satisfying path to graduation and never goes unnoticed.  All Juneau students graduate with an education that prepares them for higher learning and life.”

Looking at Data:

Using a protocol, a structured discussion guide, the committee members examined School District data on achievement, graduation rate, dropout rate, and participation in athletics and activities.  With this protocol, the discussion was divided into three sections.  First, participants were asked to identify what they “saw” in the data with no interpretations, inferences, or assumptions.  Then, they were asked to use the data to make inferences and share what questions the data raised for them.  Lastly, they were asked to share what implications they felt the data had for our work together as a committee.  Some of the comments include the following:

Describe What You See:

• Discrepancies between achievement levels, graduation rates, dropout rates, and participation of Alaska Natives, Free/Reduced Lunch, and Other Students
• 8th grade class is smaller
• Fewer seniors than 9th and 10th graders
• Dropouts are proficient in academic skills
• Students taking high school qualifying exams do worse the 2nd and 3rd time they take it
• ACT and SAT scores are higher than state and even nation
• Participation rates are highest for Asian/Pacific Islanders and Caucasians 

Inferences:  What Questions Does the Data Raise for You?

• Are the figures for Free/Reduced Lunch accurate?  Do all eligible students participate?
• What type of remediation is offered for students taking the high school qualifying exam a second and third time?
• How many students are not eligible to take the qualifying exam due to lack of credits?
• What is the demographic data breakdown by grade level?
• What are the attendance rates?
• How do family finances influence kids’ abilities to participate in athletics?

 Implications for Our Work:

• We need to dig deeper into the data, especially at how kids choose classes
• We need additional data
• We need to address issues of equity
• There are cultural implications in many categories
• Implications for improving success on high school qualifying exam
• Importance of sense of belonging
• How do we accommodate for students of poverty?
• How do we compensate for social disparity?
• Since many of the dropouts are proficient, and how do we help those kids stay in school?
• Staffing implications because of the enrollment
• How do we provide more opportunities for kids in athletics and activities considering the financial restraint?
• What happens to students who don’t graduate in four years?

NOTE:  We are attaching an updated version of the data report that was distributed during the meeting. We added some information that was requested and updated enrollment figures to be current.

Closure:

Thank you to all of those who attended this first meeting and who have committed to being a part of this process during the next months.  It is a huge time commitment, but we feel the outcome is worth it.  A special thank you to our student representatives who not only agreed to facilitate part of the evening’s meetings, but who also gave up valuable time the following morning to design the collective statements.

Homework:

• Read “Results That Matter:  21st Century Skills in High School Reform” in the best practices section of the notebook
• Read the School District Goals and Strategic Plan and be prepared to discuss them
• Think about the Community Agreements and how they will impact how you work on this committee personally.  Think about if there’s anything else you need to work well on this committee.
• Because we were a bit rushed at the end of the meeting and didn’t have time to complete the protocol entirely in our protocol discussion, we’d like you to review the data sheet that we examined at the last meeting, as well as look at the revision with new information that we will be emailing you, and come prepared to share three implications that will set the direction for our upcoming work.

 Next Meeting:

• Wednesday, January 10th, 2007
• Tlingit & Haida Vocational Training and Resource Center
• First Floor Classroom:  Incubator
• Please note:  We’ll have snacks to eat, but not the full dinner that was provided for the first meeting