March 2nd & 3rd |
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| Thursday, 08 March 2007 | |
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The Next Generation: Our Kids, Our Community Advisory Committee Meeting Notes
March 2-3, 2007 -- Work Days
Committee Members in Attendance:
Darby Brown, Jeremy Buss (Day 2), Phyllis Carlson, Cheri Carson, Chris Carte, Sonja Engle, Ron Flint, Clay Good, Cory Hansen, Larry Harris, Alberta Jones, Jackie Kookesh, Tracy Kubley, Gary Lehnhart (Day 2), Nia Maake, Sarah Marino, Haley Nelson, Joe Nelson, Sandra Pahlke, Bill Ralston, Destiny Sargeant, Laury Scandling, Bernie Sorenson, Roberta Stell, Teri Tibbett, Chrissy Walker, Shea Wilcox, Charla Wright
Goals for Work Days:o To create a set of Action Belief Statements
Introduction and Grounding:
The meeting began with introductions and a grounding activity. Joan Walser and Rhonda Hickock were introduced to the group in their roles as small group facilitators. The group then revisited the process for decision making that will occur over the next two months, as well as the “ingredients” for decision making that are essential for committee members to keep in mind as we move forward to develop the belief statements and the proposals. The ingredients that members were again asked to keep in mind as they work over the next two days include the following: o Community input from the forums
Current Efforts to Improve Student Learning at JDHS and Yaakoosge Daakahiei Alternative School.
Bernie Sorenson, principal at JDHS, shared with the advisory committee JDHS’s plan to improve learning for all students. The long term plan focused on achieving high expectations for all students (rigor), creating highly personalized learning environments through the development of small learning communities (relationships), creating relevance and deep learning for students (relevance), continuous development of teacher quality and empowerment, and engaging the community to become active members in the educational process. Creating Action Belief Statements:
In order to be certain that all developed proposals are designed to meet the needs of students and the community of Juneau, it is necessary to create a set of Action Belief Statements for High Schools in Juneau. Once these belief statements are created, it is essential that we continually refer back to them to make sure that proposals are not meandering away from these common beliefs. Several sets of belief statements from other schools were shared to offer members an idea of how these might be structured. A process that included creating individual statements, group statements, and ultimately a common set of belief statements for the entire committee was then initiated. A final “wordsmithing” of these statements is still in progress, but the group agreed that the concepts were clear enough to guide their work. The “draft” of these statements follows.WE BELIEVE: o Learning is our main purpose.
Forum Comments:
Packets with the public forum comments from Question #4: What advice do you have for the high school learning environment? were distributed and read by members to further guide proposal development. Developing Proposals:
As a first step in the process, members were asked reflect on all of the information (i.e. “ingredients”) that has been shared, researched, and discussed and write their idea for high schools in Juneau. These cards were then grouped by similarities into “affinity groups.” The groups were then provided with headings, short summaries, and all members selected which group they wanted to work with. Members were encouraged to select groups, not necessarily by what they had written, but rather by what most intrigued them. From this process, five distinct proposals were developed. Because of the use of the Action Belief Statements to guide the work, all proposals have some common components. However, each one also includes some very distinct differences in how to realize these beliefs. Groups then shared their drafts using a Tuning Protocol, which includes a brief presentation, clarifying questions, and an opportunity for the audience to make comments that might be warm, cool, or wonderings. The tuning ends with the presenting group responding to what they have heard. The five proposals, in brief, draft form are as follows:1. Two reformed, comprehensive high schools, each giving explicit attention to small learning communities in order to personalize education. 2. Five small autonomous schools of choice, which would include two at JDHS, two at Thunder Mountain, and Yaakoosge as an additional choice, all based around varying themes/interest areas but including advisories, and the expectation that all students will graduate with plans for post secondary learning (college, career training, etc.) 3. A 9/10 and an 11/12 school, each using a separate facility and focusing on the developmental stages for students of that age. The 9/10 school would also focus on increasing opportunities for students to participate in intramural athletics and activities, while the 11/12 school would host the competitive teams. Students at the 9/10 school would have the option to participate on the competitive teams. Both schools would incorporate small learning communities to personalize education. 4. A four school plan with the following components: JDHS keeps to its course in creating small learning communities for ninth graders, but remains fairly unchanged otherwise; Yaakoosge remains as it is as an alternative school; Thunder Mountain hosts two small schools of choice. 5. Six career path academies housed at JDHS and TMHS. Each academy would utilize mentorships, portfolios, strong partnerships with the university, and post secondary options. Students would leave the school with the opportunity to earn college or other post secondary credit.
Next Steps and Reminders:• Wednesday, March 7th: 6:00 p.m. meet at JDHS to finalize proposals
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