NORWICH BOARD OF SCHOOL DIRECTORS
RETREAT
THURSDAY MAY 10, 2007
4:00 P.M., MARION CROSS SCHOOL LIBRARY
Minutes
Present: Board members Callaghan, Gray, Sachsse, Vitt, Williams; Administrators Gersen, Aubin, Roberts; and faculty members Draper, Girard, Keogh, Ligett, Litteri. Recorded by R. Lohr
1. Call to order –Chair Sachsse called the meeting to order at 4:10 p.m.
2. The group reviewed Retreat Notes from the 2005 Retreat where the Board, administrators, and School Leadership Team considered goals.
The group discussed teacher evaluation in general with teachers expressing a desire for time to visit other teacher’s classes and other schools.
The Board suggested that a list of grants from the Ray School be circulated among faculty at Marion Cross to give them some ideas for enrichment grant projects.
The Board is interested in receiving a more detailed recap of the faculty evaluation process and wanted to have teachers receive structured feedback from parents. The retreatants felt that in such a survey, teachers could ask parents to anonymously provide responses to questions that would be helpful to staff. The Board understood that the Ray School has such a feedback process and this may be a good starting point for Marion Cross School.
In summary, the Board supported the idea of having teachers visit other classes and other schools; of increasing opportunities for collaboration; and of getting anonymous parental feedback that would be only for the use of the teachers. The Board would share a catalog of faculty accomplishments with the public, flagging improvement efforts as well. Administrators were asked to circulate a list of grant ideas from other schools. The principal would annually brief the Board providing a more detailed overview of staff evaluations in an executive session.
3. LAP Goals
The faculty left the meeting and the Board met to discuss the LAP goals. To address the LAP’s communication goal, the Board supported the idea of incorporating various curriculum night presentations into Board meetings, hoping it would benefit both the Board and the public. The Board discussed having an external expert review the math curriculum and practices, hoping to achieve a more consistent program internally as well as with the Ray School. The Board also felt it was important to provide lower grade parents a curriculum overview of all six grades.
4. Executive Session
Carey Callaghan moved and Linda Gray seconded a motion to enter executivesession in accordance with Title 1, Section 313 for discussion of a personnel matter. The motion passed unanimously. The Board entered executive session at 8:00 p.m.
5. Adjournment
Linda Gray moved and Stan Williams seconded a motion to adjourn at 8:50 p.m.
The motion passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 8:50 p.m. |
