WMPCS Community Meeting Sep-9-2010 Minutes v2

Washington Montessori Public Charter School

Minutes for Community Meeting held Sept. 9, 2010
Attendees: (58 total)
Steve Jones, Head of School Karl Anderson Lisa Lawless
Jen Hales, Associate Head of School Eric Brauer Joel Leggett
Stacey Roberson, Admin. Assistant Dona Bumpass Cortni & Russell Lilley
Jessica Adams, Teacher 6-9 class Rebecca Casey Bonnie Miller
JoDee Anderson, Teacher Assist. 3-6 LeeAnn DelMonte Josh & Ashlee Nixon
Dale Baker, Curriculum Coordinator Maria Dickinson Elizabeth Oliveira
Lisa Barmer, Teacher Resource James Frisbies Tim & Kathryn Schuman
Christy Boudreaux, Teacher 9-12 class Jackie Garcia Austin Smigel
Laura Caraway, Teacher BASC Ginger Gardiner Dori St. Amant
Rae Cochran, Teacher Resource Stephanie Grimes Sonia Ward
Chrysta Farmer, Teacher 6-9 class Allison Harris Ronnie Watson
Jill Gaddy, Teacher 3-6 class Suzanne Hedgepeth Richie & Sherri Wilkins
Jane Hardee, Teacher 3-6 class Margaret Hrushesky Jenn & Ash Windham
Janice O’Kane, Teacher 6-9 class Adriennie Hull Kim Woolard
Amy Smigel, Teacher Assistant 9-12 Beverly Jarvis Linda Worsley
Patrick Velde, Teacher 12-15 class Ed Kornegay Nancy & Chuck Ausherman
Priscilla Denney, B.O.T. Member
Treva Maxwell Anderson, B.O.T.
Rachel Midgette, B.O.T. Member
Angi Bosso, Teacher 9-12 class

NOTE: If you attended and your name is not listed, please remember to sign in at the next
community meeting.

NEXT Community Meeting: Thursday, December 2 at 6:30 pm

Agenda Items
• PTO / Parent Advisory Council
• RTI
• Middle School Fundraisers
• 5-year Plan
• Open Community-elected B.O.T. Position and Upcoming Election
• Communication
• Montessori Moment

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PTO / Parent Advisory Council

Mr. Jones discussed that PTO has been temporarily dissolved and a new Parent Advisory
Council (PAC) has been formed in its place for the 2010-2011 school year. The objective of
the PAC is to start from a clean slate and discuss structure, scope and goals for forming a
new PTO in Spring 2011 and also to cover PTO fundraising and other duties until the new
PTO can be finalized. The PAC will discuss PTO bylaws, fundraisers, what works and what
doesn’t, event staffing and volunteers, budget, etc. Mr. Jones has selected at least one
parent from each grade level to participate and all other interested parents and teachers may
also participate. To help cover PTO functions during this interim period, room parents have
been recommended by teachers & staff for each classroom and will serve as the volunteer
coordinator and main means of communication for that classroom. Ginger Gardiner asked if
the bylaws were going to be rewritten in order to avoid the situation that prompted the
dissolution of the PTO. Mr. Jones said yes.

NOTE: A bylaws committee was formed at the last PAC meeting. This bylaws committee
meeting has met and begun work on drafting new bylaws for the Montessori PTO (MPTO).

RTI
Mr. Jones, Jen Hales and Dale Baker led the discussion regarding WMPCS’ recent training in
and introduction of Response To Intervention (RTI) evaluation. The goal of this system is to
benchmark and monitor each child’s performance to identify more clearly and earlier any
problems in maintaining grade level performance and meeting state curriculum objectives.
RTI may be used for 4 areas: reading, writing, math and behavior. It may also be
implemented in up to 4 levels.

WMPCS is currently implementing RTI in reading and math at level 1, with plans to move
through level 4 in these two areas before moving on to add writing and behavior. Mr. Jones,
Jen Hales and Dale Baker indicated that so far teachers seem positive, though no teachers
commented. Parents, including Allison Harris, one of the founders of the school, expressed
concern that this system may deteriorate Montessori instruction, which is the charter for the
school. Mr. Jones replied that it would not and that in many cases, the school’s Montessori-
based evaluation methods already in-place were similar if not identical to what RTI puts
forward.

Parents expressed concern over the time required and classroom disruption to evaluate
every student at every RTI implementation level. Mr. Jones replied that initial evaluations take
“one minute” and are done in a way that no child even realizes they are being evaluated. If
this initial evaluation shows a problem then a further, more detailed evaluation is scheduled,
with the goal of identifying exactly what problem the child is having and suggesting measures
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to address the issue early before a teacher resource intervention may be required.
EXAMPLE: if a one-minute reading evaluation determines a child is not at grade level, then a
further evaluation is scheduled with the goal of determining what the issue is — e.g. Is
reading speed too slow? Is comprehension not at grade level? — and also aids in assessing
why the issue is occurring so that it may be addressed successfully in the least disruptive
manner possible.

When asked if this system will help to improve documentation of grade level performance
which may then be used to relieve some pressure re: EOG test scores, Mr. Jones said NO.
However, he does feel RTI should help the school maintain better performance overall,
because the goal of the system is to identify if any student is not performing as expected, and
to assist those that normally fall through the cracks. When asked if RTI could help reduce
WMPCS costs to provide interventions and other required resources for students identified as
having learning and/or development issues (i.e. special education, speed needs, etc.), Mr.
Jones said that overall it should help the school in identifying and meeting students’ needs,
but it probably will not decrease overall required spending in this area.

Middle School Fundraisers

LeeAnn DelMonte solicited the community’s feedback on two proposed middle school
fundraisers, proceeds from which are used to fund the off-campus immersion trips scheduled
at the end of each 6-week session. The two proposed fundraisers to be organized and
operated by the middle school students included:

• Community-wide yard sale

• Christmas present wrapping.

The community responded that they would support the yard sale but not the Christmas
present wrapping. A suggestion was made to sell food at the yard sale or at least doughnuts
and coffee, both to entice shoppers (if marketed) and increase revenue, but Ms. DelMonte
said this was beyond the capability of the middle school students.

5-year Plan
Ginger Gardiner and other parents requested that the community see the current WMPCS 5-
year plan and also have a means to provide input. Mr. Jones and Jen Hale responded that no
written version exists that could be distributed, but that the school and Board of Trustees
have goals which will be discussed at the upcoming B.O.T. retreat in October.

The community responded that it feels a written 5-year plan is necessary for parents to be
able to understand what is going on with the school, what is has achieved (most parents did
not know the electronic white board had been purchased and was in use in the middle school
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classroom) and where it is going, including top goals and priorities. Parents also believe that
this type of planning and strategy is required in order to achieve fundraising which will almost
certainly be necessary in the face of continued cuts in state and federal funding.

Mr. Jones and other staff commented that maintaining such a document is difficult because
goals change constantly and some may not be achieved in the time or manner set out in
print. The community responded that the 5-year plan should then be a “living document”
which will need to updated periodically and that it could include a caveat in its introduction
that addresses the reality of reaching specified goals and timing. The community also
responded that just because strategic planning is difficult and time-consuming and must be
revisited on a continuing basis, does not mean it is not critical, as many business owners and
professionals among the attendees strongly testified.

Mr. Jones will present this for discussion at the October 22 B.O.T. retreat.

Open Community-elected B.O.T. Position and Upcoming Election

Jim O’Brien described how the WMPCS Board of Trustees is made up of 7 members, 5 of
which are “self-perpetuating” — i.e. candidates are brought in and these 5 board members
vote on whom should be elected to fill an open seat — which is very standard procedure
amongst business and non-profit institutions. WMPCS also has 2 community-elected board
members, which were introduced 4-5 years ago, when approximately 25% of the community
withdrew and enrolled their students elsewhere due to a conflict over community input,
communication and ability to resolve issues. Thus, 2 B.O.T. member positions were
dedicated to specifically represent the community, and these board positions are then elected
by the community in specially-held elections, which Jim manages for the community.

Jim asked for volunteers to assist in collecting candidates, mailing out ballots and providing
other needed assistance enabling this election to be successfully completed so that the new
B.O.T. member may begin their term in January of 2011, according to the WMPCS B.O.T.
bylaws. Community members suggested that Jim obtain a list of the candidates for the recent
perpetual board member election and contact them to see if they will run for the open
community-elected spot. Jim also advised anyone interested in being on the board to contact
one of the B.O.T. members or himself to obtain more information and an application.

Communication
The community expressed a strong desire to implement better communication between the
staff and parents. Elizabeth Oliveira indicated she had many ideas for how to do this. Ed
Kornegay said the reluctance to publish meeting minutes, tell parents where meeting minutes
are published, to publish a 5-year plan and provide parents with information about what the

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school is doing make parents feel the staff wants to keep them “in the dark, quiet like
mushrooms”.

Ms. Hales indicated that the staff has tried many different communication means over the
past 10 years, most with little success. Mr. Jones said that he has schedule once-a-month
morning meetings “Keeping Up with Mr. Jones” to achieve just that goal: providing parents
with an update on what is happening at WMPCS and received their concerns and
suggestions.

The community did feel that the PTO blog has worked well in communicating a wide range of
information and suggested that all Community Meetings should have minutes, which should
then be posted on the blog, and that Board of Trustee Meeting minutes should also be posted
on the blog for the community to read. B.O.T. members Rachel Midgette and Treva Maxwell
Anderson encouraged community members to contact them with any concerns, issues or
suggestions and also that community members need to attend the B.O.T. meetings to truly
understand the operation, goals and decisions made at WMPCS because the reasons behind
decisions are often complex.

Dr. Priscilla Denney was introduced as the newly elected B.O.T. member. Allison Harris
reminded everyone that the community-elected B.O.T. member was initially formed to be the
voice of the community and a direct representative of the community. Treva Maxwell
Anderson replied that she was informed by the B.O.T. that she, as a community-elected
board member, was in no way allowed to communicate directly with the community as their
direct representative, she was not to be the “voice of the community”, and that this position
was the same as any other board member.

NOTE: Mr. Jones indicated this was discussed at the September B.O.T. meeting and the
community should check those meeting minutes for details.

Also, a Survey Committee has been formed by Treva Maxwell Anderson, as approved by the
B.O.T. This committee has met and begun work on a climate survey to be distributed soon.
The objective of this first survey is to assist WMPCS in measuring how the school is doing
overall and identify areas for improvement.