"Knowledge is only given to those who are willing to seek it."
This month's committee meeting had some items discussed that we believe deserved some details. Therefore, we are going to devote two to three days to recap this month's committee meeting.
If you attended or tuned into this month's committee meeting, you found a different type of meeting. As we previously shared, Dr. Dunlap wants to engage the community. Therefore, he did not stay on the stage; instead, he was down moving throughout the auditorium eliciting feedback from the community. We enjoyed this change. We believe this is the engagement that our community needs and deserves. It allows for all voices to be heard, and it helps the board gain more knowledge to make the informed decisions we elected them to make. What are your thoughts on this change? What do you as a community member see as positive? What do you see as negative?
Education Committee Meeting
Presentation: What makes meetings effective?
Dr. Dunlap opened the meeting with a presentation focusing on the question: What makes for an effective meeting? He shared a PowerPoint and discussed how the point of view is important. What seemed key from the presentation was how ENGAGEMENT leads to the goal of improving student achievement. He reiterated the school board's role is to oversee the following areas: vision, standards, assessments, accountability, climate, alignment, collaborative relationships, and continuous improvement.
INFORMATIONAL ITEM(S)
Dunlap revisited a topic from last month: the substitute teacher shortage CASD is facing. Acknowledging that this is a problem that is not isolated to CASD, Dunlap shared that we have instances where substitutes have accepted positions in CASD and only change to substitute for a neighboring district the morning of the job.
In Dunlap's presentation, he shared that CASD teacher's attendance is 93.95% for the month of September with the substitution fill rate of 52.44%. In numbers according to Dunlap, this is about 24/25 teachers of 450.
Other data included in the presentation was a chart comparing the daily/ over 20 days / and the building sub rates for Chester County schools. Dunlap tossed out a potential solution of increasing our per diem pay ($100) to the higher over 20 days rate ($130) to attract more substitutes.
Rob Fisher suggested that we talk to WCASD to determine their fill percentage from Insight as that is the school district we share services with.
Tom Siedenbuhl voiced concern that the teacher absences percentage has been a problem over several years, and questioned why it's so high. Dunlap added that through conversations with teachers and administrators, teachers reported the need to recover from covering so many classes for colleagues or the difficulty with some student behaviors being challenging. Dunlap included that it is in the teachers' rights as a part of their contract.
A community member asked for the comparison of teacher absentee rates at other schools across Chester County. Dunlap responded that they will be looking into that.
A community member added that teachers might have a pattern of taking off on Mondays and Fridays, and that in the public sector this is addressed. Also, she added that teachers know that working in CASD entails working with students with greater needs. Dunlap assured her that accountability will be examined across the board.
Another community member requested that we reach out to Insight to ascertain if they have enough staff available as her conversation with someone from Insight revealed that Insight is not fully staffed to meet our needs.
In reviewing this information, and looking at the numbers, it might be beneficial for the public to know how many of the 24/25 teachers needing a substitute are teachers who are out for approved extended time (requiring a long-term substitute) and how many of the 24/25 are open positions?
Enrollment Numbers
Lastly, for the educational committee is the status of our enrollment. Dunlap is having a meeting to help this area on 10/9 to discuss with some helpful ideas.
District students 5499
3025 currently in charter schools
777 North (keeping an eye at those numbers)
Students are on waiting lists to get into the charter schools and Dunlap stated the need to look at "programming and what we are offering to retain these students...key for what we need to do moving forward."
A community member disagreed and said that there are so many advancements with AP and that our problem is "the teachers and the union on Facebook" She continued and said that it is the bashing of the Coatesville Area School District on pages that people are trolling that are causing our charter enrollment to increase. She also noted that the numbers are increasing instead of decreasing with the departure of Dr. Taschner.
Amelia Mills (Region 3 Candidate) provided the suggestion that we offer something out of the box to attract students to the district.
Lyryn (CAP leader) mentioned that a survey was completed on social media that revealed charter school parents reasons for leaving, and requested that the district consider gaining more information through a district survey.
Another parent in the district offered that parents are pulling their kids because they don't think their kids are getting their needs met. She told of one parent who pulled a child was not doing her part in working with the teachers. She praised the teamwork that is happening for her children at her children's school. She encouraged that parents and schools need to work together.
We encourage our readers to review CCAP's September 2018 CASD Charter School Survey Summary and also read what charter school parents had to say in the comments portion.
Dunlap revisited a topic from last month: the substitute teacher shortage CASD is facing. Acknowledging that this is a problem that is not isolated to CASD, Dunlap shared that we have instances where substitutes have accepted positions in CASD and only change to substitute for a neighboring district the morning of the job.
In Dunlap's presentation, he shared that CASD teacher's attendance is 93.95% for the month of September with the substitution fill rate of 52.44%. In numbers according to Dunlap, this is about 24/25 teachers of 450.
Other data included in the presentation was a chart comparing the daily/ over 20 days / and the building sub rates for Chester County schools. Dunlap tossed out a potential solution of increasing our per diem pay ($100) to the higher over 20 days rate ($130) to attract more substitutes.
Rob Fisher suggested that we talk to WCASD to determine their fill percentage from Insight as that is the school district we share services with.
Tom Siedenbuhl voiced concern that the teacher absences percentage has been a problem over several years, and questioned why it's so high. Dunlap added that through conversations with teachers and administrators, teachers reported the need to recover from covering so many classes for colleagues or the difficulty with some student behaviors being challenging. Dunlap included that it is in the teachers' rights as a part of their contract.
A community member asked for the comparison of teacher absentee rates at other schools across Chester County. Dunlap responded that they will be looking into that.
A community member added that teachers might have a pattern of taking off on Mondays and Fridays, and that in the public sector this is addressed. Also, she added that teachers know that working in CASD entails working with students with greater needs. Dunlap assured her that accountability will be examined across the board.
Another community member requested that we reach out to Insight to ascertain if they have enough staff available as her conversation with someone from Insight revealed that Insight is not fully staffed to meet our needs.
In reviewing this information, and looking at the numbers, it might be beneficial for the public to know how many of the 24/25 teachers needing a substitute are teachers who are out for approved extended time (requiring a long-term substitute) and how many of the 24/25 are open positions?
Enrollment Numbers
Lastly, for the educational committee is the status of our enrollment. Dunlap is having a meeting to help this area on 10/9 to discuss with some helpful ideas.
District students 5499
3025 currently in charter schools
777 North (keeping an eye at those numbers)
Students are on waiting lists to get into the charter schools and Dunlap stated the need to look at "programming and what we are offering to retain these students...key for what we need to do moving forward."
A community member disagreed and said that there are so many advancements with AP and that our problem is "the teachers and the union on Facebook" She continued and said that it is the bashing of the Coatesville Area School District on pages that people are trolling that are causing our charter enrollment to increase. She also noted that the numbers are increasing instead of decreasing with the departure of Dr. Taschner.
Amelia Mills (Region 3 Candidate) provided the suggestion that we offer something out of the box to attract students to the district.
Lyryn (CAP leader) mentioned that a survey was completed on social media that revealed charter school parents reasons for leaving, and requested that the district consider gaining more information through a district survey.
Another parent in the district offered that parents are pulling their kids because they don't think their kids are getting their needs met. She told of one parent who pulled a child was not doing her part in working with the teachers. She praised the teamwork that is happening for her children at her children's school. She encouraged that parents and schools need to work together.
We encourage our readers to review CCAP's September 2018 CASD Charter School Survey Summary and also read what charter school parents had to say in the comments portion.
Let us know what you thought of the board meeting or any thoughts related to the items covered in the Educational Committee Meeting.
Thanks for recapping the school board meeting. I would like to speak on Charter School enrollment and the the remark in regards to enrollments increasing & not decreasing under our new interim Superintendent. First off, he's been in office for less than 2 months. These numbers are based on the past experiences under our past Administrator. Five years of decline doesn't get fixed in less than 2 months. From what I've read, he's already more engaged in a less than formal way which can only help. I had a great breakfast with him, and I found it refreshing. Undue pressure on him that wasn't placed on our prior Administrators will not wear well. We will need patience & persistence. I'm glad that I no longer have to vigorously advocate for a better CASD like before, because I believe we're in good hands. A School Board that's diverse in ideas and reflective of communities needs. There will be loyalist who will want what brought us down, and yearn for the return of the last 5 years. Elections have consequences and Coatesville, minus a few, have decided to go forward,and to regain the luster and the standings that we once had. Some would insult you into thinking that students, parents & employees don't have the capability to recognize a district that was in a free fall. There are some people that hope we fail, to give validation for 5 years of decline.
ReplyDeleteStay strong CASD, we're made of good stock. Continue to advocate Ccap, don't become discouraged by the voices that failed when it was their turn. As always, I pray for our District and I see Coatesville School District Rising...