School Board Meeting Recap - January 28th

It was great to see so many people show up on Tuesday for the School Board Meeting!  

If you missed Dr. Dunlap’s presentation on the Comprehensive Bridge Plan, you can see it here:

(You can also see more on the Comprehensive Bridge Plan Draft here)

Here are some thoughts on the plan: 

If you have been following CCAP over the last year, we have been consistent with voicing our concern over the district’s ability to effectively plan, set goals, and communicate them.  Not only have many CCAP leaders spoken at board meetings and publicly requested the district to show us “plans,” we began blogging about it as well. We wanted to bring more awareness to the lack of  planning and communication. I’m going to be real with you for a moment; in the last two years, I have only missed two meetings.  TWO. 

This plan, which Dr. Dunlap presented on Tuesday was thorough. I can honestly tell you that over the past two years I have not once seen a plan that was as thorough or as thoughtful as this one. 

Although some in the community are saying it is what the former superintendent was doing, at no time was there an actual plan presented to the community. No one knew what direction the district was headed. Levels were eliminated, co-teaching instituted, reading specialists job descriptions changed, teachers moved into new positions. All without any information provided to the teachers prior to the changes. Leaving teachers scurrying to do their best to meet the students' needs.

There is still a lot of work to be still be completed! Dr. Dunlap acknowledged and explained how this was a process he wants the community involved in. 

In addition to sharing a plan, Dr. Dunlap shared why parents have left the district over the last several years. We are grateful that the district finally acknowledged that academics, behavioral concerns, transparency, and a lack of supports for students and families are the root cause of the parents leaving the district. We agree with the former superintendent; people aren't aware of the greatness taking place in CASD and its offerings. However, we also know that we as a district must address the root cause.

We loved each and every one of the Board Goals!  It leads us to wonder: what were the goals of the previous board? 

• Student achievement goal: Plan and implement (with fidelity) data-driven differentiated instruction, and train staff to meet the needs of all levels of learners using research-based programs. 
• Financial goal: Develop a budget that provides academic resources, supports and services for students while identifying opportunities for marginalizing expenses.
• Facilities goal: Create and implement a multi-year comprehensive maintenance plan of our current facilities that includes, but is not limited to, the consolidation and reconfiguration of grade levels.
• School climate goal: Create a positive equitable educational environment that is warm and welcoming where all students and staff feel safe, heard, respected, and are engaged in learning and where families and the community are actively engaged.

We fully encourage and support the use of focus groups.  We also concur with Dr. Dunlap:

“We all need to be in this together.  If people (or community group) want to be involved, please get involved.  We are creating opportunities for that to happen and we need to hear from everyone because everyone has to drive the plan.  This is a plan that everyone is part of, so that we can do things to change our district for the better.”   

 

Our team cannot begin to express how honored we are that we were part of this process.  We personally want to thank the Coatesville Area School District for trusting and allowing us to work alongside them to gather the wonderful, diverse group of community members. It was refreshing to be able to have an open dialogue as well as a constructive conversation.  It was even more exciting to actually see those conversations in the plan.  The “community was not only actively engaged,” we are also carrying out the board goals! 

CCAP fully believes that if we as a community invest into our community and district, showing our Coatesville pride, we will see the district and the community thrive.