Elementary Principal Nancy Lewis and Secondary Principal Dale Healy reported on their building improvement plans for the school at the regular Worth County Board of Education Meeting Thursday. Lewis reported on the professional development that the elementary teachers were doing. She said that sometimes, they would go to other schools and observe classes while sometimes, they met among themselves and exchanged ideas. "We have lots of knowledge in our building and our goal is to be able to share that knowledge," she said. Teachers wrote out measurable goals to meet the MAP Tests and will evaluate the students' progress in categories measured by the tests throughout the year. She said that way, the school will figure out who is learning and progressing through the system. Lewis said that the goal of teaching elementary has changed; before, the goal was to teach to the middle. However, she said that getting everyone to the exact same level did not make sense; therefore, the goal is to teach to everyone. She said that some students were ready for certain skills and concepts at different times.
Healy reported that his teachers met together by subject and were going to various workshops around the region. For instance, some went to workshops on the ACT while others went to a workshop which brought teachers and college professors together. Healy said that previously, teaching at the high school level focused on rote learning. However, he said that the job requirements over the years have changed, meaning that the schools must change the way they have students learn materials. For instance, Social Studies classes are more cross-curricular and collaborative. Healy reported that one time, he had Tim Wall do an in-service program on test-taking skills, which he said was very valuable to the teachers. Wall also worked with students on their test-taking skills as well. High School teachers do problems of the day which are similar to the questions on the MAP and the ACT. Once a month, teachers meet together to compare resources and get ideas. In answer to a question about communication between elementary and secondary teachers, Superintendent Matt Robinson said that they do vertical teaming every year and work on ensuring that the students meet their Grade Level Equivalencies for their grade level.
Robinson reported that teacher Chris Healy had written a program that he says makes it much easier for the custodial staff to do work orders. If a teacher notices work that must be done, they enter the work order into the program. Nancy Lewis and Dale Healy then approve the work orders and then the custodial staff does them. Robinson said that this step helps reduce the backlog of work orders around the school.
The board went to closed session to hire two substitute nurses.
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