Board Report 1/21/09

Technology
Scholastic Reading Counts

After our last meeting I spent some time installing and trying to run the program on one of our current servers. I found out it wasn’t up to specs, so we have purchased a “new to us” server at a reasonable price and I am in the process of getting this online. I see this server primarily as the “Reading Counts” server as well as filling other roles in our domain. It will take the place of one of our current servers that is 8 years old.

Building Improvements

During the Christmas Break I added 3 more wireless access points to our complex, enabling the Band and Vocal rooms, as well as the commons area. These APs are not tied in to our management software, but are more of an experiment, to see if wired, how much use that end of the building would receive.

Curriculum

Year 1 folks have not met yet, but our first meetings are coming up the first two weeks of February. In the meantime I have met with all grade level teams to discuss 3 questions; “What do students do well when they come to you?”, “What are some of their weaknesses?”, and “How is Grammar part of your daily instruction?”. I also tasked each group to come to their meeting in February with an ideal example of a student for their grade level at the beginning of the year – and at the end of the year. We will use all this information to tighten up our vertical alignment of curriculum.

Year 2 folks are working on gathering materials for review, so when we evaluate materials later this spring we will have samples to view.