INSIDE THE SCHOOL DISTRICT Here are some...

INSIDE THE SCHOOL DISTRICT

Here are some decisions and discussions from Tuesday night’s

Newport-Mesa Unified School District meeting.

STRATEGIC PLAN

The school board approved the first reading of the 2005-10

Strategic Plan final draft. The Strategic Plan is a checklist of what

the district and its board want to accomplish in the next five years.

District administrators, teachers, classified staff members,

parents, students and community members participated in group

sessions to discuss ideas and strategies to address various school

issues.

Trustee Tom Egan cast the lone dissenting vote. He felt there

wasn’t enough time to review the changes the board had made during

its afternoon study session.

Some of the other trustees said they decided to approve it anyway,

so they can vote on its implementation at the Nov. 23 board meeting.

WHAT IT MEANS

Some of the items in the plan include meeting the needs of

students by providing greater career preparation training, by

planning to reach the potential of students with unique needs and by

expanding after-school and summer programs.

The district also plans to redesign curriculum, scheduling,

environment, instruction and community involvement at its high

schools. Staff members will be trained on the redesigned high school

structure, according to the plan.

Other notable objectives include maintaining site modernization at

the current level; providing preschool access for all children;

expanding course offerings in visual and performing arts programs;

ensuring greater teacher access to science materials; providing

greater access to online resources; and increasing training

opportunities for professional development through the creation of a

teacher training center and demonstration school.

The Strategic Plan will go back to the board for final approval at

its Nov. 23 regular meeting.

COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT PROGRAM

District trustees reviewed and discussed the 2003-04 school year

results for state standardized testing, as well as the annual Title I

Program Improvement Report, the results of national college entrance

testing programs, the ACT Program, the SAT-I Reasoning Test and

Advanced Placement examinations.

Director of Curriculum Peggy Anatol presented board members with

three thick binders of detailed information on each school. The

information includes results of state standardized testing, the

annual Title I Program Improvement report, the Annual Yearly Progress

report and the Academic Performance Index, all released earlier in

the year. Each of these reports assesses student performance and

district curriculum.

WHAT IT MEANS

Principals from each district school will present Single Plans for

Student Achievement -- which is each school’s plan for improving

scores -- to the board at a study session Nov. 16 and 17. The

principals and board will work together to develop goals and

implementation strategies for each individual school.

ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION PILOT PROGRAM

Trustees discussed the progress of the first two months of a pilot

alternative education program for 40 of the district’s at-risk 10th

grade students.

Students who failed six or more high school classes were eligible

to enroll in the program to catch up on class credit requirements in

a cooperative learning atmosphere, said Back Bay Alternative

Education Center Principal Debbie Lucker-Davis.

The Alternative Chance at Education program was designed to

provide students with academic, social and emotional support using

smaller class sizes to create better student-teacher connections,

daily contact between teachers and parents and with counseling

services to deal with anger management.

WHAT IT MEANS

After the one-year pilot program, board members will decide if it

will be increased in size or added to other sites to benefit more

students. Board members said they hope to compare grades, attendance

and discipline data from students who chose to enroll in the program

with the data from those who did not.

PUBLIC HEARING ON TEXTBOOKS

Trustees set a public hearing for Nov. 23 to get public comments

on the textbooks and instructional materials in the district’s

schools.

WHAT IT MEANS

The hearing ensures that school districts comply with an education

code requiring availability of textbooks or instructional materials.