FACULTY MEETING MINUTES
Langevin House, VTC
PRESENT: Richard Anderson, Cara Berryman, Dennis Bonanza, Jim Candon, Kathi Cassidy, Diana Chapman, Al Clark, Wade Cole, Chris Colwell, Sheila Commo, Anne Cote, John Cross, Anne Emerson, Jenny Estey, Alan Frost, Barb Hagen, Lisa Harrington, Audrey Irons, Debbie Jaimes, Dan King, Mary Koen, Sue Kuzma, Mark Lather, Tod Lessard, John Long, Bob Lucenti, Paul Major, Nikki Marabella, Eric Marchese, Mary McCallum, Mo McIntyre, Katherine Miller, Maryanne Murphy, Tom O'Toole, Broni Plucas, Mary Poulos, Gene Rembisz, Bob Salzman, Bob Sattelberger, Bobbi Shutts, Guy Smythe, Sharon Strange, Dave Strong, Claire Swaha, Peter VanWageningen, Bob Walsh, Tom Woods.
ABSENT: Jeff Cassarino, Pauline Dwyer, John Gorczyk, Steve LaTulippe, Mary Nelson and Scott Tomlinson.
Introduction:
Bob called the meeting to order at
Roll Call was taken.
School
Announcements:
Bob announced to the staff that the steering committee plans to hold faculty meetings in June, July and August in preparation for the NEASC visiting teams in October. Every effort should be made to attend these meetings but it is not mandatory if vacations have already been planned for those dates.
At the last
The Agency of Human Services has reorganized a training called Beyond the Boxes. The idea of the training is to "break down silos and interact with each other". There are four themes to the training. Eventually all staff will be attending a training. Bob has attended, as well as, Sue Kuzma. Sue shared her experience and feels that it has allowed her to look at the "whole" student better.
We have a new hire at the Barre Probation & Parole site.
Catherine "Cate" Cattier will be starting her position on May 30th. A
hiring register for the vocational position in
The State Advisory Board is currently looking at policies and procedures. There was a discussion about keeping CHSVT policies separate from the Department of Corrections policies and the authority of the State Advisory Board to set policies.
Local Announcements
Anne Cote shared their experience at the Northeast Regional Correctional Facility with VT Reads 2006 and VT Humanities. They read the book As Long As There Are Mountains by Natalie Kinsey-Warnock. Pauline presented a PowerPoint and there was a book discussion. John Sanderson, an adjunct, provided a historical discussion from 1956 about the book and there was a drawing contest.
Bob Sattelberger briefly discussed the job fair that was attended and said that they were able to place some students in job positions.
Al Clark shared about graduation in
Anne Emerson announced that
John Cross shared information about graduation at the
Northwest State Correctional Facility. Ross Anderson was in attendance at the
graduation and was very impressed by one particular graduate. He asked him if
he could put his name in for a possible selection of a full automotive
scholarship from the Heritage Foundation to attend
A local farmer came to the Northwest facility as an adjunct
and worked with students growing over 37,000 plants and flowers for
distribution to parks, rest areas and sidewalks in the
John also thanked the staff for all of their support in the recent passing of his father.
Old Business -
FERPA Training - Mary Koen
FERPA stands for Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act. This act protects the privacy of student education records and parents' access rights to those records. Mary handed out an informational packet which included information on what can and cannot be shared among staff and other "services" that students may access. Bob reminded staff that the goal is respect and dignity of the individual student. There was discussion about what should and should not be shared via emails and general office conversations. Directory information is public information that may be shared without specific consent. This information includes student's name and gender, diplomas, awards, degrees and certificates, date of enrollment and hours in attendance, educational status and credits earned.
Old Business -
Focus Groups - Jim Candon
Final Report Outs:
Elections were held for a new chair of the Curriculum Content Committee. At present, Jim Candon is chair. Sue Kuzma nominated Jim Candon to remain as chair of the committee. Jenny Estey seconded it. The motion was called and passed unanimously. Jim Candon will remain chair of the Curriculum Content Committee. Jim stated that new chairs for each focus group need to be determined for the next year. Each focus group gave their final report regarding the final templates for each core group.
Katherine reported that the Language Arts group completed standards four, five and six and the sub-groups finalized the final core classes. They are as follows: Basic Reading Skills, English Language Arts Survey, Literature, Poetry and Writing.
Sue reported that the Social Studies group completed
standards four, five and six and have developed the
following core classes: Social Science, Political Science, Economics, Current
Events, History,
Cara announced that the Fine Arts and Foreign Language group is finalizing standards four, five and six and have developed the following courses: French, Theater, Visual Arts, Music and Dance.
The Math group has finished standards four, five and six and created the following core courses: Geometry, Algebra I, Algebra II, Pre-Algebra and Basic Math.
Bob Sattelberger and the Computer Studies group have finalized standards four, five and six and have developed the following courses: HTML/Webpage Design, Windows Office XP/Computer Basics and Keyboarding.
The Science group has developed the following courses: Earth Science, General Science, Life Science, Physical Science and Health Studies, which is broken down into two categories, Health Education and Physical Activities.
Mark and the Trades group finalized standards four, five and six and they have developed two core courses; Basic Safety for Trades Education and Trades Education Employability Skills.
New course numbers will be assigned and specific courses will be defined by the syllabus. Currently there are 1,169 courses in the database. This defining by group will narrow the core courses down to 33.
The current chairs for each committee will remain the same for the coming year. Math - Jeff Cassarino, Social Studies - Sue Kuzma, Trades - Mark Lather, Science - Pauline Dwyer, Language Arts - Katherine Miller (writing sub-chair) and Guy Smythe (literature sub-chair), Computer Studies - Bob Sattelberger, Fine Arts/Foreign Language - Cara Berryman.
The Library Committee has purchased Spanish/English dictionaries for each site and they were passed out.
New Business
NEASC Standard One
Review -
Bob is working on standard descriptions and will be sending them to everyone and is welcoming feedback. The main point of the standards is a self review, "how are we doing?" The Steering Committee has hired consultant Bruce Berryman to review each standard and give "outside" suggestions. Bruce was chosen because of his experience with NEASC. Copies of the NEASC indicators are available at central office for anyone interested in reviewing them. Bob read the indicators for standard one.
Barb announced that the steering committee was working on standard one and it was sent via email for all of the staff to read and review. A vote by show of hands indicated that everyone agreed with standard one as written. Each standard will be sent via email for review and will be voted on by a show of hands at future meetings.
Summary of RM Math
Framework training session - Cara Berryman
Cara shared her experience at the training in May. The new
interactive white board needs Windows XP, an overhead projector and a computer
to be functional. It is easy to teach and there are over 2000 math activities
with it. Al Clark announced that part two of the training will be held at
Northern State Correctional Facility on June 30th, from
Annual Report
Bob will be sending out a timetable via email when pictures,
narratives etc need to be sent to Sheila. Please be sure that all attendance is
in by July 10th! A discussion was had to determine who the annual report should
be dedicated to. Jim Candon suggested that the report be dedicated to Tony
Washburn. Discussion ensued and it was agreed that the 2005-2006 Annual Report
be dedicated to Tony Washburn and Mary Jo Scott. Work Force Development and the
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Local Standards
Board - Mary Poulos
Mary thanked the faculty for getting their licenses together. Also, thanks to Chris Colwell and Al Clark for working on Teacher's Workplace and electronic portfolios through the Department of Education and IBM.
The Plan of Operation was accepted by the State Board of Education. No major changes were needed. John Cross moved to approve the Plan of Operations. Katherine Miller seconded it. All approved and the Plan of Operations was accepted. Jenny Estey and Jim Candon's terms with the Local Standards Board expired and nominations needed to be made. John Cross moved to re-elect Jenny Estey and Jim Candon to the LSB. Katherine Miller seconded it. All approved and Jenny and Jim were re-elected to the board for another term. The next LSB meeting is tomorrow, May 26th.
Title One - Bob
Walsh
The Title One Committee was renamed the Assessment Committee
and Tom O'Toole was named chair. The committee met, re-elected officers and
wrote by-laws. The next meeting will be held on June 12th. It was determined at
a prior faculty meeting that an administrator from central office be in
attendance at these meetings. The committee would like to know who that will
be. They were instructed to contact Bob at central office before their next
meeting.
Technology
Committee - Pauline Dwyer
Dave Strong filled in for Pauline. Seventeen faculty and
three adjuncts attended the RM Math training in May. The second half will be on
June 30th in
Bobbi announced that she would be participating in the Relay for Life and if anyone is interested in sponsoring her, please contact her.
Curriculum
Committee - Barb Hagen
The committee is continuing work on NEASC standards. The FDIC
has a "Money Smart" class that they will possibly be offering to the
faculty to train them on use with their students. Training on policies and
procedures will begin in the fall.
Library Committee
- Peter VanWageningen
The library committee purchased a Spanish/English dictionary
for each site with left over funds. The next committee meeting will be on June
6th.
Beryle Gardner
Committee - Cara Berryman
Nomination letters need to be handed in. The committee
currently has five nominees and will meet in mid-June to determine the winner.
The deadline will be extended to allow for more nominations.
Special Education
- Mary Koen
The monitoring report needed a few changes and is now complete. Next special education meeting will include evaluation and IEP updates.
Bob thanked everyone for their hard work over the past year.
Dave Strong moved to
approve the meeting minutes of April 27, 2006. Mary Poulos seconded it. Motion
passed unanimously.
The meeting adjourned at
Respectfully Submitted,
Sheila Commo