SIP Team Minutes from September 13, 2010

Ridgewood High School’s School Improvement Plan (SIP) Team gathered on Monday, September 13, 2010 to discuss what work committees have been doing and to determine ways to fulfill the mission and vision of Ridgewood High School.
The meeting was held in room 151C, which is the breakout room across from the Community Room, at 3:35 PM.

In attendance where Jim Smith (SIP Team Chair), Michelle Kumor (PDC Chair), Jill Laubenstein (PTO Chair), Jennette Gonzales (R&L Chair), and Sam Lewis (Tech Chair). Absent were Rob McCarthy (DSS Chair) and Jen Kelsall (Principal).

The meeting began with celebrations. Jennette Gonzales began by celebrating the fact that one of Ridgewood’s partner schools graciously supported the Literacy Festival (Lit Works) with a $1,500 donation. Other generous donations included $500 from the local Rotary Club and $500 from the RHS Parents Club. With Jennette already booking authors for the 2012 Lit Works, every donation is being used to bring the authors in that our students want to meet and talk to. Jennette also wanted to celebrate that Lit Works now has an awesome logo! For questions, or requests to assist, please contact Jennette.

Jill Laubenstein was next to celebrate her colleagues in the RHS Science Team. She celebrate that her students enrolled in the Environmental Science class developed and presented the best ever Power Point presentations. She commented that the students’ presentations were clean, concise, and the presentations by students were clear and effective (without students reading from the slides!). She also commented that her students enrolled in her Biology class were proficient with conversions thanks in part to the teachers they had in Physics and Algebra!
In addition to celebrating her colleagues, Jill also wanted to celebrate that each of Ridgewood’s main partner schools now has students preparing to participate in a RHS Science Fair! Way to go PTO!

Prior to each committee providing an updated report, the SIP Team had a special motion called to dissolve the RtI Committee. The RtI Committee performed dutifully for the last two years as Ridgewood prepared to implement its RtI Plan. The Division Heads have now taken over the responsibility, along with the PDC, in providing the staff and teachers with the appropriate resources and training required to implement RtI. In addition, the creation the RtI Problem Solving Team has taken on the responsibility to help student and teachers in all three RtI Tiers. The motion to dissolve the RtI Committee then was put to a vote and the motion was unanimously approved by the SIP Team members present. Thanks to all the volunteer teachers and staff members who provide their time and effort while serving on this committee!
The meeting then focused on committee updates, questions and concerns. First to report was Michelle Kumor representing the PDC.

PDC is currently meeting and progressing forward to develop the October 12, 2010 teacher institute. The theme, or focus, of the institute will be “Motivation”. Part of the planning process to prepare for the institute will include meeting with a variety of student focus groups in order to receive authentic student feedback on what motivates them to learn, study and improve academically. The plan may include videotaping these focus groups and allowing teacher to view and analyze student responses.

In addition to the October 12 institute, PDC is also planning to work with Ridgewood’s partner schools in order to prepare for the January institute day. The first meeting date is scheduled for September 23.

Future plans for the PDC include running book talks and scheduling break-out sessions as well as working with the Tech Committee to develop time to train staff and teachers on using the new website. As the PDC meets and plans, additional information will be provided to the staff and teachers.

The PDC meets every other Thursday afternoon from 3:15 until 4:15 in room 114. Please contact Michelle Kumor for details on where.

Next to report was Jill Laubenstein representing the PTO. Jill reported that at Ridgewood’s Open House, several parents signed up for more information regarding the PTO. In addition alld of the informational cards regarding what the PTO is and how parents could be a part of the process were picked up.

Jill also reported on the plethora of events and activities the PTO has scheduled. Included are annual “pack the house events” where parents are working with Pat Woods to get the word out to both parents and students to pack athletic events throughout the school year in order to foster school spirit.

Another idea in the works is the potential to bring back the Family Fun Nights that were formally run through the Ridgewood Assistance Program (RAP). The member of RAP felt the event was consuming in ordinate amount of time from the mission of RAP which is to provide group sessions for a variety of students with a variety of different social and emotional challenges. It is PTO’s hope to bring back the Family Fun Night events in order to foster a positive relationship with other parents and the entire Ridgewood community.

PTO is moving forward with its plans to start Active Parenting discussion groups.
Another idea in the works is to have a parent movie night. Ideas being discussed include have clubs, like Varsity R, offer babysitting services for parents while they enjoy some time together in the auditorium to watch a movie.

The Science Fair is now official! The plan includes having several of Ridgewood’s students serve as mentors and assist our partner school students in developing their fair project, hypotheses, analyzed results and paper. The project is tentatively scheduled to begin in January with the fair sometime in the spring.

Finally, Jill was proud to announce that “good news postcard” templates were issued to all teachers and staff members. The hope is that anytime a staff member or a teacher wants to communicate a positive moment for a student, he or she can fill out the postcard and send it home to celebrate with parents and or guardians.

Whew! Great job Jill and the PTO! If you are interested in participating or providing your thoughts with the PTO, they meet on the second Tuesday of every month at 6:30 PM in Ridgewood’s Community Room.

Next to report was Sam Lewis representing the Technology Committee. Currently the Tech Committee has a good representation from the staff, but they are working on developing connections with students who would like to serve and provide their input on the committee.
Currently the goal of the Tech Committee this year is the development and launch of Ridgewood’s updated and new website. Several considerations have been made and a company package has been purchased to develop several sample templates for the committee to review and revise as needed. Once the website has been developed, the plan of the Tech Committee is to work along with the PDC to provide a “train-the-trainer” professional development sessions so that the staff can learn how to use and update the new site.

The Tech Committee meets on the last Thursday of every month at 7:15 AM in room 151c (the community break out room).

Finally, Jennette Gonzales, representing the R&L Committee reported. Currently the R&L Committee has yet to meet. The plan however is to provide feedback on the SIP Team’s revised school improvement plan and begin discussions on providing professional development and or materials regarding numeracy.

The SIP Team introduced New Business that will be the focus of the next meeting. The current school improvement plan is required to be revised and re-submitted as a result of our school not meeting AYP. The team plans to use the majority of the next meeting to review the current plan and make revisions.

The next SIP Team meeting is scheduled to meet in Room 151c at 3:15PM on Monday, October 4th.

If you have questions, concerns, or ideas on how the SIP Team can fulfill the mission and vision of the RHS Community, please contact one of the committee chairs or Jim Smith.

Thanks to everyone who volunteers their time and effort to a committee!

The meeting was adjourned at 4:33 PM.