At the residents representatives’ meeting on January 12th, the management presented slides entitled “ Why we were chosen…” (pdf) with the motto “Excellence for All.” It was a shorter, modified version of a presentation that they had shown at a meeting of the Long Island Consortium for Excellence and Equity (LICEE). Malverne UFSD was one of 6 districts that presented and in Mrs. Ricca’s opinion the presentation was very well received.

It certainly caught my attention. There were really good segments that can be repurposed for presentations targeting current and potential district owners. I exchanged a few emails with the management on this topic and plan to present a concept to the owners’ representatives at “their meeting in public.” The final product can be distributed to local real estate companies, so they can play the presentations in addition to the evaluation system based on the Common Core they currently use. Self-running narrated presentations, one overall for the district and one for each individual school will add to the “telling our schools story” branding efforts and also to the Mission Hill dream.

The Common Core Cheerpersons, Mrs. Gross and Mr. Mach, presented a writing program, “Writer’s Handbook,” they have been developing. They explained how they proceed with developing the program from the 12th grade down to lower grades. They played testimonials in which students were implying that the program is working. (Note: It’s a PDF document consisting of photocopied pages that do not allow keyword search).

Mr. Tulley, the BOE president, followed up with a question if there “was a particular reason to go from top grades down instead of the other way around.” The CC cheerpersons response was in line with what the reformers say. That the CC determined what is required to be “career and college ready,” so they had to go from those requirements down to lower grades.

It is exactly the approach that has been questioned by parents and educators for many reasons.
One, David Coleman, the author of the CCSS initiative, didn’t present sufficient evidence of how he determined the required level for “career and college readiness.”
Two, by deriving the standards from the top without the assistance of experts in the child development field, the reformers arrived at age-inappropriate standards in lower grades.

The management came to cheerpersons rescue by claiming that other districts are looking up the Malverne school district website and downloading the developed materials. This fact, in management’s view, confirms the quality of the materials.

Dr. Spiro announced that significant anti-flooding measures were undertaken at M.W. Downing and Davison Ave schools. They were already tested by heavy rains and no flooding occurred.

Mrs. Shannon Kelly was praised for her grant writing capabilities. So far, she submitted 24 proposals in value of $2M.

A resident commented that the presentation and the writing program were very informative, and was questioning why the meeting agenda was not advertised in advance. She was told that she should come to the January 21st parent academy where it would be shown to hundreds of parents. The resident reiterated what’s the point to give such a presentation to only a few people who were present at the school board meeting.

#gomules #ptchat