I started off my observation hours for this class by attending a School Board Meeting at Phillis Wheately Elementary School on January 21st from 7:00pm-9:00pm. The first part of the meeting began at 6:00pm and was not open to the public. The members of the board were in a separate room talking about topics that, according to ***the rules***, they are allowed to keep confidential. Once they were done having their private meeting, the school board emerged from their isolated room and came into the school’s library where the public was waiting for them.
Once the school board took their places, the meeting began with a motion to move into Open Session, which basically means that they were starting the public portion of the meeting. I was shocked when the meeting was opened with a prayer. I did not think that public schools were allowed to pray or acknowledge God in any shape or form, so I was quite pleased to see the reverence and respect given to Him at this meeting. After the prayer, everyone said the Pledge of Allegiance and then the first order of business began. A teacher got up to talk to the board about a new initiative being enacted in the school district called Compassionate Schools. She gave a slide presentation explaining the process and the
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Even though I had no personal investment in the school district, I was very excited to hear such good things about all the school and all the programs that they were implementing. It was interesting to see how decisions were made and how the board operated. It was also gratifying to note that the parents cared enough about their school district to show up and learn about what was happening. I believe attending this meeting was a valuable experience for me and I am glad to have done it. On a side note, I observed that the superintendent of the school was wearing green and blue striped socks with dress shoes and a suit; I found this to be
My assignment is a combination of two interviews. I interviewed an Assistant Principal, Ms. Katis Romig, as well as, our Curriculum Director, Mrs. Maria Petkanas. They are both responsible for the curriculum development and instruction for the school where I work, P.S. 811Q. I also learned a fair amount from Ms. Romig and Mrs. Petkanas including that District 75 Citiwide Special Education’s Deputy Superintendent, Ms. Barbara Joseph, had given the school feedback and suggested writing curriculum and textbooks. This was the only feedback she gave our principal during her observation last week.
At Community Boards, the skills and disciplines that I learned was that I was able to handle clients through phone calls more effectively and in a manner in which I can be neutral. I also learned to be very patient with some clients over the phone, where some phone calls had spent over an hour of the client’s time talking to me about their issues at their residence. I was able to cultivate the skill of being able to use different communication styles in order to deal with certain people and their styles, for often I would have to deal with people that very emotional, because of their situation, whether they be angry, sad, or hopeless, I had to alter my style of communication to accommodate their needs and try to calm them down. Although I
By having school board meetings, it helps to see what the school’s needs. This is very important for the reason that this may be the only time that a concern parent or person voice might be heard. From this meeting, it was learned that the school board members are willing to help people that have concerns. An example, of this, was when the concern Pre-K parent was worried that she heard that Pre-K has been just a daycare. However, someone from the board mentioned to her that she would personally go with the parent the next day and show her how Pre-K is running during the day. This made the parent so happy because her concerns were being met. I have learned that school board members look out for the students and that they are the number one source that community members should go to if they have a concern or a suggestion to better their children’s
I went to the school board meeting on March 21, 2016 in Kanawha. The following people were at the council: Wayne Kronneman, Leah Deutsch, Ryan Hiscocks, Ryan Johnson, Jay Burgardt, Mona Buns, Gary Chizek, Todd Hammer, and Jon Harle. The others were mainly community member which included teachers, principals, parents and supporters. Some of the West Hancock staff included Mr. Peterson, Mrs. DeHart, Mrs. Bruns, Mr. Francis, Mrs. Gast and others. The other people who were there were parents and other community members. The first part of the meeting was the revision of the budget and presentation of the budget. This was given by Wayne Kronneman. He explained the budget of this year and how it compared to last years. Also he also talked about the budget for next year. After that they had a discussion with the
I chose the October 27th board meeting. Right away I could tell that the members on the board were clearly articulate educators at various schools in Fayette County. I couldn’t unfortunately hear the names of the individual members on the board. There was 2 people who ended up addressing the board. One a reverend who had issue with the math scores that the district had which were novice. He was also unhappy that 40% of students in the district made a novice in reading. He didn’t like that 2/3rds of the African American students couldn’t read on grade level. He had a lot of support from the crowd as he got a lot of applause and he even had some people on the school board nodding in agreement.
Conducted on February 19, 2014, the Board of Education Meeting was run by Ronald Goldstein while board members Donald Kennedy and Mary Tomasi were also present. Because Superintendent Jeff Mathieu was out of state, Barbara Gilbert, Director of Teaching and Learning, was designated Acting Superintendent. This meeting did not focus on the upcoming budget proposal, but rather addressed current and upcoming projects and ideas, and recognized achievements of members within the school community. Based solely on the meeting held on February 19, the responsiveness of the board to meet the needs and requests of citizens was commendable. Among the major projects and proposals addressed were the Building Project at William J. Johnson, the tuition policy at Bacon Academy, and Joseph Hage’s proposal to build a bridge behind Bacon Academy.
Then a council member would talk about what they recommend the council would do which was mostly emergency legislation. Each topic has a letter from the alphabet assigned to it. For example D was on the Topic of the authorization to enter into an agreement for professional engineering services relative to the Dussel/Salisbury corridor signal program modifications project. A woman called every member of the council by their last name, this is the time either they can say rather the agreed with the topic at hand with a simple yes or no. I noticed how respectful the council was with each other. They all waited for the Mayor to address them with a Mr., a Mrs., or President. They responded with a thank you Mayor before they started talking about the topic. Even though they was respectful they also like to have fun there were a few moments were they laughed. The Mayor also addressed us and explain that they were moving so fast because the topics already went from committees then administer and finally the council votes. The Mayor announced the hearing of the public. This is the time for the member of the community can talk about 3 minutes per
A bead of sweat trickled across my neck like an ice-cold drop of rain running down a windowpane. I stood anxiously, juxtaposed to ten of my fifth grade classmates on a dusty six-inch high platform, each of us in our lint-free suits, as I stared forward to meet the unforgiving eyes of the students and teachers of Main Dunstable Elementary School. A steady stream of parents entered the gymnasium, and I heard chatter as parents and kids conversed noisily with each other. I felt my throat tighten and wished for the emcee, Mrs. Paradis, the principal of our school, to take up the microphone and begin the ceremony.
The superintendent and principal are stymied in their efforts to reach a compromise as Mrs. Durnitz refuses to change her position that the policy must be followed to the letter. She appealed to the teachers’ association for support when it appeared that the administration and board might not uphold her position. The local newspap...
Introducing myself to Mrs. Smith the classroom teacher, and Mrs. Brown the teaching assistant; I explained that I will be observing the classroom. Mrs. Smith informed me that the name of the program is County Unified School District First 5 Pre K Academy, there are 12 elementary, 7 schools that have this program; a goal of the program is to have the other 5 elementary schools with the program. They are also part of a few other programs that make this program possible for the students: Color Me Healthy, CATCH, and First 5. Each of these programs have a high impact on the program, they help in their own subject of the program. This Pre k program is offered to students’ age 4-5 years old, and it is based on a first come first served basis.
Based on your experience, should UT continue to work with this company on internships? Why? What, if anything could be done by UT to improve the internship for future students? What, if anything, could be done by your host organization?
I attended the city council meeting for the city I reside in, Riverside. Taking the opportunity over spring break, I was able to attend the meeting on March 27, 2018 and presiding over this meeting was the Mayor, Rusty Bailey. Currently there are no women represented on the council with the caucasian male being the most prevalent demographic making up the local authority.
Writing a reflection and a summary of dozens of experiences is very challenging and demanding. I cannot count how many ups I had, yet I cannot deny the fact that I had some downs where I could transform them to ups. The year was full of challenges, excitement, fear and lessons. Each Wednesday I had mixed emotions. Every time I came to school I had the same fear and heartbreaks. In my reflection I am willing to compare between Adan at the beginning of the year and new Adan I became.
The meeting began when the school board members entered the large group instruction room and took their seats at a panel table angled to the side of the audience. The school board consists of nine elected members from the community. The members are as follows: Paul Ridley (President), Pat Vigliotta (Vice President), Helen Cumminskey (Secretary), Carla Manion ( Asst. Secretary), Timothy Bean (Treasurer), David Feely (Board Member), Keith Hatch (Board Member), Shane Oschman (Board Member), and Joseph Troutman (Board Member). Three members of the board were missing; however because of where the seats were located I could not see who was missing. Also, the member did not introduce themselves and left before people could address them.
The teachers were giving the students positive reinforcement throughout the day. In class we talked about how positive reinforcement helps the students to succeed in their classes. Another ah-ha moment was the environment of the classroom. The classroom had no windows at all. In class we talked about what kinds of things are distracting to students with ASD in classrooms and one of those things are the windows in classrooms. The third ah-ha moment was the parent sheets that the teacher and the school provide for the parents. In class we talked about how parent involvement is very important for the students with disabilities. The teacher fills out the parent involvement paper that lets the parents know how the child did in school this week and what their child needs to improve on. The students must give their paper to their parents to look at when they get home. The things that I had learned during my observation experience that I will use in the future for my classroom will be including student learning objectives in the classroom, using positive reinforcement, and get the parents more involved in their child’s education. I will go over with the students what the student learning objectives are in the beginning of class so the students will know what they will be doing and what they will be learning throughout the day. I also will use positive