The Stratford school district requires that all schools have safety and climate committee meetings held regularly. The purpose of this committee is to ensure that the buildings are safe, welcoming to all stakeholders, promote learning, and have strong sense of community. The members of our first meeting included a parent representative with experience in security, the fire chief, a police officer, the nurse, both administrators, and myself. During our first meeting, we discussed the parent drop-off system created in the rear of our school in order to make dismissal and arrival procedures more orderly. We also reviewed the fire drills and lockdown drills that we completed during the first month of school. A major topic of discussion …show more content…
I was impressed with school safety and climate meeting because it allowed for communication amongst community stakeholders and school leaders. By collaborating with individuals who have expertise in safety and allowing them to help problem-solve school issues, it was evident that student safety is clearly a high priority for the school. The meeting also verified that the policies and procedures we have in place are effective and meet the standards of the police and fire departments.
While the committee covers safety and climate, there wasn’t any mention of the climate and culture of the building. In addition, no data was shared that could accurately measure the effectiveness of our school policies relating to climate. For example, although behavior referrals are down almost 50% due to the implementation of restorative practices, this data was not presented to the committee. Furthermore, our school was recently recognized by the Connecticut Association of Schools (CAS) for having exemplary climate. It seems ironic that we received this prestigious award, yet we don’t have a committee solely dedicated to addressing climate-related issues.
The district climate committee is a great forum to share success ideas and programs that are successfully utilized by other schools in the district. I took away many ideas to bring to my administration, including implementing a Kindness program, trauma training, PBIS, and having grade-level meetings to celebrate
Many items on the agenda were routine for the meeting, but I did not realize how much paperwork, reports, applications, and other forms were involved in a single meeting. This meeting addressed the instruction report, superintendent report, school nutrition report, fundraisers, field trips, and grant applications. The amount of work that goes into getting approval from the board is tedious for a district so large.
In the article “Have You Properly Tested Your School Lockdown Concepts?” the authors explained how to minimize problems within school lockdown drills. The problem with school lockdown drills is that they are not tested properly. This article provides information on how to properly test lockdown drills and increase preparedness in staff and students. In the past there have been consequences of schools where they only had one traditional lockdown drill and this includes Columbine High School, Red Lake Reservation High School and Sandy Hook Elementary School. These schools did not perform multiple scenario based drills that could have reduced casualties. In order to prepare for a school crisis, lockdown drills should be scenario based and should
Once the team’s vision had been established, we became very honest about our personal and professional strengths and our target areas of growth. From this conversation, the team was able to clearly define the focus and responsibilities of the PLC Leader and individual team members. The meeting was successful and everyone is excited about working together. Our vision will remain in the forefront of our meetings, reminding us to always provide a climate in our classrooms that fosters thoughtful and respectful consideration of all viewpoints.
6. As an administrator, building supervision and student/staff safety has to always be at the forefront in planning for the school day. Not doing so, can lead to the unthinkable like this situation, a school
The principal conducted several meetings with stakeholders during the summer months to collect data and feedback to assess needs of the school. Our professional learning community team and principal participated in district training throughout the year over the summer.
The text states that it is essential that superintendents and school board members communicate effectively to find the best solutions to problems. Effective communication requiring everyone to be heard in an honest and forthright exchange of viewpoints has proven to be best for children. Therefore report on Curriculum by Dr. Byron Haynes and reports on start of the year were given by Principal J. Griffin, Principal B. Cleark and Principal M.
The school board meeting for the schools of Palm Beach County was overall an organized event. The meeting opened with different individuals simply sharing about some different events in the schools. The first speaking was a member of the board who spoke about HBCU and all of the potential and positives the school had. She was very passionate about her subject. The next speaker was a woman from the school who attended a school even about 9/11 where the boy scouts read all of the names of the victims in the cemetery and placing medal all of the graves. Mrs. Brill was very excited about the event and expressed her proudness and hope that the event will become a tradition. All of these speakers will well prepared and you could see their passion on the subjects they spoke to the board about. The next section of the meeting was the proclamations and presentations. The first proclamation was again HBCU. The proclamation said that September of 2015 would be historical black history month. This movement was followed by one that asked the board to make September 15th to October 15th 2015 hispanic heritage month. This movement came with a video about all the statistics about hispanic children in U.S. schools and an award given to the hispanic teacher of the year. In the next movement the board was asked to name September 17th constitution day and September 21st through the 25th celebrate freedom week. Following this the board was asked to make September National PTA membership month,
The members of Mabelle B. Avery's School Climate Task Force (SCTF) meet, and work, tirelessly on Fridays, in meetings filled with fun, work, and laughter. We put a lot into our projects, and you recently have helped us furnish, and fulfill, our most recent project- a School Store. At the end of March, the members of SCTF worked together in meetings and alone during private, personal time to write a grant that would allow us to expand our relatively modest store. Our mission in the store was, and is, to "improve the school climate of our school by encouraging healthy relationships between faculty and students, and by increasing the preparedness of our students for daily classes." With this money we have received, we can finally succeed in our
The agenda was precise and followed routine procedures regarding presentation of information. As usual the local school board of Cullman City Schools was very clear and methodical in the presentation of the agenda and maintained a strong sense of professionalism throughout the meeting. The groups that asked questions and had concerns seemed to very pleased with the responses that they received from the school board. The information that was provided to the various groups and parents helped the various groups gain a better understanding of the school board’s position on specific topics all while providing a clear understanding of the overall outcome that the school is wishing to achieve. The announcement of another special called board meeting on October 9th, 2015, at 9:30 a.m. was made. This announcement was made to inform all individuals who wish to attend, the opportunity to once again be a part of the ongoing discussion and search for the next superintendent of Cullman City
Every school district has board meetings throughout the school year. Unfortunately, many parents, community members, & school personnel do not attend such important meetings because they don’t realize or understand the importance of such board meetings or how informative they can be. According to Kankakee School District (2017), the Kankakee School District Board of Education is composed of seven elected members, who were elected by the citizens of Kankakee to serve a four-year term that do not receive no salary for they services, are committed to ensuring a quality of educational excellence that will enhance the opportunities and challenges facing today’s student and additional responsibilities that board members include are selection of the District superintendent, developing general polices according to wishes of the community and requirements of law, hiring school personnel based upon recommendation of the Superintendent and the Assistant Superintendent of Personnel, adopts salary schedules, approves funds to finance school operations, must adopt and review the annual operating budget for the District, and setting the property tax levy to produce adequate funds to meet the District’s financial needs ranks among the responsibilities of the Board of Education (Retrieved from https://www.ksd111.org/domain/68). For this paper, the Kankakee School District board meeting will be used, information learned from board meeting, use of
Imagine at the end of the school day exhausted teachers ready to release the students to their busses and overly eager children quick to get on the bus and go home. Mixtures of children between the grades from kindergarten to fifth grade erratically search for their assigned bus like a stampede of animals. Luckily for me I was able to witness the releasing of students to their busses at the end of the day before and after Ontario Local Schools joined the AAA Safety Patrol program which allowed me to distinguish a transformation between the chaotic and unsafe transfer of students to and from school to a safer and more efficient processes. However, being a member of the AAA Safety Patrol program not only influenced me through being able to witness
It would be a wise idea for school administrators to have a comprehensive security assessment of the school’s physical design, safety policies, and emergency procedures. Once again this must be conducted with the cooperation of school staff, emergency personnel, students, and other school community members. Every school has different needs and safety plans may vary. According to the IACP (International Association of Chiefs of Police), there are twenty recommended actions that can be used to prevent violence in a school setting.
Fifty five child pedestrian collisions and fatalities occurred in San Joaquin County in 2014. As a result, the local health department sought to implement a public health intervention known as Safe Routes to School (SRTS). As a Public Health Associate assigned the local health department in the area, I assisted in reestablishing the SRTS Network. However, I encountered challenges with this effort. Many parents and school leaders felt apprehensive about promoting walking to school due to perceived and real dangers. Additionally, the health department experienced staff turnover. Both the Health Educator and Epidemiologist support this program left the department. Finally, the program required coordination across five different school districts. Even though some schools had participated in certain Walk to School Day activities, there was no infrastructure to coordinate efforts and create consistent data. I lead the data collection and recruitment effort for schools to participate in SRTS during my first year. By presenting at 45 community and school meetings to build awareness about the programs, I built partnerships with program champions who assisted with school recruitment efforts. Once I received permissions to implement the program at schools, I worked with parents and students for the community data collection project. Parents and students volunteered to document the walking conditions near schools. I also collected 927 parent surveys to understand the climates at
The second area that I talked to Mrs. Miskell about was security in the schools. She talked very in depth about the security procedures in her school. She told me about the formulated plan that the school enacted, where all visitors to the school have to stop into the main office and sign into a book and then they receive a special visitors badge, that they have to wear at all times while in the school. Another modification of this plan is that once all the children are into the school, all the doors are locked except the front door where the main office is located. If there is an emergency, the principal announces over the loudspeaker a special code that only the teachers know, so that the children don't panic. If the students hear fire, they are all going to split a different way and that would lead to mayhem, which is very dangerous in an emergency situation. There is a safety team at every school in the district, and one representative
All around the world thousands of people are dying from selfless acts of terrorists along with misunderstood children taking their lives along with the people around them in their school. In one school police took 20 minutes to show up to the scene, why not have this be stopped sooner? What can we do about this situation to make it better?