Dresden School Board Report: October
The Dresden School Board has approved their goals for the 2013-2014 school year – many of these directly affecting students. Goal #1 is about the curriculum. The overarching goal is to have a rich, robust, and transparent curriculum as HHS. Particular ways that the Board is seeking to improve this, is by having teachers within the same subject develop curriculum maps. This would help standardize instruction within classes of the same level. I know a complaint amongst students is that the same course can be easier or more difficult, depending on the given teacher, so this should help with improving that.
Goal #2 is to continue to attract, retain, and develop the staff here. This means improving the hiring process when necessary and continuing performance evaluation, such as student course-evals. Goal #3 is promoting safety and security measures, while making sure to still ensure the school’s values of living in an open community. Goal #4 is streamlining and better coordinating Board communication throughout the Dresden schools and the larger community. By writing this monthly update, I hope this is one small way that students can be aware of the major discussions in the DSB, and how that impacts HHS. Finally, Goal #5 is to implement a strategic planning committee in response to the NEASC report that is essentially a “report card” that HHS received last year. The committee’s goal is to implement a 3-5 year plan to respond to some of the concerns and recommendations in the report, and in a more general way, map out the direction that HHS will proceed in the future. I am on this committee, and in the two meetings I’ve attended so far, we’ve focused on our core values, as a school. These five goals are the general concepts that as a board, we’ll use as a guiding focus when making decisions.
One last quick item of action from the school board, is that a motion to increase the March Intensive individual amount that a student can pay was failed for this year. The current cap is at $650, and the increase would have brought it up to $800. However, for this year, the $650 cap will remain in place.
The next school board meeting is November 26th at 7 pm. If you have any questions about the DSB, or in the future, have an opinion you’d like voiced, talk to me in school or email me at kelseysmith@hanovernorwichschools.org Stay involved!