BOE Meets Tuesday in New Digs
The Board of Education will hold its work-and-study session 8 p.m. Tuesday (Sept. 9, 2008) in the new administration headquarters at 1200 Myrtle Avenue. All board meetings through June 2009 will take place there, instead of at various schools as in the past.
The agenda is up on the web site. Click here to see it and note that items are linked to specific goals that new Schools Superintendent Steve Gallon III has set for the district. For example, two items reflect the goal of improving learning outcomes. One is a recommendation for three district schools and a private school to take part in an after-school enrichment program operated by Plainfield Community Outreach and funded by a 21st Century grant through the state Department of Education. Full details are on the agenda. Here is a link to a freelance article I wrote on the program last year.
As Gallon previously announced, the district will also seek to hold pre-school classes. The board will be asked to consider applying for $2.2 million in various funding to serve 272 pre-schoolers in the 2009-10 school year. Currently, most pre-school classes are managed by outside agencies in their own facilities. In announcing the plan at a Town Hall meeting last month, Gallon cited the inconvenience of parents who must drop pre-schoolers at such agencies while getting older children to district schools.
Other recommendations on the agenda support the goal of improving recruitment, retention and development of school staff. The board will be asked to approve travel expenses to several professional development programs for administrators and teachers.
The board will vote on the approved agenda at the Sept.16 business meeting, 7 p.m. at 1200 Myrtle Ave.
As regular attendees at school board meetings know, the work-and-study sessions are especially interesting for what comes out in the remarks by the board president, superintendent and other top staff. Sometimes big news breaks in those remarks. Presentations also precede the agenda discussion, and on Tuesday the board will hear one on the "Continuous Improvement Model." Click here for an explanation of CIM from the Florida Department of Education.
All in all, this year there are many more ways for parents and community members to follow the action in the school district, whether by viewing the district web site, the newsletter or the new blog or by attending the increasingly informative board meetings. Both Maria Pellum and Renata Hernandez are providing additional insight into Plainfield school matters on their respective blogs.
Citizens can help out by volunteering at neighborhood schools or even by running to serve on the school board. Three seats will be up next year for April school board election. Plaintalker will provide requirements and relevant dates for filing as soon as the 2009 information is available.
Better schools mean improved real estate values as well as a brighter future for city youngsters and their families. With so many ways to keep track and participate, the responsibility is now on all Plainfielders to see where they can help.
--Bernice Paglia
The agenda is up on the web site. Click here to see it and note that items are linked to specific goals that new Schools Superintendent Steve Gallon III has set for the district. For example, two items reflect the goal of improving learning outcomes. One is a recommendation for three district schools and a private school to take part in an after-school enrichment program operated by Plainfield Community Outreach and funded by a 21st Century grant through the state Department of Education. Full details are on the agenda. Here is a link to a freelance article I wrote on the program last year.
As Gallon previously announced, the district will also seek to hold pre-school classes. The board will be asked to consider applying for $2.2 million in various funding to serve 272 pre-schoolers in the 2009-10 school year. Currently, most pre-school classes are managed by outside agencies in their own facilities. In announcing the plan at a Town Hall meeting last month, Gallon cited the inconvenience of parents who must drop pre-schoolers at such agencies while getting older children to district schools.
Other recommendations on the agenda support the goal of improving recruitment, retention and development of school staff. The board will be asked to approve travel expenses to several professional development programs for administrators and teachers.
The board will vote on the approved agenda at the Sept.16 business meeting, 7 p.m. at 1200 Myrtle Ave.
As regular attendees at school board meetings know, the work-and-study sessions are especially interesting for what comes out in the remarks by the board president, superintendent and other top staff. Sometimes big news breaks in those remarks. Presentations also precede the agenda discussion, and on Tuesday the board will hear one on the "Continuous Improvement Model." Click here for an explanation of CIM from the Florida Department of Education.
All in all, this year there are many more ways for parents and community members to follow the action in the school district, whether by viewing the district web site, the newsletter or the new blog or by attending the increasingly informative board meetings. Both Maria Pellum and Renata Hernandez are providing additional insight into Plainfield school matters on their respective blogs.
Citizens can help out by volunteering at neighborhood schools or even by running to serve on the school board. Three seats will be up next year for April school board election. Plaintalker will provide requirements and relevant dates for filing as soon as the 2009 information is available.
Better schools mean improved real estate values as well as a brighter future for city youngsters and their families. With so many ways to keep track and participate, the responsibility is now on all Plainfielders to see where they can help.
--Bernice Paglia
posted by Bernice at 2:58 PM
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