January 15, 2019, 6:30pm
Welcome and Agenda Review
Niskayuna District Counseling Plan (Camille Harrelson, Director of Pupil Services)
NYS created new regulations/mandates for 2020 for all districts to create new counseling plans. Faculty/staff spent time reviewing the current configurations of counseling K-5, 6-8, and 9-12 and the supports within the school day and structures created for student success. The counseling plan presented includes delivery (program activity or service), foundation (program objectives, student standards), and management (timeline, student focus, staff resources and accountability) of services. The goal of presenting this tonight is to gather feedback from the community and to bring that feedback back to the counseling plan group.
The plan, once finalized, will go to the BOE for approval then shared with parents/community via the website and summer newsletter.
General Announcements and Updates
- Our Schools, Our Future: District Leaders have been meeting with community members and gathering feedback.
- “Thought exchange” online community forum for surveys and to aid in idea development. Analytics and data are provided to assist with understanding the issues presented. This is a forum that could also be used by subcommittees (Pathways and Start Times) for further information gathering.
- CTE nights for families: 1/16 at Mohonasen (Center for Advanced Technology) 1/22 at Albany CTE campus
- A discussion of shared objectives for IPAC/ECAC is upcoming
Sub-Committee Report Outs
Start Times: Shared current subcommittee membership and discussed struggle to identify/recruit students for this work. There have been several meetings this fall in which they have developed 12 schedules, discussed constraints for athletics, needed transportation analysis. Immediate solution: moving HS start times to 8:30am would need transportation analysis to determine K-8 impact. They’ve requested information regarding how many MS students use HS transportation for music in the am. None of the shifts are simple and have impacts/implications that need further exploration. Limiting factors identified are space, FTE/faculty, and resources; however these should not delay implementation of simple shift.
Pathways: Redefining Ready: Subcommittee is working on looking at last set -life readiness indicators and begin some analysis to determine gaps. Working on setting up working with Dr. Schuler again. In March, start discussion about reducing the stigma associated with different pathways.
Next Meetings: March 12, 2019, 6:30 p.mm. and June 3, 2019, 6:30 p.m.