| Homepage: | http://groups.google.com/group/gpacchccsh | |
| Group email: | gpacchccsh@googlegroups.com |
Friday, May 9, 2008
New Mailing List
Update based on parent feedback
I am responding in this one mail to many of the issues that have gotten brought up. Comments and corrections are welcome.
First, let me say I appreciate Mike's schoolboard work. What a great guy to have on the BOE.
I know that people's email addresses are theoretically public info, but I am not going to publicize them unless the GPAC members say it is ok. I'll probably set up an email alias (yahoogroup or something like it) with the GPAC members on it. My first rule is not to surprise anybody ;).
I will send docs as attachments. Which ones do you need? GPAC meeting information has been posted to the Parent Resources page of the district gifted programs website at: www.chccs.k12.nc.us/Gifted.
As for the goals of GPAC, those I listed are a start. We need to develop, as a parent-lead group, the most important goals for the group. I anticipate we'll start doing this over the summer via email. I intend to capture the PAGE input from various emails, and try to develop a consensus within PAGE for the top 3 items that we should address. We'll see what the other GPAC members come up with, as well.
The main GPAC will meet four times- in September, May, and two times in-between. The Sept date is 3 Sept.
GPAC school representatives are tasked with meeting with the parents at their individual schools 3 times during the school year to report on progress and gather issues. I imagine they'll want to coordinate with individual school PAGE reps. We'll need to put them in touch with each other.
I think it is likely we'll create subcommittees to further work throughout the school year on specific GPAC issues.
I will work with Carol Horne and Jacques to figure out how to get a list of AG parents put together over the summer. I'll definitely work with Jacques to learn from the SNAC group.
I think putting together short progress reports for the BOE and Dr Pedersen is a good idea.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From follow-on mails, so far I have the following issues:
High School:
* Lack of honors-level introductory courses (M Kelley)
Middle School:
* Deficit of academic electives at Phillips in comparison to Smith (M Kelley, others)
Elementary School:
* LEAP- why are so many kids coming from one school? What is the difference? (D Bauman)
* Children's progress- how do we know "is our children learning?" Once a child scores a certain level, it seems like their progress isn't measured further. (D Bauman, june2bwed)
* Lack of differentiation. For example, grade-wide math differentiation via flexible grouping was removed. (D Schanzer)
General:
* Parental involvement. How do we get more opportunities for parents to volunteer & fundraise? (D Bauman)
* Gifted Ed program evaluation at each school. How can parents evaluate how each school is doing? (D Bauman)
Emily Martine's work:
Emily Martine is the Scroggs PAGE rep, and she has been quite active.
On 8 April, she got together with AG parents from Scroggs.
I'll let her post the bulk of her information.
From her notes, here are the top concerns of the Scroggs PAGE parents:
Regards,
Rob Perkins
919 260 4309
GPAC co-chair (with Jacques Morin)
PAGE GPAC representative
First, let me say I appreciate Mike's schoolboard work. What a great guy to have on the BOE.
I know that people's email addresses are theoretically public info, but I am not going to publicize them unless the GPAC members say it is ok. I'll probably set up an email alias (yahoogroup or something like it) with the GPAC members on it. My first rule is not to surprise anybody ;).
I will send docs as attachments. Which ones do you need? GPAC meeting information has been posted to the Parent Resources page of the district gifted programs website at: www.chccs.k12.nc.us/Gifted.
As for the goals of GPAC, those I listed are a start. We need to develop, as a parent-lead group, the most important goals for the group. I anticipate we'll start doing this over the summer via email. I intend to capture the PAGE input from various emails, and try to develop a consensus within PAGE for the top 3 items that we should address. We'll see what the other GPAC members come up with, as well.
The main GPAC will meet four times- in September, May, and two times in-between. The Sept date is 3 Sept.
GPAC school representatives are tasked with meeting with the parents at their individual schools 3 times during the school year to report on progress and gather issues. I imagine they'll want to coordinate with individual school PAGE reps. We'll need to put them in touch with each other.
I think it is likely we'll create subcommittees to further work throughout the school year on specific GPAC issues.
I will work with Carol Horne and Jacques to figure out how to get a list of AG parents put together over the summer. I'll definitely work with Jacques to learn from the SNAC group.
I think putting together short progress reports for the BOE and Dr Pedersen is a good idea.
------------------------------
From follow-on mails, so far I have the following issues:
High School:
* Lack of honors-level introductory courses (M Kelley)
Middle School:
* Deficit of academic electives at Phillips in comparison to Smith (M Kelley, others)
Elementary School:
* LEAP- why are so many kids coming from one school? What is the difference? (D Bauman)
* Children's progress- how do we know "is our children learning?" Once a child scores a certain level, it seems like their progress isn't measured further. (D Bauman, june2bwed)
* Lack of differentiation. For example, grade-wide math differentiation via flexible grouping was removed. (D Schanzer)
General:
* Parental involvement. How do we get more opportunities for parents to volunteer & fundraise? (D Bauman)
* Gifted Ed program evaluation at each school. How can parents evaluate how each school is doing? (D Bauman)
Emily Martine's work:
Emily Martine is the Scroggs PAGE rep, and she has been quite active.
On 8 April, she got together with AG parents from Scroggs.
I'll let her post the bulk of her information.
From her notes, here are the top concerns of the Scroggs PAGE parents:
| Parents have no way of knowing if child's needs are being met. Not enough communication on how/whether my child is being challenged. |
| We cannot wait until 3rd grade to start educating gifted kids! Need to catch their interest early when they are "on fire" and eager to learn or they will get bored with school. (Note: Several parents were passionate about this issue. Within the past year four very bright K-2 AG or N&E students have been pulled out of Scroggs to be home-schooled or sent to private school. Three of the four were exhibiting physical symptoms of the misfit between educational environment and their needs, which promptly disappeared when the children were removed from the school setting. We clearly have a problem addressing the needs of our highly gifted K-3 students.) |
| Lack of acknowledgement, other than LEAP, that there is a large spectrum of ability levels within AG and different kids have different needs. 175 and 125 IQ are as different as 125 and 75. Highly gifted has different needs than moderately gifted, etc. One size does not fit all. |
| Science! |
| MATH! (Too easy, too much arithmetic, not enough problem solving, need acceleration.) |
| Too much time wasted waiting for kids to be identified AG. |
| Entire process needs clarification. (Identification, testing, In class work, Pull-outs) |
Regards,
Rob Perkins
919 260 4309
GPAC co-chair (with Jacques Morin)
PAGE GPAC representative
GPAC Meeting Minutes 22 April Meeting
Here are the first meeting minutes from GPAC, the Gifted Parents Advisory Counsel.
This is the CHCCS group that has the charter to help influence policy and implementation of gifted education in CHCCS. It includes parents, administrators, gifted ed specialists, school board members, and teachers. Carol Horne has done a good job pulling together the group.
The minutes have been reviewed by the GPAC members.
We should discuss how PAGE members would like to contribute to GPAC. Especially, I think that we should try to come to a consensus as to what are the top 3-5 issues we would like to see the GPAC take up in the 2008-2009 school year.
PAGErs, what do _you_ think?
Also, note that I've deleted email addresses of GPAC members because of privacy.
Minutes:
Information from Carol Horne:
This is the CHCCS group that has the charter to help influence policy and implementation of gifted education in CHCCS. It includes parents, administrators, gifted ed specialists, school board members, and teachers. Carol Horne has done a good job pulling together the group.
The minutes have been reviewed by the GPAC members.
We should discuss how PAGE members would like to contribute to GPAC. Especially, I think that we should try to come to a consensus as to what are the top 3-5 issues we would like to see the GPAC take up in the 2008-2009 school year.
PAGErs, what do _you_ think?
Also, note that I've deleted email addresses of GPAC members because of privacy.
Minutes:
Gifted Programming Advisory Council (GPAC)
This district-wide advisory group will provide regular updates to the Coordinator of Gifted Programs about the progress made in schools to implement the 2007-2010 Plan for the Education of Gifted Students. One parent representative from each school, selected teachers, one member of Parents for the Advancement of Gifted Education (PAGE), and one administrator provide information about the status of gifted programming across the schools. The group meets every other month during the school year.
Summary:
We agreed on high-level goals of GPAC as described in last group's meeting. See documents forwarded in subsequent mail.
GPAC members include the gifted ed coordinator (Carol), parents, gifted ed specialists, a principal, and a school board member.
For voting, decided we decided we will first try with 2/3 of members needed for quorum, with votes decided by simple majority of those attending. Jean (board member) and Carol (coordinator) aren't voting. We will revisit this when we meet in the fall to confirm this is acceptable.
Next face-to-face GPAC meeting is 3 September, with 3 more f2f meetings to take place during the school year.
GPAC school reps will also meet at least 3 times with AG parents from their schools.
GPAC team agreed on meeting & group ground rules (i.e. be nice and civil and a good group ;))
Rob Perkins and Jacques Morin will co-chair GPAC
Main goal of next months is to get organized,
We'll probably work on defining first 1 or 2 issues GPAC members think we should address before next Sept.
New Action Items (AI):
New AI: All GPAC reps to read Gifted plan and Dr. Edision's gifted report by end of June:
http://www2.chccs.k12.nc.us
New AI:
New AI: Jacques to get list of proposed dates to group
New AI: Rob to distribute agendas ahead of time
New AI: Carol to get room for 3 Sept 6:30-8:30 PM
Attending:
26 people.
------------------------------
Detail:
History of gifted plan
* Approved last May
* Will ask teachers to join in the Fall – 1 elem, 1 middle, 1 high
* Principal of FPG will be coming in.
* Memo went to gifted teams- also member selections
* Two parents in each school acted as advisers for selection.
GPAC Purpose discussion
* See dark blue handout from Carol
* Want GPAC members to be liaison
GPAC Function- (Implementation)
* GPAC members are also members of gifted parents' team at schools or SIT
* In elementary and middle school, GPAC member will be a liaison to school SIT
Q: Chris?- to whom do we make recommendations
Carol: We have 3 gifted ed specialists on GPAC.
Carol: We'll figure it out as we go along- all stakeholders. Will look at district issues, and as school
Carol: Would like all GPAC reps to send out info to the AG community at their schools
New AI: Rob- Draft and get GPAC reps feedback on a common template for reps to use to introduce themselves to their schools.
GPAC reps are committing to 7 meetings.
* Suggesting 4 meetings, Sept/Oct, ?, ?,
* We'll be creating focused questions for all GPAC reps to bring to school and get coordinated feedback.
* We also need to agree on our agenda
GPAC reps will meet together as a team,
Will also have meetings with SIT.
Jacques and Dabney are SIT members.
Ground Rules:
- Create communications mechanism- Blog (I suggest email list)
- Focus on reasonable agenda, respect time limits, don't interrupt
- No sidebar conversations
Next meeting 3 Sept- 1830-2030
Location & Room TBD
Contact: Carol Horne: chorne@chccs.k12.nc.us
967-8211 (ext. 279)
| Member | School or Group | Liaison Role | |
| Bridgette Araba/ *Hansy Laurenvil | Frank Porter Graham | Alternating Parents - GPT /SIT | |
| *Greg Bell | Ephesus | Parent – GPT/SIT | |
| Kit Carson/ *Maryanne Welch | Rashkis | Alternating Parents - GPT /SIT | |
| *Hui Di (temporary) | Estes | Parent – GPT/SIT | |
| Sarah Ludington | Carrboro Elementary | Parent – GPT/SIT | |
| *Mats Mahadevan | Glenwood | Parent – GPT/SIT | |
| Alexa Middlesworth | Scroggs | Parent – GPT/SIT | |
| Bhuvana Nandakumar | McDougle Elementary | Parent – GPT/SIT | |
| Melissa Segal-Miller | Seawell | Parent – GPT/SIT | |
| TBA | Morris Grove | Parent – GPT/SIT | |
| *Lisa Josephs | McDougle Middle | Parent – GPT/SIT | |
| *Janet Newcity | Phillips Middle | Parent – GPT/SIT | |
| *Janine Sobolewski | Smith Middle | Parent – GPT/SIT | |
| *Monica Tsotetsi | Culbreth Middle | Parent – GPT/SIT | |
| *Dabney Grinnan | East Chapel Hill High | Parent – SIT | |
| *Jacques Morin | Carrboro High | Parent - SIT | |
| *Jim Williams | Chapel Hill High | Parent - SIT | |
| *Zhiheng Wang | Dual Language Program | Parent – Dual Language | |
| *Jean Hamilton | District | Board of Education | |
| Elizabeth Angell (maternity leave in 2008) | Glenwood | Literacy Coach | |
| Shelia Burnette | Frank Porter Graham | Principal | |
| *Robert Perkins | PAGE (Partners for the Advancement of Gifted Education) | PAGE Parent Community | |
| Becca Norris | Scroggs | Gifted Education Specialist | |
| *Penny Shockley | Ephesus | Gifted Education Specialist | |
| Carla Smith | District | Central Office Administrator | |
| *Carol Horne | District | Coordinator of Gifted Programs | |
| Cindy Sinicrope and Lisa Joyner (rotating) | Culbreth Phillips McDougle | Middle School GESs | |
| TBA | Elementary Classroom Teacher | ||
| TBA | Middle School Classroom Teacher | ||
| TBA | High School Classroom Teacher |
Gifted Programs Advisory Council Meeting | ||
| Facilitator: Carol Horne Time Keeper: Margaret Blackwell Desired Outcomes: By the end of the meeting, we will have:
| ||
| Time | Topic | Notes |
| 6:00 | Welcome and Introductions | Members introduced themselves and shared why they are interested in serving on GPAC. |
| 6:15 | Agenda review | Carol Horne described the outcomes for this meeting. |
| 6:20 | Goals and Background Information: Formation of GPAC | Carol Horne provided historical background for the formation of GPAC. She referred to the following documents, which were provided for the GPAC members:
Comments:
|
| 6:40 | Ground Rules for Participation | Identify and agree to norms for GPAC meeting participation: 1) Focus on the "global good" rather than the individual child. 2) Create a blog for this council. 3) Respect time limits on the agenda. 4) Do not interrupt other speakers but at the same time allow for natural flow of conversation. 5) Come prepared for meetings. 6) Set agenda collaboratively in advance and stay on topic. 7) Review rules regularly and revise ground rules as needed. 8) Chair's role is to keep the conversation moving/he is the ultimate arbitor when needed – has the final say. |
| 7:00 | Group Decision-making | Agree on consensus, majority, or quorum method. Quantify "quorum", if that is the mode determined for group decision-making. The following points for consideration were made:
Decision: 50% vote. (If this does not seem to work next fall, the method can change.) How will we "vote"? - Show of hands. |
| Meeting Facilitator(s) | Select GPAC co-chairs for 2008-09 using the decision-making process that has been determined: Self- nomination was allowed. The group voted unanimously by show of hands for the following co-chairs:
At this point, Carol Horne invited the two newly elected co-chairs to make the transition to their new roles as meeting facilitators. | |
| 7:45 | Meeting Schedule for 2008-09 | Agree on date for first meeting in early fall; identify other meeting information: Day of week – (Tuesdays and Thursdays are not good days.) Wednesdays are fine. Wed., Sept. 3, 2008 – 1st meeting. (Location TBA.) Additional dates will be sent by the co-chairs via email. Time of meetings – 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. Carol agreed to check on room availability and will be point of contact for the co-chairs. |
| 7:55 8:00 | Meeting Plus/Delta Adjourn. | General input:
Plus: Delta: |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)