The James Logan Courier

By Rick La Plante, New Haven Schools Public Information Officer

The Board of Education on Tuesday night received a 2009-10 Strategic Plan Update, including action items for the year, to be monitored on a monthly basis, with progress reports to be provided to the Superintendent.

The action items, some of which already are under way or have been completed:

— Each school will develop an Instructional Leadership Team that will meet monthly to plan strategies aligned to the District’s Seven Essentials for Continuous Growth & Improvement, meet five times to learn collaborative leadership strategies, visit other schools to observe instructional practices;

— The District will provide professional development for K-5 implementation of the Elements of Balanced Literacy;

— The District will conduct an advanced summer institute for K-2 teachers and introductory summer and fall institutes for 6-8 teachers in Writer’s Workshop; genre units of study will be implemented daily in K-5 classrooms; and all middle school English/language arts teachers will meet with Writer’s Workshop consultants;

— Reading Apprenticeship strategies will be implemented in all 9th-grade families and all secondary teachers will receive support to implement cross-subject literacy strategies;

— The District will conduct an across-the-board analysis of supplemental instructional and behavioral strategies; design a process for adopting effective academic and behavioral interventions, criteria for identifying students in need of such interventions and a system to support and monitor such students; and monitor academic and behavioral data to inform instruction and professional development.

Also on Tuesday night, the Board:

— Approved three resolutions regarding the District’s switch to CalPERS health benefits for all employees. The change is expected to result in comparable or improved benefits at lower costs for most employees and retirees, as well as at least $1 million in annual savings for the District.

— In response to a staff recommendation to suspend pursuit of a Community Day School and focus on reducing the number of suspensions and expulsions, directed that a class be put in place to serve SDC students who have been expelled.

— Declined staff’s recommendation to appoint one member to serve on the panel that will review proposals for the “Pilot School Within a School” at James Logan High and directed that all proposals be shared with the Board and that the Board be provided evaluations as the process evolves.

— Held a public hearing, which attracted no speakers, on a petition received by Global Tides Charter School to operate in New Haven Unified.

— Approved a $117,000 contract to provide meals for Union City’s Christian Academy School. The agreement will generate approximately $58,500 in revenue for the District.

NOTE: New Haven community members with Safeway receipts can have 10 percent of the cost of their purchases donated to the school of their choice through the store’s “Back to Schools” program. Go to www.backtoschools.escrip.com and enter the redemption code printed at the bottom of the receipt, then follow the link to select the school to receive the funds. Receipts dating back to Sept. 18 can be entered. The deadline is Tuesday (Oct. 13).