March 8, 2021 – Minutes

Approve Minutes:

Approved through email

Chair Report:

No report from Katie

Principal:

  1)Landtrust/TSSP Budgets and Final report for 2019-2020

            Final look and approval at 2021-2022 Landtrust/TSSP

Landtrust has about $15,00 to spend, which is in line with where we need to be. Probably about $2,000 to carry over

TSSP have about $27,000 to spend. About $10,000 on technology to come out. May need to work out what to spend to get to 10% remainder. Limited field trips and assemblies this year.

Questions about 1-to-1 technology. District will be providing technology. Moving 2nd grade to Chromebooks. All Chromebooks updated to run Canvas. District will provide some and school provide the remainder. This will fit withing the TSSP budget. District is still rolling out implementation of the 1-to-1 technology. Granite is basically there already, except for kindergarten that currently has one set to share between classes. Next year will have enough for all students.

  2)Spring Fun Run

PTA will use this as the annual fundraiser. Information will be coming. Need a different grand prize than Disneyland since that’s not open. Will likely run during Playworks time for each class to run their 20 minutes. Online has about 19 students who will be invited to do the fun-run independently. Discussed spraying a track on the grass to avoid renting cones for a week. Katie indicated it should last for a week even through mowing.

Currently PTA does not yet have a president-elect for next year.

  3)Last Learning Option, students return today

About 24 more students returned form online and parent-led options for this year. This was the last learning option change for the year. That leaves about 19 still out by Ronnie’s count. Question came up about larger classes. Three classes are in upper 20s. 3rd and 5th grades have the most students still out. 2nd and 4th grades have the largest classes now. There have also been 7 new enrollments from new move ins over the past weeks.

Getting creative on how to space desks and lunch assignments to still meet COVID protocols.

Current State of Teachers and Outlook for Remainder of School Year

Question about teacher vaccinations and morale in the building. Focus has been on academics for the students. Winter benchmarks just came back with areas to address. With returning students there may be drops and need for additional catching up. Protocols and masking are not a big issue at this point. With students being out for a year now, it is creating some anxiety among returning students and the learning during the time off is unknown at this time.

Last week of second immunizations for teachers. This has allowed for a shift in focus to teaching rather than health concerns for teachers.

Mask mandate will not change in schools until it is sent down from CDC, even if Utah governor relaxes the mask mandate elsewhere. The same masking protocol is expected to remain in place through the school year.

School board will vote on March 16th if Fridays will remain independent learning through the year or return on Fridays to the school. Return would only happen after Spring Break if it does happen. That is only 6 Fridays that would change.

  4)Next year info

                Staffing/FTE

Waiting for final numbers for next year. Small group is 2nd grade, but it may get a .5 teacher. Could stay at 14.5 teachers for next year. 2 kindergarten sessions, 3 classes each in 1st and 2nd grade. 3rd through 5th would get the rest.

April Principal’s news will alert to learning needs to be submitted by April 15th. Secretaries have contacted home-school families about returning next year. Have a good idea of which are returning which are not. Only about 24 students enrolled in kindergarten right now, but expect many more to be added. On-line orientation on April 23rd. Expect a huge enrollment in August, so boundaries won’t be set until that time. Will hold a second orientation for late additions. Returning home schoolers will get us up to the 14.5 FTE. Looking to hire either one .5 FTE or 3 aides. In larger classes para-educators can help with the load, or a part-time teacher can split up the classes for a part day.

Only teacher not returning is Miss Donna in extended core. Hiring for that position. She has worked for over 40 years, and will be retiring.

                Covid response

This year COVID has included online courses. It will likely not look the same next year. There may still be masks, hand washing, etc. But there will likely not be the same parental response for home options. The plan now is for students to come back in person to schools. Home options will need to be worked out individually. The district is developing an online school, but it will be very different from current offerings. Unless something gets significantly worse, there will be a more normal look for school.

  5)RISE testing

RISE testing is happening. This will not count against anything, but will serve as a benchmark for future growth. It is back to what it was a few years ago with easier technology to administer. Testing window is April 19 – May 21. Students in 3rd, 4th, 5th grade will take some practice tests. Covers reading and math for 3rd grade. Language arts, math, science for 4th. Same for 5th grade with the addition of a writing assessment as well. Online students will be offered the chance to come into the building to take the tests or can be opted out by parents. This will cover all 3rd – 12th grade in the state.

PTA

Safety – March – Shelter in Place

               April – Earthquake

               May – Fire

Drills have been on hold with COVID, but we are to begin them again. Shelter in place is going to be an outside environmental issues with everyone staying inside and review air handler shut-off

April: participate in Great Shake Out Drill on a Thursday. Play sound of earthquake and do the whole drill.

May will be a fire drill. May evacuate or just review protocol. Evacuation would include social distancing outside.

Landtrust and TSSP Goals for 2021 – 2022 Year

Proposal to keep the Landtrust and TSSP goals the same for next year with minor adjustments to scores and percentages.

Final read of these before finalizing the goals.

Katie added that this is not the year for a major shakeup on the goals with everything else that has gone on. Ronnie added that we’ll review data and see what losses have happened with the various schooling options offered. These goals are reasonable for the current reality. Will continue to make adjustments as needed if we find big difference in October of 2021 for the coming year.

Landtrust budget and goals update: 80% of students in Kindergarten-3rd grade will make at least typical progress according to Acadience Pathways to Progress. 80% of students in 4th and 5th grade will be at proficient or higher in Reading Inventory (RI) by the end of the year.   84% of students are reaching benchmark according to Acadience math assessment. Our goal is to maintain and/or increase 1-2% proficiency.

TSSA: 1) 80% of students in Kindergarten-3rd grade will make at least typical progress according to Acadience Pathways to Progress. 80% of students in 4th and 5th grade will be at proficient or higher in Reading Inventory (RI) by the end of the year.  2)  84% of students are reaching benchmark according to Acadience math assessment. Our goal is to maintain and/or increase 1-2% proficiency. 3) Students will identify the qualities needed to have positive social interactions with peers and persevere through difficult tasks.

Winter testing update and progress for this year: scores came in higher than expected on the winter testing. Saw some amazing growth for students in school. Not far off from last year, excluding online and home schooled students. Looking for how return of more students will impact May scores compared to mid-year. Some may need additional support. Tier-2 support available in grades 2 -5 for that extra help. Only about 3% off from last year’s results. This is good compared to initial expectation. Fall assessments were closer to 9% lower than prior year’s results, so we have closed the gap.

Celebrations:

Next Meeting:  Meeting moved to April 19th to give a little more time after Spring Break.