[CSPS] November CSISD board minutes

[Jonathan Coopersmith]

Here are the board minutes:

CSISD November 16, 2004 workshop and meeting

The most interesting and lively part of the workshop concerned 2005-06 
calendar options.  The public issues were when to start and when to hold 
the winter break.  An early starting date would demand approval from the 
state and spark a set of public hearings.  Provoking more debate was the 
timing of the winter break.  Single and working parents (two intersecting 
sets) were worried that too many break days in December would challenge 
their abilities to care for their children.

A subtheme that occasionally surfaced was a sense that the calendar was 
increasingly deviating from what educators considered optimum to a 
political mandate from Austin.  Because agreement seemed unanimous on this 
point, the details were not developed.  Consequently, I’m not sure what an 
optimum teaching-oriented calendar would be, but at least one part would be 
starting the first school week in mid-week so the students don’t 
immediately jump into a full week.  I believe that an earlier start and 
more frequent breaks also contribute to the learning process.

A report was made on staff living outside the district.  Eighty-four 
employees lived in Bryan with eighty-three potential students, spread 
fairly equally among grades.  In December, the Board will discuss whether 
these employees will be offered the option of transferring their children 
to CSISD as a fringe benefit.

Awards.
Vivian Wei-Deng received an award from the Texas Book Festival UIL Writing 
Contest.

The Texas Business Education Coalition named College Hills one of the 
seventy best elementary schools in Texas (out of approximately 7000).

The District received an award from the National Committee for Employer 
Support of the Guard and Reserve.

Mary Broussard, reporting on the Policy Council for Head Start, noted that 
providing child care helped increase parent turnout.

Clark Ealy reported on the Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment 
System for limited-proficiency English speakers, which is in a state of 
flux due to No Child Left Behind requirements.  The AMAO (Annual Measurable 
Achievement Outcomes) is not yet defined with state-federal negotiations 
continuing.  The state had to create AMAO Observation Protocols, which it 
had been doing for years as the RPTE (TAKS).  TEA developed a less invasive 
system for writing, listening, and speaking.  The system for rating 
teachers could have been much worse (one shudders to think about this).

To increase confusion, this new assessment system was added in mid-year, in 
February.  For the k-12, students receive ratings of beginning, 
intermediate, advanced, and advanced high.  Non-English speaking CSISD 
students did better than the state average – 63-74% compared with 50-55% of 
students making at least one level of improvement.
Terresa Katt reported on district staff development services, which are 
attracting interest from other districts to the point that special 
(profit-making) courses could conceivably be established for them.

The Board went into executive session to discuss the superintendent evaluation.


         Jonathan Coopersmith

Jonathan Coopersmith
Associate Professor
Dept. of History
MS 4236
Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas  77843
979.845.7148
979.862.4314 fax

Secretary
History & Philosophy of Science Section (L)
American Association for the Advancement of Science
aaas.org