Team: Keppel working its way toward improvement
Reprinted with the courtesy of the Antelope Valley Press
Tuesday, July 21, 2009. By JULIE DRAKE Valley Press Staff Writer
7-21-09 PEARBLOSSOM - Keppel Union School District is on a steady but slow path toward getting out of program improvement.
Keppel was assigned a District Assistance Intervention Team, led by Rebecca Wetzel and Diane Parkins from the Los Angeles County Office of Education, last year by the state Board of Education because it ranked among the bottom seven districts in the state.
The district's governing board had a special three-hour work session Thursday with Wetzel and Parkins to discuss Keppel's goals and plans for the 2009-10 school year and look at what the district accomplished in the just-completed school year.
Goals for the 2009-10 school year include the areas of communication, collaboration, expectations, fiscal responsibility, parental involvement and instruction.
"You guys have done a lot of work in the district, so you're to be commended for that," Parkins said.
Wetzel praised the district's staff at all levels as hard-working and courageous.
"It's really our pleasure to work with all of you," she said. "And you've been courageous as a board, allowing us to push all of you to places that sometimes you don't want us to push you."
Wetzel suggested the board develop a "road map" based on the goals and an action plan on how to get them done for review sometime in September.
Trustees reviewed the district's goals for the 2008-09 school year, discussed whether they are still relevant and how much progress has been made on them.
In addition to a recap of the past school year's goals, Wetzel and Parkins discussed areas in which they feel the district needs to continue its work, such as with English language learners. The pair hung large sheets of paper on the walls of the boardroom that outlined the previous school year's goals and took notes on areas where the district needs to focus its efforts.
Board members looked at goals in areas such as collaboration, communication, parent involvement and fiscal responsibility. Afterward, trustees went around with colored stickers to place near the goals they felt were the most important. Popular areas included a "parent university," universal access and increasing parental involvement.
Trustees also looked at the district's "high five priorities," such as direct instruction, inclusion and English learners and how those fit into the district's goals.
"When we're talking about fiscal, we're really talking about what do you as a district expect to have happen in your classroom," Wetzel said. "Excellent districts have crystal-clear expectations for teachers and principals and what they expect to see in every single classroom."
She said if things such as teachers being actively engaged and making sure students understand the work as well as helping English language learners, fiscal support should be available for it if the board said it is a goal.
Under the instruction goal, the district will look at how to provide support and structure for a classroom environment that will maximize student learning for all students.
Regarding parent involvement, Wetzel and Parkins suggested the district look at supporting a variety of strategies to encourage parent involvement in the classroom, school and the district level.
Trustee Valorie Gorny said parents need to know how to help their children within the school system. She suggested the district create a sort of "parent university" that would help parents learn how to access and understand the system and the services available.
"Part of that would be why we have interventions and why kids get split up and why some of them have small groups and why do some of them go in a big group," Gorny said.
Trustee Matthew Gaines suggested the board could create opportunities for parent interaction and involvement through school events.
Parkins said the district still has a lot of work to do with English language learners.
"We did a lot of work this year with the coaches, giving teachers strategies on how English language learners can access the core curriculum and what they need to do when they're teaching to make sure those students have access to that core curriculum," Parkins said.
"But we need to take those strategies even deeper, help the teachers understand how to utilize those strategies even better and help the coaches to get more training so that they can work with the teachers on implementing appropriate strategies for different levels of students as they're learning the English language."
Trustee Manuel Magaña said he was pleased with how the work session turned out and that Wetzel and Parkins are a great value for the district.
Board President Jeff Sauer praised the pair's efforts.
"You two have brought an openness to what we accomplished over the past year," Sauer said.
Sauer said he was pleased with the workshop and said it was a nice, collaborative effort among board members.