[HenleyMatters] Henley News

Hashisaki thashi at comcast.net
Mon Dec 10 20:59:22 EST 2007


December 10, 2007

	Green Team - Henley Grocery Bags
	8th Grade Community Service Projects
	2008-09 Budget Development Process Underway
	Efficiency Study Results Presented to School Board
	2006-07 Annual Progress Report Executive Summary
	
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Green Team - Henley Grocery Bags

The Henley Green initiative will be selling cotton grocery bags with  
the words, "Neither, thank you." on the side, and a Green Hornet  
logo.  These are $5.00, and the modest amount we make will go to  
green projects at school.  These will be available by Thursday.   
Checks to J.T. Henley, with Green Henley on the Memo line.  Lovely as  
gifts.

8th Grade Community Service Projects

One 8th grade student is collecting knit (or bought) hats, mittens,  
scarves for children of migrant workers on the Eastern Shore. These  
will be taken to town early next week.  There's a collection box in  
the teachers' mail room.

Another 8th grade student is collecting toiletries and first aid  
items for the Fredericksburg Refugee Service Center, to be  
distributed among the 200 refugees recently arrived in that area.  
There is a collection box in front of the office, and she'll be  
collecting until Dec. 14th. Items needed include Shampoo, pain  
reliever, Bandaids, hand cream, soap, and cough syrup.

2008-09 Budget Development Process Underway

During a special meeting on December 19, the Albemarle County School  
Board will hear the Superintendent’s Funding Request for the 2008-09  
school year. The presentation by Superintendent Pam Moran marks the  
beginning of the School Board process for creating a budget proposal  
for next school year. The School Board must submit a budget proposal  
in February 2008 to the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors for  
review and approval. The Superintendent’s Funding Request  
presentation begins at 6:30 p.m. on December 19 in Lane Auditorium in  
the Albemarle County Office Building, located at 401 McIntire Road in  
downtown Charlottesville. Please visit the School Division website at  
www.k12albemarle.org/board/budget for more information about the  
budget development process and how you can be involved.

Efficiency Study Results Presented to School Board

Results from a five-month study commissioned by Albemarle County  
Public Schools to suggest options the division can explore to  
maximize use of resources was presented to the School Board at its  
December 6, 2007 meeting.

The 58-page Resource Utilization Study report from the Commonwealth  
Educational Policy Institute (CEPI) at Virginia Commonwealth  
University was presented by Dr. William Bosher, a former Virginia  
superintendent of schools who serves as the CEPI executive director.  
The primary purpose of the report is to assist the division in  
identifying ways to better align and allocate its resources to  
support achievement of strategic planning goals. The report included  
176 findings and observations, and 117 recommendations in eight focus  
areas.

Bosher presented the School Board with a summary of the report  
focused on 19 key issues. He described Albemarle County Public  
Schools as a division with ambitious goals and a results-focused  
culture.

“I have been in every school division in Virginia and this is an  
outstanding school district. The real issue is not whether or not you  
have the right values, it’s about whether or not you can afford the  
values at the rate at which you might want to implement them,” Bosher  
told the School Board.

The School Board did not take action on any findings in the Resource  
Utilization Study Report during its December 6, 2007 meeting. It  
established a plan for thorough review of the CEPI findings. The  
review will begin at a School Board work session December 13 at 6  
p.m. when Board Members will have the opportunity to ask Bosher  
questions about the report and begin prioritizing findings to be  
explored by division staff for short-term and long-term planning  
purposes. The meeting will be held in Room 320 of the Albemarle  
County Office Building at 401 McIntire Road in Charlottesville. The  
report is available to the public online at http:// 
schoolcenter.k12albemarle.org/Board/resourcestudy.

“We know there will be some findings the School Board may want to  
consider in the 2008-09 school year budget development process and  
others that will require more long-term consideration. The goal for  
both the short-term and long-term is to use the information to create  
efficiencies in our school system,” said Superintendent Pamela Moran,  
Ed.D.

The Resource Utilization Study was requested by the School Board in  
June 2007 as a strategy for achieving the Albemarle County Public  
Schools’ strategic planning goal to establish efficient systems for  
development, allocation and alignment of resources to support the  
division’s vision, mission and goals.

2006-07 Annual Progress Report Executive Summary

Goal 1 - Prepare all students to succeed as members of a global and  
in a global economy
Priority 1.1
• ACPS continued to be at the top of school divisions ranked by  
number of Advanced Studies diplomas awarded
• More high school students took college level courses than ever before
• The number of students who took AP courses and passed AP tests  
continued to rise
• African-American and economically disadvantaged students remain  
under-represented in advanced/honors level courses and over- 
represented in practical and standard level courses
• While 4th graders’ performance on the NSRE trended slightly down,  
the 8th graders did markedly better and improved on conceptual  
understanding and total math scores
• Although the number of students who completed an internship/work  
experience was at an all-time high, the percentage of students who  
participated remained low
Priority 1.2
• The citizen satisfaction survey is biennial, and subsequently there  
were no results for this year
• No schools applied for the Governor’s Physical Fitness Scorecard,  
however, an increased focus is planned for the 2007-08 school year
• Significant behavioral incidents were down across the Division
• Twenty-nine high school students were recognized for their  
volunteerism, and high schools in general contributed an estimated  
15,445 hours of community service
Priority 1.3
• Vertical teams in the four content areas continued to work on  
completing and modifying their concept-based curriculum frameworks  
and the new frameworks are now all Board-approved
Priority 1.4
• The Board-approved Middle School Program Guide was distributed to  
middle school families at the beginning of the 2006-07 school year
Priority 1.5
• Three-year trend data on the SOLs indicates that membership groups  
further closed the achievement gap in math and science but only  
maintained in reading
• The Division began developing and using common assessments to  be  
better predictors of SOL performance and measure depth of  
understanding in an effort to increase all students’ achievement
• A teacher survey instrument was piloted to measure the effect of  
teachers’ participation in learning community teams upon student  
achievement

Goal 2 – Eliminate the Achievement Gap
• The cohort completion rate for graduating seniors was 91% , the  
same as in 2005-06
• Principals collected school-level data regarding student engagement  
and continued to improve communication with parents of students at- 
risk of academic failure
• While the Division, and all schools in the Division were fully  
accredited, seven schools in the Division, did not make AYP. The  
Division made AYP in mathematics.
• Seventeen content areas surpassed a 90% pass rate on the SOLs as  
compared to four in 2005-06
• A disproportionate number of African-Americans dropped out before  
graduation
• Using alternate indicators (AP tests and SOL advance pass rates)  
African-Americans and disadvantaged students’ achievement lagged  
behind their peers, but the gap decreased

Goal 3 – Recruit, retain, and develop a diverse cadre of the highest  
quality teaching personnel,
  staff, and administrators
• Hiring and retention numbers suggested that the Division’s hiring  
and retention practices were effective and we remain competitive in  
our market
• Division exit data is not yet complete for 2006-07 but will be  
included in the Human Resources Annual Personnel Report

Goal 4 – Achieve recognition as a world class educational system
• The community survey conducted by the Office of Community  
Engagement revealed a need for increased communication with Hispanic  
and Latino community members
• The Division has diversified its methods of communicating with the  
community to keep staff, students, parents, and community members  
more informed
• SchoolNet, the Division’s data warehouse, was purchased and  
configured in 2006-07 and is in its first year of implementation in  
2007-08
• Senate Quality Productivity Award training began to introduce to  
staff the use of Baldrige criteria as measures of excellence
• The Office of Community Engagement converted to the new identity  
package and implemented the communication plan, modernizing and  
streamlining communication with the community

Goal 5 – Establish efficient systems for development, allocation and  
alignment of resources to
  support the Division’s vision, mission, and goals
• Budget initiatives were aligned with the Division’s strategic plan  
and staff redirected and reduced funds to balance the budget to  
available revenue for 2007-08
• The resource utilization study was commissioned by the Board and  
the results will be reported during the 2007-08 school year

You can view the entire report at http:// 
schoolcenter.k12albemarle.org/education/sctemp/ 
e487ba06a269d2b446cf33ca41036477/1197337426/ 
AnnualProgressReportCoverDec07.pdf

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Mark Your Calendar

	December 13, Thursday at 7 PM - Winter Holiday Concert at WAHS

	December 13, Thursday - School Board work session on Resource  
Utilization Study
	
	December 14, Friday - SCA Holiday Dance 6:30 - 8:30 PM

	December 19, Wednesday - School Board Special Meeting for the  
Superintendent's Funding Request Presentation

	December 24 - January 1 - Winter Break

	January 7, Monday at 7 PM - PATSO meeting
	
Links

Dr. McLaughlin's blog at: http://henleyhornets.blogspot.com/

The Henley website at: http://www.k12albemarle.org/Henley/

The School Division website at: http://www.k12albemarle.org/
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