Welcome to the Wakefield School Board meeting from 11/20/13. The board met at the Paul School Library, 60 Taylor Way and began at 6:00pm. For information about the Paul School, visit the School Administration Unit, SAU64 website, Click Here
This meeting features Education Liaison, Anne Marie Banfield of Cornerstone Action Click Here for Cornerstone Action to discuss the opposition to the Common Core Standards, assessments and teacher evaluations.
00:01 Pledge of Allegiance; Anne Marie Banfield, Cornerstone Action, Volunteer Education Liaison, discusses the concerns many in the State of NH are having with the new Common Core Standards; redesign of education; academic foundations versus Education focused on workforce development; National Standards; competency based or outcome based education; No Child Left Behind Law; State Standards; Commissioner Barry; Ford Foundation; Click Here Ford Foundation Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Click Here for Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation NH Math Standards; NHDOE public meetings;
05:00 Identifying Superior Standards; Professor Stotsky; internationally benchmarked; improving standards without Common Core; Banfield lists critics in math; STEM preparation; algebra 2; Common Core math standards; errors in content of standards; language arts; information reading literary study; cold reading of historical facts; definition of rigorous; how to teach versus teaching; age inappropriate reading lists;
10:00 Common Core aligned books; math concepts; Singapore math; confusing math questions; Banfield lists math examples; mathematician review; mental math fluency; multiple methods; national assessment smarter balance; Union Leader article; inappropriate teaching that is political in nature”; Iowa basic skills test; Stanford achievement test; California Achievement Test; pre Common Core Testing without data mining;
15:00 Lack of privacy protections; data mining; FERPA Laws; 400 data points; selling privacy information; developing nationally bench marked; Pedagogical Approaches to learning; teachers as facilitators instead of teachers; critics of NHDOE relationship with local school boards; validation committee;
20:00 Glenn Cordelli, NH State Representative, House Education Committee- expresses his concerns over Common Core; experience of NY State; tying test scores to teachers salaries; Cordelli reports of Nation Wide concern over Common Core; Alton NH; Cordelli reads into record a letter from President of the NH School Boards Association to State Board of Education; policy related changes; ESEA waiver; transition to smarter balance assessment tools; Federal Mandates; impact on local school boards; concern over data mining; Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; NH Bills submitted regarding Common Core Standards;
25:00 Delay of Smarter Balance Assessments; adjustment time; Cordelli references NH House bills he has submitted regarding new standards and Common Core; College and Career Readiness Standards; greater openness and understanding; fiscal analysis; cost of assessments; unfunded mandates; public hearing requirement; controlling data mining; data formats; family income; religious affiliation; student birth information; teachers information; Statewide data bases; Student Body mass index; restrictions of sharing of data points;
30:00 Privacy rights for teachers; robotic camera systems used for teacher evaluation; video sharing and archiving; parental consent; Stotsky and Millgram; expiring Federal waivers; developing better standards; National testing; smarter balance; math computational skills; double digit + one; subjective testing versus objective testing; concerns with assessment;
35:00 Waiver from assessments; assessing dispositions; NH SB48; School Board policies regarding Common Core; Banfield offers access to national experts regarding national standards; “Wakefield wants better standards”; Banfield and Cordelli take questions from school Board; pushing for additional standards; definition of dispositions; assessing dispositions of children; values; belief and attitudes;
40:00 National and Regional assessments; Sustainability through education; green economy; politically charged questions within curriculum; new science standards; History standards; national social studies standards; analysis based learning; voyages in grammar; Singapore Math; California primary addition Singapore math; fuzzy math standards;
45:00 Comparing Common Core against existing NH Standards; Cordelli offers a story regarding a connecticut school curriculum; listing books on school websites for parents; importance of transparency; Steve Brown, School Board Chair- National Governors Center for best practices; copyrighted common core standards versus State Standards; NGO’s involvement in creating Common Core; Achieve Inc; Chief council of state school officers; process of validating common core; inexperienced developers;
50:00 Confidentiality agreements; coercion; NH SB48; Federal Coercion; State Led versus Federally led; making profit during the development of Common Core Standards; new textbooks; new technology; Edusense Research statement regarding profit; BIA; (Business Industry Association); content experts; webinar regarding BIA and Cornerstone Action;
55:00 Content expert involvement; George Pullman, Heartland institute; End presentation; public questions; how many States have backed out of Common Core; 19 states looking to back out; States needing money; stimulus packages; Race to the Top funding; States withdrawing from test; Georgia; New York State’s concern over testing; The need for National Standards; Schools we need and why we don’t have them- (Book);
1:00:00 College literate students; Special Ed Students; priority focus schools; flawed math programs; calculators in classrooms; homeschooled students; Cordelli comments on census data of students that move from state to state; distinction between assessment testing and achievement testing; testing and assessment; attitudes values and beliefs; NAPS testing; FERPA LAWS; political indoctrination;
1:05:10 Proficiency; GED testing changes; SAT, AST, Common Core aligned; communication skills sets at age appropriate levels of maturity; Concern over Data mining; discussion of testing methods and process; individual data points and privacy; timed answers during testing;
1:10:00 Protective legislation; School Board Survey’s to parents; Parental consent before children take survey’s; Priority and Focus Schools; Manchester examples and plans; NHDOE involvement; meeting eligibility requirements to get federal waivers; Personal information; pilot program for Smarter Balance; “learning to read reading to learn”;
1:15:00 Concern of evaluation of teachers; empowering teachers; focus on writing, focus on reading; backwards approaches to learning; shifting away from literature; grammar knowledge; examples of politically charged questions; national sex education standards within Common Core Standards; teachers evaluation and children testing- who funds the testing and evaluation; Federal Government funding; expires 2015; States consortium members;
1:20:00 Federal Funding of Common Core evaluation and assessments expires in 2015; End presentation of Common Core- begin regular school board agenda; review of meeting manifest;
1:25:00 Approval of manifest; review of previous meeting minutes; corrections;
1:26:50 Announcement of Press Release; non resident students attending Wakefield Schools; policy; procedures; collecting monies to back to school district; principles report; PTA fundraising event;
1:30:00 Discipline report; reports about behavior issues on busses; student service report; students requiring related services; Curriculum coordinators report; professional development; need for substitute teachers in classes; teacher collaboration; SAU 64 conditional school approval; career education; inspection report;
1:35:00 Residency update; residency forms; proving residency process; required documents; keeping up to date; policy committee involvement in residency forms; school district report sheet; calendar; student services report; district wide approach; adding a calendar;
1:40:00 Discussion- design artwork for school handbook; design competition; school board business; Policy BGG, BAG: school board use of email; motion and vote to accept with amendment; confirmation of Warrant Article to be sent to budget committee; discussion- non meeting work session regarding Warrant Articles;
1:45:00 Establishing a work session date for review; discussion- facilities plan; Harriman; Committee reports; Facilities subcommittee meeting report; comments by public: Pricilla Colbath expresses concern that two readings of policy at the entire board level is not occurring;
1:50:00 Pricilla Colbath, Wakefield resident; continues- expresses concern that two readings of policy are not occurring at the board level is not occurring; placing the review of policies on the website and adding it as an agenda item so the public can comment; Colbath, asks board when Warrant articles were last discussed;
1:55:00 Selectmen Connie Twombley- email alerts regarding minutes; emailing minutes; public availability of minutes; Board goes into Non Public per RSA 91a 3 2 b and c tuition request and nominations;