Rockledge School Advisory Council (SAC) Minutes

Note: Name change from Parent Advisory Council (PAC) to School Advisory Council (SAC)

Bylaws

• Reviewed during meeting
• Send any edits to Mrs. Dennis by Friday, September 20, 2024.
• Bylaws will be finalized after 9/20/24

Secretary

• Need a volunteer to take meeting minutes

Superintendent’s Advisory Council

• Meets October – May
  • Second Tuesday of every month
  • 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
  • Location: Kelly Leadership Center
• Simpson will serve as the representative until a Rockledge parent is able to take on this role

Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP)

• Reviewed goals (reading, math, science, chronic absenteeism, SAC)
  • Overall pass rates with a focus on English Language Learners (ELs) and Students with Disabilities (SwD)
• Goals were developed using raw SOL data

Parent Advisory Rubric

• Provided to all schools to determine if schools have highly effective SAC
• Canvas resources are available for SAC
• Reviewed rubric together – we are on the right track!

Virginia Literacy Act Overview Presented by Ms. Anderson, Reading Specialist

• By law, staff are required to use High Quality Instructional Materials (HQIM). These are evidenced based materials that align with the science of reading.
• PWCS approved HQIM
  • HMH
  • Lexia
  • Newsela
  • UFLI

Science of Reading

• Phonemic Awareness
• Phonics
• Fluency
• Vocabulary
• Comprehension

Virginia Language and Literacy Screening System (VALLSS)

• Replaces PALS assessment
• Completed 3 times a year
• Students are placed in 3 “bands” after completion
  • High Risk
    • Students who fall in this category will receive additional reading support from VALLSS tutors during the school day
  • Moderate Risk
    • Students who fall in this category will receive additional support from the classroom teacher
  • Low Risk
    • Students who fall in this category are making adequate progress and will continue to receive HQIM as well as extension opportunities when appropriate

Open Floor – opportunity for parents to ask questions

• Discussed the following topics:
  • Budget
  • Hispanic Heritage Month
  • Safety and Security
  • English learning classes for adults

Looking Ahead

• Will invite the Title 1 Math Teacher, Ms. Piazza, to speak about math this year
• Next meeting dates – all times are from 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
  • October 15
  • November 12
  • January 28
• Possible upcoming meeting topics:
  • Student Needs Assessment Data
  • Parent Survey Data
  • Attendance

Rockledge School Advisory Council (SAC) Minutes 

Note: Name change from Parent Advisory Council (PAC) to School Advisory Council (SAC) 

Bylaws 

• Name change from Parent Advisory Council to School Advisory Council (SAC) 

• Bylaws are posted on website 

Budget 

• We met our September 30th count. Our actual number of students enrolled was higher than our estimated number of students enrolled. We will be receiving additional funding.  

• We receive funding for being a Title 1 school.  

• The title 1 office shared that we will have a Rising Kindergarten program over the summer (July 14th – August 1st) 

• Rising Kindergarten program will begin 

Rising Students 

• Goal to have program in place to support incoming students 

CLT 2.0 

• CLT = Collaborative Learning Team 

• Team from Rockledge went 

• Focus in math to support Concrete, Representational, Abstract model so that students understand concepts. Best way to do this is to focus on vocabulary. If students understand math concepts and vocabulary, then they can apply it to their work. 

• Teachers intentionally plan with this in mind during weekly CLT meetings 

• Will focus on monitoring the progress 

Enrollment 

• PreK- 15 students, 2 classes 

• Kindergarten: 72 students, 3 classes 

• 1st grade: 70 students, 3 classes 

• 2nd grade: 92 students, 4 classes 

• 3rd grade: 74 students, 4 classes 

• 4th grade: 69 students, 3 classes 

• 5th grade 80 students, 4 classes 

• Autism- 23 students, 3 classes 

• We are fully staffed 

• We currently have 1 TPOTA; position posted, however no prospects to replace her; will continue to search for certified teacher  

Math Updates – Presented by Ms. Piazza (Title 1 Math Resource Teacher) 

• Pacing and standards have shifted slightly 

• Instructional block 

• K 70-80 min 

• 1-3 75-90 min 

• 4-5 70-80 min 

• What does this look like? 

• Students reason and problem solving 

• Using manipulatives 

• Making connections and applying strategies 

• Communicating their thinking 

• Respectfully critiquing their classmates' ideas 

• Justifying their thinking 

• The Data Cycle is an addition to the updated 2023 Mathematics Standards of Learning 

• Formulate a Question 

• Collect Data 

• Organize and Represent Data 

• Analyze and Communicate  

• Automaticity 

• Counting 

• Fact fluency 

• Ways to support 

• Review study materials 

• Practice IXL or Zearn 

• Practice vocabulary at home 

• Practice counting with money 

• Practice measuring items around the home 

• Practice addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts 

Superintendent’s Advisory Council on Instruction (SACI) Update – Ms. Upchurch 

• Shared purpose and overview. Reports to Dr. McDade, not school board 

• Provides feedback, advice- does not make policy 

• Works on long term vision for PWCS- however, sometimes will provide immediate feedback (e.g. homework policy) 

• Platform for collaboration and learning 

• Discussed planning processes for budget 

• Annual report written yearly; information is presented to Dr. McDade 

• Focus this year is on what is and is not happening instructionally in schools  

• 2nd Thursday of each month (7:00 – 9:00 pm), expect each school to have representation. An alternate should be a parent. 

• Roles and responsibilities of rep is to attend meetings, represent school’s interests, active member in SAC and share information from SACI meetings with SAC. 

• Will receive schedule of topics at the next meeting. 

• All SACI information and meeting handouts (minutes, handouts, etc.) is available on PWCS website. Annual reports from prior years are also on the website. 

• Standards of Excellence – reviewed rubric for high functioning School Advisory Councils  

• SACI is involved in PWCS’ Strategic Plan – the goal is to have high functioning SACs at 85% of PWCS schools. Rubric was designed to provide coherence and a vision of what SACs look like. 

• SAC meetings should be 6x a year, September – June. 

Open Chair 

• Possibly invite Ms. Swiggum to discuss Science? 

• Is it possible to review parent and student survey results? – Ms. Glaze 

• Results came in last school year 

• Could we craft a survey to check in on how families feel regarding this school year? 

• January meeting? 

• Match phrasing from annual survey 

• Can we compare the student survey results from year to year? 

• Back to School Night is late. Conferences are also late. Is there a reason why? 

• We are provided dates from the county and schools must select from the list of dates; dates are staggered among  

• Conferences are later to allow for all BOY testing to be completed 

• Grading/ParentVue 

• Can sometimes be delayed in reporting 

• No comments on what is graded online 

• View is different on laptop vs. Phone 

• Can we provide pacing for parents by quarter? Newsletters? Office hours with parent liaison? 

• News from the Nest 

• Do we need to add an instructional newsletter? 

Next meeting: November 12, 2024, at 6-7pm in Library 

Rockledge School Advisory Council (SAC) Minutes 

Budget – School Funding 

• Timeline 

• Proposed budget Feb 2024 

• Approved Budget May 2024 

• Revised Budget Oct 2024 

• Total allocation $6,349,502 

• Salary & Benefits - $5,920,673 

• Goal is that 95% of budget is spent here 

• Flex Funds - $428,829 

• All other needs are spent from this (operations, substitute, supplies, etc.) 

• Funds are based on student numbers 

• No Vacancies for teaching staff 

• Parent Liaison vacancy 

• Title 1 Designation 

• Extended day and learning activities 

• Math Resource Teacher 

• Family engagements 

• Supplemental instructional materials 

Accreditation 

• The accreditation process has changed 

• Rockledge is fully accredited this school year 

• Chronic Absenteeism continues to be an area to monitor 

CIP Update 

• We have been focusing on standardizing how teams meet during CLTs. 

All in Tutoring 

• Ms. Knight is coordinating 

• Up and running- going smoothly! 

Website 

• Units of study are on the school website 

• We will be adding SOL objectives to the website 

Events 

• Community Giveaway Yard Sale – December 14th 

• STEAM Night – December 10th 

• Book Fair – December 2nd – 6th  

• Book Fair Movie Night – December 3rd  

• Mitten Tree- December 12th – 20th  

Student Survey Results – Presented by Ms. Glaze 

• Every year there is a divisionwide survey for parents, staff, and students. Administered in Spring.  

• 3rd – 5th grade students take the student survey 

• Improvements  

• 87% say, “I get along with other students at this school” (up from 80%) 

• Strengths 

• Growth 

• 61% say “My teacher is often or very often excited to be teaching my class (up from 57%) 

• 59% say, “I feel safe from fights with other students at school”. 

• 59% say, “I feel safe from bullying at school”.  

• Parent Survey only had 34 participants 

SACI Update 

• Ms. Upchurch did not attend 

Open Floor 

• How can we have more parents complete the survey? 

• Incentivize survey 

• Send reminders 

• Parents score points for their child’s Nest 

• Language continues to be a barrier for families to attend. Interpretation is provided. 

• Discussion on how to get more parents involved 

• Survey people for dates for events 

• Text message reminders 

• Advertise in News from the Nest - add link to minutes? 

Next meeting: January 28, 2025 at 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm  

Rockledge School Advisory Council (SAC) Minutes 

CIP Update 

• We are in the midst of completing midyear assessments. This data will help inform our CIP progress.  

• We are seeing growth across the board! 

• We will be able to share data at the next meeting once we complete all midyear assessments. 

Parent Liaison Update 

• Ms. Erika Santos has joined our team and she is transitioning so smoothly! 

• She will attend our next meeting. 

Staff Changes/Robotics 

• We have a new coach for the Robotics team – Ms. Swiggum! She is very excited and we are thrilled to see her run this  

Report Cards/Retention 

• Will be coming out soon; in the process of reviewing  

• If a child is being considered for retention, a letter will be sent home at Q2 report card time.  

Assessments 

• VGA Midyear (math); ongoing 

• VALLSS; ongoing 

• WIDA Testing; ongoing 

• HMH Midyear (ELA); seeing a lot of growth! 

Attendance 

• Chronic Absenteeism is going down. As of today, we are at 12%! Last quarter we had chronic absenteeism rate of at 15%.  

• We’ve been holding attendance meetings with families to address chronic absenteeism. 

Survey- PWCS County 

• Survey will open February 3rd.  

• Look for the link in the News from the Nest. 

• Perhaps we can incentivize having people complete it? Our goal is to increase the number of families that complete the survey. 

• Sticker reminders 

• Parents come in and complete the survey 

Remaining Dates 

• February 24, 2025 

• March 25, 2025 

• April 22, 2025 

• May 19, 2025 

SACI Update 

• Updates for both November and December Meeting.  

• January Meeting was canceled. 

• PowerPoints are on the SACI website 

• November Meeting: Overview of state of schools – a lot of data was presented 

• 10th most diverse school system in the country 

• 32nd largest school system in the country 

• PWCS is the #1 most diverse and #2 largest in the commonwealth 

• Over 92,000 students and 16,000ish employees 

• 74% of students are minority populations 

• 42% economic disadvantage 

• 28% ELL 

• Provided comparisons to other school systems 

• Reviewed how accreditation and indicators of school performance 

• Only 3% of schools are accredited with conditions; all other schools are fully accredited 

• Wildly Important Goal: 95% graduation rate by 2025 

• There are interactive dashboards on the PWCS website 

• VDOE has school quality profiles @ quality.virginia.gov 

• The December meeting was a Q+A format 

• Instructional shifts 

• New standards and resources that are current and coming in the future 

• Previously changes in instructional resources were 5-year cycles and there were not overlaps in subject areas; however, things have changed. There are new standards this year in ELA and Math. There are new required trainings for teachers (24-25). 

• Next year there will be new math resources and updated Science and History standards (25-26) 

• New resources for Science and Social Studies the following year (26-27) 

• Discussed assessments 

• Virginia Literacy Act, UFLI, VALLSS 

Open Chair 

• Parent Liaison 

• Literacy Night – March 4th at 5:30 pm 

• Multicultural Night is being planned; more information to come 

• Spirit Night @ Nothing Bundt Cake 

• Traffic on Mariner Drive 

Rockledge School Advisory Council (SAC) Minutes 

Parent Liaison Introduction 

-Ms. Erika Santos is our school parent liaison! Welcome! 

Staff Updates 

-Long term subs in 5th grade (Ms. Sloane and Ms. Rentaria) 

-Parent coffee event will be scheduled for the families of students who are impacted so they can get to meet the teachers. 

Assessments 

-HMH Midyear 

• We have seen growth in the number of students on and above grade level! 

• Grade level teams have analyzed data by student name and adjusted instruction based on data 

-VALLSS 

• We are seeing growth in the number of students who fall into the low risk category 

• Kindergarten – 3rd grade teachers use this data to determine additional supports for students 

Projections for 2025-2026 

-Enrollment has us at 465 students; this year we currently have 497 students 

-We receive a small school grant and class-size reduction grant (we cannot have more than 24 students in K-3) 

-We staff for the number of students who enroll 

-We will receive an updated projection in April 

-There won’t be many changes in staff next school year 

-We are keeping our Title 1 status next school year 

-We will have our preschool programs 

Attendance 

-We have increased our chronic absenteeism rate; we hypothesize that the flu has impacted our numbers 

Survey 

-We have about 40 parents who responded to the survey. We need more parents to complete the survey so we can get the full picture! 

-We will ask parents to complete this at school events (e.g. music concerts) 

-A reminder will be sent out 

-Sticker idea- students could wear stickers to remind families to take the survey 

SACI Update 

-Multi-tiered System of Supports (MTSS) & Mental Health Supports 

• Provided an overview of the framework and decision-making process 

• Helps school identify and provide targeted supports for students academically and behaviorally 

• Collaboration between families and schools 

• All students can learn at high levels 

• Tier 1 

• Provided to all students 

• 80% of students 

• Tier 2 

• Groups of students who may need additional support (e.g. small group instruction) 

• 15% of students 

• Tier 3 

• Supports individual students who require more intensive interventions 

• 5% of students 

• Student Support Teams/Child Find Team 

• If you have a concern about your child’s performance at school, reach out to your child’s teacher 

• Mental Health Supports operates on the same 3 tier model 

• Students take a needs assessment at the start of the school year (parents can opt students out) 

• Responses determine what supports may be needed for students 

• Working to implement supports in a standardized way across the county 

• Hazel Health is a short-term mental health support for all students K-12; services are provided free of charge for students 

-Family engagement 

• Family engagement series provides weekly knowledge to families 

• Focus is on building families’ capacity to navigate educational process 

• A lot of resources online 

- Teacher Retention & Support 

• Current recruitment efforts 

• Compensation and benefits 

-Next meeting is about the budget 

Open Chair 

-Substitute shortage 

-95% of school budget comes from state and local taxes. 5% comes from federal budget. There are protocols in place for staff to follow if anyone comes to school asking to speak for a student. 

-Literacy Night on March 4th; we will have Parent Advisory Council table. Blanca will create a schedule for volunteers and copies of flyers to hand out 

-Special Education TAs- 3 funded from central office, 3 funded from Rockledge 

Rubric 

-20 points/20 points!  

Next meeting is March 25th from 6-7 pm 

Rockledge School Advisory Council (SAC) Minutes 

CIP Update 

• We recently had our midyear (MOY) continuous improvement plan meeting. 

• Reading 

• Goal: 81% of students in grades 2-5 will pass the end of the unit reading assessment in HMH. 

• BOY: 60%, MOY: 63% 

• EL: BOY: 44%, MOY: 48% 

• SWD: BOY: 46%, MOY: 54% 

• Goal: 80% of K-3 will fall in the low-risk band for VALLSS. 

• MOY: 64% low risk 

• Goal: 100% of teachers will use high quality instructional materials 

• 100% - met this goal 

• Goal: 100% of teachers will be VLA trained 

• Boy: 33%, MOY: 64% 

• Goal: Specific Tasks- teachers will select a task, an instructional strategy, and discuss data 

• Varies by grade level 

• Math 

• Goal: 72% of students will pass unit assessments 

• BOY: 80%, MOY: 78% 

• EL: BOY: 74%, MOY: 65% 

• SWD: BOY: 64%, MOY: 64% 

• Goal: 100% of teachers will deliver high quality math instruction 

• Walkthrough data supports 100% 

• Goal: Teachers will attend the math collaboration day provided by PWCS 

• Goal: Specific Tasks- teachers will select a task, an instructional strategy, and discuss data 

• Varies by grade level 

• Science 

• Goal: 78% of students in grades 4-5 will pass unit assessments 

• BOY: 68%, MOY: 76% 

• EL: 43%, 56% 

• SWD: 33%, 50% 

• Goal: Lessons are inquiry based and based on 5E model 

• Walkthrough data suggest we are meeting this goal 

• Goal: Specific Tasks- teachers will select a task, an instructional strategy, and discuss data 

• Varies by grade level 

• Chronic Absenteeism 

• Rate is up to 16% due to weather and illness.  

• The Nest is Here System 

• Attendance Meetings 

• Surprises for students  

• School Advisory Council 

• Last meeting we were at 100% with meeting this goal! 

Nest System 

• There have been challenges with consistency across the school.  

• Choices: all in on the nest system, add 2 nests, PBIS class systems for teachers- all the same across the school 

• Teacher input has shared that they want a new system 

• Discussion on Nest System 

• Final decision has not been made yet 

Next Year  

We are beginning to make plans for next year. The SAC chair is a 2-year position. We will determine the next chair next school year.  

SACI Update 

Capital Improvement Plan & Budget update was reviewed at the last meeting.  

• New construction, renovations, maintenance 

• Rockledge is not on the plan 

• Construction of 14th HS was delayed; projected to be on Minnieville Rd; 2029-2030 projected opening 

• Possible rezoning  

• Enrollment projections are going down 

• PWCS is the second largest district in the state, but the second lowest in cost per pupil 

• Q&A session with Dr. McDade next meeting 

Open Chair 

• Screen time usage & artificial intelligence usage – would like more information 

• Cell phone policy 

• Provide information on the website 

Next meeting is April 22, 2025 from 6-7 pm 

                                  May 19, 2025 from 6-7 pm