Letter to GMS Families – Planning and Changes for 2015-16

Goodrell Middle School
An International Baccalaureate World School
th
3300 East 29 Street
Des Moines, Iowa 50317
Phone: 515-242-8444
FAX: 515-264-9057
Craig Leager, Principal
Kelli RIxner, Vice Principal
Jessie Van De Walle, SIL
Tron England, Behavior Coach
May 15, 2015
Dear Goodrell Middle School Families,
It is hard to believe that there are only 10 remaining days of the school year left. These last days are
packed full with continued learning, assessments and reflections, field trips, events, and celebrations.
Our students and staff have worked hard and achieved much throughout this year!
As we look forward toward next school year, I want to share with you the long and detailed planning
process we undertake each spring and the outcomes. To be transparent and provide you with a solid
understanding of all the factors involved in the planning process for next year, I will be providing you
with a lot of information in this communication.
First, this year Des Moines Public Schools (DMPS) was awarded funding in the amount of more than
$10 million annually over three years for the Teacher Leadership & Compensation (TLC) Program by
the Iowa Department of Education. The intent of the program is to honor and build upon strong
teacher leaders’ contributions to instructional improvement and to expand their influence and
numbers in helping peers refine and improve their practices in the classroom through job-embedded
professional development. This means that there have been a significant increase in positions created
for next year and subsequent years allowing some of the best and strongest teachers throughout our
district to take on new roles like Instructional Coach or Mentor Teacher. As an example of the impact
this has within the district, there has been the creation of nearly 100 new positions in the district and
that is for just the Instructional Coach role.
So, what does this mean for Goodrell? Well, the initial impact is small, but certainly meaningful. Two
of our Goodrell teachers have interviewed and accepted prestigious new roles as a result of the TLC
program. Traci Nalevanko, a long time educator at Goodrell, will be serving as an Instructional Coach
at Callanan Middle School next year. Wendy Gibb, also a veteran teacher, has accepted a district
Mentor Teacher role. In this role, Wendy will support beginning teachers across the district.
These two vacancies required us to look at our current staffing to make some internal shifts based on
teaching credentials and licensing to determine appropriate staff placement. Some GMS staff
members were re-assigned grade levels/content areas to make sure we had appropriate teaching staff
for each content course.
At GMS, during this planning of staff placements, we have been working (and continue to be working)
on the structure of our master schedule for next year. There have been a few primary factors which
have guided our decision-making:
Goodrell Middle School
An International Baccalaureate World School
th
3300 East 29 Street
Des Moines, Iowa 50317
Phone: 515-242-8444
FAX: 515-264-9057
Craig Leager, Principal
Kelli RIxner, Vice Principal
Jessie Van De Walle, SIL
Tron England, Behavior Coach
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Adhering to Iowa Department of Education course requirements for middle schools
Establishing Multi-Tiered Systems of Support for all learners beyond general classes
Creating a meaningful Advisory time for all students
So, the first thing we had to do was ensure we built a master schedule to include the required courses
as set forth by the Iowa Department of Education. For middle schools across the state, the required
courses are mathematics, reading/language arts, science, social studies, music (vocal, band, and/or
orchestra), art, family and consumer sciences, business technology, and physical education (healthy
choices at GMS). There are minimum numbers of minutes required on a daily basis/alternating day
basis, by quarter/semester or all year for each of these courses which must be adhered to as well.
Additionally, as an International Baccalaureate (IB) World School, GMS is required to provide a world
language to all students. At GMS, we teach Spanish.
Then, we had to determine how to establish Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) for the four core
content area courses (math, reading/language arts, science, and social studies). An MTSS plan is to
provide specific and targeted academic support to students in a timely and responsive manner within
the school day, but beyond their required normal classes. As an example, students may be passing a
class, but struggling with a specific skill. Their teachers would be able to identify the specific skill
deficit based on instructional data and then have the student participate in the MTSS for the following
four or five weeks. The instruction in the MTSS would be specific to the skill deficit, and the student
would also continue in their regular class so they don’t fall behind with those new skills. The MTSS
change student groupings every four or five weeks and target new skills based on the data teachers
identify as need areas within their current units of instruction. For students who are proficient in their
skills, they would be in MTSS groupings for enrichment learning, beyond the basics. Our MTSS
structure for next year is 30 minutes per day at each grade level.
We also, as a staff, determined it to be valuable to have a specific Advisory time for all students that
would not be included in a class period where academic instruction would be happening, which is our
current model. Our goal as a staff with Advisory is to support students with self-development and
leadership skills. This would also be the time when we develop students’ understanding of the IB
Learner Profile. Additionally, this would be a time to help students learn more about career and
college readiness, especially in 8th grade.
So, with all of that being said, we have a set amount of time each day to fit in all of the required
courses and adhere to their time allotments. This brought us to a dilemma. Tech Ed is not a required
course offering at middle schools according to Iowa Department of Education. Knowing this is a
valued program and teacher at GMS, we discussed how to maintain the program and came up with a
possible solution. Since we can't have it replace a required course, we could make it a true elective
Goodrell Middle School
An International Baccalaureate World School
th
3300 East 29 Street
Des Moines, Iowa 50317
Phone: 515-242-8444
FAX: 515-264-9057
Craig Leager, Principal
Kelli RIxner, Vice Principal
Jessie Van De Walle, SIL
Tron England, Behavior Coach
and put it opposite of our MTSS period at each grade level. To meet the requirements of all the
required courses, we would have to make sure students would be proficient in their four core content
areas before students could elect into Tech Ed. This planning option is something that Mr. Brown and I
discussed. We both agreed that it was not perfect, but it would allow us to continue the program in
some format. After many weeks of thought, Mr. Brown became aware of two Tech Ed vacancies at
East High School and decided he wanted to pursue one of those in order to be able to teach Tech Ed
full-time. This meant that we had a vacancy and since this is a non-required course and we could only
offer it three times a day to a small number of students, the decision was made to end the program at
Goodrell. This does not take away from what we know to have been the value of the program or
people connected to it. It also now forces us, as I have mentioned to students, staff, and some
parents, to consider how we can provide opportunities for students in wood and metal working as an
extra-curricular experience moving forward. The opportunity for this course remains as an option for
students in their high school programming.
On a similar note, each school receives staffing allocations each year based on a formula determined
by student enrollment size and other criteria. In the base staffing allocation, GMS needed to reduce
our base staffing by 0.5 employee. In considering all factors (class sizes, required courses, numbers of
sections, and past practices at the school which have worked), the decision was made to return our
Band & Orchestra staffing to the level it has been for the previous few years which is a half-time
teacher. Enrollment within the program was a consideration. It is our goal to maintain the program
integrity and hopefully build to the point where we can sustain a full time teacher. As a result of the
position reduction to half-time, Sarah Smith, our Band & Orchestra teacher, chose to accept an
elementary Band & Orchestra position rather than be in a shared position between GMS and another
school. As a result, we had a vacancy and this position has been filled by an experienced Band &
Orchestra teacher who will teach half days at GMS and half days at Brody Middle School. We are
currently working on things now and through the summer to develop schedules that accommodate
the various student schedules, including Central Academy, and needs. We know we will need to be
creative.
Now, we need to go back to all of the vacancies (90+) around the district which were created by
strong teacher leaders in each school taking the new TLC Program positions. This many vacant
positions across the district have not typically existed before at this scale. With so many new staff
openings in schools across the district, staff, including at GMS, had the opportunity to take on new
roles/positions in other buildings. At Goodrell, we have several staff members who have decided to
transfer to these newly opened positions. We also have staff leaving for the following reasons:
retirement, moving to a school closer to their home, taking positions outside of the district, and
choosing to stay at home with their children/parents versus working. There has been a lot of
information about the volume of staff leaving GMS. There is absolutely a larger number than in
previous years as a result of the many factors listed throughout this communication. That being said,
Goodrell Middle School
An International Baccalaureate World School
th
3300 East 29 Street
Des Moines, Iowa 50317
Phone: 515-242-8444
FAX: 515-264-9057
Craig Leager, Principal
Kelli RIxner, Vice Principal
Jessie Van De Walle, SIL
Tron England, Behavior Coach
we should celebrate and honor these staff members for their service and the great contributions each
of them have made to our wonderful and proud school. Their decision to make a professional shift is
an admirable quality of a growing and evolving educator. This is not to say that we are not sad for
ourselves, but we can still be happy for them and their choices. Also, any staff transferring into GMS,
or new hires, are screened and selected based on the same criteria we have always held for quality
educators. An attached document will provide you with the names of staff that are leaving at the end
of the school year. Most staff members who have different plans for next year had previously asked
that this information not be shared until closer to the end of the school year so that students can
remain focused on the important work of learning. However, with the volume of rumors, we
discussed at our staff meeting on Wednesday to share all of this information to clear this up.
Finally, there has been a lot of confusion regarding enrollment and boundary changes at GMS and
those implications. Though I have attempted to clarify this information in a few of our weekly parent
email, there is still some confusion. So, please let me try and provide some more detail. GMS is both a
neighborhood school (with a boundary, albeit small), and a school of choice. The enrollment process
has changed from the stand point that parents no longer submit an application directly to the school,
nor attend a required meeting in order to enroll. Families now submit the standard Within District
Transfer application directly to the DMPS Enrollment Office prior to March 1 st of the year before
enrollment. Approximately two-thirds of our students come to GMS via Within District Transfer
(application), and the majority of these students live in the East High School boundary. The remaining
one-third of students live within the small GMS boundary and are slated to attend North High School.
There was a letter that went out to families from the DMPS Enrollment Office which confused many
people. It stated that GMS is a North High School feeder school. As noted above, this means that the
small attendance boundary around the school is zoned as a feeder to North High School. Families may
always apply for Within District Transfer to any school in the district if they have a preference.
So, again, to hopefully clear up the rumors and confusion, any students who live in the East High
School boundary may automatically attend East High School, even though GMS is listed as a North
High School Feeder pattern. Equally important, any students who live in the small boundary around
GMS who are slated to attend North High School may apply to attend any other high school of their
choice.
I truly hope all of this information helps clarify things. Please let me know directly if you have any
questions. It has been my intention all along to share information, but believed since many things are
still being worked out as we plan for next year, it would be more meaningful to share when all things
were ironed out versus sharing partial information.
Goodrell Middle School
An International Baccalaureate World School
th
3300 East 29 Street
Des Moines, Iowa 50317
Phone: 515-242-8444
FAX: 515-264-9057
Craig Leager, Principal
Kelli RIxner, Vice Principal
Jessie Van De Walle, SIL
Tron England, Behavior Coach
I genuinely care for this school…these students, staff and families. I only want what is best for
students, and within the web of requirements and policies, I try every day to make meaningful
decisions which will positively impact the long-term success of students.
I may be reached at 242-8444. Also, we will be holding a meeting at GMS in the auditorium on
Wednesday, May 20 at 6:00 PM to review this information again, and answer any questions which
may remain.
Thank you for working with me, and please let me know what questions arise for you.
Sincerely,
Craig R. Leager
Craig R. Leager
Principal