Minutes from Brunson Elementary School Improvement Team Meeting:
Oct. 19, 2015
Members present: Jeff Faullin (principal), Allison Phelps (3rd /president),Trish Gulledge (2nd),
Marcela Zarate (K), Brenda Coles (HAG 3rd), Donna McNatt (HAG5th), Donna McGee
(HAG4th), Anna Stopplebein (ESL), Melanie Sayles (5th) Margaret Johnson (PTA/ Parent),
Jennifer Crigier-Davis (1st), Kathy Wilheit (CC), Nancy Smoot (K)
Members absent: Sarah Huddleston (vice principal), Dr. Willie Stevens(TA ), Lisa-Thompson
Weber (4th), Blaine Sherman (PTA/Parent Rep), Marina Bonomo (media coordinator), Dr. Joel
Peddle (SP),Kim Burch (EC)
The meeting was called to order by Mr. Faullin at 3:40 p.m.
Mr. Faullin welcomed Margaret Robinson, our new parent representative to the SIT team. The
team then introduced themselves, stated grade level, and universities attended.
The conversation then turned to the results of the SIP meeting today at 1:00 p.m. with our district
review team: Janie Costello, Patsy Squire, and Cynthia Barber. Mr. Faullin, Allison Phelps, and
Lisa Thompson-Weber represented Brunson. The following recommendations were suggested:
● Add one goal for Science and Math
● Goal 1 is good. Numbers just needed to be adjusted in order to reflect an increased
reading proficiency by 10%. ( the district goal is to reduce the achievement gap by 10%)
● Goal 1 needed to be adjusted to reflect our strategies due to personnel changes of the
interventionists
● Goal 1 needs to include Expeditionary Learning (EL) staff training and Brunson’s shift
toward EL.
The team reviewed the table of achievement gaps and achievement among subgroups.
Brunson’s focus is reading achievement, but the review team wanted to insure that Science and
Math goals were listed. Lisa Thompson-Weber remarked that Science and Math achievement go
hand in hand with reading achievement. Brunson is not broadening our goal, just adding
components.
Mr. Faullin then posed a question to the team,” Does our EL training assist student
achievement?” His second question was,” Think about our staff development, how do we know
it is helping the students?” Mr. Faullin then asked the team to break up into 3 small groups and
discuss our thoughts. The following are comments that were shared by the group:
● How are we measuring student achievement? Dibels information is measureable, but
personnel /interventionists are difficult to tell. It is more about the person rather than the
position.
● Could the stability of the staff be a measure? If they are supported and happy, would they
stay? But, we lose staff due to marriages, babies, and moving out of state and that is out
of our control.
● Mrs. Johnson discussed parent engagement opportunities.
● Attendance, tardies, and early checkouts make a difference in individual students more
than subgroups. Each student would have to analyzed on a case by case basis.
● Create a rubric of the tenants of an EL school similar to our present classroom walk
throughs.
● Dee Duncan, our EL representative could share observations and share feedback.
● Ultimately it is what the students are seen doing. Right now, EL routines are based
heavily on teacher behaviors.
● Staff surveys could be used to collect information that in turn could assist measuring the
impact of EL on the staff. Could we obtain data from surveys previously used?
● Variables are very important to consider and need to be narrowed down in order to
collect the data needed.
Mr. Faullin then opened up the staff share folder and showed the team “Partners Success
Indicators”. It is part of a document that helps determine teacher/school readiness indicators for
EL education. Mr. Faullin suggested that the indicators could be put into a survey or rubric.
The problem of measuring staff development and its effect on the teacher and student
achievement can be continued during grade level meetings. Mr. Faullin feels that results from
these meetings will assist the team and staff on data collection.
Due to calendar conflicts, the next SIT meeting will be moved to Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2015. The
team will be expected to bring information and ideas so that we can craft an instrument to
measure staff impact.
Mr. Faullin then brought up the issue of protocol for sending staff members to the various EL
trainings available to us this school year. The first trip to Evergreen School in Asheville for a site
seminar is coming up in December. Additional EL opportunities include Decatur, Lexington,
Asheville, and Baltimore. The Lexington trip is to two middle schools. One school is further
along in the EL process than the other. Dee Duncan and Kathy Wilheit discussed that Meadow
Glenn (which is further along) would be a good fit for HAG teachers to visit.
Ms. Duncan shared that “Managing Active Classroom” will be held in Colorado. She feels
strongly that this seminar will truly make a difference for our staff and would take us to the next
level. It is such an important piece of training in her opinion, that it would be worth Brunson
giving up 2-4 spots from another training opportunity in order to attend. One highlight of this
seminar is how technology can play an integral part in the classroom and its management.
Mr. Faullin then discussed some of the results from the survey on EL travel that he sent to the
staff. More teachers responded than anticipated, but he did not receive a 100% response. The
good news is that Mr. Faullin has a large pool of “A” (fully invested group of teachers) to draw
from for the seminars. He feels strongly that the process for choosing participants should be
transparent and fair. The question was then put to the team, “Do you want the SIT team to help
choose the participants or would you prefer the administration to? After a few minutes of open
discussion, Allison Phelps made a motion for Mr. Faullin to make the decision on staff member
travel. The team unanimously voted for Mr. Faullin to make the choices. The following reasons
and comments were sited:
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We feel like you would make a better choice.
You can create better learning groups.
You are aware of more than we are and see the staff strengths.
Make sure that the person who is going will share the information to the staff effectively.
There should be equity in grade level representation to achieve a broader perspective of
the staff.
● Sometimes you get more out of training when you are sent with a team rather than alone.
As a team, you can be more productive and not so scattered.
Mr, Faullin then briefly discussed his team experience from the principal EL training in
Charleston. His team is made up of principals from multiple states. They have to make a
concerted effort to stay in touch electronically.
The team will be reviewing the changes of our SIP plan before it is brought to the staff for a
vote. Mr. Faullin reiterated that he has high expectations for the EL training participants. They
are to bring back information and share it with the Brunson staff, rather than having it just
“sitting” in a classroom.
In review, before the next meeting, Allison Phelps and Lisa Thompson-Weber will work on
Math and Science goals. Team members will bring back ideas on how to measure EL impact on
teachers and students. Mr. Faullin will resend the EL training survey to the staff to include the
Colorado seminar. The comment was made that a second survey would be opening a can of
worms. Mr. Faullin feels as though it is better to “do it right”.
The good of the order was declared and the meeting adjourned at 4:40 p.m.
The minutes were submitted by Trish Gulledge