Attendance: Shane Barton, Marion Burghart, Kevin Calacone, Tom
Clayton, Lisa Devaren, Mohammed Elkadim, Mikayla Faas, Michelle
Griffin, Pam Guest, Andrew Hahn, Jennifer McClure, Lindsay Peterson,
John Sorady, Nancy Stewart, Stephanie Weinlein,
1. Standing item: High School Building Renovation Project
a. Still waiting for NYSED approval, even with expedited process.
b. This pushes our anticipated timeline into March.
c. Impacted teachers will be notified after project approval
Outcome: Continue to work with Shawn Gathen and the Building Project
Committee throughout this process.
2. New topic: AP Examinations
a. 36% of schools (nationwide) require students to take the AP
exam
b. Should we require our students to take the AP exam?
Middleburgh requires our students in Distance Learning AP
Psychology to take the exam.
c. Students benefit from sitting in the course, but not necessarily
sitting for the exam.
d. Our students benefit more from University in the High School
courses.
Outcome: The BLT advises against requiring students to take AP exams and
encouraging more student participation in the UHS courses that we already offer.
3. Follow up topic: New master schedule for 2019-2020
a. Our school counselors worked on some new scheduling
arrangements during the November 16th PD Day sessions – 4 or
5 new options exist.
b. We still need to account for 80 students per lunch period limit
during the 2019-2020 school year due to construction.
c. Option 1 – the nine-period schedule with a 20 minute lunch/20
minute study hall for all students will provide the needed
flexibility for scheduling and space issues with the project.
Outcome: The BLT advises adopting the Option 1 scheduling model for
2019-2020.
4. Follow up topic: School Climate
a. Our students are participating in a regional Day of Dialogue on
December 17th at SUNY Cobleskill.
b. Students will be attending the STOP Conference at Siena
College in January 2019.
c. Teachers attended a recent CASDA conference and shared free
resources from The Sandy Hook Promise program.
d. District administrators will be meeting with Generation Ready
to possibly provide school climate resources and training.
Outcome: We need to decide which direction we are heading as a district
before implementing a 7-12 building strategy..
5. Other topics
a. PBIS program – Is it working to its desired outcome? The
program itself does not appear to be working for high school
students. Students are not aware of the specifics of the program.
Teen Talk has been very effective for student interactions.
Youth as Leaders has also helped students to grow during their
time here. Students have risen to the challenge of being on time
for school, discipline should be held to the same standard.
b. Look at other programs that are student-centered.
Outcome: No other new topics at this time.
Next meeting: Monday January 28, 2019 (3 – 4:30 p.m. in the High School
Library).