October 19 MSGRTF Meeting Notes by Kim Dahlman and Jeanne Jobes

Jeanne Jobes and I attended the Middle School Grade Reconfiguration Task Force Meeting on October 19, 2015.  There were no other visitors at the meeting.  Below are some key points made during the meeting:

·         Many task force members went to a MS conference in Ohio last week.  There is consensus that the task force must focus on the child, not the system or the staff

·         There will be an opportunity for "large scale public engagement" in January 2016.  Leanna Albrecht (NSD Communications Director) is responsible for creating this plan to gather input.

·         The task force is aware there is considerable concern in the community about eliminating "Challenge" classes in the MS.  Parent members on the task force have received numerous questions about the issue and do not feel prepared/knowledgeable to speak to the issue as they are still in the exploratory phase and no decisions have been made.

·         The Academic Sub-Committee is led by Gretchen Schaefer and it is this group that is responsible for making recommendations on MS curriculum.  They last met on Tues Oct 13th and revisited their mission.

·         There was discussion  that the current wording "heterogeneous groupings" may be misleading and causing the concern in the community about eliminating "Challenge" classes.  Wording has been changed to read for the Academic Sub Committee's scope:  "Research MS instructional practices related to providing  challenging curriculum for all."

·         There has been no decision about whether or not to support accelerated math at the MS

·         The AAP students would not be included in the "challenging curriculum for all"--they would have separate classes at MS

·         There was assurance that no decisions have been made about whether or not self-select Challenge courses would exist at the MS.  However, AMLE MS best practices do not include this.

·         Gretchen stated that the Academic Sub-Committee plans to develop 2-3 "proposals of action" for the task force's review.  These would include pros/cons and what the district would need to do to implement each one.

·         Heather indicated that the Academic Sub-Committee's recommendations to the task force will be delivered in Feb/March 2016.  After input from the public is gathered.