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Thirty teachers from the Northwest school system will attend a staff development conference next summer as part of the district's attempt to create a Professional Learning Community.
The Northwest school board heard about those plans Wednesday night as part of its annual retreat.
The concept behind creating a Professional Learning Community within a school district is to have teacher teams that work on curriculum, student learning and assessment.
Superintendent Bill Mowinkel said Chapman Principal Rahn Vanderhamm talked about the history of creating a Professional Learning Community.
In 2007, the district sent seven people to a conference to learn about the idea of a Professional Learning Community. Now, it plans to send 30 people to another conference that will meet July 9-11.
Mowinkel said those 30 people will include staff members from Northwest High, Cedar Hollow, District 1-R, St. Libory and Chapman.
Principal Doyle Denney had talked to the board last October about the concept behind Professional Learning communities and the connection between curriculum, student learning and assessment.
At that time, Denney said the weakest link for the Northwest system is assessment, which lets teachers see how much a student has really learned. Good assessments give teachers insight on the most effective instruction methods for promoting student learning.
Mowinkel said Vanderhamm and St. Libory Principal Jeff Ellsworth also talked to the board about a potential application for a grant to start an early childhood education program for preschool students ages 3 to 5. The program would be located in either St. Libory or Chapman.
Mowinkel said the program would require $20,000 of in-kind and/or financial contribution for a $40,000 grant. He said the program would have the same goal as Head Start: Getting young children prepared for academic success in kindergarten and subsequent grades.
The board would have to approve the application for the grant no later than its March meeting because the deadline for submitting a proposal is
Architect Brad Kissler reviewed the costs and potential plans for a project that could include a new football field, track, concession stand and field house, Mowinkel said.
One advantage of building a field house is that it could allow middle school athletics to be done at Northwest if a decision was ever made to have a consolidated athletic programs for middle school athletes, Mowinkel said.
However, there are no plans to start the project, which Mowinkel said could cost several million.
Last year, the Northwest board talked about a program that would provide teachers with laptop computers that they could use at school and also at home. At the end of three years, teachers would own the computers.
On Wednesday might, Mowinkel said, Dave Cushing of Cedar Hollow and Doug Zink of District 1-R talked about a lease program for laptop computers. The program would not result in teachers owning the computers. They also talked about potential costs of the lease program, which could be done as part of either a three-year program or four-year program.
Because the meeting was a retreat, the board could not take action on any items.
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