Bearcat Wrap-up Podcast - Week 28: A Busy Week With More To Come

Episode Date: March 31, 2023

Happy Friday!I hope all of you had an enjoyable Spring Break. Whether you traveled or camped or just stayed at home to catch up on chores, I hope there was enough time to rejuvenate and prepare for the final stretch of this school year.Thank you for all you did in this returning week to help us reach our district goals. This data is not updated all the way to week 27 yet but it will be early next week. This week’s Wrap-up will contain information from the events of the week, including the things happening with LEARNS.Board MeetingOn Monday, we had our March board meeting. Here are the minutes if you have not read them yet. Instead of rehashing all that is in the minutes, I will emphasize one key piece of information that I gave the board and that is the impact of LEARNS and the impact of the new minimum salary. I also explained to the board that the plan presented in the minutes was not official yet and that I would bring something official to the April meeting for their approval. One thing we have learned from this session is that things change on a daily basis and things are constantly evolving.Career Ready CommunitiesOn Tuesday and Wednesday, a group of Polk County educators and community leaders met in a two-day BootCamp at National Park College in Hot Springs. The event was run by ACT Work Ready Communities and it focused on the alignment of jobs in the area and the skills needed to be successful at those jobs. The alignment is done through the National Career Readiness Certificate (NCRC) program and businesses that adopt the NCRC as part of their hiring process will receive free support from ACT Work Ready Communities to develop job profiles. The team that went through the BootCamp will be educating local businesses about this system and assisting them in establishing it with the end goal of having a correctly skilled and correctly placed workforce. Secretary Oliva’s Visit to DMESCOn Wednesday, our new Secretary of Education, Jacob Oliva, came to the DeQueen -Mena Educational Service Coop to lay out his vision for education in our state. Aside from the financial concerns of paying for the new minimum salary, the meeting was very encouraging. There is much to share that I cannot put into one Wrap-up but for today, I will begin with his vision for English Language Arts.The Secretary provided some great insight to us as to why Arkansas has such a low number of students reading on grade level. Simply put, the reason is that it is based on the fact that ACT makes our test and according to ACT, college readiness means scoring a 22 on reading as a senior. The secretary went on to ask how many kids still get into and are successful in college who did not score that highly and said that Arkansas will determine its own definition of what grade-level reading ability means.We have one more year of the ACT Aspire, so we need to make sure our parents and community understand that not being on grade-level reading does not mean that they cannot read. We need to emphasize the means of measurement we are using for our district goals that our Interventionist Team has created and be prepared for our numbers and the ACT Aspire numbers not to correlate precisely. Furthermore, we need to emphasize that our assessment is ongoing while the ACT Aspire measures one day in the academic life of a student. I will be putting more information from the Secretary in future Wrap-ups and share in other ways when I have the opportunity. Project Lead The WayLet us congratulate Mr. Coogan and Mrs. Warner for the successful grant application to begin a PLTW program at Mena Middle School. Here is an excerpt from the letter announcing the successful grant application and providing some information as to what PLTW is about:I am pleased to inform you that your school has been selected as a recipient of the 2022 Project Lead the Way (PLTW) Grant from the Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) funded by Walton Family Foundation. Congratulations!The selection committee was very impressed with your school’s commitment to advancing STEM education in 7th and/or 8th grade, and we believe that this grant will help further your efforts. We are confident that this grant will enable your school to continue to inspire and motivate students to pursue careers in STEM fields.Your school has been approved for funding to implement your requested courses in full.Learning AllyMrs. Salisbury informed us today that Mena has received more recognition for our dyslexia efforts through Learning Ally. Below is the announcement:On behalf of Learning Ally, I would like to congratulate you on being selected to be honored at our annual Spotlight on Dyslexia conference for your district’s tremendous work in advancing literacy outcomes. This award is intended to honor districts on the leading edge of best practices in making advancements in aligning to the Science of Reading, understanding the whole child when it comes to literacy, and effectively using Learning Ally’s solutions in this work.Mena School District's hard work and dedication have stood above the rest. Your commitment to education has touched staff, students, and families and epitomizes the spirit of the Learning Ally vision. Your district's efforts are truly inspiring, and we want to recognize this monumental work as an exemplar for other districts. Adaptive Playground EquipmentI received a letter this week from Arvest Bank that Mena Schools was receiving a grant from them for adaptive playground equipment at Louise Durham Elementary and Holly Harshman Elementary. Prior to getting the letter, I did not know that we were being considered. I learned that this was the work of Shanda Craig, Emilee Johnson, and Rebecca Sprague. Now, our special needs students will have playground equipment that is suited to them and for them. We thank these educators and anyone else who may have helped bring this new resource to our students. ClosingIt was a very busy week, but it was a good week at Mena Public Schools. The legislature continues to meet and the number of education bills continues to grow. Instead of listing them, I encourage you to seek them out and learn about them. Thoughts and predictions about LEARNS continue to be given in our Thought Exchange. Review what has been said and add your own.At Mena Public Schools our students are prepared, our staff is supported, and our community is confident.Have a great weekend!! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit bearcatwrap.substack.com

Good afternoon and welcome to week 28 wrap-up entitled a busy week with more to come. After a much-needed spring break, business in Little Rock and here at home has sped up as we approach the end of the legislative session and the end of the school year. Happy Friday. I hope you all had an enjoyable spring break. Whether you traveled or camped or just stayed home to catch up on chores, I hope there was enough time to rejuvenate and prepare for the final stretch of this school year. Thank you for all you did returning this week to help us reach our district goals. This data is not updated all the way to week 27, but it will be early next week. This week's wrap-up will contain information about the events of the week,

including the things that happened with LEARNS. Board meeting. On Monday, we had our board meeting. There's a link to the minutes. If you have not read them yet, there's a link embedded in the text. Instead of rehashing all that's in the minutes, I will emphasize one piece of information that I gave the board, and that is the impact of learns and the impact of the new minimum salary. I also explained to the board that the plan presented in the minutes was not official yet, and that I would bring something official to the April meeting for their approval. One thing we have learned from this session is that things change on a daily basis and things are constantly evolving. Career-ready communities. On Tuesday and Wednesday, a group of Polk County educators and community

leaders met in a two-day boot camp at National Park College in Hot Springs. The event was run by ACT Work Ready Communities, and it focused on the alignment of jobs in the area and the skills needed to be successful at those jobs. The alignment done through the National Career Readiness Certificate Program and businesses that adopt the NCRC, which is the National Career Readiness Certificate, as part of their hiring process, will receive free support from ACT work-ready communities to develop job profiles.

The team that went through the boot camp will be educating local businesses about this system and assisting them in establishing it with the end goal of having correctly skilled and a correctly placed workforce. Secretary Oliva's visit to DMESC. On Wednesday, our new Secretary of Education, Jacob Oliva, came to the DeQueen-Mena Educational Service Co-op to lay out his vision for education in our state. in our state. Aside from financial concerns of paying for a new minimum salary, the meeting was very encouraging. There's much to share that I cannot put into one wrap-up. Before today, I will begin with his vision for English language arts or ELA and math.

The secretary provided some great insight as to why Arkansas has such a low number of students reading on grade level. Simply put, the reason is that the base score, simply put, I'm sorry, I can't read because the voiceover window overlaps some of my writing. But basically, the fact that the ACT is our testing service, they deliver the ACT Aspire. And for ACT, college readiness means scoring a 22 on reading as a senior. The secretary went on to ask how many kids still get into college and are successful in college who do not score that highly, and that Arkansas will determine its own definition of grade level reading ability for itself. We have one more year of the ACT Aspire, so we need to make sure our parents and community understand that not being on grade level reading does not mean that a student cannot read. We need to emphasize the means of measurement we are using for our district goals that our

interventionist team has created and be prepared for our numbers on the ACT Aspire numbers not to correlate precisely. Furthermore, we need to emphasize that our assessment is ongoing while the ACT Aspire measures one day in the academic life of the student. I will be putting more information from the Secretary's future wrap-ups and share in other ways when I have the opportunity. Project Lead the Way. Let us congratulate Mr. Coogan and Ms. Warner for the successful grant application to begin a PLWT Project Lead the Way program at Mena Middle School. program at Mena Middle School. Here's an excerpt from the letter announcing the successful grant application and providing some information as to what PLT is about. Quote, I'm pleased to inform

you that your school has been selected as a recipient of the 2023 Project Lead the Way grant from the Arkansas Department of Education, funded by the Walton Family Foundation. Congratulations! The selection committee was very impressed with your school's commitment to advance STEM education in seventh and or eighth grade and we believe that this grant will help further your efforts. We are confident that this grant will enable your school to continue to ensure and motivate students to pursue careers in STEM fields. Your school has been approved for funding to implement your requested courses in full learning Ally miss Salisbury for me informed us today that Mina has received more recognition for our dyslexia efforts through learning Ally

below is the announcement from them quote on behalf of learning Ally I would like to congratulate you on being selected to be honored at our annual spotlight on dyslexia Conference for your district's tremendous effort in advancing literacy outcomes. This award is intended to honor districts on the leading edge of best practices in making advancements in aligning to the science of reading, understanding the whole child when it comes to literacy, and effectively using Learning Ally's solutions in this work. Mena School District's hard work and dedication have stood above the rest. Your commitment to education has touched staff, students, and families, and epitomizes the spirit of the Learning Ally vision.

Your district's efforts are truly inspiring and we want to recognize this monumental work as an exemplar for other districts. Adaptive playground equipment. I received a letter this week from Harvest Bank that Mena Schools was receiving a grant from them for adaptive playground equipment at Louise Durham Elementary and Holly Harshman Elementary. Prior to getting the letter, I did not know that we were being considered. I learned that this was the work of Shanda Craig, Emily Johnson, and Rebecca Sprague. Now, our special needs students will have playground equipment that is suited to them and for them.

equipment that is suited to them and for them. We thank these educators and anyone else who was who may have been involved in helping bring this new resource to our students. In closing, it was a very busy week but it was a good week at Mena Public Schools. The legislature continues to meet and the number of education bills continues to grow. Instead of listing them, I encourage you to seek them out and learn about them. Thoughts and predictions about learns continue to be given in our thought exchange. Review what has been said and add your own if you wish. You can see the links in the text. To wrap things up, at Mena Public Schools, our students are supported, our staff, our students are prepared, our staff is supported, and our community is confident. Have a great weekend.