At the Tuesday, Jan. 17, Moorestown Board of Education meeting, district goals, communication and the 2018–2019 budget were the topics of much discussion.
At the Tuesday, Jan. 17, Moorestown Board of Education meeting, the theme of the night was self-analysis with an update on district goals and conversations about communication and budget construction dominating the night’s discussions.
Director of Curriculum and Instruction Carole Butler provided those in attendance with a mid-year progress report on the district’s goals. The district’s three goals are to establish a culture of innovation, provide targeted instruction and to encourage social mindfulness.
In regard to innovation, the district has created makerspaces at the elementary schools and the Upper Elementary School, which have fostered a more hands-on approach to learning, Butler said. She said the district is evaluating how to create more opportunities for makerspaces at William Allen Middle School and Moorestown High School.
In focusing on innovation, the district has been engaged in an evaluation process to try to earn a designation as a “Future Ready School.” To earn the designation, the district must demonstrate it is using technology and digital tools to support student learning.
Butler said the district was recently notified the evaluation rubrics are changing and new rubrics will be released in February. She said at that time, the district will begin to reassess itself to try to earn the designation.
Regarding targeted instruction, the district has been taking a close look at students’ PARCC scores and other evaluation data to help guide how best to provide professional development for staff, Butler said.
Finally, in terms of social-mindfulness, Butler informed attendees the “Panorama Student Survey” has already gone out to seventh-grade students. She said the next step is to send it to eighth and ninth graders as well as students in third through sixth grade.
“Students are going to self-assess themselves in the areas of resilience and self-regulation,” Butler said.
Once all of the Panorama data is collected, the district will report the findings to the public at the end of the school year, Butler said.
Regarding disseminating information to the public, board member Maurice Weeks said the communications committee has been engaged in discussions about how the board can improve clarity and transparency with both the public and among board members.
“We discussed the structure of current board meetings, specifically how the process of public comments works,” Weeks said. “We didn’t come to a conclusion. We are still working on that.”
Weeks said the committee also talked about recording board meetings for residents who can not attend. He said the committee views recording meetings as a great opportunity to give students in video production courses an opportunity to utilize the skills they are learning in the classroom.
The budget and finance committee is also taking a careful look at potential changes, according to board member Dimitri Schneiberg. He said the district recently shared preliminary information on the 2018 costs and projected revenues, and as such, the committee has started discussing the 2018–2019 budget.
Schneiberg said the committee is looking into how transportation funding is being allocated. He said when the Moorestown Robotics Team attended the October board meeting to question why teams outside of athletics received little to no funding, they were listening.
“This is still very much an active discussion,” Schneiberg said. “We have taken this feedback from the community very seriously.”
Schneiberg said the district will also be issuing a Request for Proposals related to energy conservation. He said the committee is interested in investigating ways to conserve energy and reduce the district’s cost of utilities.
Board president Sandra Alberti said the board’s goal for this year’s budget is to have conversations about how the budget can best support the district.
“What we wanted to do this year — and we kind of talked about one of the highlights of the process last year — is to be able to to tell the story of what our budget represents from a value prospect,” Alberti said.
The next meeting of the Moorestown Board of Education will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 20 at William Allen Middle School.
