Jun 21 2023
Board Meeting

1. Public Comment
   ⏯️ 27:11- 37:04

1. • • Amy Norton (former Red Clay English Teacher) Told the Board she left the district after seven years due to district's decision to reduce literature in English classes while claiming it is required by the state.

     • Lauren Crist (AI Alumni) stated that AI’s student population is predominantly low-income and in need of mental health, reading, and math resources through Title I funding.

     • Greg Wilson (Friends of AI) urged the district to address SAT biases and consider alternative measures of student achievement; emphasized need for Title I funding.

2. Superintendent's Report
    ⏯️ 43:12-44:46 

• Superintendent Dorrell Green highlighted AI’s E-sports team as statewide champion; noted the program is a model in Delaware and AI will be supported in its esports program growth. 

3. Board Committee Report

    ⏯️ 1:11:54-1:14:51

• Board Member Vic Leonard gave a report on the AI School Exploratory Development Committee meeting June 6, 2023.

4. Items Submitted by the Board - Attendance Zones Review Policy Proposal & Discussion

    ⏯️ 1:28:14-1:36:25

• Board Member Vic Leonard submitted a proposal to create policy 5013 requiring Red Clay to review attendance zones every 10 years; The Board discussed the steps required to create the policy through the Board Policy Review Committee.

⏯️ 27:11-37:04 Click to hear all comments or Click a name below to hear individuals.

• Amy Norton: Hi my name is Amy Norton and I have taught high school English in this district for the past seven years. This year I am leaping and won't be returning next year and the primary reason for that is because of how the English Department has been run at the district level. While I have a lot to say about this in particular I wanted to limit my comment strictly to what's relevant to the Board, the parents, and the students that we are supposed to serve. 

• I've been told by the two English heads and other people at the district level that Red Clay is working to limit and almost eliminate literature within the English classroom because of the state's expectations for us. They have shared that through a professional development meeting with ELA teachers, that the state says that 70% of the student reading should be non-fiction. When I followed up at the state level I was told both in person and in writing that this is not true. Seventy percent of the students' reading across ALL subject areas should be non-fiction. English classrooms are the primary place where students receive literature and should be primarily literature-based. The goal of the state is not to change English classrooms but to have other classes read more. When I shared this information with my district supervisors I was told that we would not be changing our curriculum choices. I was told that science and social studies teachers are not trained and cannot be relied upon to teach our students to comprehend the non-fiction texts that they use within their classrooms. 

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• In my English class this year my 10th grade students did not read a single poem or novel. They read five short stories and analyzed the play Hamilton for its historical accuracy by comparing it to primary sources. In freshman year their only piece of literature is Romeo and Juliet. As a junior they only read The Warmth of Other Sons and the film unit is other non-fiction stories and documentaries. As a senior they have slightly more literature as they read Hamlet and In the time of Butterflies. After this, they're expected to conduct a literary analysis despite not having the preparation. This number is less than even the misbegotten 30%. I was also told by District supervisor that at the middle school level students get one literature unit out of four over the course of the school year - which is again 25% not 30%. English class is for literature. Despite what I was told by my supervisors I believe that literacy is an interdisciplinary skill that teachers of all sorts are able to teach. Analyzing poems and immersing oneself in the language of novels belongs in the English classroom. I have studies, as well as my correspondence with the state, to produce if anybody's interested. Since my previous attempts to address this with both with my supervisors and their supervisors, and my building principal have gone unnoticed, I wanted to bring this here. Thank you.

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• Lauren Crist: My name is Lauren Crist. I attended AI high school and I attended the first committee meeting to understand why AI's enrollment dropped, why it dropped so significantly since I graduated in 2007. I thought my background as a Title I Special Ed teacher might help me find ways to support the students and teachers in this community. It became immediately clear that regardless of whether the school's demographic changed due to their Charter boom, Choice buses or the declining general population of school-aged kids in the area, AI was a school that desperately needed resources as the majority of students now came from low-income families. With this in mind, I work to advocate for a holistic approach to building enrollment and urging the committee to serve its current students better using best practice approaches.

• I communicated with the teachers who provided student feedback about their immediate educational needs and desires for how AI could serve them. The teachers who shared also shared their own feedback aligning with students requests for Mental Health Resources, reading and math resources, and I was sure to relay this along with their evidence to the committee. I heard Kevin ask for similar resources at these meetings along with CTE classes that were of interest to their students. The committee's conclusion was that AI duPont is eligible for Title 1 funds - all of which align with the current needs of the school and provide our students with resources without any need for tax increase or money from the community's pockets. The district officials decided not to use these funds at AI, however due to optics instead they concluded AI would receive construction CTE courses - an area of which there is zero interest from students. I'd like to ask both the district and the Board going forward to take the feedback you've been given from both teachers, staff, families and students and all those who are in the embodiment of the work that needs to be done and move forward accordingly. Thank you.

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• Greg Wilson: Thank you. My name is Greg Wilson. I'm with friends of AI, a group of concerned AI alumni who want to see AI do well. I also want to thank Dr. Bohm for her service. First I also want to thank the Red Clay School Board for creating the Task Force. We found it very edifying and helpful. I want to thank Superintendent Dorrell Green and Mark Pruitt and his team. I think they did a great job. Friends of AI are here to help moving forward. We want to work with the district, new school leadership and all to improve all the comprehensive High Schools to be the best that they can be.

• For those of us who participated in the Task Force, aside from learning a lot, we learned patience. Trying to change a school takes time. trying to get an understanding of all the complex issues takes time, but most of all the number one thing that we want to highlight is numbers matter and context matters. Numbers may tell a story but not the full story. If you look at AI duPont it has an 80% graduation rate but only 24% are at a proficiency measured by the SAT. Only 8% at a proficiency in math. That's on the the Delaware report card. That's a public facing document and our argument as friends of AI is that we want to see Red Clay School District be a leader in addressing the biases within the SAT. We don't think it's an adequate measure. We don't think it's a good measure of student Improvement. There can be mixed messages sent out to the general public that don't adequately reflect the quality of teaching at AI duPont or the students. So that's one of our our major asks is try to find some other way to measure student achievement than the SAT scores. A lot of students don't even care when they take it because they're not going to college. They just zip through it. They get a zero and that lowers the average so we seriously ask the district to consider being a leader in addressing SATs being part of that dashboard.

• The other issue that we have raised earlier, we raised in the past, is the issue of Title One funding. We understand that AI duPont qualifies for Title One funding but due to tough choices in the past and the decisions that the district has to make now those numbers aren't going to be forthcoming. Those funds aren't going to be forthcoming. We urgently asked the district to consider all opportunities to get additional resources into that school because they need emotional or behavioral specialists, reading Specialists and an Outreach officer, in particular to reach out to the community. The low-income students that go to AI duPont - their challenges are shared by students that also attend Dickinson and McKean. Due to the decisions made 15 years ago, Red Clay has created three low-income high schools. They can't get Title One funding just due to the challenges that we all face. We recognize that. But we look forward to working with you in the future we want to find solutions to the challenges facing AI duPont and the other comprehensive schools and we appreciate all that you've done thank you very much.

⏯️ 43:12-44:46 

Dorrell Green:  The AI High "A-Team," which is the esports team, was actually contacted by the Delaware Department of Education last week because we have a model program.

For those who don’t know, esports is competitive gaming. While people often think of it as just gaming, there is actually an entire industry that supports esports. Many colleges, although it is not yet an NCAA sanctioned sport, are getting involved and creating esports and gaming labs.

AI High School participated in a five-school challenge across the state and became the inaugural 2023 Spring Champions.

Again, esports is competitive gaming that brings together scholastics and academics around social-emotional learning, digital citizenship, and connections to core content areas, specifically STEM.

Students do everything from game design, broadcasting, and digital content creation, and there are also opportunities through our partnerships with Future First Gaming and Wilmington University to really look at taking AI, in particular, toward becoming a cybertech high school.

I’m claiming that here and stating that we’re going to leverage this as an opportunity not only to grow the current programming—along with the AI Task Force—but also to celebrate a lot of the high-quality work that is actually taking place there.

So congratulations to AI High School for being the inaugural champion. We’re looking forward to the Department of Education potentially patterning some of what we’re doing across the state.

⏯️ 1:11:54-1:14:51

Kecia Nesmith: Next, we'll move on to School Board Committee Reports. We'll begin with the AI High School Exploratory Development Committee. The meeting was held on June 6th. Who would like to give the report?

Vic Leonard: I'll do it. So, we met on June 6 at AI High School, led by Mark Pruitt. Mr. Pruitt and the team reviewed the Board's charge of the AI Task Force and some action items and goals of the Task Force as voted upon by the committee, including:

Esports curriculum development
CTE programs
Dual enrollment programs at DelTech towards the construction pathway
Goldey-Beacom Early College Academy
Rebranding of AI High School
Increasing student enrollment to 800 or greater
Re=examining the High School attendance zones in the district

Mr. Michael Simmonds and his staff gave an in-depth presentation on Title One funding and Red Clay, which included $6.2 million total, with $4.2 million going to in-school districts and approximately $2 million used for other areas like homeless students, family engagement, and out-of-district student programs covered under Title One. I would like to thank Mr. Simmonds and his staff for presenting such an in-depth program. Thank you very much; we appreciate you coming and doing that.

The AI Task Force has requested that the Board approve the re-examining of the High School attendance zones, which have not been reviewed in over two decades. It is my understanding that to begin this process, we must first seek the approval of the School Board. Because there are no Board policies or procedures that address attendance zone evaluations, I would like to suggest that the Board and District administration define procedures required to accomplish this task. Once these steps are outlined, they should be incorporated into policy for future reference and attendance reassessments. I would then like to see a policy develop that states the attendance zones be reviewed at least every 10 years to assure fair and equitable alignment of these zones and students.

I want to thank Mr. Mark Pruitt for organizing the AI Task Force Committee and for facilitating the meetings with robust and honest discussion of issues concerning AI High School and helping in developing ideas and suggestions to enhance the lives of students, families, and educators at AI.

Well, our first year behind us, we must now monitor the implementation of these programs, classes, and other resources identified through the AI Task Force's efforts to assess their effectiveness. The AI Task Force is looking forward to assisting incoming leadership at AI High by helping to secure identified resources and assistance needed to move forward with the goals set forth by the Task Force.

Thank you to all the AI Task Force members for dedicated service toward the final goal of success.

1:28:14-1:36:25

Vic Leonard: As I mentioned in the AI Task Force update, I'd like to propose that we have a policy that addresses reviewing attendance zones since it's decades in between, and I'd like us to discuss that today and hopefully have that sent to the Board Policy Review Committee for discussion. So everyone should have a copy of that if you bring that up; it was attached to the agenda. 

Kecia Nesmith: Are there any questions? So I see this as an action item for next month. Are there any questions or comments regarding the proposal? Dr. Bohm?

Adriana Bohm: I think it would be wonderful to have a committee that reviews the attendance zones every 10 years. I would say to do it even every five years, maybe to do it a little sooner, but I just think that's a wonderful policy.

Kecia Nesmith: Other comments? Ms.Thompson.

Cathy Thompson: Yeah, so I think that we can send the concept of it. Well, first of all, I think we're a little out of order. I think that the AI Task Force should provide all its recommendations so that we can act and not take it one piece at a time. But, even if there is a – I know you drafted something, but what we typically do is send a concept to the Board Policy Review Committee and they draft it. So I think that's, if we're going to take this approach, I think that's the way to do it because your policy isn't even what the AI Task Force recommended, and it's very unclear as to what is required. And we have many schools; we had several schools with a lower attendance capacity than AI High School, and there's no fix for those schools, and nobody has raised any issue about them. And you talk about equity in it, but I don't even know what that means because does that mean the number of students? Does that mean the racial composition of the students? Does that mean what – what does that mean? So first of all think we ought to hear first from the attendance – from the AI Task Force because we charged them with coming up with recommendations. I'd like to hear what their recommendations are before undertaking action. But if this Board does decide to take action, my proposal would be that we send the concept to Board Policy for Board Policy to – that what they do is they look around and see what others have and draft up and find out what the best practice is and draft up something to bring back, get community input, and bring that back and get some more community input.

Kecia Nesmith: Thank you. I have a comment. 

Vic Leonard: [inaudible] Okay. If you recall, Cathy Thompson, I did bring that up at the Board Policy Committee meeting and you told me that must be approved by the Board first, then go to the Board Policy Review Committee. So I'm kind of confused myself on what the process is. So here I am for the second month bringing it to the Board from the Board Policy meeting, which I was told needs to come from the Board. So which is – and I'm not clear. 

Cathy Thompson: I think it's perfectly clear. I think it's perfectly clear what the process is, Mr. Leonard, and I don't think it's deviated from that. I'm not taking – I'm taking issue with the practice because it doesn't – the Board needs to – an individual board member has no real authority. Any action that's taken is taken by a vote of the Board, so if you want to send something to Board Policy, the Board is the one that has to do it, not you individually. That's very clear.
Number two, what I'm saying is as to the content of your proposal, of what you drafted, I have a problem with the way you approached it because what is typically done is that the concept is sent to Board Policy for Board Policy to draft it, not draft a policy and sent it to Board Policy. Two, the third point is what you've even drafted or brought forth is inconsistent with what the AI Task Force is proposing, and I think we ought to hear everything the AI Task Force has proposed before we undertake action to begin with. So I don't know what's unclear about that.

Kecia Nesmith: So I have a couple of thoughts and comments. I appreciate you attempting to draft, Mr. Leonard, the attendance zone review policy. And so what my recommendation is that you have brought up the desire to have a policy for our School Board and district to review attendance zones, not just at AI but in general, correct, every 10 years. And so my recommendation is that next month, the motion would be to create an attendance zone review policy, share this draft with the Board Policy Review Committee, who would then revamp it, bring it to the Board for presentation, have a first read once that committee comes up with that policy, and then a second read, and then we would vote to approve it or not. So you took an extra step that you didn't have to do to try to create something to share, and I appreciate that.

So what we will do for action items next month, if that's okay, and whoever's running that meeting, it would be for you to make the recommendation to create an attendance zone review policy, and then it would go to the Board Policy Review Committee. Is that okay?

Vic Leonard: Yes. Okay, okay. Can we make sure that's in the notes for the next meeting?

Kecia Nesmith: I will. I will note it and I will send out the email to everyone. 

Dorrell Green: I just want to make sure again just in terms of policy creation process that we give the committee the due diligence to actually investigate to create a policy to bring to the Board, and I think just around like Policy 8005, which was a similar process, and that the Board gave the Board Policy Review Committee the charge to give the Board something to respond to.

Kecia Nesmith: [inaudibile]

Dorrell Green: Okay, so I just wanted to make sure that. So basically, what I'm hearing the Board say in this instance is you want the policy to review the committee to investigate an attendance zone review policy, and the only stipulation that I'm hearing is that that policy be reviewed every 10 years. Or that attendance zones within that policy look at a 10-year review. 

Kecia Nesmith: That's what the request is for it to be included in whatever it comes up as the actual policy. Yeah, so the Board Review Committee would create the policy based on the charge, right? The whole committee would discuss, which has Board Members on it and other stakeholders in the district, create the policy, do the investigation to create the policy. This is a process that would have just happened overnight.

Dorrell Green: So that's why I just wanted to make sure we're clarifying so that there's not an expectation that July there's a first reading and then August there's a second reading for you to actually vote on.

Kecia Nesmith: So okay, the motion would be to create – the motion would be to create the policy at the Board Policy Review Committee level. Any other discussion on that topic? Okay, moving on. 

Adriana Bohm: Yes, yes. Okay. Sorry, I'm in full support of that. 

Kecia Nesmith: I also support it. Thank you. Anyone else?

▼Related Materials

AI Task Force Committee Meeting Report June 6, 2023

Proposal to create a policy to review Attendance Zones