As the 2010-11 instructional year draws to a close, I know many
community members are curious about next year’s instructional
calendar.
As the 2010-11 instructional year draws to a close, I know many community members are curious about next year’s instructional calendar. The district recognizes the importance of the annual student instructional calendar to students and their parents, school staff, and the community as they make plans for the summer as well as the upcoming school year. The student instructional calendar must be collectively bargained and I am pleased to announce that the district and employee groups have reached a tentative agreement on a calendar that is coordinated with important state and local testing dates and is sensitive to the needs of our students, their parents and our community.
The first student instructional day for the 2011-12 school year is Aug. 18, 2011 and the last student instructional day for the 2011-12 school year is June 8, 2012. The instructional calendar honors the culture and history of our community by keeping the traditional winter break for two weeks, the traditional February and spring breaks, and, new this year, a full week at Thanksgiving – to accommodate the travel plans of district families and improve attendance. It is important to note that this calendar modification does not reduce instructional days; students are still scheduled to attend 180 instructional days during the 2011-12 school year. The annual student instructional calendar can be found on our district website (www.mhu.k12.ca.us).
I am also very pleased to announce that the district and the Morgan Hill Federation of Teachers have reached a tentative agreement on weekly “late start” and “early release” collaboration meetings throughout the Morgan Hill Unified School District for the 2011-12 school year. These collaboration meetings will be essential for us to realize the achievement goals of our school board and the high expectations of our staffs and community. Several of our schools piloted collaboration meetings this year but next year will be the first time every school in the district will get to benefit from one of the most effective school improvement strategies. Collaboration meetings are also known as Professional Learning Community (PLC) meetings. School improvement researcher Robert DuFour insists, “The most promising strategy for sustained, substantive school improvement is developing the ability for school personnel to function as professional learning communities.”
We have some local experts who could not agree more with Dr. DuFour. Ann Sobrato High School is the highest performing high school in South County. Sobrato staff members have been voluntarily participating in collaboration meetings (PLC’s) for four years and credit much of their achievement success to these very important meetings. Principal Debbie Padilla explains that the mission of the Sobrato staff is to create challenging curriculum for all students that reflects meaningful assessments that are tied to course standards.
To ensure success for all students, staff members clarify what each student is to learn, monitor each student’s learning on a timely basis, and create systems to ensure students receive additional time and support if they are not learning. Collaboration meetings allow her staff to regularly analyze student performance data and discuss effective strategies for improving achievement for all students. While discussing the impact of collaboration meetings, Sybil Smit shares, “We cannot improve education if we don’t extend ourselves beyond our own departments and work together to create an effective school environment. To that end, I appreciate the work we have done together when meeting as a staff. Whether we are examining our test data, working on the Western Association of Schools and Colleges report, or agreeing to focus on a particular problem area, I believe the time we spend together as a whole staff has helped us create a campus climate that is exemplary and to search continuously for ways to improve the quality education we provide.” Courtney Macko agrees, “Our collaboration and discussions also help us to ensure our students are engaged in their learning and that we’re helping each other by sharing instructional strategies. It also clearly ties into the Continuous Improvement principle as we’re reviewing data and making necessary changes.”
Besides sharing some of the benefits of regularly scheduled collaboration meetings, it is important to dispel some collaboration myths. Districtwide collaboration meetings will not reduce instructional minutes or shorten the workday for employees – teachers will actually be working longer days to participate in collaboration meetings.
We know early release or late start days are a minor inconvenience for parents/guardians, but we also know that an improvement strategy this effective is worth said inconvenience. These meetings truly cannot be conducted before or after school as many of our teachers offer intervention opportunities for students and/or coach or supervise an extra-curricular student organization. The district will publish collaboration bell schedules as soon as they are completed. Please support your school’s educators as they work to improve achievement for all students.
Wes Smith is the superintendent of Morgan Hill Unified School District. He lives in Morgan Hill with his wife and three children, who attend Morgan Hill schools.
