PHOTO
The FFMS Instructional Support Team include Jaime Peterson (far left), Principal Robert Lindsay (left), Joleen Nielsen (middle left), Crystal Nelson (middle right), Tamara McCord (right), and Jenica Hawley (far right). Not pictured: Vice-Principal Tim Merki.
School board of trustees recognizes French Ford Middle School leadership
By Michelle Cook
m.cook@winnemuccapublishing.net
The Humboldt County School Board of Trustees chose to recognize the Instructional Support Team at French Ford Middle School for their efforts to comply with AB219.
Under AB219, the law requires principals of schools that demonstrate low achievement for pupils who are English learners (EL) to establish a corrective action plan, or CAP. According to the new law, “The principal of each public school which, based upon the most recent annual report of the statewide system of accountability for public schools, was rated in the lowest 30 percent of public schools in this State in the achievement of pupils who are English learners, shall adopt, submit to the Department and publish on an Internet website maintained by the school a corrective action plan which must include, without limitation: (a) Identification of the root causes of the low levels of achievement among pupils who are English learners; (b) Plans to address those root causes; (c) Attainable quantitative goals for improvement in the achievement of pupils who are English learners and timelines for meeting those goals; (d) Identification of specific actions to improve the achievement of pupils who are English learners, plans to monitor those actions and identification of persons responsible for taking and monitoring those actions; and (e) Plans to provide professional development designed to address the needs of pupils who are English learners to administrators, teachers and other educational staff.
Assistant Superintendent Dawn Hagness thanked those involved in creating the plan for their courage and vulnerability to look at data and make changes. Hagness recalled the day the leadership team realized what was necessary to realized “they could no longer talk about all of those things they couldn't control outside of school, that they were going to have to really look at what can they control and what can they do within their school day if we really want to see a change in scores. There's not one person [on the team] that doesn't know the reason why [the school] moved from a one star to a two star — because they improved their chronic absenteeism numbers. The urgency is there to do something different and that leadership team really left that day feeling that that was true.”
Hagness praised the leadership’s preparation to address the plan as well as to engage the school’s staff and teachers going forward. “I really appreciate that you did. not only today but every day you stand in front of your peers and you push each other to be better and better for our kids.”