Barrington High School

School Improvement Plan 2024-2025

Eagle of the Month Nomination Form 

Agendas

September

Meeting Minutes

Christopher Ashley, Principal

Diana Siliezar-Shields, Science Dept. Chair

Co-Chairperson

Cynthia Navarro, World Language Dept. Chair

Co-Chairperson

Elliott LeFaiver, Special Education Teacher

Gina Bae, Grade 9 Parent

Amy Pettine, Grade 10 Parent

Margarita Robledo Guedes, Grade 11 Parent

Liz Henderson, Grade 12 Parent

Ela Er, Grade 9 Student

Alexandra Smuk, Grade 10 Student

Eilidh Thomson, Grade 11 Student

Siddarth Gupta, Grade 11 Student

Kendal Bazerman, Grade 12 Student

Colleen Pickford, Community Member

Elizabeth Sturla, Support Staff Member

Rebecca White, Student Representative to the School Committee

September 11, 2024

October 9, 2024

November 13, 2024

December 11, 2024

January 9, 2025

February 12, 2025

March 12, 2025

April 9 , 2025

May 14 2025

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School Improvement Team Policy

Barrington Public Schools

Purpose of the School Improvement Team (SIT)

The purpose of the SIT is to provide input on and monitoring of SMART Goals (School Improvement Plan) for continuous improvement based on the District Strategic

Goals (Scorecard), data, and feedback provided by the school and district-based teams such as the data teams, the Health and Wellness Committee, Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) teams, and the Multi-Tiered Systems of Support teams. Teams will provide voice and an avenue for communication from each building to their school community and the larger district community regarding progress toward our strategic goals and objectives. Teams will also be integral to the participatory governance of the school, serving in an advisory capacity to the principal.

Membership

Each SIT shall be composed of the principal and an appropriately balanced number of teachers, education support employees, special educators, students, family members, and other business and community citizens who are representative of the ethnic, racial, and economic community served by the school. The high school and middle school SIT shall include students.

For the purposes of SIT, the term "teacher" includes classroom teachers, certified teachers, certified student services personnel, and media specialists. For purposes of this subsection, "education support employee" means any person employed by a school who is not defined as instructional or administrative personnel pursuant to law and whose duties require twenty (20) or more hours in each normal working week.

1. Who: 5 Students (high school only, one from each grade and one from a representative student group), 4 Students (middle school only, one from each grade and one from a representative student group), One Family Member representing each grade and each neighborhood, 1 Community Member, 3 Teachers (at least one representing special education), 1 Administrator, 1 Support Personnel, when possible, 1 teacher of Multilingual Learners (MLL).

2. Chaired by a Teacher (Principal can facilitate and organize).

3. One Family Member, Educator, or Administrator needs to be the liaison to the Health and Wellness Committee.

4. In schools with 20% MLL students, one family member must be the family member or guardian of an MLL student.

5. High schools and middle schools, shall include at least one department head from a humanities core subject area and at least one department head from one of the sciences, technology, engineering, or mathematics subject areas.

6. Two members from the same family may not be on a team at the same time. Family membership cannot exceed the number of years served by the school for the grade they are selected to represent.

7. Family members will advance with the grade. For example, a family member selected to represent the 9th grade in year one will represent the 10th grade in 1 year two, and so on. Unless they resign, their position ends when the child whose grade was represented leaves the school.

Membership process

Each September the school will send out applications to each group to determine interest. A selection committee, made up of the peer group currently on the School Improvement Team will review the applications and select membership using the district rubric for committee participation. The overarching application questions will reflect the goals determined as a priority in the previous year. The name and the street address of the applicant will be removed. Only the neighborhood will be revealed. Business and other community members shall be selected by the school through an application review process conducted by the full SIT Selection Committee.

The School Committee shall review the membership composition of each SIT. Should the School Committee determine that the membership selected by the school is not representative, the Committee shall direct the principal to reopen the application process and appoint additional members to achieve proper representation. The application is due by September 15 and selections by September 30. Priority will be given to those who have not had an opportunity to participate in the past.

Members may opt to resign or may be asked to resign due to policy infractions or lack of attendance. Vacant positions will be filled within one month of vacancy following the application process. In the event that a sufficient number of applications are not received to fill all positions, the principal will reach out to the parent organization, the district communication specialist, and the unions to provide additional communication and to garner support to increase the applicant pool. A principal will not directly appoint members beyond the required department heads at the middle and high school.

Duties of the School Improvement Teams

● All members of the SIT will serve the length of time of the grade they were selected to represent and the team will collaboratively develop the meeting schedule and times.

● The SIT, including the school principal, shall meet regularly and shall assist in the identification of the educational needs of the students attending the school; make recommendations to the principal for the development, implementation, and assessment of a curriculum accommodation plan; and shall assist in the review of the annual school budget and in the formulation of a school improvement plan, as provided below.

● The SIT will support the principal in the screening of candidates for all teachers, athletic coaches, instructional or administrative aides, and other personnel assigned to the school. The SIT will consult with the principal on the makeup of the interview committee. All members of the SIT will need to sign the District level letter of confidentiality.

● The principal of each school, in consultation with the SIT established pursuant to this policy, shall, on an annual basis, develop and submit to the District Superintendent a plan for improving student performance.

The Superintendent shall review and approve the plan, after consultation with the School Committee. Plans shall be prepared in a manner and form prescribed by the Rhode Island Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and shall conform to any policies and practices of the District consistent therewith. If the Superintendent does not approve a plan submitted by the principal, the plan shall be returned to the principal who shall, after consultation with the SIT, resubmit the plan to the Superintendent who shall review and approve the resubmitted plan which will be shared with the School Committee.

Meeting Frequency

The team will meet at least one time a month. An increased frequency may occur at the start of the school year. Subgroups, known as working groups, will meet on a more regular basis.

Each working group cannot include more than 49% of SIT members. Development of SMART Goals The school improvement plans will all use the same SMART Goal format as provided by RIDE. SITs will use these documents to either develop or provide input into a SMART Goal. The SMART Goals will be public documents that will be used to communicate progress toward goals. Each school will have a minimum of three goals, included those required by the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE). The goals will be connected to the District Strategic Plan and District Scorecard, as well as any RIDE requirements for annual progress. Each school committee advisory committee and the district task force will provide a copy of their SMART goals to the School Improvement teams for alignment by the end of May each year, to provide time for Superintendent review prior to the RIDE submission date of June 1 for the District Plan and July1 for the School Plans.. Monitoring of SMART Goals The SIT will monitor and use the Plan Do Study Act process to implement and/or adjust strategies embedded in the SMART Goals if needed. They will report benchmark data at the beginning of the year and progress data at the middle and end of the school year.

Communication

The SIT representative will provide an annual report on strategy and goal area(s) at the beginning, middle, and end of the year faculty meeting and parent-teacher organization meeting. This report will be used to inform the tri-annual report to the School Committee indicated above. The plan will be published on the websites of each school and shared in an annual newsletter. The administrators will report to the School Committee at the beginning, middle, and end of the year. Meeting agendas will be released within 48 hours and minutes will be taken and published on the school website once approved at the next full meeting.

3 References: RI General Laws 16-53.1-3 RI General Laws 16-2-11.1 First Read: January 9, 2020 Approved: February 6, 2020 Revised: August 24, 2021 Approved September 2,2021 First Read: October 12, 2023 Approved: October 19, 2023