Barr Updates

This newsletter will provide staff members with updates on the work being accomplished with the Barr Foundation. We hope this will give you a sense of where we are in the process and keep you up to date on our recent developments.

Our work this year with the Barr Foundation will require the help of many in the district. A Core Team has been selected to spearhead this work.

Barr Leadership Team Members:

Kristen Smidy, Superintendent

Jason Finnie, GRHS Principal

Will Sullivan, GRHS Assistant Principal

Deanna LeBlanc, Curriculum Director

Barr Core Team Coordinators:

Cheryl Wright (HS math teacher)

Anne Marie Fant (HS English teacher)

Barr Core Team Members:

Bill Brown (district librarian)

Martha Clark (6th grade teacher, parent of child in district, district resident)

Linda Hyjek (3rd grade teacher, parent of Gateway graduates, district resident)

Amy Mason (district teacher of the visually impaired, parent of child in district, district resident)

Taylor Simpson (HS English teacher)

Val Zeh (HS math teacher, parent of Gateway graduate)

This team will be responsible for organizing and completing Barr-related tasks, such as gathering and synthesizing information, as well as devising next steps to analyze and reevaluate the school experience. However, the work we are doing relies on the input of ALL district stakeholders, including students, parents, staff, and community members. We hope to hear from you!

From now until mid-November, we are in the Learn Phase of the Barr grant. This means that we'll be using the next few weeks to gather as much information as we can about the Gateway district. Methods will include focus groups, surveys, walkthroughs, and more.

Following the Learn Phase will be the Dream Phase, which will run from mid-November through March. During this phase, we will utilize all of the information we've gathered to brainstorm ideas and possibilities. Once again, we will be soliciting ideas and gathering feedback to ensure that our plan meets the needs of our community.

Finally, the Plan Phase will run from April through June. In this phase, we will plan next steps and develop our vision for the future of our district.

The high school utilized the half day on September 19th to conduct student focus groups. Students were asked questions about a range of topics, including teaching and learning, student engagement, behavioral expectations, and community values. Focus group notes have been consolidated to identify themes and inform our learning process.

Notes from these groups have been compiled and organized into padlets. We encourage staff members to peruse these padlets, which summarize many of the themes that we heard:

• Grades 9/10
• Grades 11/12.

Please understand that these padlets are for staff members only (not public viewing) at this point.

One of the resources funded by our Barr grant is a Springpoint site visit. This group visited the high school on October 4-5 to meet with school leaders, teachers, counselors, and students, as well as to conduct walkthroughs to get a better sense of the student experience. At the conclusion of their visit, this group presented their findings to Barr Core Team members. The Springpoint report included two areas of strength as well as two recommendations, which will be consolidated and shared with staff.

The visiting team truly appreciated how welcoming and accommodating everyone was throughout their visit. Thank you to all who opened their classrooms, answered questions, submitted work samples, or allowed them to catch glimpses of what we do everyday!

Here is a slideshow summarizing the themes and feedback that we received from our Springpoint visitors, as well as our high school student focus groups (mentioned above).

Over the few weeks, you may see Barr Core Team members conducting Learning Walkthroughs. In addition, we are hoping to have each team member shadow a student for a day. These activities are non-evaluative and will help us to gain a better understanding of the student experience in our district.

On Tuesday, October 3, staff members from the middle and high schools participated in Staff Focus Groups. Staff members were split into small groups to discuss their impressions of learning, engagement, achievement, and culture at Gateway. Elementary staff members will participate in focus groups on Tuesday, October 17. The information compiled from these discussions will give us more insight into the current state of teaching and learning in our district.

During the month of October, YouthTruth surveys will be completed by students, staff, parents, and alumni/community members. The survey is open until October 26, and we hope to have high levels of participation from each group. YouthTruth will compile the data and identify trends, which we will examine at our November conference.

• All secondary staff members will complete YouthTruth surveys on October 17th during PD time.
• Elementary staff focus groups will occur on October 17th.
• Middle and high school students will complete surveys on October 18th.
• Middle school student focus groups will occur on October 19th.
• Barr Team members will participate in a conference from November 14-16, where we will examine the data and determine next steps.