The Falcon School District 49 Board of Education held its regularly scheduled meeting at the new Falcon Virtual Academy building. The change in venue allowed staff and community members a chance to tour the facility, which blends traditional and non-traditional teaching tools. The school is a multidistrict online school for kindergarten through grade 12.iConnect Zone leader Kim McClelland addressed the board regarding the new FVA building. She said the facility provides a collaborative, innovative model for educating students, and plenty of research, planning and coordination made the project possible. ìI assure you it (the new facility) will make a difference in not only the students, but in the community,î McClelland said.Action items passed included the following:
- A change to the Sand Creek Innovation Zoneís calendar
- Revisions to the board policy on the distribution and posting of non-curricular material
Paul Andersen, D 49 personnel director, presented information on the evaluation process for the Innovation Leaders in the district. He said the current administration evaluation tool is the starting point for developing the evaluations. One key element the evaluations lack is anything pertaining to Innovation, he said. ìIt needs to focus on things that are measurable,î Andersen said. ìThere should be a self-evaluation portion, and there should be input from the person they report to, as well as from their peers.îAndersen said he would like to make sure evaluations are done in a timely manner to ensure effectiveness. The estimated timeline for having evaluations completed is Jan. 25, 2013, he said.Begier updated the board on the status of technology throughout the district. He said that all the MacBook computers have been distributed to district staff; and, while training is still ongoing, the Power Zone will complete training by the beginning of October.Mike Pickering, Power Zone curriculum, instruction, assessment and professional development administrator, informed the board about his zoneís progress, focusing on teacher and administrator evaluations tools. Bob Felice, Power Zone Innovation leader, said, ìFor evaluations, we are looking at what the measurables are and making sure we have community support. The parents are in agreement that the state evaluation isnít OK, and we need to build our own evaluation.îìI want to give teachers a meaningful and valuable voice in this process,î said Chris Wright, board vice president.The board discussed the Pre-Disaster Mitigation Plan, as required by El Paso County.Dave Watson, safety and emergency coordinator, said in his presentation that additional funding could be necessary to improve overall safety in the district, specifically to improve the reliability of the surveillance cameras.Using his extensive background in law enforcement and the military, Henry Allen, board member, provided ample feedback to Watson on risk preparedness and mitigation procedures.The next BOE meeting will be held Oct. 4 at 6 p.m. in the board room at the Central Administration Office.
