WVUSD: 2014-2015 Year-End Results
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share information with school communities. Principals held “Coffee Talks” and meetings
with parents. The Coordinating Council members met monthly at the district office where
they exchanged information and ideas with the superintendent and various members of
Cabinet. The community and parent volunteers in Coordinating Council were also invited
to observe instruction and provide feedback on lessons observed at a middle school and
an elementary school as a format for addressing the Common Core implementation.
Furthermore, school sites continued to conduct Common Core information meetings for
the school community. As the district explored the idea of a community bond, the
superintendent met with each staff at their site to gather input. The Local Control and
Accountability Plan (LCAP) was developed through community and parent input. This
feedback was obtained by gathering in-person feedback at local meetings and online
through written surveys completed by hundreds of stakeholders.
Administrators noted they appreciated receiving email updates relating to a wide variety
of topics such as board meetings and newly hired employees. Regular communication
from Human Resources as to vacancies and credentialing issues was noted and
appreciated. The district Human Resources team and the employee associations (WVEA
and CSEA) met weekly, in addition to formal negotiation sessions, to communicate
potential issues, exchange ideas, and work through current situations. Increased
communication with community members allowed the board, district, and school staff to
discuss relevant issues in person with individuals and groups such as local city
representatives, ACSA, civic organizations such as Rotary and Kiwanis, the Chinese
American Parent Association (CAPA), the South Asian Parent Association (SAPA),
Council of African American Parents (CAAP), Korean American Parent Association
(KAPA), Hispanic Organization of Parents in Education (HOPE), school booster clubs,
and the WVEF.
Finally, the Board of Trustees, superintendent, and district staff worked diligently to inform
and educate the community on a potential school bond measure for November 2015.
Communication efforts included personal and group meetings, information sessions with
service organizations, community town hall-type meetings, and informative mailers.
Articulation through Staff Development:
The Common Core initiative was communicated to the board, staff, parents, and the
community through multiple professional development opportunities, trainings, and
meetings. Multi-lingual information materials and sessions were made available.
Relationships were built among school teams as they worked together during Common
Core training. The Common Core training sessions for teachers were an opportunity for
staff from different sites to collaborate and share ideas.
Teams of teachers, support staff, and administrators gathered frequently throughout the
year to attend curricular-focused trainings and collaborate on curriculum development.
For example, individual teachers and committees participated in a process of choosing
new textbooks for the upcoming year which included researching, piloting, and analysis.
Participants frequently noted that the process to select the materials was a “collaborative
process”. The method to select the new books encouraged communication from many
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Walnut Valley Unified School District
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