The Pagosa Peak Open School (PPOS) board held a regular meeting on June 19, where it heard a tagged-teamed director’s report from School Director Angela Reali-Crossland and Assistant Director Emily Murphy.
The report covered topics including a preschool update, a playground update, an enrollment/staffing update, a family handbook review and end-of-year results from the Northwest Education Assessment (NWEA).
Reali-Crossland updated the board on the school’s current enrollment, noting there are currently 113 students enrolled in kindergarten through eighth grade.
She mentioned that PPOS has a combined third-/fourth-grade classroom with an enrollment cap of 21, and indicated it would stay combined “until we were to have a significant waitlist.”
According to the report, there are 14 third-graders and seven fourth-graders enrolled, with one on the waitlist for the third-grade class.
The report also shows four students on the waitlist for the second-grade class, which is at its maximum enrollment of 21 students.
“My understanding is that the younger ages is on the decline in our community in general,” Reali-Crossland added.
Board member and vice president Jesse White inquired about what the school is doing in regard to recruiting students from preschools in the community.
Reali-Crossland indicated that PPOS held an open-house event for families to attend and ask questions about the school.
She noted that flyers have been handed out to preschools, as well.
White also mentioned the multi-age classroom “did present some challenges” and questioned if the school plans on addressing those issues in any way.
Murphy indicated that the school was able to structure its schedule to be able to utilize two math teachers in order to help address the challenges faced with the multi-age classroom, explaining that math is the subject that teachers had the most difficulty teaching to different age groups.
Murphy informed the board that for the second year in a row, PPOS has 100 percent of its staff returning for the upcoming school year.
“We do have everyone returning, which is exciting,” Murphy said, explaining that the only vacant positions are the three new positions that have been added. Those positions include a new part-time literacy teacher, a part-time physical education advisor and a restorative practices coordinator.
Reali-Crossland mentioned it is “impressive” to have 100 percent of staff returning for the second year in a row, noting that, “in this educational environment,” that is not an easy feat.
She mentioned that across the nation people are leaving the education industry at high rates.
Reali-Crossland noted that it “says a lot about the people that work here and their dedication to this school.”
Board member Bill Hudson commented, “It’s a tough environment.”
Playground update
Reali-Crossland went on to provide an update on the status of the new playground project, mentioning the playground committee has hired former PPOS board member Dave Pribble as the project manager.
“He’s excited to support us in this way,” Reali-Crossland said, indicating the committee received two bids for project manager.
Hudson brought up the possibility of having Pribble, or someone else from PPOS, approach the Town of Pagosa Springs to see if it would be interested in partnering with PPOS on the playground project.
Hudson indicated the town could be a source of additional funding, noting there are six parks funded by the Pagosa Springs Parks and Recreation Department, with none in the uptown area.
“They just haven’t been interested in the uptown community historically,” Hudson said.
Hudson further explained that due to how the grant being used for the project was written, the playground will be open to the public outside of school hours.
“Since it’s a community project, it’s not just for the school,” he added, “the town might feel they should have interest in uptown as far as parks and recreation.”
Reali-Crossland explained that in the past the town has been “a little leery” about investing in projects or property that it would not have ownership of, noting concerns about the ability of the town to ensure the longevity of the project.
Board treasurer Pamela Meade spoke about having Pribble as the project manager, explaining that with the position filled she anticipates the playground committee will receive more requests for proposal (RFPs).
“Having the project manager is a really big step,” Meade said.
Meade also mentioned the playground committee is open to anyone interested in joining.
Meade explained that she met with a local architect to work on getting a bid submitted for the project.
She noted that the architect provided “great feedback,” mentioning the RFP was not specific enough and that the time frame was too short.
White questioned what the next step would be to keep things moving forward with the project.
Reali-Crossland explained that the committee is hoping to have an architect brought on and ready to give a report at the board’s next meeting, scheduled for August.
She added that the committee has about $688,000 for the project and expects roughly 5 to 10 percent of that to go toward hiring an architect.
“As a committee we’re assuming that we’re gonna spend about maximum of about $68,000 on an architect,” she said.
Reali-Crossland also explained that the town had previously expressed interest in investing in a walkway to the playground that could be included in the architect’s design. However, the architect would likely not approach the town in regard to any funding as that would be “out of scope.”
She added that if the architect were to approach the town they would likely charge an additional hourly rate for that task.
“I’d love to have someone approach the town,” Hudson added.
End-of-year data
Murphy and Reali-Crossland reviewed the school’s end-of-year data, which looked at survey results from both students and teachers in regard to school policies and practices, along with academic progress and results using the NWEA test.
Murphy explained that she introduced a survey for staff and students for the first time this year to gauge the school community’s understanding of restorative practices.
“This portion of our story is that we are academically competitive in regards to national norms, which were set prior to COVID in January 2020. While we have space for improvement, we are clearly a school pushing forward in growth and achievement. In math, we jumped from 41st percentile in growth to the 50th - and from the 33rd in achievement last spring to 42 this spring,” Murphy’s presentation states.
She explained that NWEA uses data collected on a national scale from a 30-year period from 1990 to 2020.
Murphy went on to explain that both staff and student surveys saw an increase from the beginning of the year compared to the end of year in regard to understanding restorative practices.
She indicated that the beginning-of-the year results showed that around 20 percent of students were able to define what restorative practices means and about 20 percent of staff understood what it meant to teach in a restorative practices school.
By the end of the year, those percentages rose to approximately 60 percent for each respective category.
“Very positive, a lot of it,” Murphy said, explaining she was expecting some improvement, “but some of those are pretty big jumps.”
Other aspects of the survey asked if students felt that people help them repair relationships, which rose from 55 percent in the beginning of the year to 85 percent at the end of the year.
Another statement aimed toward students was “Our environment is supportive not punitive,” to which 55 percent of students agreed with at the beginning of the year and just under 80 percent agreed with by the end of the year.
Murphy noted she intends to continue to utilize the survey in years to come.
She explained that the school has been utilizing restorative practices for four years now and was hoping to see some higher results from the survey, but noted that after conversations with staff, the attitude is becoming more positive and less critical.
Murphy explained that having multiple years of returning staff is crucial for understanding and implementing restorative practices.
“That was one thing our staff hesitates around, is engaging in a restorative conversation with each other, so that one’s gonna be a push,” she added.
Murphy went on to provide information on the school’s academic progress and results, explaining that for kindergarten through third grade, a system known as DIBELS Data is used to monitor students’ scores and track progress in reading.
“Our curve is shifting a little bit,” Murphy said, noting the school is seeing progress with academic results.
According to the presentation, 64 percent of kindergartners began the school year at a below-average benchmark in reading, and the grade finished the school year with just 29 percent at a below-average benchmark.
“That is a huge jump,” Reali-Crossland added.
She noted that DIBELS Data is criterion-referenced and does not compare students to their peers, but to just in terms of where they should be at in regard to reading level for their age.
The first grade began the year with 5 percent of students at an above-average benchmark and ended the year with 40 percent of students at an above-average benchmark. The second grade went from 10 percent to 25 percent of students at an above-average benchmark, according to Reali-Crossland.
“We’re really seeing our teachers and curriculum pushing kids at an appropriate pace to becoming more proficient readers over time,” she said, adding, “We’ve got some teachers that are really engaged.”
Reali-Crossland explained that the NWEA and DIBELS Data systems offer a new way to look at and track individual student growth.
“We are also a school that can hang with every other school across the nation,” she said.
Murphy also reported on student engagement data that gauges students’ emotional, behavioral and cognitive growth, noting she saw growth in all three categories this year.
Example questions used for collecting this data included:
• Do you feel safe at school?
• Do you enjoy being in class?
• Is your teacher happy to have you in their class?
Murphy noted there was a 1.8 percent increase in behavioral engagement, a 10 percent increase in cognitive engagement and a 7.3 percent increase in emotional engagement.
“We’re celebrating some huge success,” she said.
During the meeting, the board also unanimously approved a second reading for the new restorative practices coordinator position.
Family handbook
At the beginning of the meeting, the PPOS board heard a presentation from the student restorative practices board in regard to a new school cellphone policy being incorporated into the school’s family handbook for the upcoming year.
Part of the new cellphone policy is the check-in/out system students will need to use if they bring a cellphone to school. The policy does not allow for students to use or have cellphones on them while in class.
Students from the restorative practices board indicated that cellphone usage during class is distracting and can cause interruptions.
The students noted that non-network devices such as electronic readers may be permitted in class, but that the intent is to build a trusting relationship between students and teachers without the distractions of cellphones.
The students also noted that the school could provide lessons to students about how to be safe online.
The PPOS board also discussed bringing back the pre-COVID standard for student drop-off by requiring that parents/guardians walk their student into the building.
White mentioned he likes the idea and “bringing that sense of community back.”
He noted that the school should put the new standard out in a special communication to families to ensure everyone is aware of the policy.
At the end of the meeting, White provided an update on the school’s strategic plan, commenting, “I am looking at this a growth/transition year.”
White explained that with the Reali-Crossland stepping down, the strategic planning committee shifted much of its attention toward finding a new director.
However, he noted that the growth seen across the school in terms of academics is a result of the hard work put in by staff and Reali-Crossland to take the objectives identified and translate them into actual goals.
White also noted that moving forward he does not feel the strategic plan needs to change for this upcoming year and that the committee will shift back toward focusing on community engagement and making a cultural change in the school.
clayton@pagosasun.com
