Cloverdale school board hears from new counselor

Thursday, January 13, 2011

CLOVERDALE- At the Cloverdale Community School Corporation meeting, the board heard a presentation on the middle school from new counselor Kathleen Glaser.

Glaser, who started at the middle school this school year, discussed the strategy the school had in addressing Response to Instruction, a program designed to identify children who might have learning difficulties.

"I think sometimes when we get these mandates that say 'you're going to do this' there's not a clear picture of how do you do it," Glaser said. "So we backed up, did some training...We wrote some very specific procedures and met with all the teachers so that everyone is on the same page."

"I'm seeing a lot of neat things as a result of that," Glaser said. "I'm seeing a lot of teachers who are making those accommodations and changes to help kids be more successful."

Glaser also discussed some of the ways the school is trying to prepare students for high school, including an activity where they role play a life plan based on their grades and randomly assigned factors.

"It's supposed to be to demonstrate the impact of education and training and the impact they have and how grades impact their future choices," Glaser said.

Elementary school principal Stacy Baugh went over the changes the school system went through with their accreditation process, done by Advanced Ed. Previously, the district divided the schools up individually, with a more general overall plan. This year, Cloverdale is attempting to create a comprehensive pre-K to Grade 12 plan.

"The benefits are that we are all working towards the same things and the transitions are built in to help things go smoothly," Baugh said.

There will be an in-service day January 26, when students won't be present at the schools.

"We have Dr. Todd Whitaker coming in the morning," superintendent Carrie Milner said. "He will be speaking with us in the morning, talking about motivation and how to help teachers do even more throughout the classroom."

Afterwards, different schools will break off to focus on different areas for development.

The students of the month are Josiah Mann from the elementary school, Zachary Nichols from the middle school and Chelsea Leach from the high school.

Jerry McCullough, a Knoy Resource Center aide, resigned. Jennifer Segner was hired as a high school media specialist, and Cindy Peterson and Steve Westell were hired as high school special education instructional assistants. Jenna Smith was added as a volunteer high school livestock coach. Kimber Laxton was added as a volunteer cheerleading assistant and Zach Waycott as a volunteer assistant track coach.

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