November TAC Questions

I'm so sorry for the delay in getting these answered.  Come see me if you have any questions!

TAC November 17, 2017

1. With enrollment increasing weekly at CES, when will consideration be given to possibly hiring third grade teachers a co-teacher or aide to help the four of them out?  As of today, October 20th, three classes have 24 students and one class has 25 students. We are within the recommended class sizes for Advanced Ed. standards.  We’re keeping a close watch on the class sizes.
2. I wonder why Cahaba is the ONLY elementary school and possibly the ONLY school in the district that uses these visitor forms?  I thought this was a form directly from Dr. Neill and Mrs. Bruno designed to protect academic learning in the classroom?  I think that protecting this time is important but have heard from several friends in other schools that they don't even know that there is a form much less what it is for! Dr. Neill recently revised the form and reviewed the intent of the form with all principals.
3. Collaboration Concerns:

Can we please work on our halls as a grade level & principals and coaches come to us?  All of our stuff is in our rooms. Administrators and coaches can stay in the collaboration room as a resource or join us in the classroom where we are meeting.   We are going to stick with our plan of meeting in the collaboration room one day a week.  However, we will limit the required time to Specials only (40 min)  Of course, if something comes up that demands more time, that will be posted in the blog prior to the Tuesday meeting and we will use the full 70 min.

4. Why do we have a TAC and PAC? It seems like PAC things should be covered under TAC. TAC was designed by TCS as a way for teachers to ask questions anonymously and receive answers from the Principal or BOE employees.  The members of the TAC committee are elected by the staff.  PAC - (Principal’s Advisory Committee) is made up of teachers only who volunteered to be a sounding board and advisory unit for the principal.  We discuss concerns and share ideas.  We  meet monthly (we skipped December) and I provide feedback to you on the issues discussed.  It can overlap, but the format and intent is very different.  I think I’ll change the name!  That should help with some of the confusion. The new name for PAC will be the Cahaba Leadership Team.
5. Could we find a way to condense collaboration time on Tuesdays to allow teachers time to handle personal and/or other teacher responsibilities? Yes, we’ll only require collaboration in the Collaboration Room during your specials time on Tuesdays UNLESS, the agenda requires more.  
6. What are the system’s expectations for our Tuesday collaboration time? From C&I: Resources and time have been devoted to providing collaboration time for teachers in all schools in TCS.  Research has shown that collaboration among teachers facilitates the spread of effective teaching practices, improves outcomes for the students they teach, and supports the retention of the most accomplished teachers.  It is an expectation that teachers regularly collaborate to learn together and to plan instruction, including assessments.  Principals determine the specifics like times, days, protocols to follow, location of meetings, etc.
7. Could we get a schedule for the month in advance of the topics, and what we will need for collaboration? I will continue to give an overview of "Collaboration Time" on the Cahaba Crew Blog as soon as those decisions are made.  I have a standing meeting with our Coaches every Monday afternoon.  Frequently, the plans for Tuesday Collaboration are designed or refined during that meeting.  Most typically, you will be sharing, planning and problem solving instructional issues as they relate to students achievement.
8. Around the end of the trimester when we have to get report card standards, grades, comments, etc. entered, could we please not have lots of meetings that take up our planning time?  Could we possibly have that Monday to work on them instead of a faculty meeting/PD? Yes, unless there is PD that has been scheduled through the office of Curriculum and Instruction or there are time sensitive materials that must be disseminated.  I will be more sensitive to this concern.
9. My grade level is not getting much accomplished during "Collaboration" time each Tuesday when we all have to meet together.  There are numerous distractions and conversations, and I find myself not being able to focus on what needs to be done.  Collaboration worked out much better and we got a lot more prepared last year when we had a specific day(s) to plan in our room with all our materials.  Recently, “Collaboration Room Norms” were posted.  Several people have indicated that they have helped with the noise level.  We really feel that the collaboration time in our room is important.  We only require this one day a week so you can have time in your rooms four days a week.  I also encourage you to reference the Cahaba Social Contract.  If someone is disrupting you, talk to them!  They probably don’t even realize it.