Thursday, September 30, 2010

Information on the 2010-2011 CEP

This information was taken from Principal's Weekly.


The deadline to submit the draft of the final 2010-11 Comprehensive Educational Plan (CEP) has been changed to November 1. School Leadership Teams should already be in the process of updating the preliminary 2010-11 CEP, based on implications for change gleaned from new information currently available, i.e., Progress Reports, reports from Quality Reviews held l ate in the spring of 2010, HS Regents results, pre-AOR to project which area(s) need to be strengthened, and 2010-11 NCLB/SED accountability status (which is not yet finalized by the state). More details about the submission process will be forthcoming. Contact the Office of School Improvement at 212-374-5757 with questions.

James Calantjis
sltsupport.blogspot.com


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Sunday, September 26, 2010

Is Your School Leadership Team a Sham?

Is your School LeadershipTeam (SLT) a sham?

The dictionary defines sham as "a hoax", "hypocrisy","imposture","an imitation or counterfeit purporting to be genuine".Does this describe your SLT? If so, and you are a SLT member, you need to take some action. In addition, if you are a parent or teacher whose views are suppose to be represented on the SLT, you also need to take some action.

The SLT is the vehicle for shared decision making among the principal,teachers, parents,and others in the school community.The SLT is suppose to create the Comprehensive Educational Plan(CEP) for the school and to be intimately involved in the budget process (spending of school money).

Is your SLT meeting one where you go and listen to the principal give you updates on what he or she is doing in the school? Do you find out about major changes in the school after the fact? Have you ever seen or read the school's CEP which you are suppose to be developing? Have you seen the school budget and had any meaningful input? Do you give the principal a good SLT survey review at the end of the year even though there was no CEP collaboration? Did you sign the CEP last June that stated you participated in the CEP and budget process even though you did not? If you are a UFT Chapter Leader,do you give legitimacy to this process by sitting on a non-functional SLT and being silent. If so, you may be part of the problem in perpetuating a fraud that is violating State Educational Law.

What can you do if you are an SLT member in this situation? One recommendation is to learn about your responsibilities and speak with other SLT members about it.Put the issues on the SLT meeting agenda for discussion.Confront your principal with the issues. Attempt to get the UFT Chapter Leader's support, who is a Core Member of the Team. Seek the assistance of the Superintendent, District School Leadership Team or Office of Parent Engagement and Advocacy (ohall3@schools.nyc.gov). Get non-SLT member parents and teachers in the school to support your efforts to establish a functioning SLT. If all efforts fail, then the SLT member should resign rather than be a part of a fraudulent body.

If this e-mail stirs you to action, visit the SLT Support Center at sltsupport.blogspot.com for information that will educate you about your SLT responsibilities. I recommend you read Chancellor's Regulations A-655 (SLTs) and B-801 (School Based Budgeting) which you can find links to at the site.There are also sample SLT bylaws,sample CEPs and Parent and School Title 1 requirements.

Sincerely,
James Calantjis
SLT Support Center
Calantjis@aol.com
718 458-4237




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Thursday, September 2, 2010

Beginning the New School Year

As the new school year begins, it is important for the School Leadership Team to get off to a good start.

It is required that there be at least one meeting per month and that the core members of the SLT include the principal, Chapter Leader and Parents Association President. There should also be a teacher representative and parents must make up at least 50% of the SLT members. The SLT should consist of between 10-14 members.

At the first meeting in September,there must be a Chairperson in place,elected by the SLT members. The Chairperson should not be the principal.During this meeting, members ahould review and be given copies of the By-Laws. They should also review their core mission which is to create the Comprehensive Educational Plan (CEP) and align the school budget.

The Team should review and have copies of the 2010-2011 CEP that should be in place. If it is not completed, the SLT should focus on finishing the document and making sure the budget is aligned with it.

The Team's main responsibility is to create the 2011-2012 CEP which will require a needs assessment of the school.During the September meeting,a plan should be worked out for conducting a needs assessment.

All members of the SLT should be active. Any member can put an item on the meeting agenda by contacting the Chairperson in writing.Training is vital for a functioning SLT. Training is mandated and should be requested from the District and DOE office.

Please contact me with any questions or concerns regrding your SLT.

Sincerely,
James Calantjis
718 458-4237
calantjis@aol.com