Windsor Woods ES: March 2017

Monday, March 20, 2017

Teacher Assembly Notes

At the third Teacher Assembly meeting, we focused on building awareness of “Transformational Learning.” Be aware that this is a new concept that the school system is pursuing with our Compass to 2020 goals. Right now, the planning is in its infancy and we were told that the “nuts and bolts” of this will be coming to our schools through our own administrators. So stay tuned…

Dr. Spence spoke and confirmed that there will be no healthcare increases next year and that City Council was asked to include a 2% raise for teachers. 40 new positions are being hired at the secondary level to reduce class sizes next year, and 6 new ITS positions are being added in the city so that schools do not have to share an ITS person. City council is still discussing the full day kindergarten issue and the schools are waiting to see how much might be funded for next year. Dr. Spence estimates that 10 full day K classes might be added next year to the schools deemed most in need. In the year following, they will fund more as the money becomes available. On a somewhat grim note, Dr. Spence added that there is a proposed 9 billion dollar cut to education in the works with the new federal administration. Further, the new ESSA regulations that gave the states more authority in testing matters are now in jeopardy. He said that Virginia Beach will be in heavy communication with the state as we wait on what may happen.