CalendarBLT December News
At the BLT monthly meeting on Dec. 5, the sub-committees reported on their progress. The Continuous School Improvement Plan (CSIP) subcommittee had met and discussed creating a tool to help teachers
track how they are doing in implementing specific reading, math, writing and science strategies. The professional development subcommittee shared that they had met and developed a schedule to plan professional development activities in May for summer offerings, in June for fall offerings, in September for
winter offerings and in January for spring offerings. The discretionary budget and the decision-making subcommittees will be meeting in December.
Next Principal Gerrans talked about a small pool of principal discretionary funds for which he requested input from the BLT on how to direct the funding. Dr. Gerrans also discussed the opportunity for Lawton to be a pilot school for online MSP (Measurements of Student Progress for grades 3 – 
testing this spring. Some benefits are that Lawton would receive extra training and be able to adapt to this form of testing in
advance of the state’s requirement that all schools move toward online testing. Nine schools participated in 2011 and the experience was positive. While students would have ample time to get to know the test format through demonstrations and tutorials, some BLT members expressed concern about students, especially third graders, not knowing how to type, which might negatively affect their test taking. Dr. Gerrans was going to solicit additional input and make a decision by Dec. 15. We concluded with a brief discussion of ideas for an early dismissal day in January.
For a copy of the Dec. 5 meeting minutes, click here. Our next BLT meeting will be Jan. 9. As always, if you have questions or comments, please contact any one of the BLT members. Happy holidays!
