Annual Report 2005-2006 - Farmington Public Schools

Goal 1: To promote quality and equitythroughout the school communityThe Farmington Public Schools’ Equity Council was developed as a natural progression from theDistrict’s Diversity Committee, with equity and student achievement for all as a focus andclear direction. The role of the Equity Council representative, from each building’s schoolimprovement team, is to communicate and facilitate the recommendations from theDiversity Study Committee from the 2004-2005 school year, to integrate a discussion ofachievement data into the Professional Learning Community (PLC) process, and tocoordinate equity efforts with the school improvement plan.The District is in its third year of being a member of the Minority StudentAchievement Network (MSAN). MSAN is an unprecedented nationalcoalition of multiracial, relatively affluent suburban school districts that havecome together to study through intensive research the disparity inachievement between white students and students of color. The Network wasestablished to discover, develop, and implement the means to ensure highacademic achievement for minority students.The District’s bilingual department continues to meet the challengeof meeting the diverse needs of students including those who have beenborn here, those who have very limited proficiency, those whoseproficiency is strong, those who have been with the District sincekindergarten, and those that come to the District without a strong Englishas a Second Language (ESL) program. Newcomer Centers are located atBeechview Elementary School, East Middle School and Harrison HighSchool.As staffing was developed for the 2006-2007 school year, all staff wasactively engaged in securing their highly qualified status as defined bythe No Child Left Behind mandates.Students get off the bus and head to class on their first day ofschool for the 2004-2005 school year at Gill ElementarySchool.Additional steps were taken this year to expand the attention given to therecruitment and hiring of a diverse workforce. A “Meet and Greet”reception was held this year where administrators had the opportunity to meetcandidates who had been identified as outstanding and invited to visitFarmington Public Schools.FPS Parent/Community Survey - 20056The percentage of respondents giving the District an overall “A” or“B” grade was 84 percent.