Anne Arundel County Public Schools, MD At Your Service, 22 Nov 2019

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From YouTube: At Your Service December 2019

Description

Susan speaks with Megan Lewis, AACPS Coordinator of Behavioral Supports & Interventions.

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Coming up next, on at your service,, we will be discussing alternative programs and behavioral supports in anne arundel county public schools.

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stay tuned., (upbeat music).

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Today, on at your service., we're joined by ms. megan lewis. she's, the coordinator of behavior, supports and interventions.. Thank you for joining us today. Megan.. Thank you for having me. megan,. Can you share with the viewer audience a little bit about yourself and your background? sure.

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I'd love to., so I grew up in anne arundel county and then I went to vanderbilt university.

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and when I graduated, I went to england for a year.

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And I coached lacrosse and taught special education over there., came back to anne arundel county and got my start as a special educator at the phoenix center when it was a k through 12 public separate day, school.

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And then from there, I became the special ed department.

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Chair at broadneck high school for two years.

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and the last five years I have worked at north county high school as an assistant, principal.

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Wow, so you've had quite a breadth of different roles and responsibilities as a professional educator.

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In the past few years.

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Yes, I have. I've had alternative education, your comprehensive high school and at various parts of the county., and I really been grateful to anne arundel county public schools for all the opportunities they've given me to help support students.

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So you're, currently in a position, that's been.

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In our system,, but you are the new coordinator for that position, this past year.

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So, well welcome. thank you.

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Congratulations. thank you.

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Can you talk a little bit about,?

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I think the audience might know a little bit about pbis,, but we're gonna talk today a little bit.

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About the multi-tiered systems of supports, because it seems to be your office- is under alternative.

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Programs and supports, is that correct?.

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Alternative education and programs, yes.

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So, with this multi-tiered systems of support, can, well,, some we'll give it the acronym, what ms--.

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Mtss. mtss., and so can you tell the viewer audience a little bit about what multi-tiered systems of supports is?.

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Sure. so as you mentioned,, there was a coordinator prior to me.

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Getting this job that basically had the role of implementing.

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All of these interventions and supports countywide., and it really did start with positive behavioral, interventions and supports more commonly known as pbis.

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And we are very fortunate now to have a team of our multi-tiered systems of support team.

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Which includes pbis and restorative practices,,.

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Lovingly called rp and collaborative decision-making, cdm.

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So we, as a multi-tiered systems of support team have those three interventions and supports, and we support students at various levels.

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We look at, while we call ourselves a tiered systems.

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Of support, there is three tiers.

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and the first would be the universal interventions and support.. So what are we doing for the whole school??

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What is in place for the school? and that could be with pbis,, with rp and with cdm.

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Then you have a tier two,, which is going to be a more specialized group.- when we're looking at our groups of supports that we have for certain student groups based on some data.

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And then you have your tier three,, which is individual, supports,, more intense individual student supports.

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and what we like to say,, it's modeled after the public health system.. So you have 80% of your students,, should be supported.

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With your school-wide interventions. and then the next 15% might need a little tiered.

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More support and a special individual, excuse, me,, a group.. And then you look at your tier three,, which should be about five to 10% of your students that might need a very specific individual plan.

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So is this multi-tiered system of support.

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At every school in anne arundel, county?.

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It is not. we currently have pbis at 88 schools, countywide,.

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Including charter schools. and we have restorative practices, is growing..

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We started with community building circles and that has grown exponentially.

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Kathy rockefeller is leading that charge and she's part of our team. and she's amazing.

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She is forming, what's called a countywide team.

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So she has several people who go through trainings every year to stay up on restorative practices and they then go out and train various schools..

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So she has really been doing that.

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and we've actually infused in what we call, restorative practices, b,, where you're using five questions to repair harm circles..

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So looking for that other avenue, and to help teach students how to behave., we really push out from our team that we wanna make sure.

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That we are all teachers first. and just like you would teach reading and math, and social studies and science.. You also teach behavior as well., and then cdm is also at some schools, as well, countywide.

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And some, a lot of schools have all three of our programs.

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Or our frameworks in place at their schools, but we are not fully countywide yet,, but we are growing..

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So each of those programs is under the umbrella.

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Of multi-tiered supports, yes. systems of supports., so let's talk a little bit just briefly about pbis.

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Okay. so can you,. Let us know what the acronym is? I know you had mentioned briefly. Before.

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Yes, positive behavioral interventions and supports.

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And what is the purpose of that program?? What is the basic philosophy?.

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I'm so glad you asked., we happen to have a meeting today to go over that.

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So it is a framework., so it's really a school,. It's a data decision-making framework., so schools will take what they have in place, and they will look at what systems do they have that students are responding to,? What helps support staff.

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To support students to create a positive school climate?.

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Because, obviously, students learn best when they can be vulnerable and they can be safe. and they have to feel safe to be able to be vulnerable., and we want that environment to be learning..

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We want students to focus on their learning., and so ultimately, the goal is to create a positive school climate and pbis helps teams and schools.

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Really look at what do they have in place to acknowledge student behaviors when they are meeting their expectations??

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So what are our expectations??

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Every school should have three, every school that is implementing pbis, should have three to five behavioral expectations that they are teaching to students.. They have a matrix that shares,. This is what it means to be,. Let's say respectful.

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Is one of the expectations.?

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This is what it means to be respectful in the classroom, in the hallway, in various settings, they teach that,. Then they have a system to acknowledge students for when they are meeting those expectations..

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They also have a system in place to support students when they aren't meeting those expectations, or exhibiting unexpected behaviors.

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So what is that system, and how is staff using that.

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To support students?, so that is really the basic components of it,.

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But is ongoing. so constantly looking at what did we put in place??

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Did the data show it worked?? Is it creating a positive school climate?? If not,, how can we change it and revamp it,, so it does meet at least 80% of our students being successful.

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Awesome, and that's a wonderful thing cause definitely at anne arundel county,. We use data.

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And then we also talk and we wanna build that feeling.

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Of inclusion and acceptance of all cultures.

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And just some kids need more supports.

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and so to have a system in place.

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And recognize there are differences and, trying to match them is important.

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And, like you said, also, we're doing a lot with trauma informed and making sure that trauma. Informed practices are in place.

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and what pbis does, is it creates that predictable environment, both the staff and the students are on the same page with what is expected.

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What happens when I meet these expectations and what happens when it doesn't. and then are there other supports in place that a student might need, rather than what is schoolwide.

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and that's when we get into our tier two, tier three supports.

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So we talked about collaborative decision-making, which is also a framework, bringing various committee.

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Within the school together to discuss certain student cases.

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Yes, it is a problem: solving framework., that's exactly it. and saying,. What do we have in our school that can help this student or these students,? Does the student need an individual plan?, and how can we put that in place to help really get to the whole child academically,? Sometimes that could happen.

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From there, and then behaviorally as well.

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That's an awesome, opportunity. and I know restorative practices, you had mentioned,, ms. rockefeller has been going out and training., and so what are we looking at, when kids come home.

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And say, "I did a community building. Circle," or, "I was in a restorative circle." for parents,. What does that look like? and what's the purpose?.

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Excellent,, so the tagline is building community,.

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Increasing connectedness., so one of the things that we know is that the more connected students are, the more they feel at home,, the more positive of a climate.

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That they're gonna have at school., so we want them to feel connected somehow..

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So community building circles is that tier one,.

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Or is that tier one support that we have in place,.

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A lot of schools have done: that.

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they've set aside time, at least twice a week to have what's called community building circles,, where you ask questions and there are, get to know you questions., so that the idea is, you can look and find out who else you are connected to in your community.

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and the more connected you are,, the less likely you are to harm, or do things because there's less anonymity.

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So if I know you and I have a connection with you,, I'm less likely to do something that would hurt you..

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So that's one of our goals with the community building circles.. We also mentioned the repair to harm or restorative.

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That you brought up.

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So that would be, if anything happened in a school,.

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We found that, very often we write referrals,.

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We assign a consequence and we move on.

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Well, with restorative practices,, we hold students accountable., and the line with that is we care about you.

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And this behavior is unacceptable., so we have to hold people accountable.. So it's a way to regain access back into the community.

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If there's been a harm, and a way for people to,, anybody who has been harmed to have their part heard.

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And to rebuild, what can we do next time to make this better?.

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Because, like I said, we are all teaching and that has to happen, that what can we do next time to make it better is the key to really reentering a community. cause. We are communities,, our schools are little communities.

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And we need to make sure people feel safe and heard there.

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And I think it's important, from my lens as the school counseling lens., when students, and kids will do,, are gonna, make mistakes.

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And just bringing them back in the fold and being like, "look, yes, we're gonna do correction,.

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But you are still welcome." and it's creating that involvement and I just feel like.

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To be so inclusive so that they're able to join back in is integral.

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It is. for kids making, to be successful.. It is.

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And also me, as an adult in a school community,.

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I also have felt like I probably need to do a restorative.

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Or repair some harm somehow, because of something I said.

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Or didn't, it wasn't taken the right way.. We need to get back on the same page so that our relationship is back intact. and I've had that, I've gone to colleagues and asked. Could you run a restorative with me and this student?

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it's interesting, cause,? I think I always ask myself.

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When I see a student acting or exhibiting behaviors.

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That people don't understand., I'm like,. What skill are they missing??

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I always bring it back to social, emotional learning.

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And what skill are they missing that I need to maybe do some work with?.

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So when you have a kid who is non-compliant,.

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Or is in conflict with another,.

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What skill does this kid need?, not what don't they have,, but what can I build in them?

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and I think that's a really great way of reshaping that with whether collaborative decision-making, restorative circles,, all those different.

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Alternative programs. but mtss, it's a continuum.

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So for parents to know that you are the manager.

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Of those behavioral supports, and those programs.

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Are available in many of their school.

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So that's a nice thing to know,.

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If they're struggling with a certain,, whatever it could be,, we have about another minute,.

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About 30 seconds., what are some most common situations.

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Where you see mtss really go into action?.

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Okay, well,, I'm really glad you mentioned that it's a continuum.

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So every school,, if they are implementing the framework.

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Of pbis should have something on their website., they should've mentioned it. or there things when the school website and then the access, like you, said, students might be in an intervention group,, they might have a lunch bunch or they might have something that they're working on to fill one of those lagging skills., and so parents could reach out to school counselors,.

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They could reach out to administrators and they could even reach out to if they know their pbis.

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Team lead and team coach, or their teacher, whomever they're most comfortable with,.

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They should reach out and say, "I need more support for my students." or, "I'm interested in hearing about the different interventions that are available to help teach my child,".

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Whatever it is, that they feel is lagging.

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Definitely,, I think, in the point of there's a parent today.

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Or a family member that has some concerns, but they can just reach out to the school, ask for the school counselor, or even speak to the teacher, and have that conversation.

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On how we can provide those supports, absolutely. to students to make them more successful., absolutely.

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Well,, I just wanna. Thank you very much.

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For joining me at this first part of my show., and I would just like their viewer audience to stay tuned for my next guest.

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Today, I come to you with exciting news about school. Meals. breakfast is offered in all schools. Every day.

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at lunch, students are offered at least four different entrees, many different types of whole grains.

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And unlimited choices of fresh fruits and vegetables.

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students are encouraged to select up to two cups of fresh produce, or to fill half of their tray at lunch.

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From our unique salad bars., you may also monitor your child's school meals account online at mypayments plus,.

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This is a convenient tool. It's offered to all parents to make managing your school meals account a simple process.

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To learn more about mypayments plus simply visit.

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Www.Mypaymentsplus.Com or call 877-237-0946.

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Registration is free and quick., so get started. Today.

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each year, families have the ability to apply for free or reduced price meals.. The application to apply is online.

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parents. You may log on to applyformeals.aacps.org.

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This process is fast,, it's easy,, convenient,.

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And it's accessible from any computer.

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remember! If you received meal benefits last year,, you must complete a new application. Each school year.

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Thank you for this opportunity to provide this valuable information pertaining to school meals.

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School meals, fuel, your child's brain and body for academic success.. If you have questions regarding the healthy school meals offered in anne arundel county public schools,, please contact me directly at 410-222-5900.

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Thanks again, and have a great school year.

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(Upbeat music).

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[Lady], the writing on the walls course was designed to create an exciting experience for students who might not normally consider taking an art course..

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We examine modern artists in a modern material and we encourage students to find their voice and tell their story through their work.

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[Girl]. Writing on the walls is such a fun class.. It's a fun way to approach art.. This was the first time I realized. I might have some artistic ability.

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[Female], you can have fun and don't have to be a super serious artist to enjoy the class.

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[Guy], it's really fast, paced and exciting.. I love how (indistinct) turned out.

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[Lady], I was surprised how much fun I had and how. I was just really able to express myself through the art., find your voice.

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Tell your story. sign up for this course: today. [girl] storytelling:, writing on the walls.

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(Upbeat music stops) welcome back to at your service., and our second guest today is mr. patrick crain,.

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The director of alternative education.- thank you for joining me, today., my pleasure. all right,. So let's talk a little bit about you patrick..

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Can you tell me a little bit about your background and how you came to be the director of alternative education?.

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Sure, I spent the last seven years as a senior manager.

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Of alternative programs here in anne arundel county.

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So it was a perfect segue into the director role in many of my jobs, in my last role,.

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I worked with the charter and contract schools.. I worked with evening high school.. I worked with our alternative schools.. I worked with our ace program and another number of other initiatives., so it was a perfect fit for me. Then, to move into the role as director.

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(Indistinct) welcome, I've worked with you for the past,.

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What,, seven years now, and we've had a long, wonderful partnership, [crain], that's right.

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between school counseling and alternative education, program. [crain], so great, thank you.

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Thanks for joining me, today.

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I wanna talk a little bit about charter schools and the contract schools. [crain] okay.. So for the viewer audience, seven years ago,, we started our contract schools.

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And our charter schools.

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Can you explain to the viewing audience what they are in the difference, than just a.

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Regular comprehensive high school program or school program?.

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Sure,, let's start with charter schools., so charter schools are schools that are started by,. What we call an operator, and we are the authorizer.

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Of that school, anne arundel county board of education is the authorizer. and we have a contract with the operator to come into our district and run a school that maybe does something a little bit different,.

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Differently than what we do in our traditional schools.

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There's a charter school law., so it's a state law that dictates how charter schools.

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Are to operate and what rules, regulations, policies,.

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Requirements they need to follow., whereas a contract school is not dictated by state law,.

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Although it looks very similar to a charter school., the district has much more control over the programming,.

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The general boundaries of where students come from.

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And in fact, the reason that we opened our two contracts here in anne arundel county were to alleviate overcrowding in both the maryland city,.

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Brock bridge and jessup areas,, as well as the annapolis area.. So with a charter school by law,, they have to be open to all students in a district.

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and with a contract school,, we could limit the boundaries to dictate-- [susan], the neighborhood.

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The neighborhood and the communities in which, where we wanted to pull our students from.. So when you talked a little bit about,.

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For a charter school,, it might have a little different flavor.

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So let's talk a little bit about the charter school. I know.

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I'm familiar with,, it was chesapeake science, point.

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and so their flavor or something education a little bit different.. Their focus is exactly what?.

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Their focus, is,, math, science, technology.

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And so those students, because there are charter school,.

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Their enrollment process is a little bit different.

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Than a contract school, or is the process the same.

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It's just the kids can pull from different types of vicinity.

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So the process is identical, [susan] okay., except for the fact that charter school has to pull students from all around the county., whereas our contract schools,, we can define that boundary.

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Or that geographic area in which those students come from.

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So you mentioned chesapeake science point,.

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Being very heavily focused in math and science and technology., it's a six through eighth, six through 12th grade school.

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[Susan] correct. and the enrollment process is a pure random lottery..

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So early in october,, we'll open the enrollment process.

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Parents will put in an application for their child.

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The application window closes in late november,.

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And then what we will do in probably in mid january,, we'll run a random lottery., and so the number of students that the school has opened,.

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That's the number of students that will get accepted..

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Other students will be placed on a wait. List.

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[Susan] gotcha. and that's the same process.

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That we will go through for our contract schools as well.

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So in the fall is when that process opens?.

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[Crain] yes. and then it closes in winter,, probably the end, you saying-- this year.

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It's november 26 to be exact.

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Okay, so around that november, timeframe.

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and in the winter to spring, is when students.

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And families find out whether they were selected.

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From the lottery.

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That's right., mid january,, we'll run the lottery typically.

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Takes a few weeks to run the lottery, get the results back. and the charter, contract schools usually notify their families mid february, late february as to whether.

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They've been accepted or whether they've been placed on a wait, list.

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Okay, well, is the process paper or it's on the computer?.

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So if I have somebody who's interested, maybe not in chesapeake science point, cause that's middle high school, but has an elementary school child..

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Would they go to our website??

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What would they do?.

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Right,, so the registration process is all done.

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Through a registration portal on our website.

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So it is the identical portal that aacps uses.

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For our magnet school enrollment., so you would just simply go to our website,.

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Go onto the portal, create a username,, a password, log in, choose the school in which you wanna apply and follow directions and fill out the application..

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You can fill out multiple schools.

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[susan] okay.. If you want to apply to both a charter school and one of our magnet schools,.

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You can certainly do that., so there's no limit to the number of schools you can apply for.. I think it's important to understand the four schools.

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That we do currently have, two are contract, and two are charter and what the grade spans.

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Are for those schools., so if you'll allow me to just go.

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Through each school. [susan] sure.

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So parents who are watching will know which schools apply to their areas and their child's grade. Level.

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So if we start with charter schools,, we currently have monarch academy, which is in glen burnie,.

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That school is k to eight.

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[Susan], that was awesome.

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It is awesome., it's a expeditionary, learning school.

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and then we have our other charter school, which we just talked about, chesapeake science point,, which is located in hanover. and that's a sixth grade through 12th grade school..

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So both middle and high. and again, that's open to the entire county..

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And then we have two contract schools. one is in laurel, monarch, global academy and they're, an international baccalaureate. Primary.

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Years program at the elementary level.

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and then at the middle level, they're, a project-based learning, school.

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and so they're k to eight.

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and then our final one is monarch annapolis,, which is located right off of west street in annapolis.

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And their kindergarten through fifth grade., and they also are international baccalaureate primary years. Program.

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And they're wonderful programs, I've been to each of those schools and they're amazing in the work that they do and the programs that they have in there..

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Those kids are very fortunate and their families.

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I'm sure enjoy every day their child comes home.

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With-- [crain] they're doing great.

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Work for some students, [susan], they really are.

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In anne arundel county., they really are.

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So aside from charter and contract schools, as a director.

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Of alternative education,, you mentioned quite a litany of alternative programs that we have., and so I'm not sure if, everybody in anne arundel, county.

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Knows all the litany of resources that we have.

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Under alternative education., so we're gonna talk a little bit about those, just to get them acquainted..

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So let's talk about home and hospital.

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[crain] okay.. So that's another division under your office..

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And so can you explain to parents what home and hospital does or what it is, encompasses?.

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So home and hospital teaching is for students that,.

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For whatever reason, medically cannot attend.

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Their home school., so it could be from mental health issues..

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It could be from physical issues.. It could be that a student is sick and is out of school.

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For an extended period of time. so with the proper documentation from a mental health.

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Professional, from a doctor,, they can get approved.

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To be on home teaching., and so we have a couple of different areas of home teaching., so one would be a very traditional home teaching experience.

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Where we would have a teacher from our home and hospital office that would go into the child's home and teach them. the other very creative way that we've addressed.

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The home teaching is through online teaching.

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And so if you are a student and you have a computer.

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And you have access to the internet,. Instead of having a teacher come into your home,, you can take an online home and hospital course.

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Or you could take a combination of both.

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bottom line being that it is a non-traditional way for you to teach without having to be in a traditional school building.

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And that's important,, especially if the student has surgery,. It just depends upon a variety.

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Of medical issues., we also,, I don't know if you could speak to concurrent home teaching,, it's not as traditional,.

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It's not the traditional route., like I'm, going out cause I'm having surgery for eight weeks.

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But for chronic medical conditions,.

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I know that we do have concurrent.

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and I don't know if you wanted to talk about that, but concurrent to me,. Some kids like that have sickle cell,.

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That have, might be, it could have an up flare.

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So they're in their regular day school program.

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But concurrent is just when, as an add need basis.

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So let's say maybe once a month they might have an uptick.

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Or whatever's going on with them., so they could still have some extra support.

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So they don't fall behind, come out to the home, through home and hospital..

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So that's really important for parents to know, cause. I had a few students that also were.

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Utilizing that particular program.

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and it's wonderful that we have that. and with those cases you would go through the same process.

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As you would for your traditional home teaching, experience.

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It's really important for parents to know.

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That they can contact their school counselor yap. and the school counselor can go over the list of options and documentation that they need.

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the other huge piece of your program,.

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I think is evening high school.

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and we have evening high school and we have summer schools..

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So can you talk a little bit about that?.

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Well, again,, it's a traditional program.

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It's an alternative program to allow students who are currently in high school to gain credits,, [susan] correct. outside of their day school program.. So we have both concurrent and non-concurrent,.

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Evening, high school., so a non-concurrent student would be a student.

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That is not currently in a day school program but attends evening high school as their comprehensive.

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High school experience,, let's say., sometimes students wanna work during the day..

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Sometimes the traditional model just doesn't fit them.

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And so they choose to go to school in the evening and earn the credits they need to graduate.

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In a concurrent situation,, a student would be.

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In a comprehensive high school, but also going to school in the evening,, in order to obtain credits that maybe.

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They didn't get during the day.. It could be that maybe they just didn't pass a particular class and they wanna make up that credit..

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So they graduate on time,, but it could be students that just want to get ahead.

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We have kids that come, that transfer.

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From other school systems., there's a variety of reasons as you know, for kids and why they partake in that evening, high school.

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Program, is there a cost for evening high school?.

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There is a cost and it's a sliding scale..

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So if you qualify for free and reduced meals,.

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There is a smaller fee that you pay..

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If you don't,, then it's a little bit larger.

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Okay, so we have evening high school.

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We have about another 30 seconds..

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I know that we have a teen parent program.

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In annapolis, high school. and so that's another option, if you're a teen parent.

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And who would they contact if they're interested in,.

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They have a child and they're interested in finishing their education?.

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They would contact our home and hospital office.

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and they would ask for ms. laura pierce,, who is the coordinator of our home and hospital services., and she would be able to direct those parents to the appropriate folks that they would need to reach out to in order to get their child into the teen parenting. Program..

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That is quite a breadth of resources that we have.

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For anne arundel county public schools.- and I just want to thank you for coming and sharing with the viewing audience today, all the different departments and all the resources that they're able, if they need to tap into those.

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I appreciate you taking the time.

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Thanks for having me. it's a pleasure to be here.

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Thank you. thank you. and thank you for joining us., see you next time. (soft upbeat music),.

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Hi,, I'm jeannie porter, anne arundel, county public.

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Schools, department of transportation is raising the level of awareness for the safety of your children.

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as we transport them to and from school.

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(playful music).

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When a school bus stops to load students, as a driver,, this is what you will see.

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At 150 feet,, the bus will activate hazard lights.

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At 100 feet,, the bus driver will activate the amber light.

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They will start slowing down.

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at 10 feet before the bus stops,.

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They will turn on the red bus lights..

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Their stop sign will come out,.

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And students will begin to load.

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once all students are onboard safely,, the bus driver will turn off red lights and move forward.

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At this time,, it is for the motorist to resume movement.