Gifted and Talented Education Program & Services.

Our educational environments should be cultivated in a form that meets students at their learning styles, while encouraging them to align their gifts of education with a better understanding with real-world experiences.   As a lifetime learner and an education advocate, it is my practice to gain knowledge from people  and build upon those things to establish needs and  develop action plans.  Therefore,  as we develop plans to rethink GIFT services, it will be important to engage all stakeholders. With that said, there are some areas of services formulated by my direct teaching experiences and parenting that have drawn me to model the type of leadership that is needed to ensure that education is etched to support our education staff in developing challenging curriculum and modifying instruction that meets each student's needs towards graduation.  As an educational practitioner serving on PLSD School Board, I am looking forward towards contributing the following strategies, structures and practices to the board:  

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Organizational Teaching & Learning-One advantage of being a part of education is being among greatness that help to shape greatness.  It is important that we begin to establish our PLSD at every level of the organization chart with a model of teaching and learning.  No one entity or person has all the answers. I look forward to assisting administration with developing more collaborative learning communities with neighboring school districts and other educational systems (Ohio Association for Gifted Children, National Association for Gifted Students) that have demonstrated successful increases in student achievement, creation of challenging work and implementation of research-based strategies that can be successfully duplicated to the culture and climate of PLSD. 

Rules, Regulations and Policies for Gifted Education-Building on the expertise of our “champion” educators within PLSD specialized departments, as a Board member I will work towards an alignment of policies and procedures that govern organizational roles and responsibilities with programming to students in the Gifted Program.  Why recreate the wheel? My experience as a Mom is that PLSD has an amazing College Credit Plus Program that has established a number of great transferable systems that could expand the services for students and families that are identified for our Gifted Program.  With assistance from the Coordinator,  our daughter chose challenging work that stretched her right into  Graduation Class of 2021.(please allow me to share that our family has successfully graduated 3 children in the PLSD district and sent them on the pathway of College, 2 college grads and one college freshmen)  Equally important was the development of an education plan (in the Gift Program known as Written Education Plan) that included remote classes, blended learning, and a team (PLSD staff-the student-our family.  Mr. Deans’ served as a great neighbor and coordinator of services as he took time during this screening to understand not only the academic demands, but the interest, abilities, and learning styles that would help our daughter maximize success. These customized education plans within the program,  included participation in other school sponsored activities that also helped her develop supportive adult relationships and maintain a level of connection (social and emotional) with her peers at school.  This is evidence that our district has the systems and right people, Mr. Dean, in place to meet the needs of students and the program.  In my reflection, what do collaborative efforts look like among the programs supported under Policies 2000?  As a mom and new Board Member, helping to develop program evaluations that drive budgets and programming needs help to ensure accountability and transparency.  However, helping to ensure that “like” systems are sharing resources and mirroring “best practices” is best for our students and the Gift program.  Yes, I know that our current District structures see Gift as services, my reflections wonder what type of support would it receive as a program.  

Commit to Cultural Responsibility & Responsiveness-I am committed to working with the Gift Coordinator, Instructional  Coach, Gift Families and Gift Staff in strengthening coordination efforts in providing structures, policies and procedures surrounding the services of  academic acceleration for advanced learner, social and emotional learning and other related services that prepare whole students for graduation.  This would also include providing the level of oversight, fiscal and programming support for curriculum delivered via blended learning.  Blended learning is proven to be a strengthened student-centered model that builds on various deliveries (project based learning, differential instruction, college credit plus, credit flexibility) towards ensuring learning is engaging, real-world and quality.   At the Board level, it is our responsibility to ensure that structures, processes and policies are supported and appropriate fiscal supports are allocated for all programming.  Therefore, working with my colleagues I look forward to reviewing program needs and feasibility reports that help us to ensure such supports are expected and resources provided that support tailored services for the GIFT program.

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Exceptional Students are a gift to our schools and community’s climate and culture.  We have a responsibility as a Board, Administration, Staff and Community to develop opportunities that allow our students to exhibit their gifts and align them with purpose.  I am committed to helping to forge those pathways that allow services to be provided seamlessly within our systems. This is best established when we the school district at all levels are engaged and develop platforms for feedback.  360-degree Communication…. allows us to continue to develop systems that meet student’s needs and reflect on areas that need to be modified, eliminated or expanded.  As a board member, I am looking forward to using my experiences to help lead those areas of support and helping to achieve the mission of our district, “Our mission is to provide an engaging, innovative and holistic experience that empowers all students to become responsible, productive citizens”.  We must expand our options of communication and be willing to rethink how our actions impact responses and take responsibility for creating the successes of Tiger and Panther Nation.   As a Board this is best accomplished by ensuring that policies, procedures and structures include Communication portals that share and collect formal and informal information that is shared in a user friendly mode to inform and engage.  Alone, I don’t have all the answers.  That is why, I am willing to be the voice for our community and need neighbors like you, helping to stimulate my learning as we teach our community.  Rethinking Success Together, allows us to define what we want to see in our schools, education, staff, families and communities.  Thank you for the opportunity to reflect and should additional time for dialogue be necessary, please email me at RethinkingSuccessTomorrow@gmail.com.