By Chris Yow
Editor
TRUSSVILLE — Trussville City Schools unveiled a specific plan this week to improve communication among parents, students and teachers. The plan outlines expectations of each level of education from teachers to the principals, and each goal achievement is labeled with those who are responsible.
Beth Bruno spoke about the plan during the last board meeting, and said she felt that would give the plan more meaning.
“We put names by the person who’s responsible. We wanted this to have some real meaning,” Bruno said. “We want them to know that I’m responsible, Dr. Cardwell’s responsible, principals are, so we put actual names beside these. We intend to go back and make sure we’re doing all of these things to meet these goals.”
In creating this plan, Bruno said she looked at data from every level of stakeholders in the school system from parents to students and teachers. The plan is in place to give everyone in the system a look at what they are expected to accomplish.
“To hold people accountable, they need to know what we’re holding them accountable for. We are letting people know what the expectations are,” Bruno said.
The top concern at every level was that parents and teachers felt the communication process was not the best possible, and the schools plan to alleviate the issue by hosting more meetings with parents and teachers as well as other forms of communication via technology.
Every goal listed accomplishes more than one thing, and each goal is fundamentally different. One of the main goals Bruno said she hoped this would accomplish is to find a way to better instruct each child.
“We asked parents if they thought their child was getting instruction based on his or her needs, and the answer was a resounding ‘No.’ We’re working on that,” Bruno said.
This plan also has students from first grade until ninth grade being assessed three times per year, including at the beginning and the middle of the school year. Bruno said she hoped doing so would allow teachers to better know the strengths and weaknesses of each student.
“We’re not waiting until the end of the year. We’re going to be able to get them in the beginning, in the middle and do something about it before it’s too late,” Bruno said.
The fourth goal listed in the plan is to create and maintain a comprehensive counseling and guidance program. Bruno said there are some programs she feels very good about being implemented already, and the bullying program rolled out recently will likely help keep the environments safe and mentally friendly.
Additionally, the plan includes a more detailed program for new teachers to be included and mentored by veteran teachers.
“We have new teacher mentoring program. We never intend to lose a new teacher because of something we did or did not do,” Bruno said.
Comprehensively, the plan will serve to give parents, students and teachers a measuring stick to which they can compare.
“The expectation is that every employee will need to fulfill their responsibilities in order to meet our goals. I fully expect everyone to do their part. I believe that we all want to do whatever it takes to help our students succeed,” Bruno said.