Professional Growth Program provides salary advancement

The Professional Growth Program is an incentive program which provides for employee salary advancement following satisfactory completion of courses, workshops, conferences, or seminars. This program is designed to encourage all employees to keep up with best practices and current industry standards.

Coursework must be pre-approved prior to the commencement of the course.  Forms may be submitted three times per year prior to the class date:

• Aug. 15 (Fall classes)
• Nov. 15 (Spring classes)
• March 15 (summer classes)

Verification of successful completion of a class such as a transcript, certificate, grade report or proof of attendance must be submitted to the Human Resources office with a copy of the approved request form by June 15.

Professional Growth movement is effective July 1 of each school year, or at the start of the employees contract once 12 professional growth credits have been approved.

W-I-N-N-E-R

Say hello to American's Tori Hebert. When she isn't teaching choir at American, Tori spends her time winning spelling bees. Tori is the 2015 GESD Staff Spelling Bee winner, outlasting, and out-spelling, all other competitors over eight rounds.

2nd half of Performance Pay will be included in Oct. 8 paychecks

GESD teachers and administrators who qualify will receive the second half of their performance pay in their Oct. 8 paychecks.

 The October payment is for the student achievement portion of the performance pay plan, and represents half of performance pay. Because of changes to the state testing system and a suspension of school letter grades, all teachers an administrators who qualify will get the maximum payout to which they’re entitled. The District’s total allotment for performance pay is based on revenues the state collects under the guidelines of Proposition 301.

Benchmarks window open

District Quarterly Benchmark window begins on Monday, Sept. 2  and ends Friday, Oct. 2. Data will be available for review by staff on Wednesday, Oct. 7. The assessment items will be available for two weeks so that leadership teams and classroom teachers have the opportunity to conduct item analysis based student results. Educational Services looks forward to reviewing the district data so informed decisions can be made about district professional development opportunities. and school support.

ADE to release AzMERIT scores to district Oct. 6

Arizona Department of Education (ADE) has posted dates for the release of the spring testing results. Online reports and student level data is scheduled for release to the districts on Oct. 6. Family reports and corresponding report guides are expected on Oct. 12. At this time, no dates are set for public release of AzMERIT results. Until the ADE public release of the 2015 AzMERIT, all district and school level reports will remain embargoed.

State board approves MOWR cut score

The State Board of Education approved the Move on when Reading (MOWR) cut score.

The MOWR law will apply to this year’s 2016-2015 third graders. Arizona Revised Statute §15-701 states that if data on the third grade statewide reading assessment is available at the end of the 2015-2016 school year and demonstrates that a student scored "falls far below" or the equivalent level on the new AZMerit assessment the student shall not be promoted to the third grade.

Since AzMerit scores from spring 2015 will be receive this fall, school districts and charters must use the scores to identify fourth grade students who Fall Far Below standards on the third grade statewide reading assessment taken in the spring, 2015. Once identified, schools must provide the identified students with at least one of the 4four intervention/remedial strategies identified by the State Board. Currently, Educational Services is meeting to plan for the required interventions needed for our students. Parents of students that fall far below third grade reading standards will receive written 

GESD secures $450,000+ from SFB for repairs at Challenger, Landmark

The Glendale Elementary School District has secured more than $450,000 for capital projects through the Arizona School Facilities Board (SFB). The $480,400 is earmarked for three projects, two at Challenger and one at Landmark.

At Challenger, $222,390 will be used to reseal the exterior wall system. After testing, walls at the school were found to be porous and in need of resealing. After visiting Challenger, SFB determined that the porous walls contribute to moisture in the interior of the school. Another $35,620 will be spent to repair a building crack and structural issues along the western wall entrance to the C and D classroom building. Without repair the cracks, which currently extend from the exterior to the interior of the building, will only get wider, and more damage will be done to the building.

At Landmark, another $222,390 will go to repair and reseal the exterior wall system. Like at Challenger, the walls were found to be porous in and in need of resealing. In all, eight buildings covering 127,795 square feet will be resealed.

“Our schools are showing signs of age, and these needed projects are a testament to that,” said Mike Barragan, GESD assistant superintended for finance and auxiliary services. “We’re grateful the SFB saw and understood the need for these repairs and took the important step to fund these projects.  We will continue to work diligently to secure the necessary resources for both our students and employees.”