Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Student Support Team Meeting

I continue to be impressed with the care that Crosswinds takes when dealing with individual students. This morning I attended a Student Support Team Meeting. These meetings are held twice a month to follow up on students who may need special attention. The team was comprised of representatives from each house, the principal, and the school psychologist.

I was fascinated by the meeting. I tried to picture it taking place in my own school, where meetings often break down into gossipy sessions full of complaints. The representatives presented their cases in a neutral manner, detailing the interventions that had been attempted. Fellow teachers offered suggestions and shared strategies that had been successful in the past.

These Student Support Team Meetings also serve as the first recorded intervention in the process of making a decision about special education status for students with behavioral and learning disabilities. I was impressed by the fact that Crosswinds has a bi-weekly meeting in place to discuss students who may be in need of services. I would love to see something along these lines implemented at MTS/ComArts.

My enthusiasm for the meeting was put in check by TL as we walked out of the meeting. When I told him how impressed I was with the format, professionalism, and efficiency of the meeting, he thanked me, but confided that he had been listening to similar complaints about the same kids for months, with concrete interventions. Perhaps our schools are more similar than I originally thought.

At any rate, the system is surely worth looking at.

1 comment:

  1. Well, it was nice to hear we're doing things well, even if we have room to improve our efficiency.

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