The COSSA Compass

Lisa has the distinction of being the longest employed COSSA staff. She is a Decade Team member 3 times over! Lisa works in the Parma School District in the Middle School resource room. This is her 31st year with COSSA and she is looking to retire soon!

On September 20th, all staff at the COSSA building site enjoyed a competitive, fun, and lively PD day. The emphasis was on team building, collaboration, and having fun together. Forbes states, "The data show that fun at work enhances productivity, reduces turnover, and fosters innovation.”

We divided the team into six groups of five members who had to discover their teammates and meeting places. Once they solved that easy puzzle, they synchronously started on a Hunt a Killer game, “Body on the Boardwalk.” The teams worked furiously to solve the case to win bragging rights and a gift card. It was tremendous to walk around and see everyone working together and having a good time.

The winning team was Ocean City (all the teams had famous boardwalk names), which solved the crime within an hour. Teams stayed together until the last one crossed the finish line. It was great hearing the camaraderie coming from the rooms, and the celebration-themed ‘boardwalk’ picnic at the end showed us that an emphasis on culture and fun can significantly impact morale.

We will hold two more similar team-building events in the middle and at the end of the year. We sincerely believe that a positive school culture greatly enhances the school's ability to serve the students, and our first PD day was a great success!

The Special Education Department held Professional Development for certified teachers on Friday 27th for a full day of training. This is part of the $2500.00 stipend that the board approved in supporting the teachers out in the districts. The day started with a team building activity. This team building activity was a great way to get our teachers to explore with teachers outside of the district and get familiar with each other. It was also an example of a team building activity that they can do with their paraprofessional staff, as this was a request from our paraprofessionals through their monthly advisory meeting with Mrs. Frahm. The expectation was set that each teacher do a team building activity with their paraprofessional(s) at their next PD opportunity.

The learning opportunities provided were catered to the population of students each teacher services during a two hour break out session. Our resource room teachers concentrated on the changes in the SLD criteria, our TLC and ERR teachers focused on Trauma Informed strategies to address behavioral concerns, and our PK and SDC teacher focused on the use of Visual Schedules for students with Autism and Cognitive Impairments who need structure and routine in order to maintain appropriate behaviors.

We finished up the day talking about 60 day timeline, the Danielson Framework using the Special Education Scenarios for what proficient teaching in a special education setting looks like, and partnering new teachers with more experienced teachers to write an IEP in EdPlan.

We will use the following feedback to help plan our October PD day scheduled for the 25th. Please take a minute when you come into the board room to see the poster created for the board members thanking you for this opportunity. None of this could be done without the Board’s continued support.

Board Meeting Date: September 16, 2024

Letters of Resignation:

• Shari Cloverdale - effective 8/4/24, Homedale para
• Morgan Battaglia - effective 9/12/24, Wilder para
• Megan Brown - effective 9/15/24, Marsing para
• Michael Rostratter - effective 8/26/24, Homedale para

New Hires:

• Michael Rostratter - effective 8/26/24, Homedale para
• Jeff Azer - effective 8/28/24, Academy Food Service
• Melanie Cromwell - effective 9/3/24, Homedale para
• Mona Jones - effective 9/3/24, WAVE para
• April DeAugustineo, effective 9/3/24, Wilder Elementary
• Liz Lafranier - effective 9/9/24, Marsing Pre-School

• Tammie Anderson, Special Education Director for COSSA reported to the board that all teaching positions are currently filled and there are a few classified positions we are still looking for. Positions that were reported open are Parma Elementary para, Marsing High para, Wilder SDC needs 2 paras, and the COSSA Academy TLC program is looking for a CBRS.
• Mr. Rothamer, COSSA Academy Asst. Principal reported to the board that the Academy has implemented several initiatives to improve culture and climate at the school. Advisory classes have been organized to include character education (RISE), community circles, STAR and grade advisory-student checks along with advisory challenges. Our RISE character program will officially start this coming week along with the selection of the school logo.
• Mrs. Cloward, our CTE coordinator reported that CRTEC has selected the word to represent their core values. The word selected is SOAR which represents Skilled, Optimistic, Adaptable, Reliable and is considered the core skills that students will have when they leave their programs of study. CTE enrollment for this year is currently at 193 students with many of the programs almost at capacity.
• Ms. Frahm, CEO for COSSA reported to the board that the COSSA grant requests for FY25 is $5,456 and donations so far this year is at $7,136. Ms. Frahm reported on the Special Education Advisory committee meetings had their first meeting with the teachers and paras out in the districts. She received a good response from the staff concerning these committees. Culinary Arts is requesting an addition to their program to include a morning session. Ms. Frahm will look into more detail on running a Food Service program and Culinary program concurrently.
• The board approved the following policies on 2nd reading, revised policies 3060 Homeless Students, policy 7400 Procurement Management Systems. New policies 3320 Substance and Alcohol Abuse, Policy 5280 Professional Standards Commission Code of Ethics, Policy 7400 P2 Procedure, Policy 7402 Restrictions on contracts, Policy 7407 Public Procurement of Goods and Services, Policy 7408 Entering into Professional Service Contracts, Policy 9100 Use and Disposal of Agency Property.
• The board approved the retiring of Policy 421 Students with Head Lice with the approval of Policy 3523 Head Lice.
• The board approved the Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP). The CIP is due to the state by October 1st.

• Board meetings are the third Monday of the month. Next meeting will be October 21, 2024 at 5:00 p.m.

• Our board agendas, packet and minutes are on our district website or through this link https://www.cossaschools.org/district.

• Quarter 2 begins October 14th
• Professional Development, Restorative Justice Training, October 11, 2024
• COSSA Board meeting, October 21, 2024, 5:00 p.m.
• Professional Development, Accreditation training, October 25, 2024