[Rich Girard]

State BOE/DOE don’t make policies, according to Raffio. The legislature does, we just implement. Whoa…the devil’s in those details.

This isn’t about Ginny and isn’t about me, it’s about adhering to the law. I hope this stays positive. I talked about all the positive things going on in your district (that he took credit for) and I don’t want to step backwards

[Rich Girard]

Gatsas calling out Raffio on claim that STEAM Ahead funding was provided by state.

Barry: We’re not talking to Bob Baines and principal about potential funding.

Gatsas: But no funding has been presented yet, correct?

Both Barry and Raffio have to agree because it hasn’t.

BUT, now Raffio taking credit for encouraging businesses to fund it.

[Patrice Benard]

State Board follows legislature. Says we get 200 million dollars in Fed Funds. Strings say must have single statewide accountability system and must assess achievement of children. There is no opting out. If we had loss of participation we could lose federal funding. Would not have sent the opt-out letter.

No waiver to allow districts to choose their own assessments.

NH has received special permission to pursue PACE. Disputes what AnnMarie Banfield had said about PACE.

Reads email from District that opted out of PACE.

[Patrice Benard]

Raffio really hopes this is a positive meeting. (If he wants a lovefest, we need him to buy the drinks!) And how disrespectful to refer to the Commissioner as “Ginny”!!!!

[Rich Girard]

Connors proving she can be a suck up to multiple bureaucracies. “What do you think of our direction and where do you think we should be focusing.”

Barry: The reason why I did not attend the first meeting I was invited to was because I didn’t want to play out politically with the successes in Manchester.

Defending “complex” statement. Complex makes fear, the economy is hurting families. Parent participation in Manchester is excellent and getting better.

Gatsas: And sometimes that’s political.

[Rich Girard]

Beaudry: Asking Virginia Barry for “her side of the meeting” with Gatsas about waivers.

Barry: I really don’t take sides in arguments. What’s more important is how Smarter Balanced came about.

[Patrice Benard]

Mayor sure cleared that up! The State has provided NO funding for STEAM Ahead. Nada, zero, zilch. But they are talking about it with Bob Baines. Egads!

[Rich Girard]

the worst thing for manchester would be state funding of STEAM Ahead…their “resources,” their rules.

[Patrice Benard]

Connors asks them to focus on positives in Manchester and what we need to work on going forward.

“Ginny”: Thinks MHT headed in right direction. Did not attend first meeting as didn’t think playing out constantly in newspaper impacts negatively on families. Thinks parent participation is outstanding. Parents deserve to hear about the good things.

[Rich Girard]

Barry going on about all of the professionals involved in evaluating Smarter Balanced. Only state to sign just a 1 year contract. All kinds of parent input as well.

WHY WON’T THEY RELEASE THE INPUT?

PACE a way forward…a new process that could possibly open new thinking on assessments. We can look at competent children, there isn’t a parent that doesn’t want competent and confident children. We want them ready…college and career ready children…that’s what PACE is about. Check it out.

[Patrice Benard]

Beaudry asking about the meeting with Mayor. Wants her side.

“Ginny”: doesn’t take sides on stories. This is end of her 6th year as Commissioner. Whole country was engaged in finding another test. That decision was made in a shared leadership model, not just by her. Made jointly throughout the state. Communicated with superintendents throughout the state. SB was the best choice. NH only signed a 1 yr contract with SB.

PACE is a performance based assessment. Parents want children who can read and are ready for the world and can feel confident and good about who they are.

Competency is really what we want.

[Patrice Benard]

“Ginny”: easy for something to fall through the cracks. MHT was invited to participate. Raffio will read the email as it keeps coming up in the UL.

Raffio: going through the steps where MHT pulled out of PACE. Pleased the MHT Standards are over 80% Common Core. Happy they did their own thing, but that was the reason they didn’t complete participation of PACE training. Raffio reading answer from David Ryan.

[Rich Girard]

Beaudry asking Barry about PACE and the city’s participation.

She’s saying it’s very easy for things to fall through the cracks. Well, something fell through the cracks and that’s okay.

Raffio: now reading a letter about the PACE Assessment (which we don’t need to hear again because we all get it) MHT spent time on it’s standards, 80%+ of which are the Common Core, instead of PACE. Reading David Ryan’s email on this again.

Beaudry: Whose email was that?

Raffio: Ryan’s.

This is old news, and a red herring.

Beaudry: I think you’ve been unfairly criticized and we should blame who is to blame. It should have been brought to this board, not decided at the administrative level.

Raffio: I run my company based on blameless occurrences. Our goal is to fix what’s broken in a positive manner. Term waiver gets used a lot in different contexts. I don’t want to be in a he said she said.

Beaudry: Getting a lot of calls on Smarter Balanced. Is this just a Manchester problem? Never got calls about NECAP.

Weird answer.

Beaudry insists…Raffio says Waiver was never promised.

Gatsas interjects, about who was at what meeting. He was right.

Barry: Smarter Balanced is just a harder test. NH was the only state that didn’t use the test to penalize teachers, but used it to help them teach. Critical we support an assessment that improves teaching. That’s the only reason to have an assessment. It is to help them become more effective.

Thanking MHT for supporting use of SAT in 11th Grade.

[Patrice Benard]

Beaudry makes the point that PACE was never brought to the Board. Raffio makes point that MHT still has an opportunity to get in.

Beaudry wants to re-examine PACE. Got lots of phone calls about SB, not one about NECAP.

Raffio says change is hard. So this is a new type of testing. It’s new for teachers and students. The term waiver gets used a lot in different contexts. There was no waiver.

[Rich Girard]

Barry: Assessments are designed for one purpose only: To provide more information about the student…hmm, I thought it was to help teachers teach…prepare kids for the 21st Century. I meet with parents alot and they’re worried about their student’s sense of future.

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