Charlie Miller, Verona’s director of curriculum, instruction and assessment said, that more Verona High School students are participating in Advanced Placement classes. The district introduced AP psychology and AP macroeconomics in the 2017-2018 school year. Participation in dual enrollment classes, high school subjects that can also result on college credits, is somewhat lower, though there is a new dual enrollment class in gender and literary theory.
Miller noted that a second group of teachers is going through training in the Orton Gillingham method, an instructional approach used to teach reading to students with dyslexia. Thanks to the teachers already trained, Verona has been able to provide free Orton Gillingham tutoring to 12 students in district.
There were also curriculum presentations by Dr. Sumit Bangia, Verona’s supervisor of humanities, and Glen Stevenson, supervisor of math and science. Bangia noted that the book club initiative that started with English I students in 2016-2017 has led to increased book circulation at the high school library, and that other class at the high school and middle school have added book clubs, including VHS’ Spanish III students. The high school is currently working to select one book that all VHS students will read over summer break. Stevenson praised the STEM programs at VHS and H.B. Whitehorne, and also said that the district is having success with its “hands-on, minds on” science curriculum in the elementary schools.
The full agenda for Tuesday’s meeting is here. The meeting video is below. The meeting opened with BOE member Lisa Freschi being sworn in for a second term. She narrowly defeated Connor McCann in the November election.
