Edina High Schools First Collaborative Wednesday is a Huge Success

According to Students
Edina High School had its first ever Collaborative Wednesday last week on
Wednesday, September 18th. Collaborative Wednesdays will happen 26 times
throughout the 2013-2014 school year. It is an altered schedule that allots 90
minutes of time in the middle of the school day for students to be able to work
independently and in groups on school work and for students to have time to visit
teachers for both intervention and enrichment. These Collaborative Wednesdays
also provide teachers with time every other week for collaboration with colleagues
in the same subject area to enhance the teaching experience for teachers and the
learning experience for students.
In a student survey given to 112 Edina High School students about what they
thought about the first Collaborative Wednesday and how they used their time,
96.4% of the students surveyed said, yes, they felt it was a productive and
meaningful time for them. When asked what they did with this time, the following
results were found:

What students did with their time 9/18/13

11%

Met with a Teacher

22%

12%

Group work
Independent Study
Attended a meeting
No school work done

21%
34%

As you can see the majority students surveyed at EHS reported that they did
something academically related during the time given. The students appeared to
use the time productively and many students commented that the schedule
lightened their load and helped them feel less overwhelmed with all of the things
they have going on.
Finally, when asked to rate their overall experience for the first Collaborative
Wednesday on a scale of 1-5 (1 being it was terrible, 5 being it was very beneficial
for me as a student), 86.9% of students rated it as a 4 or a 5.

While there are some adjustments that can be made as we go forward, according to
this survey, it appears students felt that the first Collaborative Wednesday benefited
them as a student and that it was a productive use of their time.

Edina Public Schools Public Relations and School Communications Policy

I found the policy on communication for our school district in the Edina Public
Schools district policy manual Policy #107. The policy mainly focused on the
expectations of communicating with the community (how frequently, the type of
information that must be shared, etc.).
The policy does say that the Superintendent is the official spokesperson for the
district and that he/she will appoint other spokespeople as appropriate. The policy
also said that any press releases to the media must go through the communications
department. Specifically, it say that District employees, will receive approval from
the director of communications and community engagement prior to sharing school
district information with the media. The approval may be given to an employee to
maintain direct media connections when appropriate (e.g, sports season, ongoing
activity). (Edina Public Schools district policy manual Policy 107 IV A)
What I took from all of this is, as a district employee, the policy would be to make
sure you go through the director of communications before sending anything out.
Laura Slominski
9/20/13