McKinley staff report steady gains in attendance, behavior and early literacy; new programs and community donations planned

McKinley school leaders told the York City School District committee on March 10 that the school has seen measurable improvements in student attendance, discipline and early literacy and described new programs and community partnerships, plus an outside donor-funded playground project.

At a presentation to the committee, school staff said average daily attendance sits near 90 percent, chronic absenteeism is about 9 percent, suspensions and expulsions have fallen compared with prior years and positive behavior reporting through the LiveSchool platform has increased dramatically.

The presentation was led by McKinley staff members, including Doctor Bloss and Ashley (identified in the presentation as a school staff presenter). "We will empower students to research about the surroundings that foster incredible thinking skills for life," Doctor Bloss told the committee, summarizing the school’s mission statement and the focus of the current school year.

School staff described a concentrated effort on early literacy. A new K–3 data team meets weekly and includes kindergarten-through-third-grade teachers, an ELD teacher, special education staff, an interventionist and the district MTSS specialist. Staff said the team provides teachers with transposed student-level data, guides small-group instruction and monitors progress on phonics, decoding and decodable-text fluency.

"Decoding, going from letters to putting those letters, seeing them in print, and decoding them as words" and then transferring those skills to decodable text are the two trends staff identified as critical to reversing drop-off between kindergarten and later grades, a presenter said. School staff said targeted Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions are being used and that interventionists are working to reach third-grade students who need foundational skill work.

McKinley staff also highlighted extracurriculars and classroom technology initiatives. Examples cited included the McKinley Beats music lab and mobile recording studios, mobile interactive “Louvre” wall technology used for gamified lessons and social-emotional learning, and plans to introduce 3-D printing and digital design tools. Staff described a partnership with New Vision and other community groups that provide counseling and enrichment programs housed at the school.

Leaders announced family- and community-facing events: a McKinley Night of Music on May 29, a McKinley car show at WellSpan Arena planned as a fundraiser for May 31 and a number of family engagement events that will use translation devices to reach families in multiple languages. Staff said the school now has families who speak six or seven languages and emphasized translated communication tools such as Microsoft Translator and SchoolStatus for two-way translated messaging.

On facilities and philanthropy, presenters told the committee that a local stakeholder group pledged to fund a new playground for McKinley, at an estimated gift amount described by staff as "about a quarter of a million dollars." Staff said the gift is at no cost to the district and credited community supporters named in the presentation for coordinating the donation.

The presentation closed with a request that committee members attend planned celebrations and a reminder that the school will continue to pilot supports and share practices with other district schools.

McKinley staff provided a detailed written package with discipline trends, intervention plans and event dates as supplemental materials to the committee.

Less critical details from the presentation included lists of staff and partners present and several examples of school culture initiatives that school leaders said were contributing to the gains in climate and culture.