Attendees: S. Barbarasch, M.Balsam, J.Bullock, E.Edeen, K.Ersted, M. Ginanni, P. Gralen, K.Missett, C.Mueller, M. Sano, R. Fox, M. Wilkins, Olivia
- There were no changes to the Agenda and the Minutes were approved with minor spelling changes.
- A letter regarding conflict resolution was presented and to be discussed later in the meeting.
There were no visitors to use the Open Forum time.
The group discussed the Empowering Students proposal briefly to note that more information from the 7th and 8th grade students will be forthcoming and the Council will vote on the proposal during the November retreat. It was suggested that the outside company submitting the proposal attend a portion of the Council retreat to answer questions before the vote.
It was discussed and voted to provide the Joint Finance Committee (JFC) $1,000 this school year from Site Council funds and considered it possible to add to that amount during the year, should additional funds become available.
Mary Sano was elected to be the Site Council representative for the JFC for the school year.
Susann Barbarasch will hold a new member meeting for further clarification of plans and budgets for the new Site Council members on Oct. 30 on site.
The Final Plan for Jordan was distributed, noting there is a known amendment to forthcoming to show Library plans, goals and state funds, as mandated by a new State law. ERB and Star test scores were attached to the Plan and as described in the September meeting by Susann.
The proposed date and time for the Site Council half day retreat of Wednesday, November 9th from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at the District Office, conference room A was discussed and agreed upon. Numerous speakers are being asked to attend the retreat and speak on their area of expertise from the school. The final list will be reported in the retreat minutes.
The Council selected the categories in the Plan to divide the group by and discuss for the upcoming retreat. The small groups read through the specific issues, goals and information for each category and then discussed and reported back to the group at large their findings, suggestions and future considerations.
They are as follows:
1.)
Academic, English Language, Writing, Math
How to close the gap in the differences academically in racial groups was discussed. The trend is that it is getting better with some things in place but there should be further work such as mentoring, providing a comfortable atmosphere on campus for all parents as in the VTP efforts, and voluntary informal mentoring. There has been a very positive impact on the differences of rates of behavior problems with children of color, presumably since the beginning of the conflict resolution efforts the school has undertaken in the past two years. So far this year there have been no major issues and minor infractions are on a par with all races at the school.
2.)
School Climate, a.) Social, Emotional and Physical Health
New exercise equipment, ropes, mats, circuit training for staff during lunch and after school is being made available. For students, peer counseling and a suggestion box for questions and comments should be made available. The grade counselors could screen the submissions and a group of students could meet to discuss problems and solutions. Role-playing could be done by students on the new broadcast system from time to time to reinforce positive solutions to issues.
3.)
School Climate, b.) Diverse Avenues for Students to be
Successful
Provide more encouragement of the arts expression on campus. Study all the current artistic activities on campus during and after school and report them to the kids in a clear and encouraging way to get more participation. Camera works, Beat Poetry, etc, should be described in such a way that the whole school community understands the value to everyone, not just the performer or painter.
4.)
Meeting the needs of all the students; GATE and high
achievers, Special Education students, Low Achievers without disabilities.
It was observed that the current Plan has 6 strategies listed for the GATE students, 4 strategies listed for the Special Education students and 3 strategies listed for the Low Achievers without disabilities. Suggested additions to balance this out were having the Reading Academy reinstated from Site Council or other funds. (It was cancelled due to lack of state funding a few years ago and Math Academy only remains today. Reading may be a far more powerful aspect for the Low Achievers to receive assistance with.) Institute peer tutoring in math, one on one. Pay teachers to tutor one on one after school outside their regular hours. Seek parents who are accredited teachers to tutor after school for pay or volunteer work.
Social norm's information was discussed and how to work it into our own school culture. Joleen Roach is working on this regarding drugs, alcohol and bullying. It was discussed that possibly a group of students could be selected by other students and the school counselors and give them a weekend of training twice a year in issues handling as well as confidentiality, etc. This could build a collection of 25 students to meet twice a week regarding socially acceptable behaviors. Student Council representatives raised a concern about how much time it would take out of their already busy schedules to perform this function and take the training, given that the students who may be selected would be some of the busiest kids on campus.
Bridge of Caring for the New Orleans school district work is going full steam ahead.
The Student Council Budget is just in, the magazine drive is down by $4,000 and even last year's high return of $45,000 did not meet the budget of $56,000 expenses so there will have to be cuts in kids' programs. It was discussed that kids don't want to do the magazine drive once they are in the upper grades and yet they don't realize that the programs they enjoy the most on campus are funded by the drive. It was acknowledged that part of the dissatisfaction with doing the drive after sixth grade is that people have already re-subscribed the next year by mailings from the publishers themselves and so it is a lot of pavement pounding with little results.
6th Grade Officers are Luke P, President, Amanda B, Vice President, Hannah K, Treasurer, Michael A, Secretary.
The next Site Council meeting will be held on November 9th as a one-half day retreat. The refreshment contributors signed a goodie sign-up sheet for the rest of the school year as the first one was misplaced.
The meeting was adjourned on time.