Site Council Minutes – October 12, 2004

Site Council Minutes — October 12, 2004

Welcome: Hillary Freeman

Agenda: Change due to Dr. Forte’s absence

Addition to end of agenda

Eric K and Nancy P. could not attend today

Correspondence: Please give personal statements for the site council web page to Leslie Goldman

The Site Council address is sitecouncil@pausd.org

Retreat to be held at DO on November 9 - 8:30 to noon (Hillary and Suzanne)

New School Plan and Jordan Survey results will be used to create little energy/big impact projects for the year. If we choose to do another survey, we will also need a small group to work on it. Bill Garrison and Burton Cohen will also be in attendance to gather input for a teaming survey. Skim through the two documents before the retreat.

Budget (Suzanne)

The SIP (school improvement plan) fund is the money that we get from the state. These funds are used to cover expenses that PTA can no longer cover. (such as salaries). Additional funds for projects might come from PTA, grants, or other sources.

Student Council Report (Emerson, Lucas)

Magazine drive has just ended. The 6^th grade raised the most money and we will have final figures soon. Although the goal was not reached, we did do better than last year.

There are also plans, in conjunction with PTA, to hold a beanie baby drive.

The 6^th grade officer elections will be held soon.

Hillary suggested that the student council create a card to give to a 7^th grade student who has been out sick all year.

Principal’s Report (Suzanne)

Test scores

Our API score is over 900 (800 is considered very good). The Palo Alto middle schools are among the top 2% in the state.
ERB’s there is a drop from 02/03 to 03/04 for all students. There were some errors made in setting the norms for the 02/03 tests. Next year we should be able to make a better comparison.

There have been some changes in the number of student scoring proficient and advanced in ELA. There is also an increase in the number of students in the basic and below categories. This is a change over one year only, and does not necessarily show a trend. Suzanne is working with the English department to improve these scores.

PTA Report (Rebecca)

There has not been a PTA meeting since the last Site Council meeting. The annual fund is on target. At Thursday there will be discussion of the by-laws, Partners in Education funding vs. PTA funding, and e-news etiquette. Parent Ed upcoming meetings on conflict resolution, and teaming and funding

Measure I Funding (Suzanne)

Superintendent has requested that the principals gather feedback about the budget adjustments. Some items refer directly to middle school while others refer only indirectly. The attached list of adjustments is for items that have already been cut.

Feedback:

#2 should be changed to say "reduction" rather than reduced to 24. Does this mean average?

Staff development funds — the general feeling was that we have enough now. Do we need more for teaming? How can we use time to impact curriculum? We might need more as we go forward.

Less than 1/2 the money goes to teachers.

Conflict Resolution (Jack Hamilton)

Suzanne gave background information and introduced Jack Hamilton. Jack is doing some conflict resolution with students at Jordan. He will also be working with parents and staff in the future. The site plan calls for a need to address how students handle conflict. We have some unused grant money ($15,006 and $10,588) that we could choose to use on Jack's program. The money could be spent on anything that would fall under the school improvement plan, but the program would certainly meet goal #1C.

We will vote on this issue at the next meeting.

The vision is that students, staff, and parents will all be using the same language in relation to conflict. The program provides a tool to help students consider other perspectives.

The funding would provide the opportunity for teachers and students to use this program as needed in a variety of ways. If we choose not to fund the program, Suzanne feels she has other sources that may provide the funding.

Meeting adjourned at 5:30