JORDAN SITE COUNCIL
RETREAT MINUTES 11/29/06
Attendees
Suzanne Barbarasch, Salma Kandil, Amanda Ballard (SC), Chirag Krishna (SC), Jan Prehn, Mary Sano, Karen Ersted, Paul Gralen, Linda Frommer, Walter Barry, Cindy Philips, Molly Golden, Millie Balsam, Maripat Wilkins, Susan Bailey (BD President Partners in Ed), Andrea Mone, Tia Rabinovitz (SC), Glenn Krasner; and ? (name not on attendance sheet)
Change for this meeting: Andrea Mone (Recorder), Mary Sano (Facilitator)
Welcome, Agenda, Minutes
- Agenda approved with minor change to the following REVIEW Core Curriculum – English, Science, Math
- Minutes of previous meeting – minor change made to attendees (Millie and Karen present)
- Meeting started with an icebreaker – attendees recalled where they went to Junior high
TEAM VTP & TASC Mentor
Program Update
Joleen Roach Presenter (Jordan Resource Specialist)
Voluntary Transfer Program (VTP) –
- Try
to make families and students feel that Jordan is their neighborhood school
- Plan
activities to celebrate to view school as an extension of home
- Receive
much support from PTA
-
Help students and families learn "how to do school"; be comfortable
in a school setting
- Evening
events once a quarter
Questions
How many students? 53-57
Do many join the Culture Club? 40
As a teacher, is it useful to know who's VTP? Can access this info at the office; uncertain
as to whether there was a policy change at the District level
How effective is t to have events in Palo Alto vs. East Palo
Alto? Based on feedback want
to come to "their school"; always have events at Jordan; promotes
fact that Jordan is their school; events extremely well attended
Teachers Assist Students & Care (TASC)
- Mentorship
program
- Teachers
support students academically, socially, emotionally depending upon individual
needs
Questions
Does TASC exist at other schools? TASC also exists at Terman
(in nascent stages)
How often do mentors meet? Can be as much as daily
How many students in TASC? 20 students 17 teachers
Should parents be involved in TASC as mentors? Tough to
coordinate and screen
Social Norms
- District
wide program
- Reveal
to kids the ÒrealÓ behavior they are exhibiting not the perception of what
everyone else is doing
- Give
aways, leadership presentations
Homework Center
- Library
M, T, R from 3 – 4:30
- Tutors,
resource specialist support, tutors
- District
supplies bus for those students who reside in East Palo Alto
Questions
Do students sign into Homework Center? Yes
Must they stay the whole time? If they take the bus,
yes.
Student Council Report
Presenter Shirag Krishna
- Decided
against Turkey Trot
- Turned
into an Advisory Contest not to help people
- New
direction for Student Council
- Build
awareness with regard to those less fortunate
- Focus
on Jordan – trash cleanup (Green Citizen)
- More
meetings for reps – less attendance
Presenter Amanda Ballard
-
Speeches – can't make promises that can't honor; would "try"
to
- Fundraisers
interfered with commitments
- Clubs
– passed out list
- Daryl
Richard – club funding from yearbook revenues
- Advisory
Rep meeting before break (inform advisory of student council initiatives)
- Solicited
ideas for other fund raisers or other
Presenter Tia Rabinowitz
- Difficult
to organize
- Strong
showing of candidates and speeches
- Pres
Tia Rabinovitz VP Britta Kajimura, Sec. Sarah Mackinnon, Treasurer Maryssa
Sklaroff
Move to combine efforts to Student Council and YCS in terms
of school cleanup
PrincipalÕs Report
Presenter Suzanne Barbarasch
- Results
of Technology Survey and Analysis will be presented in January
- Money
voted for tech had to go to School Board for approval
- Leslie
will work with Vicki Perry
-
Haven't ordered overheads yet due to expense and want to work on survey
- Cluster
Rep Council met (heterogeneous groups across grade level with a rep); Pride
Assemblies came up as an issue
- Security
update – interviewing for campus supervisor in progress (part-time
position 24 hours per week; lunch to after school, friendly face for students
to go to)
- Cameras
still out to bid
- Trying
to move ahead with lockdown training (Codes Blue and Red); will be over several
advisories; will send letters home to preview nature of training and
application outside of school
- Peer
Helping Survey Results; issues of concern were stress and too many activities,
relationships with friends; depression and suicide came up as an issue;
bullying on the increase as an area of concern per grade level
- Suzanne
will write about it in the Jordan Journal
Questions
Is there a relationship between hormones and
aggression? Should 8th
graders be specifically targeted?
Efficacy questioned due to fact that only a portion of
students responded; not a scientific survey; demonstrates trends
English Department Report
Presenter Millie Balsam
Overview
- Unique
subject as there are so many strands (reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary)
-
Doesn't take into account the scaffolding, grade level, and student needs
(GATE & Special Education)
- 6th
grade LA/SS; inherently more flexible; 7th and 8th less
instructional time
- 6th
intro different genres of writing and response to lit; 7th grade
intro to academic writing specific to novel – more analytic in focus; 8th
build upon 7th foundation even further
- Literacy,
closing achievement gap, strengthening skills in reading and writing
Writing
- Collins
Management System (English teachers much training); promote writing across the
curriculum
- Focus
Correction Areas makes writing more specific and can be specific to individual
students; universal language of expectations; maintenance of writing folders
throughout course of year
Reading
- Introduction
of literature circles to address the literacy level of the specific students
and to pilot new novels
- Reading
academy after school for 6th grade & two reading enhancement
courses 7-8
Grammar
- Additional
source of professional development
- Generative
grammar (former NCTE director Miles Myers)
English Language Learners
- 22%
of student base
-
ELL workshop; will present at Jordan Staff Meeting; interesting activity of
walking in another's shoes
- Numbers
are on the rise
Questions
What is the number of novels in a class literature circle?
Typically groups of six and four novels; another class 7 books in use
Do they choose? Students gravitate in the right direction
Bullying at Jordan Report
Presenter Sharon Ofek
- Educate
the entire community on bullying (what it is)
- Historically
bullying on the rise
- Social
Norms survey results out of 880/729 received (79 were discarded)
- Types
of bullying - the highest area verbally
- High
percentage of witnessing bullying
- Bullying
along gender lines (girls – social, electronic; boys – physical; both
– verbal)
- Action
– expectations talk to all grades, lunch monitors, social norms survey,
guidance wheel, peer helpers, looking at programs (No Bully, Safe & Caring
Schools, Respect for All)
- Involvement
of staff and parent community in terms of support
- Suspension
rates down; less fighting; fewer detentions
- Must
be staff buy-in; whole school effort
- Students
commented on lunch line as the biggest problem area; hallways less
Question
How many students do you see a week? Leading to the inquiry are you seeing
the same students over and over?
Looking at the three programs, is there data to support
their efficacy? Safe and Caring
Schools – yes, have presented at a team building event and to staff at
Jordan; No Bully – yes; Respect for All (tough to reach)
What kind of education goes to the bystanders? Most
important constituency.
Can there be a conflict resolution coordinator? Someone to model positive behavior?
What's the ratio of staff versus students? 100 adults on campus
What's the number of noontime angels? Varies
Is it possible that a person could be trained after
hire? Thinking in terms of campus
supervisor. Must the person be
certified? Feeling is yes.
How about getting parents involved? An intervention
program? Each of the three
programs under consideration has a parent component. Dissemination of information is key.
What are the leverage points to get teachers?
Science Report
Presenter Noel Berghout
-
6th Earth Science, 7th Life Science, 8th
Physical Science (each level "mostly")
-
IS perspective the most important part "Investigation and Experimentation";
science process
- PS3
grant initiative (Inquiry approach, differentiation, science notebooks, science
writing; workshops, collegiality across middle schools, study groups)
- Experiment
design activity
Math Report
Presenter Ellie Slack
-
Areas of focus last year: 1.
How do we fill a pregnancy leave? 2.
Changing the Algebra Program to bring into alignment with the other middle
schools 3. Changing of the textbook (McDougell Littel with "out of the
box" supplements) 4. Needed to plug some holes curriculum wise
- Test
scores on the rise 7th and 8th grade; 6th
grade a little below district – Ski Week and disruption to curriculum a
consideration as was not anticipated; have made the adjustment this year
- Relative
to the state, the numbers are astronomically higher
- Achievement
gap (numbers dropped in 6th in line with the overall scores and 7th
in certain segments significant)
- Grade
level teams meet on a weekly basis to set lessons and help new teachers
- Math
club huge!
- Doing
really well in Math contests
- Math
Nights – parent awareness
- Focus
on challenging those students to match their ability
What happens on Math Nights? Rubrics for laning, high school
program and transition; readiness for high school
Funding Proposals &
Goals
- PTA
funds not the same as previous years (could be due to fact that much funding
went to technology)
- Site
Council funds could cover some of PTA initiatives (circa 25K)
- Site
Council has about 75K at disposal
- Teacher
requests approx. 31K (adding line item 7)
- More
requests will be incoming (approx. 15K)
Where are the overhead projectors going to go? Unknown.
Will Sharon bring information on how much a bullying program
will cost?
Can we make sure that these tie to goals?
Why are we not moving to LCD projectors?