Jordan Site Council Minutes December
13, 2005
Attendance was taken and can be found in the Principals
Office
Welcome, Agenda, Minutes
Welcome by Karen, Agenda approved as amended to hold Student Council report first.
Minutes as amended to indicate the order of math unit teaching will be corrected soon were approved.
No visitors or correspondence.
5428 cans collected in the Turkey Trot. Hoops for Hearts and second semester sign ups due to start after Break. Idea of Stress Week at Jordan suggested be brought back. A field day with advisory, teachers try to lighten the load and testing, so less stress for kids near STAR testing. Warmer weather ideal for water balloon fights or other field activities desired.
Surveys conducted, Language Survey in. Client survey upcoming but may not have to do this year depending on whether data will be separated by schools. Will let us know soon.
Thanks to Karen Ersted for article in school paper keeping the community informed.
Library funds given by State require goals so librarians have created them and are added to the School Plan.
ERB scores and letter sent to parents. Overall 7/8th scores stayed same, 5/6th dropped a bit. Looking at when it was taken vs in the past, sooner than past years. Prompt was difficult particularly for sixth graders who were only here for a month. ÒWhy should your school be nominated for an award?Ó
Hundreds of thousands of students are taking the test, Bill Garrison is going to find next level of detail as to how the students attend schools and when they make changes from elementary to middle vs k-8 school students and how much the Prompt could have affected the resulting writing for the younger kids.
Trying to establish Writing and Reading Academy for sixth graders with below average performance two afternoons a week. English steering committee thinking of sample lessons and units for the teachers to have resource book, working Feb/March to accomplish this.
21 students went on a retreat to become student helpers.
Transition events starting for fifth grade students.
Discussions starting for guidance counselors to follow the student from 6th through the 8th grade, rather than with students having a new counselor each year, as it is now. The various pros and cons were raised and acknowledged that there are many of each whichever way it is divided.
A video was shown using technology in new broadcast center at Jordan. The students did a fantastic job showing the use of the technology.
Slide presentation followed with technology history of Jordan, Five-year plan was done in 2002, we are in Òyear fourÓ and it is exactly the same as it was then. Jordan didnÕt used to have to pay for front office computing but we do now from the technology budget, which was not planned for in the 2002 plan. JTV began as a grant given to four schools, so Jordan got equipment, but no room, and no teacher budget. Many items in tech budget were originated with temporary funds and now curriculum, teachers and students depend on the availability of the technologies and items are needing replacement due to age and out of date function but funds have not been permanently allocated for this replacement.
Tech Summary:
2002 laptops purchased for every three sixth grade teacher (a wing).
2003-4 laptops for 7th and 8th core, increased web based communication with InClass and class for the broadcast elective students, Need to expand number of students getting to use this equipment, not just the current 26 students a year.
Need to continue replacement cycle for infrastructure, tech support, laptops, and desktops.
PTA implemented a line item in their budget now at $55,000 which goes to laptop replacements and fixing things around campus; spent over $100,000 per year in 2002 through 2004, not this year, it is not in the plan.
Main computer lab has 5 year old iMacs, teaching lab has 4 year old Macs.
Jordan needs to implement a plan for consistent ongoing funding that is reliable and predictable! JTB (Jordan Technology Boosters) funds, money from SIP, PTA, Foundation, other places come in. Some is designated for specific buying, Huge backup of teachers trying to use main lab equipment because their carts are no longer working and everything is backed up in terms of usage.
Site based spending of the middle schools make differences in their technology, but the money is pretty much normalized (therefore all schools have about the same amount of funding.)
$25,000 per cart means 15 laptops to share in a class including software and insurance and the cart, $1,666 per student to replace a cart. Each school may accept up to $50,000 per gift from outside sources.
Budget discussed by Suzanne.
$79, 933.00 is bottom line amount Site Council has to direct this year. Recommendation not to spend all of it because some of it is carryover from prior year and there is no outlook for what is ahead. Suzanne has already paid over half the billing for this yearÕs conflict resolution expense at $13,000 from her Jordan funds. Asking the other half out of Site Council budget, recognizing that technology is sorely needing.
$11,458 for conflict resolution and $50,000 for technology fund was voted on and approved by the Site Council.
Consideration for changing the conflict resolution program for next year was discussed with ideas such as creating a video-based learning program we could train a school employee(s) to run in the classrooms using the broadcast studio (JTV) with Jordan students doing role-playing and then running discussion groups around the issues shown on video to make it more interactive with the kids and less expensive going forward. Possible to negotiate with the conflict resolution consultants for their use of the video in other schools in exchange for us getting preferential pricing to use their methodology in our video and programs ongoing over the foreseeable future.
Stanford students came to social studies classes for the second year to teach a module on nonviolence, which is also a resource possibility for conflict resolution programs going forward.
A concern was voiced about getting more recycling to occur at major school events such as Back to School night, and more containers will be made visible going forward.
Groups re-met to discuss the school plan goals and
attributes.
InClass benefits and drawbacks were discussed and kids definitely seem to like and use it. Not all teachers use it for reasons from not liking technology to not believing that it is good for kids to rely on it instead of learning to take notes in class.
Community building was discussed and there may be a communication issue where parents may not be aware of how to be involved in the many places that need parental involvement.
Two top choices of communication tools seems to have mismatch in graph vs numbers stated. (TeacherÕs survey) Survey presentation is very confusing to read through. Student responses may be slanted toward what they feel parents want to hear. However some felt the kids really do know whatÕs going on and this indicates it.
Writing data shows dissatisfaction with the programs and there will be more discussion needed on writing programs.
Meeting was adjourned.