Attendees
Jan VH Prehn, Susan Scheel, Vivian Boudreaux, Susan Bailey,
Salma Kandil, Terry Noeth, Madeleine Smeets, Linda Frommer, Cindy Philips,
Sandra Pearson, Walter Barry, Vito LaSala, Suzanne Doran, Andrea Carlisle, Uma
Veerappan, Jun Seung You
Welcome, Agenda, Minutes, Correspondence
Agenda approved
Minutes with minor name change approved
GATE Report – Jeanie Forte
Parent liaison committee – met in Fall
Piloting of Renzulli learning system in Fall (seen at a gifted conference); piloted at Jordan based on tech savvy community; ca 20 teachers involved at Jordan and several from JLS 6th grade team; enthusiasm at beginning but insufficient training; more training in Feb. which jumpstarted program again; Renzulli license extended through end of year; JF encourages teachers to try out more lessons, so the GATE committee can provide more feedback to the board
GATE funding – prof dev time for 10 Jordan teachers on differentiated learning; social studies department for Renzulli release time; funded textbooks for 6th grade LA, SmartBoard for computer classroom
Would like to use part of a department or staff day to discuss differentiated instruction
Q. What is the right amount of training for Renzulli?
Organization realized that they provided insufficient training; they would provide a day training and follow-ups once a quarter if we were to purchase a license (understanding of program and then application – meeting of the minds approach with department members would be helpful)
Q. What would a middle school district license cost?
Between 15-20K
Q. Have any steps been taken in finding a differentiation mentor?
That would be Jeanie at present, but not realized in full with a release period to focus on differentiation
Q. Are the students aware that they are using Renzulli?
Answered by Suzanne Doran – Yes. In her class, students were working recently on a research project; once they exhausted library resources could use Renzulli. Sometimes who plans her lessons from Renzulli (in that case, students don't know); www.renzullilearning.com
Spoke to profile building function – system builds menu of activities based on your personal profile
Reading Program Report – Teri Haynes
Last year had a mix of students all across the board in terms of ability levels; wasnÕt very targeted; started with 14-15 in each reading class and ended with 12 in 7th grade and 8 in 8th grade (research shows that classes of 6 ideal); breakdown for middle school sites this year - JLS 5-6 in groups, Terman - 4, Jordan – 8 (8 for 6th grade, 8 for 7th grade but 3 for 8th grade)
Benefits this year – good group discussions, responses, positive attitude; some carry over from last year; most students are at a basic level - year before grade level, some low-basic – two years below (most low in both reading comprehension, and writing applications and vocabulary)
Transactional Strategies Instruction - six strategies that translate over to testing
Q. What do you mean by pull out?
6th grade is a pull out program (attend when acceptable to the teacher)
7th and 8th grade, the class is an elective (not mandatory but choice based – if mandatory would likely be double) – doesnÕt have special ed. students in class – geared for advancement particularly in areas of decoding text (an area in which special ed. students have particular difficulties)
Much discussion about mandatory reading support enrollment; also should it become part of general classroom instruction?
Q. How long does it take to gather the data that demonstrates the efficacy of the program?
Takes about two – three years; research in general in the field that's functional is fairly new
Q. Is there effort put forth in 3-5? The focus on K-2 and 6.
Push is to focus on content areas and have the teachers teach meta-cognitive skills
Q. What about a child who is GATE and dyslexic?
Works with kids in special ed.; funded separately
Q. Not IEP kids?
Works with students who can read at grade level but in terms of fluency and accuracy below
Open Forum
Q. For those who made request for funding last year, what is
the process for this year regarding next year? (this is a matter in progress)
Old Business Cindy Philips, Linda Frommer, Sandra Pearson
BACK PACKS – are considering a school wide policy; health, safety and organizational issues; for the most part, there is quite a bit of support; discussing in various forums - doesn't want a rule that people don't like; implementation will be team based (with exceptions when needed); got feedback from team leaders the other day
Q. Have you thought of a rolling implementation starting in 6th grade?
Will give this idea consideration.
Q. Student perspective?
Uma – likes it; helped her with organization, though sometimes inconvenient; did note that some of her friends don't like it
Students will need locker assignments the first day of school in order for this to work
Q. Do we have a locker for every student?
Yes
Parent letter concerning reducing the backpack load; that ought to be a point of discussion
GYM EXPANSION – if someone were to come to us with funds to build a new gym, we would consider it; new gym has not been built into 20-year facilities plan (Bob Golton will speak with Paul Losch to explore this further - has not occurred to date)
Review of Written Progress Reports – Sandra Pearson
Some fit school goals and some a stretch
ENGLISH - Andrea Carlisle spoke to Core Lit grant and benefits - successful in the sense that teachers have available resources and struggling readers can access text in a meaningful way
MUSIC - Vivian Boudreaux spoke to Music funding (seven different bands and two extracurricular Jazz Bands - need the funding for specialists as stretched so thin); for example Jazz Band performs at 12 concerts each year; struggle to procure each year – expectations don't match the funding; money doesn't come from District but from Site Council
Q. What comes from District?
About $6,800 for supplies, maintenance to cover 380 students; other funding comes from PTA
Q. How do we pay for outside of school day programs?
Always a struggle; gave the zero period Math class as an example - used PiE funds
Q. What about Drama club and Math?
Paid out of student council or discretionary funds
Items not covered by various funding - Stipends etc. about 15K (doesn't include zero period)
Q. How many students served by teacher-driven after school initiatives?
SCIENCE - Noel Berghout's – replacement parts
Monahan & Warr – to enhance an existing unit
Warr – Biotech (really in the spirit of how Site Council funds should be used); demand has grown for next year
Should do a little write up on "Site Council Monies that Work" for the Jordan Journal to build some positive PR
Student Council Report – Uma Veerappan & Jun
Seung You
ODFL ended March 24th - raised $3000 (Shagory luncheon $1000)
8th grade gift – tether balls or small playground
How to keep school clean and green? Not enough time for Green Citizen; still thinking of options
PTA Report – Susan Scheel
Working on transition with new members and Int'l Festival which takes place on April 23rd
Principal's Report – Sandra
Pearson
New principal attended last meeting
to introduce himself; indicated interest in visiting the school a few more
times this year; however based on his own job obligations, can come only on
Fridays after school if there are groups who want to meet with him
SP – Wants him to get a feel
for the school but also doesn't want to pressure him
Q. Will the Site Council Plan be
complete before he gets here?
No, it will be in Draft form
Budget update – PTA $20K
surplus; PiE - $50K for whole district; looking at the other channels as wants
to leave some flexibility in budget for incoming principal
Site Council budget – $26,
239.64
Two meetings left - need to work on allocation matters
sooner rather than later
Q. How much do we need to keep as a
carry-over?
We don't necessarily need to keep
carry-over funds
Q. Where does Site Council funding
come from?
The state (based on 11th
day enrollment)
Music – their needs are
urgent!
Q. Do we want to send out request
for proposals?
We should look at where our commits
are.
Counting in 120K PiE – will
go pretty much to staffing; Site Council could go to prof dev etc.
Big ticket items for consideration
next year? – Safe and Caring Schools (maintenance)
SP would like to leave funds for
Teaming related matters – if we want to improve upon teaming, money ought
to come from Site Council
Comment made that the belief was as
a Site Council, it was unusual to approve funds for the next year (given the
different construct of Site Council) – However it not customrary to plan
a budget after school starts
Viewed school goals sheet draft
that incorporated feedback from cluster groups - Suggestion to change students
of color to students in different racial and ethnic groups
Work Group Updates – Vito
LaSala & Suzanne Doran
Vito LaSala – Social
Emotional Programs (attempts to narrow down); Safe and Caring Schools not
effectively implemented through Advisory; reviewed the info that he plans to
present at Staff Meeting April 9th
Suzanne Doran - met with Sandra to discuss where we go from where we are and what sort of time frame we are looking at
Dates and (Potential Action) Items:
Monday, April 14th: SD attend a guidance/admin meeting to share info on work of study skills committee and ideas stemming from Site Council
Monday, April 21st: Ed Council meeting - since this is a curricular issue, it is most appropriate for Ed Council to look at. SD will prepare a draft of what a study skill document/template would look like for SP to share with Ed Council
Wednesday, April 23rd: study skills subcommittee presentation to staff meeting (with feedback from Ed Council)
Monday, May 5th: team leader meeting and bring to teams
Monday, May 19th: back to ed council for next steps
Noted that need support from Departments and Teams