Attendees: S. Barbarasch, M.Balsam, J.Bulock, C.Diamond, E.Edeen, K.Ersted, P. Gralen, K.Missett, C.Mueller,N.Panayides, M. Sano, R. Fox, M. Wilkins, O. Diamond, C. Krishma
- S. Barbarasch welcomed both incoming and current members to the Council and explained the general operations of the meetings. She also provided a lovely refreshment buffet and binders for each member with pertinent information for the coming year on the Council.
- There were no changes to the Agenda and the Minutes were approved without change.
- There was no Correspondence to discuss.
There were no visitors to use the Open Forum time so the group moved on to the
next agenda item.
S. Barbarasch walked the Council through the contents of the binder for their reference and answered questions regarding the contents.
The by-laws were read by the members.
The budget was provided by S. Barbarasch and the plan vs budget was discussed.
Ms. Barbarasch pointed out the Site Council provides funding for the Computer Support position as well as the Health Technologist position.
Indirect Costs are an amount of 3% of the annual budget to be held at the District each year as a policy compliance required of each school.
The prior year $74,000 was funded and $60,800 was spent, allowing for $13,200 to be carried into this new year of 2005-06.
With grant carry-overs, there is a total of $44,327 available this year for expenditures governed by the Council.
The Proposal by Conflict Prevention & Resolution Services (aka the ladder people) was provided in writing to the Council for review and a vote to be taken regarding the proposal for the 2005-06 school year in the following Council meeting on Oct.11. The proposal covers all grades at Jordan as was provided for last year with the adjustment of new content to be provided for those who had been previously exposed to their original program last year. This content would be adjusted with the assistance of teachers and staff at Jordan to incorporate into the regular curriculum.
The following officers were unanimously elected for the 2005-06 year of the Council: Co-Chairs, Karen Ersted and Kirsten Missett; Facilitator, Nancy Panayides; Secretary, Maripat Wilkins.
S. Barbarasch provided insight into the ongoing methods of operation, tasks and conduct at Jordan by the Site Council over the years and is clearly documented for any interested party to read. Each Council member now has a set of those rules and obligations and can be contacted to share them.
The written Final Report for 2004-05 has not been finalized but will be provided at the next Council meeting. S. Barbarasch walked the Council through the previous years report to provide insight into the few changes that we will see in that report.
The District Plan for 2005-06 continues to have an English and Mathematics focus. State standards tests evaluate if each child is making a years growth, calculated by a move from one category to the next in the new year. 82% of Jordan students are at the proficient or advanced level, which is in the middle of the other two middle schools in the Palo Alto School District, and well above most schools in the State of California.
Jordan has an API score of 905, which is in the top 10% of the states schools.
ERB scores indicate most students are doing well in writing however it was agreed that the school will continue to focus on continued improvements for all students in writing and acknowledged there are gaps in the students abilities and knowledge of writing skills across the board.
An area of concern for Jordan is the 40% gap shown between Caucasians/Asians and the African-Americans/Hispanicsgroupings. The target for the district is to close this gap by 20% per year. S, Barbarasch indicated that Jordan is going to go down the list of African-American/Hispanic children, child by child, and find out what resources they need that they may not be getting to get them on a par with the Caucasian/Asian group.
885 students are enrolled this year at Jordan. Several new teachers have been hired and several new sections of many classes are opened up.
Most new students to the school are in the 7th grade. The Counseling ration has been restored from 400/1 to 360/1. Most of these changes have been due to the passing of the recent bond measure.
The new broadcast studio will be opened this month and will be the best in the District. Jordan has the highest number of special needs all day students in the District. The grass in the new campus center needs to be redone due to some faulty landscaping and the Library garden and Sherrys garden are almost complete making the overall campus just about done with the general improvement plan.
Teams are in place with four core content teachers having common preparation periods and teaching periods. Guidance counselors meet with the teams each week.
The Council voiced some concern over numerous tests on the same day of the week and S. Barbarasch promised to look into it at her next staff meeting.
Jill Naylor has been hired as the new Physical Education teacher. On Oct. 26th the PTA will have a discussion on Talking to Kids about Difficult Topics to help parents address recent events by a former P.E. teacher at Jordan and life long understanding of safety and boundaries.
The PTA President for the year is Karen Karpen and funds have been coming in early and is wonderful to know what can be counted on. Jordan PT may link up with the Southern PTAs to support the Katrina victims some how directly into a school district.
Prop. 76 on the November Ballet is opposed by the State PTA and they are asking for a NO vote on it.
The Joint Finance Committee (JF) (a subcommittee of the Jordan PTA) has $10,000 for teacher grants and are looking for innovative ideas that havent been tried before.
S. Barbarasch is going to ask for two teachers to participate in Student Council, Site Council and PTA as well as other groups on campus. There is also a need for a Site Council member to participate in the JF so a vote will be taken at the next Site Council meeting to secure that members commitment.
The Magazine Drive begins Friday and is a school-wide event and is important to the school as it brings in additional funds for special projects. Several committees have been formed to continue its success from past years and a promotional committee is one of those which hopes to create enthusiasm for the drive school-wide.
Sixth grade elections were yet to be held so the Student Council was down to 7 members at the time. The past years council was considered too large so it was voted that it be held to 11 members for the 2005-06 year. The eighth grade Treasurer is missing for personal reasons and so when he/she returns and the sixth grade elections occur the Council should be back up to 11 members.
The Clubs committee is planning on having Club sign ups the first week in October. And the budget for Student Council will be looked at once the proceeds from the magazine drive are counted.
The next Site Council meeting will be held on October 11. A one-half day retreat will be planned for sometime in November and will be discussed at this meeting. The refreshment contributors signed a goodie sign-up sheet for the rest of the school year.
The meeting was adjourned on time.