Site Council Minutes — September 14, 2004

Present: José Ezcurra, Jackie Bullock, Julie Kaufmann Lloyd, Suzanne Solomon, Hillary Freeman, Betty Krumboltz, Rebecca Stamm, Carol Diamond, Nancy Panayides, Cathy Mueller, Sue Pound, Elizabeth Edeen, Annie McQueen, Mark Ginanni

Students: Erik, Emerson, Lucas

Meeting called to order at about 3:30 p.m.

1. Welcome, Election Results and Introductions (Suzanne, Hillary and Julie)

Suzanne explained that there were six faculty openings this year — four of last year’s members left because their regular two-year terms were up, and in addition two people resigned after serving one year. Annie and José agreed to take the one-year spots.

Julie announced the results of the parent election: Nancy and Carol were elected. Rebecca is the PTA representative.

2. Review of by-laws (Hillary)

Hillary explained that site council responsibilities include developing, reviewing, implementing and assessing the school plan.

A brief discussion was held regarding student council representatives. According to the bylaws, the same students are supposed to serve the entire year. Perhaps we should change the bylaws to permit them to rotate quarterly.

For monetary expenditures, the site council must make the proposal at one meeting and vote on the expenditure at the next meeting.

Hillary will be sending everyone a copy of a decision matrix that shows who has input on what type of decision and who has the final say.

3. Election of officers (Julie)

Cathy and Hillary were elected co-chairs. Carol was elected facilitator and Annie and Elizabeth will be co-recorders.

4. Site Council philosophy, roles, responsibilities, norms (Suzanne and Hillary)

Suzanne discussed the history of site councils in California. They were established in 1979 to develop and oversee the school plan and the budget that goes along with it. Hillary noted that site council can also choose to work on projects that are not specifically mentioned on the school plan. One item was added to the list of norms: Members will recuse themselves if they have a conflict of interest on an item before the site council.

5. Overview of school plan. (Suzanne)

Suzanne noted that the school plan template is new this year because of the federal No Child Left Behind act.

6. Principal’s report (Suzanne)

Jordan had 872 students as of the 11^th day of school, down about 30 from last year. There are 288 in 6^th grade, 285 in 7^th and 299 in 8^th.

No homework nights will take place again this year; the first one has already been held. Letters will now be sent home after 3 tardies. There is new and different food at Jordan this year because of new nutrition guidelines. This includes no more sodas sold during the school day.

Building for Excellence: A canopy is being built in the area where students wait in the lunch lines. The tetherball area will be relandscaped. The skate shack is being rebuilt.

Department goals will be presented to site council during the year. The Social Norms Survey will be done again this year; a group is meeting to decide what to focus on this year.

7. PTA report (Rebecca)

$110,000 is the Jordan direct appeal fund-raising goal; $102,000 has been raised so far, with 37% of families participating.

On the district level, the All Schools Fund and the Palo Alto Foundation for Education have joined forces to become Palo Alto Partners in Education.

8. Student Council report (Erik)

Student council has held elections for classroom representatives and club signups. They will be having a Beanie Baby drive to send Beanie Babies to orphans in Afghanistan.

9. Future agenda items (Hillary)

Next month, we will review the GATE plan, the Safe School Plan and the budget.

10. Meeting adjourned at 5:30