South Hill Elementary School



South Hill Elementary School

Site Council Meeting Minutes

November 29, 2006

In attendance: Rae Covey, Principal; Joan Grossman, Teacher; Anne Harris, Parent; Jon Hilton, Community Member; Julissa Howe, Paraprofessional and Parent; Ruth Katz, Parent, Deb McCall, Teacher; and Maria Muscente, Parent

Absent: Allison Pritz, Teacher; Jay True, Board of Education Representative

The meeting was called to order at 5:45 pm and the minutes from the last meeting were unanimously approved. It was decided that the June minutes were the 2005-2006 End of Year Document.

Quorum Check: We have a quorum.

Public to be Heard: none

Discussion Items:

1. Site Council Membership

Joan told the group that BJ Bliss, PE teacher, and Julie Stamm, kindergarten teacher, will join the Site Council at the January 31st meeting.

Joan than explained that one teacher from the current council would step down from the council in February. In addition, we’d like one more teacher to join the council in June.

2. Board of Education Meeting/Facilities Bond, December 5th at 5:30 pm

Rae explained that the Superintendent has asked principals, PTA members, and site council members to attend this Facilities Bond meeting, which will be critical to South Hill. Some of the main areas for South Hill are HVAC, window replacement, playground improvement and site improvement. Rae would like as many people as possible (from South Hill) to attend the meeting so the decisions regarding the bond can be made in partnership with the Board of Education. Rae said the BOE may ask Site Council members how to obtain information from families regarding these issues.

3. Playground Architect

Rae explained that the next meeting with the playground architect will be December 19th at 2:30 pm in the library. South Hill hopes to be getting some new equipment and to be doing some reorganization of the playground with funds from the Facilities Bond, Rae explained. At the December 19th meeting, the architect will want input from parents and PTA members. Should the playgrounds be moved away from the school a bit? The architect felt we were not currently using the outside space efficiently. Rae feels that more grassy areas are needed on the playground.

Joan suggested we gather input from the children as an optional assignment similar the South Hill T-shirt “assignment”. This would involve giving students a two page form, one side asking for a child to draw his or her ideal playground and the other side being a brief survey used to gather preferences for specific equipment.

4. Site Council Webpage

Maria typed up a rough draft, which was discussed and revised tonight. Maria will send out the revised draft by email for Council members to review.

5. Site Council Newsletter

The Site Council will generate a newsletter periodically that updates the community on the work of the Site Council. Ruth will type up the first of these newsletters in January 2007. It will include: new member bios (Maria, BJ, and Julie), an update on the literacy initiative, information on the playground, an explanation of the Site Council’s role in the Facilities Bond, and any other relevant information from the Site Council.

6.) Choose/Articulate 2006-2007 Goals

Rae explained that the Site Council needed to decide on its one-year goals within the overall Site Plan.

a. Improve Family Involvement. The Site Council would like to help facilitate components to support all families participation at school activities. The

Council discussed ways to get underrepresented families more involved in school activities like the upcoming literacy event. Joan suggested making calls to these families encouraging them to attend. Maria suggested offering food and childcare at the event, so it would be easier to attend. In general Council Members felt child participation greatly increased the chance of attendance sighting things like almost 100% participation at school vocal concerts.

b. Literacy Event. This event will help us focus on the Site Council’s literacy goal. Ruth suggested we hold this event at the end of the school year to help sustain learning over the summer. Anne suggested assigning one book to the whole school, to be read over the summer (perhaps aloud by parents and guardians) and then discussing it at a beginning of the year event in the fall of 2007.

c. Fine and Performing Arts Goal. Rae updated Site Council members on the Irish Festival. Pat Kane, from Waverly, will work with the students as an artist in residence. His vision is an “Irish Kitchen” approach, to start the storytelling and music with individual classrooms and eventually move to the gym and then, to the Festival venue. Pat will teach the children songs. Christine Rudnick will work on Celtic knot jewelry out of clay. Helpers will be needed to make short bread. Ms. Gardner will make Celtic instruments. 5th Graders will learn the tin whistle instead of the recorder this year. A “lesson box” will be assembled for teachers to use for classroom lessons.

The festival will be held March 1st. By January 12th a schedule will be set for the entire program. No fundraising will be needed due to a donation from the PTA.

d. Technology Goal. Rae updated the Council in this area. We will continue to use distance learning. The school has most of the equipment they desire for this program with the exception of more Alphasmarts machines and some Proscopes. However, there is a need for a Technology Teaching Assistant. Rae has appealed to the district for someone to fill this position but so far the district has been unable to meet this need. This assistant could be used to run the lab and keep the computers in working order. The following question was raised--How can we provide use of technology to kids who don’t have access at home?

e. Wellness Goal. A new playground design will be made to improve wellness.

Additional Discussion Items. Ruth brought in the South Seneca Schools Kindergarten Registration Packet as an example of how to help improve literacy. The packet included a video showing many school members working on literacy. Rae said that plans are in order to make a video similar to this at South Hill.

Process Observer. Anne Harris observed that we were very productive tonight discussing many important issues to South Hill and starting to formulate plans for meeting this year’s goals.

Next Meeting: Wednesday, January 31st, 5:30 pm-7:30 pm

Facilitator—Deb McCall

Minutes—Maria Muscente

Food—Jon Hilton and Julissa Howe

Process Observer—Joan Grossman

The meeting was adjourned at 7:32 p.m.

Respectfully submitted by Anne Harris.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download