SSC meeting 2/16/06



SSC meeting 2/16/06

Members present: Lori Vogelgesang, Kent Haywood, Cynthia Calhoun, and Teri Haywood

Lori Vogelgesang called Richard DaSylveira, Cecilia Acero, Jan Holtz, Dorothy Gill, Lisa Star and Kathy Fitzpatrick The meeting to order at 3:30.

Lori asked if there were any corrections need to be made to the minutes of the last meeting. The correction to the minutes were as follows:

1. Computer lab instructor- 3rd sentence should have read “A question was asked if funds that have been allotted for computer person…”

After this there was a motion to accept the minutes as corrected. The motion was seconded and the minutes were accepted.

 Academic Achievement

 Open Court Soars writing scores for 2nd and 4th grade were given to the committee. The first sheet was the scores for 2nd grade and the second sheet was the scores for the 4h grade. The student’s writing was scored on the following criteria : Applications ( Students writing reflects the genre of the writing assignment,), Strategies ( How students approached the writing assignment), Convention ( grammar sentence structure, spelling , punctuation , capitalization ). In the 4th grade, 59%, over half, are in the strategic category.

Mr. DaSylveira pointed out a disparity between Teacher 1 and Teacher 2 in the 4th grade writing scores. Teacher 1 had a 1.9 average in application, whereas teacher 2 had a 2.5 average in applications. Also Teacher 1 had a 1.8 average in strategies and Teacher 2 had a 2.1 average in strategies. Mr.DaSylveira explained that one class was higher than the other because of a discrepancy in how the test is graded by the teachers. The teacher’s interpretation of the rubric differed. In the area of conventions the students scored better. Mr. DaSylveira explained that there is a difficulty in writing letters, narratives, and using descriptive language. These writing skills are not explicitly taught.

 In response to this discrepancy, a committee of teachers, coordinators, the resource specialist, and an Education specialist, was formed to work on a effective writing curriculum for grades 2nd and 4th. The committee will develop strategies to help students,, teachers, staff and parents understand the writing curriculum. The curriculum will be simplified so that parents can know what the teacher is looking for in a writing assignment , how it will be graded and what the parent can do the help their child. Ms. Hecht created a template for this writing component which showed the grade level, name of unit , assignment , skills needed to create the assignment and criteria for the week. L. Star would also like to know the expectations for Kindergarten and 1st grade. Mr. DaSylveira said that they will also be included in the committee.

 J. Kellar had concerns about the writing process. She did not understand the grading system. Her child’s teacher gave a star. She wanted to know what it meant. Ms.Kellar was advised by Mr.Da Sylverira to talk with teacher. L..Volgelgesang “Is there consistency on the feedback?” and “ When will parent s receive grades? Mr.Da sylveira stated that parents should expect a minimum of 2 graded writing assignments Lori V. asked could the expectations about writing be placed in the Town Crier. T.Haywood also wanted to know k said yes. M.Matthews said teachers could present the writing expectations at PTA meetings.

 

Follow up review

Computer lab instructor update

Sheila Alvarez read the minutes:

As of Thursday, February 16, 2006, the technology committee received 7-9 resumes. Ms. Calhoun scheduled 6 interviews. 2 interviews were already held. One person was not available for the time needed. C. Acero developed a spreadsheet of all contact information, which was given to Ms. Calhoun and Mr. D

One of the projects the technology committee is working on is ordering software for the computer lab, keyboarding software and getting software for the computers in the classrooms. K.Hayward said committee could look into possibly getting free keyboarding software by going to .

Sheila also stated that before the children go on the Internet, they have to take a test. The tests were distributed to the teachers. If any of the students do not pass the test, the teacher will discuss the wrong answers with the child and explain the rules.

Parent volunteers

Lisa Star is the contact person if there are any questions about the copying or if something is not working, the school supplies paper. Teachers will supply the packets needed for copying to the parent volunteer. On February 13, 2006, sign in for volunteers was enforced. Parents should sign in at the desk according to where they are going. If parents are unsure of where to sign in, they need to ask Mrs. Jacobs. Ms. Calhoun said she would speak to Ms, Jacobs about the sign in for volunteers. PTA will help facilitate the explanation of the new sign in procedures via a letter. It was also suggested that the sign in procedure be given to the Yahoo groups. Ms. Calhoun will have the district policies for parent volunteers. J. Kellar asked what the difference is between a visitor or a volunteer. Mr. DaSylveira stated that helping with a party is considered a volunteer. A visitor comes into the classroom for 20 minutes to observe the teacher or their child. 

New Business 

Mr. D asked if any of the parents would be interested in volunteering for the library to do literature circles for students who are doing well in the classroom. This would give the teachers more time to help the students who are struggling with the curriculum. Two parents, Gina Vincent and Andrea Messinger, have already volunteered. Three more volunteers are needed. Volunteers need to be committed to do the literature circles from March until the end of the year.

 Overall of Booster Budget

John Clendenan handed out the budget for this year. He stated people should let him know what to fund or what not to fund so funds could be reallocated. Before budget is made there is a pre-meeting outlining items related to the school. A list of needs should be created in order to prioritize the school’s needs. Booster has taken on the increasing school budget. Their goal is to raise 100,000.

Mathu Matthews - What does SSC do with the budget? At the SSC meetings, people will come to request funds. SSC will discuss whether to make the recommendation to Booster. Also SSC needs to familiarize itself with the budget so if someone does make a recommendation, SSC will be aware if will be enough money for it. J. Clendenan in some cases Booster could readjust the funds. For example some of the money for the computer person could be readjusted right now because we don’t have a one.

L. Starr- Is SSC involved with the wish lists?

Mr. DaSylveira- The SSC and Booster can work together to prioritize the needs of the school.

Mathu Matthews- Requests come throughout the year. There isn’t a set time when things are needed. Booster puts out a projected budget. Booster tries to estimate if the items needed for that year will either decrease or increase for that coming school year.

J. Clendenan There is a small contingency fund. Yes it is for real needs of the school. Might have to juggle the books.

L. Starr- could we get updates on a realistic idea of the budget?

Mr. DaSylveira - The SSC could meet at the end of the year.

A motion was moved to include the budget in the SSC meeting occurring at the end of the year.

Lori V. The agenda should broaden to include the school budget and talk about what’s important now and how it will be spent.

Another motion was made to include booster’s budget and the school’s budget at the last SSC meeting of the Year. The motion was seconded.

C. Acero noticed lined items have no expenditure. Monies were not spent. Do we prorate it back down?

J Clendenan- We don’t know what we may need to take out of the budget because we may spend money on other things. Current available is 93,005.76.

Kathy -noticed 4,000 was allotted for field trips. Booster gave 2,000. How many buses does each grade level get? Mr. DaSylveira said each get level gets two buses.

Safety

J.Kellar expressed concerns over the lack of supervision on the yard. Her child was seriously injured during lunch because of long lines and not enough supervision. Her mother, S. Kellar, was assured that the problem would be taken care of by the principal. C. Acero also expressed concerns about the lunch lines. She said the lines go around the building where the students can’t be seen. Students are kicking, hitting and pushing. Ms. Hecht said she will look into the matter. Meanwhile an adult in first grade will deal with the 1st graders. An extra person will be at the end of the line to make sure it doesn’t curve around the building and that the line will be in view of an adult. Ms. Calhoun said that there are 3 people on the waiting lists who might be hired to deal with yard supervision.

 Library Committee- Minutes were read by K. Fitzpatrick

There are concerns over the carpeting. It is beginning to rip again after being fixed during Xmas vacation. The committee was told it would have to go through the Site Project Manager in order to be fixed. Someone asked what type of material was underneath the carpet on the steps or does it even need to be carpeted?

Kathy states she didn’t know and would bring it up at the next library meeting. A suggestion was made to put pergo on the steps and sell cushions for the students to sit on.

David Mellon is helping with the library sign. Unaware that the library only had 2,000 to spend on the library sign, some of the designs found were 9,000. The library committee is looking for someone creative and inexpensive to create the design. Several choices have come up. Some of the choices were Rachel Haun, who has a third grader, Debra Krall, an arts prototype teacher, and Cynthia St.James, the artist who did the mural in the library. Other people are being contacted, the committee would like for this project to be finished by the end of the year.

CNC- Minutes were read by C.Acero

 Mrs. Weitz has spoken with the school district about the Cowan Nature Center. The district has agreed and approved the project. The district also acknowledged the drainage issues since the project has resurfaced. Sandbags have been placed around the fence to help with this problem. It will no longer be called the Cowan Outdoor Classroom due to liability issues. It will now be called the Cowan Nature Center. Booster has agreed to maintain the project and they’ve agreed to still call the spring event “Concert in the Canyon”. As soon as the soil is tested, people will be allowed to water the trees. The ramp will be called a walkway so that concerns by ADA and DSA are waived. Mr. DaSylveira stated that every child must be allowed access to explore the nature center. Also every child will need a field trip slip to go the Nature Center. C. Acero asked, “ Will the children have to have a slip every time they go to the center or is one slip good for the whole year? Mr.DaSylveira will look into the matter. The “Concert for the Canyon” and silent auction will be held on April 30, 2006. A letter from Mr. Mito was handed out to the committee about the 3rd annual concert. C. Acero asked, “Are there any institutions that may want to sponsor the event? L. Starr is looking into that and she will be the contact person. L. Starr also suggested renting tables for the event so they can all be the same when they place the items being auctioned off on them. There will be a contest for student artwork. People can also purchase ads for the program, which will be smaller this year.

Meeting Times

Some of the SSC committee members would like at least 2 of the meetings to begin at 6:00PM. The reasoning behind changing the meeting time is that more parents would be able to participate in the meetings. L. Starr suggested that we make the PTA and the SSC meetings fun so that more parents would come. An email will be sent out to address this concern. The first 6:00 PM meeting will be held on April 18, 2006.

The meeting was adjourned at 5:46PM. The next meeting date is March 14, 2006 and April 18, 2006.

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