AdamsParent.org

Site Council meeting

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Members in attendance: Claudia Baldwin, Grant Boulanger, Jennifer Christiansen, Tim Leone-Getten, Judy Kaufmann, Andrea Marcy,  Laura Temali, Tammy Villegas, Jayné Williams

The meeting started at 5:44 pm.

Correction to September minutes: 

What was listed as the MAIN committee is not a Site Council committee.  We just need a representative to attend for Adams.  Sarah Hayes Jewel was possibly interested. There is a correction on spelling of Grant Boulanger’s last name.

Site council membership:

Patrick Boylan and Grant Boulanger will be Site Council members.  Jennifer and Laura will contact the Sarah and Christina to see if they are interested in being members.

LCD representation: Laura got some names from Pablo Matamorros with some names of Adams parents who have been involved in LCD meetings at the district level.  He suggested that Teresa, our bilingual EA, make some phone calls to those parents to describe what Site Council is and why we would like this liason.  There is a meeting on Weds. this week.  Laura will email Pablo and give him a heads up that someone may be calling.  Jennifer/Laura will  find out at Family/Community Involvement meeting which teacher from Adams is attending the meeting.  He said we should consider things like providing a light dinner, transportation, and childcare as well as the  language used at the meeting.  There is money in the Title 1 budget to cover childcare, transportation etc..  .. Interns could be paid to do childcare.

We will have Teresa make phone calls and find out if there is a need for childcare and transportation.

We will take take turns bringing food to our meetings.

November:  Jayné
December:  Tammy
January:  Grant
February:  Laura

 Principal report:
    * Back to School nights were a success with approximately 450  in attendance.    We have learned from them what we can do in the future to  provide even better information for families.
    * District Spanish literacy materials committee is being formed with representatives from 8 dual language schools in order to choose Spanish literacy materials that will be purchased in January.
    * Right now reader’s and writer’s workshop alternates between English and Spanish (K-1 is all in Spanish).  MONDO fits into reader’s and writer’s workshop with specific materials and resources.   There is a Spanish version of MONDO that was rejected.  Those materials will be brought back along with other materials to be considered.  
    * PALS literacy screening: We will not be any English PALS testing in kindergarten.
    * CLIMB Theater:  The bully prevention plays led to good discussions.  Teachers were given a curriculum to use with questions and activities.  We are keeping this issue in front of us this year.   It will be part of the Positive Behavior Intervention Support initiative.
    * PAWS (therapy dogs) are working exclusively with 4th grade and are collecting literacy  data to use to support their program.
    * Neighborhood Bridges Program:   As a part of our Neighborhood Bridges partnership with Children’s Theatre, on Dec 16 Sra. Luli’s class will be presenting “Peace Tales Theater,” 10:00 am K-2 and 10:30 am 3-6. The theatrical storytelling will be a shortened version (a warm-up if you will) to the original theatrical performance they will create and perform at the Children’s Theatre in the spring.
    * Artstart’s Children’s EcoArts Festival at Galtier Plaza:  Amy Cordova, Artist in Residence worked on Oaxacan murals with 5th graders and Trisha Peters to make canvas murals with Oaxacan folktale animals.  Two of these will remain with us permanently and be displayed in the atrium.
    *  VocalEssence  has a Mexican composer, Jesus Lopez working with 4th graders for a 3 week residency. He will be writing an original composition and will come back in March to work with them  intensively for 2 weeks.  The program will culminate with a concert at the Basilica in May.
    * Recess before lunch:  This has been a positive change.  Students are eating more, food recycling is less, fewer discipline referrals at recess.  Students who have been interviewed have made positive comments. There are smaller groups on the playground at recess (3rd/4th grade and kinder are split so there are smaller groups on playground. ) 5th and 6th graders really want to be able to chose their own tables. They are trying this with Fun Fridays.  A suggestion was made to have a school wide policy of having all students run a lap at recess before playing.  
    * Flu update: In order to keep our families well informed, we are now sending home a personalized letter with any child who gets picked up from school and is exhibiting flu- like symptoms. The letter provides info to families that will assist them in supporting their student.
    * Title 1:  There will be a brief all school meeting at the Harvest Festival.
    * Conferences:  Coming up Nov 12 (evening), Nov. 13 (day) and Nov. 17 (evening)
    * Visiting principal:  We will have a principal from Mexico visiting  on Oct.  27. This is part of  an exchange with a principal in Stillwater.
    * We are fully staffed.
    * 4th grade teacher Molly Sutherland ran in Chicago Marathon on Oct 12 (wants to start a Girls On The Run group in the spring) .
    * Trisha Peters is our new G/T contact .
    * Wellness Champion is Janet Jacobson, our nurse.
      Grade level dinners are coming up.
    * We are painting the whole inside of building. Classes are using the office conference room when they are displaced.
    * Sidewalks in front of building will be replaced.
    * Pick up/Drop off:  Things are better to have the extra spots available for parents. Cones and flyers have helped a lot.  People are better about finding a spot, coming in and signing kids out.  
    * District capital bonding: We will be getting additional parking.  An architect from district will come out and plan it with us. A suggestion was made to have a driveway/pull in and out loop for drop off and then have a separate parking lot.  All kindergartens will get private bathrooms. Two classrooms will be outfitted with smartboards.  We will have a digital control for systems and Voice Over Internet Protocol.  Some things can start happening now, but paving will be once school is out.  Everything should be finished between now and end of summer.
    * Implementation audit on Oct. 2 :  They looked at how we are implementing reader’s/writer’s, skills block, Everyday Math , PLCs and RTI .
    * Fall budget revision:  We have a positive balance  and are able to add bilingual TA. We gave back +$12,000 to district because our enrollment was 704 on day it was taken instead of 709.   We have added students since then.
      Title 1 money will be used to complete a 2nd laptop cart.
    * We have asked the district to look at creatively updating staff technology.
    * One possibility could be Minnesota Computer for Schools.  However those computers are good for awhile. We don’t know who would service them.  They would be Windows computers.  The district tech department is in transition and looking at how they serve schools.
    * There is no news with the district large scale system change.
    * Last year when parents were surveyed about their preferences the idea of duplicating  Adams and having a language middle schools were popular.  
    * The portables have made the space issue  much easier for the present time.

 Committees:
Family/Community Involvement:
Tim meetings but suggested that they delegate assignments
Tammy
SCIP --Grant  Boulanger

Family/Community Involvement Committee report:
We met to discuss the responsibilities of the LCD committee as well as the Family/Community involvement committee and how to best merge these two groups into one.  We brainstormed some ideas for family nights. One possibility is to combine a family math or literacy night with a PTO meeting.

It is hard to find time for the meetings when both parents and teachers can meet.  A notice was sent home in Palabras inviting parents to join the committee.  We will continue to use Palabras, teacher newsletters, and other means of communication.   Kinder and first grade parents are a group that should be targeted.