Bronson Elementary

School Advisory Council

Thursday, October 15, 2015

6:00pm

Meeting Minutes

I.  Welcome/Minutes/Budget

  1. Mrs. Vicky McGowan welcomed the group.
  2. Mrs. Burgess read the minutes from the previous meeting.

II.  SAC By-Laws (Input and approval from SAC)

  1. Mrs. Beauchamp presented the SAC By-Laws, discussing each section. Teachers are elected by teachers along with educational support employees. Parents are all invited and officers are elected by members present. There were no questions about the membership.
  2. Meeting times were discussed (number of meetings per year as well as attendance policies).
  3. Members read the Purpose and Function section on their own. Mrs. B stated that articles A-F all pertained to the SIP. Mrs. Beauchamp asked that the committee speak up and ask questions during the presentation on the SIP coming up tonight. “We are all stakeholders in school improvement and student achievement.”
  4. Officers and Duties of the SAC were discussed. Mrs. Beauchamp reviewed the by-laws for officers and their duties.
  5. Mrs. Beauchamp asked if the SAC by-Laws could be accepted as read. Mrs. Aldrich made the motion to accept, Mrs. Fowler Second. After a vote, the By-Laws were accepted.

III.  School Improvement Plan for 2015-2016 (Input and approval from SAC)

  1. Mrs. Wiggins presented the school improvement website to the committee. She explained that ordinarily we would be presenting this year’s plan at the end of last school year but because of the states timeline with data from previous school year was delayed, we had to change the order of this presentation.
  2. Then we discussed the goals of the School Improvement Plan. When these goals were first written, we had i-Ready data and Early Warning System data. Instead we held onto the goals from last school year to use for this school year. This is still a work-in-progress.
  3. Mrs. Wiggins began by reviewing the school mission statement as it is written in the plan. In a cooperative effort by school community and home, we strive to provide a safe environment in which students are expected to master skills to help them reach their maximum potential in life.
  4. School Environment – Mrs. Wiggins explained that this section entailed how we learn about students’ cultures (parent conferences, health concerns, how can we best help your child, book studies to address subgroups and needs, FLNs, interventions with children daily, social media)
  5. Another section deals with student safety and respect: teachers that supervise in the morning before school, aides that pick up students to take them to parent pick up or early bus. Teachers walk to Specials, SRO, Security plans for emergencies, Pos behavior system, school BES rules, Behavior plans in all classrooms, behavior color charts and tracking systems, rewarded positive behavior, referral continuum for consequences/punishments, CICO program for students who have difficulties with behavior, backpack food program, children’s table delivers groceries for families in need, AMVETs provides school supplies, Women’s groups and Senior Citizens groups that donate, partnership with First Baptist Church (ex clothing) Clothing Closet in Health room. CARD works with social goals with students, counseling programs that come in to help students, relationships that children need
  6. Early Warning Systems – these are indicators, issues causing drop out, research shows that early intervention helps reduce these.
  7. Attendance less than 90 percent (18 or more days)
  8. K and 1 huge percent of students with attendance issues 48, 37
  9. Mrs. Wiggins commented that these are students in these grade levels that miss 50 to 60 days of school.
  10. Mrs. Beauchamp stated that Students cannot miss that many days and be successful.
  11. Mrs. Sanchez (2nd grade teacher) – It is difficult to send home work because it is not worksheets, it is discussions and hands on activities they are missing that cannot be made up.
  12. Mrs. Carlisle (3rd Grade teacher) – cannot recreate these discussions and teachable moments
  13. Mrs. Wiggins – attendance matters website information is sent home with families – this includes information about facts about missing school and what happens to the student
  14. Mrs. Guy (1st Grade Teacher) talked about the competition between 1 and 2 grades about perfect attendance signs and tally sheets outside.
  15. Mrs. Beauchamp brought up lice and how that sometimes plays a role in students missing many days in a row. Mrs. Aldrich said that lice doesn’t live that long and hair dryers kill the eggs and lice.
  16. Mrs. Aldrich also stated that she noticed on Field trip forms that her student may not be able to go to the field trip if they miss too many days
  17. Mrs. Lamb asked is it still a policy that more than 8 absences is a F… Mrs. Beauchamp said not during the first nine weeks…. After 2nd 9 weeks - yes
  18. Mrs. Aldrich asked about truancy and Mrs. Beauchamp talked about truancy officer Laura Brown at the district office.
  19. Reward day coming up? Mrs. Lamb – Mrs. W said yes (no referral and no unexcused absences)
  20. 1 or more suspensions
  21. Mrs. Wiggins explained that serious offences cause suspension. Detention preferred is preferred so students are not pulled from academics.
  22. Course failure math or ELA OR Level 1 in ELA or math
  23. Mrs. Wiggins explained that the data showed that most course failures were in the higher levels.
  24. Goals – Writing instruction for content areas – high expectations set collaboratively, math goal wording is incorrect and will be removed, but does not mean we will not work on math… data shows the writing goal is the best goal for us now.
  25. Barriers – Teachers need to present writing all subjects PD, Time for students to write, Time for teachers to plan collectively (Indentified teachers)
  26. Can parents think of any other barriers that might help us reach with goal in our classrooms? Mrs. Whiteachre said that her boys hate writing. Mrs. Aldrich says that her son doesn’t have enough time
  27. Resources we have available to us: Core Connections Training, Professional Developement in Florida Standards
  28. Barrier we will address is PD in writing across content areas – core connections training for all new teachers
  29. Classroom walkthroughs and observations will be used to collect evidence of using the core connections writing training. Evidence of student work and CWT to show proficiency in writing.
  30. Mrs. W asked if everyone thought that they had enough time to input the SIP – Mrs. Whiteacher moved to accept the plan as Mrs. Wiggins presented it. It was accepted.

IV.  Instructional Materials Expenditure Plan for 2015-2016; School House Budget Approval; Membership Verification (Input and approval from SAC)

  1. School house budget: curriculum for the content areas comes at of a particular project and this year was not an adoption year for curriculum. We are up 50 students from last year. Mrs. D. Raimer is the new 3rd grade teacher for this school year. She was originally hired as Title 1 but has been moved to 3rd grade. Mrs. Beauchamp hopes to higher another person for Title 1 after Dec. graduation at UF and St Leo.
  2. Project A was monies used to supply the increase in enrollment with materials : $8056.36
  3. Project B was for media center materials 0.00
  4. Project C 0.00 Science lab materials – used to be used to do SUMs kits (science materials)
  5. Mrs. Lamb Moved to accept the budget as presented. Mrs. Sanchez Seconded and we accepted.
  6. Membership rules was reviewed and explained who had to sign – 51 % majority must be parents.

V.  Family Learning Night in the Cafeteria

  1. Skyward Tutorial and Introduction to Phonics Markings
  2. Computer lab open for i-Ready and Skyward Access

VI.  Next SAC Meeting/FLN would be November 19, 2015.

VII.  Family Literacy Night Planning Meeting/Committees were discussed.

VIII.  Closing