SAC Minutes March 5, 2015

School Advisory Council Agenda

March 5, 2015

Welcome & review January 2015 minutes & vote to approve (5 minutes)

Take SAC Committee photo for TWE Yearbook (2 minutes)

Principal Report by Mr. Breslaw (5 minutes)

Louise Kopf will discuss ESE services at Lyons Creek Middle (30 minutes)

Learn from the past.
Live in the present.
Create your future.
Lorrin L. Lee

Upcoming SAC Meeting Dates:

4/2 & 5/14

SCHOOL ADVISORY COUNCIL

Tradewinds Elementary

Room 342

Thursday, March 5, 2015

SAC MeetingMinutes

2:20-2:30

SAC Members

1

SAC Minutes March 5, 2015

Tara Hessberger – SAC Chair

Dr. Berlinger – SAC Co-Chair

Mr. Breslaw - Principal

Mrs. Gentile – SAC Secretary

Mrs. Matthews

Mrs. Maninno

Mrs. Stevens

Mrs. Antolini

Mrs. Kendrick

Mrs. Bernstein

Mrs. Harris

Mrs. Gibson

Mrs. Jurado

Mrs. Charles

Mrs. Borges

Mrs. Hart

Mrs. Conception

Ms. Ryan

Mr. Vilsaint

Mrs. Palacio

1

SAC Minutes March 5, 2015

2:20-2:25

Welcome and Minutes

Mrs. Maninno motioned to approve the minutes and Mrs. Palacio seconded it.

2:25-3:00

  1. Participants expressed concern in reference to the fence issue for the empty lot across the street. There is a general concern about not having enough parking for staff and parents.

Lyons Creek Visitor - Louise Kopf

  1. Mrs. Kopf from Lyons Creek explained the ESE program at Lyons Creek.
  1. Lyons Creek has one and a half speech pathologists that service over 150 students. There are four ESE support facilitators; the number for next year will depend on the needs of the students and staff.
  2. There are many differences between Elementary and Middle School, mostly that students will have 5 periods a day plus an elective with up to 6 different teachers.
  3. Lyons Creek has a Gifted/High Achievers classes taught by a gifted

certified teacher. That is also a part of the ESE department.

  1. Accommodations and IEP are followed and it changes from student to

student depending on the need.

  1. Mrs. Kopf is also a part of the RTI process, the Core Team (severe behavior)
  2. Lyons Creek finished 6th and 7th grade FSA in Writing and students who get small groups were provided with small groups.
  3. Mrs. Kopf has an open door policy. She is coming April 10th to talk to Mrs. Widelitz to prepare for the transition for the 5th graders.
  4. She understands the parents’ concerns but the students adjust very quickly.
  5. Speech is not push in; it is always pull out because it is difficult to work on speech in a classroom setting. When it comes to language, about 50 percent of students get push in or pull out depending on student needs.
  6. Do IEPs need to be re-done? It depends on where they child is during the transition or when the IEP date is for the yearly review. Teachers get a list of IEPs for their student during the pre-planning week to get familiar with it and make any decisions to call meetings to change anything.
  7. Teachers have a list in their desk of all students they have throughout the day. As they make changes, they update the folders throughout the year. They have meetings and training sessions with the teachers to train them to better work with different types of learners.
  8. Placing students in the appropriate level classes is challenging especially this year. They use the latest results as a starting point. They may also make changes after the school year starts.

Mr. Breslaw’s Update

  1. Mr. Breslawprovide the following information.
  1. Students took the FSA Writing Test this week. Mr. Breslaw took the

time to listen to over 100 students and was amazed at the level of the quality of the writing.

  1. According to WTNN there are 49 days of school left.
  2. We just finished a successful FSA Academy for Reading where teachers strategically taught studentsreading strategies at 7:00 a.m. and we look forward to starting our Math FSA Academy.
  3. We may not get the data/test results back from the State for the FSA until later in the next school year.
  4. Our teachers are constantly meeting, sharing, and learning how to better teach our students the new standards. The 3rd grade scores will come sooner.
  5. Decisions will be made about 3rd graders as soon as possible and they will be provided with opportunities for Summer School as needed.
  6. Middle School will always place students on the latest data that they have. Parents will have the opportunity to work with the middle school to make sure they have appropriate placement. GEM test will be administered to those students who qualified based on the 4th grade score.

Upcoming SAC Date: April 2nd

1