S.I.T. Notes – June 16, 2010
Election of S.I.T. officers for 2010 – 2011 was first on the agenda. Officers are: Chairperson – Elizabeth Stevens; Vice-Chairperson – Jan Lewis-Freeman; Secretary – Debby Hendrix
Jennifer Groce called the meeting to order.
Agenda Item #1: School Wires – new web sites for all schools, administrators and teachers. We will need to have common elements for web sites. We are waiting for more information from administration, and will forward it to everyone when we have it. Whatever guidelines are given, including calendars and templates, will need to be used on our sites. Some things we know that will be expected are no long passages or scrolling, less stuff overall, no cutesy stuff.
Agenda Item #2: Staff Development –
Class Scapes for grades 3 – 5 classroom teachers is for EOG training program that has already been purchased. Two dates were chosen: Aug. 24, ½ day in the morning for initial training. Carolyn will try to get it scheduled with the trainers; Oct. 29, ½ day in the morning is the backup date.
Second day, needed for follow up/answering questions, is scheduled for Jan. 13, 2011 after school. Motion was made by Beverly Brown and passed by all in attendance.
Learn 180 for EC, ESL and Intervention teachers; needs one full day; Sept. 1, 2010 was proposed and passed, with anytime the week of 8/31 – 9/3 being fine for backup. Motion made by Elizabeth Stevens and unanimously passed.
Imagine It Reading Textbooks for classroom teachers – all the materials are at the school, but the 3 – 5 materials will be forwarded to Flat Rock Middle School for our training there. Carolyn will do training for E.C. and Intervention teachers at a later date. Training for K-2 is at Griffith. (not sure of this!)
Agenda Item #3: NC Wise Gradebook. The percentages that everything is worth, GPA’s, and no grades below 50% all came from the County and cannot be changed. Grade levels will need to meet to come up with guidelines for what is included in each category. The categories and percent of grades are: 30% Class work, 25% Quizzes, 35% Tests/Projects, and 10% Participation. Note: 15% of our parents have access to computers. Because of this, we will have to offer access to computers at the school at a given time during the week for parental use to access Parent Assist.
Agenda Item #4: Guidelines were presented by Bonnie Brown for a new process for handling Report Cards/PEP’s/Retention/Summer School. Details and discussion are as follows:
Spanish parents must receive Spanish report cards and comments must be in Spanish. A common bank of comments to be used by teachers will be created and placed on the shared server for teacher’s use. A committee consisting of Bonnie Brown, Jennifer Groce, Darlene Stanley, Patti Kaluzne agreed to work together for this purpose.
A recommendation was made to have Margie run address labels to put on report card envelopes. We will request that parents check the address when the 3rd quarter report cards are sent, as well as to supply two stamps for the envelopes.
Request was made to consider the frequency of VIPs in connection with report cards. It was decided this will be discussed at the first SIT meeting of the year to decide on possible alternate ways to communicate with parents. It was also decided on 6/17/11 meeting that the first VIP of the quarter would be sent to at-risk students only, with a shorter notice to remaining parents that student is working on grade level.
Another discussion was concerning how to adjust EC students’ grades and adjustments in the classroom. No decisions were made on how to communicate this at this point.
Discussion about Honor Roll – must remain tied to grades and behavior. There are too many Honor Roll students who do not pass EOQ/EOG tests.
Discussion of how to make sure things in the CUMS are complete and accurate and to make teachers accountable. Discussed a possible early-year meeting with each grade level to go over what is expected. This will be followed up with a third quarter review and update of information, then a year-end grade level checkout to make sure paperwork is done correctly. This was not finalized or voted upon at this time.
Agenda Item #5: Staff Parking at Front Lot – front lot parking is for visitors and substitutes only – NO staff parking up front. Drop-off PBIS plans will address concerns for early morning arrival of students. There will be monitors up front to manage traffic, and plaquards for pre-K cars for permitted front parking lot drop-offs.
Handicapped Parking – request for additional spots in the back will be made by Carolyn Parker to Administration.
Agenda Item #6: PLC Requirements – PLC Meeting forms MUST be submitted after each PLC meeting – this is a non-negotiable requirement for a hard copy to be given to Carolyn Parker after each meeting.
Mrs. Bingham is very thorough and WILL check every principal’s folder. Reminder: one meeting once a week, minimum of 45 minutes. Carolyn stated that in order to meet 45 minutes, we will need to plan these meetings sometimes during specials, but also sometimes at other times.
Agenda Item #7: Accelerated Reader – Goals will be set for each grade level at the first meeting of the A.R. committee of the year. Goals are to take into account the average number of students per class at each grade level. Bulletin boards will be maintained in the lobby for both K-2 and 3 – 5.
Agenda Item #8: Accelerated Math – Discussed the need to update training for staff to take Acc. Math to the next step. We will look into having Freda Stewart and Debbie Naulty meet with an Acc. Math trainer and then do after-school training.
The Acc. Math server address will be published to all teachers – this was the easy solution to many of the printing problems teachers had this year, but many were not aware of the solution.
Concerns were raised over inventory use of scan cards and paper. Paper issue was to be discussed later.
Agenda Item #9: Dress Code Policy – extended discussions were held about the steps taken when employees violate the dress code policy. Mrs. Parker said employees are written up and paperwork is placed in their permanent personnel files downtown. Nine write ups were done last year.
A motion was passed that jean day will return, taking place on the last day of the school week, every week. The words “denim pants” were stricken from the dress code. The rest of the policy stands as is.
Points were made that the field trip dress code should be respectful of the place you are going. This is already adequately explained in the existing dress code, so no further steps were needed.
Agenda Item #9: Cell Phone Policy – a sentence will be added to the cell phone policy discussing use of cell phones on the playground. The sentence will be in parenthesis and will read: (the only exception is for emergency use for calls to the school office). It was discussed that there are occasions that teachers have agreements with parents to contact them immediately during the school day with discipline problems. It was decided that a form letter will be supplied to submit to Mrs. Parker for approval for parental emergency contacts.
Suggestion was also made to change the policy to an easier-to-follow bulleted list of “nots” and “do’s”.
Agenda Item #10: Paper/Clicks – We will again be allowed to send grade level stuff to central office for copying. Central office is available at 1/2¢ a page with 2-day turnaround.
Following is the details of the resolution passed for copying for the 2010 – 2011 year:
Classroom teachers, Curriculum Coordinator, EC teachers -- 12,000 clicks
PRT’s, Intervention, ESL, Specialists, Guidance, Office Staff, Home School Coordinator – 5,000 clicks
Assistants – 25 clicks
If you use up your clicks, you must supply a ream of paper for each 250 additional clicks you need.
Carolyn Parker will buy 50 cases of paper at the beginning of the year with funds from Corporate Connections and the PTA.
Agenda Item #11: PTA Dates – Following is the finalized schedule of PTA dates and Curriculum Nights for the 2010-2011 school year, finalized during all three dates of the SIT retreat:
Sept. 9th – Open House/Curriculum Night and PTA
Oct. 14th – Math Fair Night and something for K-2 to present and chorus will sing
Dec. 9th – Winter Concert and PTA
Feb. 10th – Health Fair, Book Fair and PTA
March 10th – Science Night/Specials Night with North Forsyth students.
April 14th – Art Extravaganza, Spring Concert and PTA
Jan. 13th – Science Fair will be during the day.
Additional Note: Sick leave by the hour will be available next year. Details will be worked out later.