Hawthorne High School
2/24/2009 Faculty Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes
Meeting notes taken by D. Barnes. Minutes written by Daniel Barnes
CVSTA Representatives Present: D. Barnes
Administrators Present: K. Dragone, M. Newell, R. Rodriguez
2/25/2009, 10:38:08 AM, page 1
1. RESTROOM MAINTENANCE: The women’s restroom in building 6 is chronically unstocked w/soap. Ray Rodriguez will let Al know.
2. CLASSROOM CLEANING UPDATE: Building 23 is not getting swept and is not getting its trash taken out. 21-A was also mentioned, but doesn’t seem to be as badly neglected as building 23. Ray Rodriguez will let Sean Brown know. Mrs. Dragone passed on that one of the custodians mentioned that teachers with sinks in their rooms are leaving filthy messes in those sinks that will surely attract vermin if not cleaned up. The custodial staff is undermanned, so they only have time to sweep, take out the trash (& change the liners), and occasionally mop the floors. They don’t have time to clean out filthy sinks. Teachers, keep complaining about the floors and the wastebaskets, but you need to take care of sinks yourself. Building 18 was mentioned in particular regarding sinks.
3. DETENTION STICKING: Some concern was expressed that the new detention system would not be properly supported & adhered to. Mr. Newell and Mrs. Dragone both staunchly affirmed that they intend to make the system work and will stand by it. If any teachers are noticing specific instances of students failing to serve and failing to serve and failing to serve, Kathy Dragone would like to be informed so that she can make sure these students don’t wriggle out of the system’s grasp.
4. CONFISCATION POLICY MODIFICATION: Mr. Newell doesn’t like some of the details of the current electronic device confiscation policy and suggested a couple of possible modified plans, but he wanted to get faculty input on them. Mrs. Dragone also vocally advocated getting teacher input before modifying the current confiscation policy, specifically citing that the current policy was made by teachers during reform committee meetings and it would be an insult to the teachers who participated to have their work unilaterally dismantled. Mr. Newell will ask Kim Stack to run a SurveyMonkey past us to see what we think of the proposed rule changes. The survey will include a comments box.
5. GOOD SUPPORT: One new teacher voiced appreciation for support from instructional coaches and deans and praised the detention/discipline system, particularly after school detention.
6. BEAUTIFICATION DUTY: One teacher suggested that kids serving in-house detention clean up the campus, but there are several barriers to having this ever happen. Students would need to be supervised, and custodians could not be used for this, since they are not certificated like teachers are. Also, the last time this was tried, there were several negative reactions from parents, who, basically, said that their kids did not come to school to pick up trash. It’s a great idea that just doesn’t work.
7. FIGHT PREVENTION: One teacher suggested that reacting to fights without taking steps to prevent them is not the best strategy. We expel kids, but they are just replaced by students entering HHS after being expelled from other schools. Same problem, different ID#. She suggested the website http://challengeday.org as a possible source of ideas along those lines. K. Dragone mentioned that we are starting a pilot program to have a select group of 8 or so 11th & 12th grade advisory classes hold class-wide discussions about what is causing fights on campus and what can be done to prevent them. The system is being run by advisory congress representatives and is based mostly on student input.
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If you have any complaints, suggestions, or praise that you would like added to the next FAC meeting’s agenda, please email , or, if you want to remain anonymous, leave a note in Dan Barnes’ box. Also, please let Mr. Barnes know your observations of how well the promises made in these minutes are being enacted.
2/25/2009, 10:38:08 AM, page 1