Grandfather Academy Advisory Council

Grandfather Academy Advisory Council

October 7, 2016

Page 1 of 4

Grandfather Academy

Advisory Council Minutes

October 7, 2016

The Grandfather Academy Advisory Council met on the Hayes campus of Grandfather Home for Children in Banner Elk at 9:00 a.m. 2016. Proper notice was given to comply with the North Carolina Open Meeting Law.

Trustees Present:

Susan Staton, Katherine Gatewood, John Merritt
Trustees Absent:
Dr. Mary Jo Brubaker

Others Present:

Wendy Turbyfill-recorder, Michelle Griffin-Principal

Call To Order

Michelle Griffin called the meeting to order at 9:03 a.m. and reviewed the agenda.

Reading of Mission Statement
Mrs. Griffin read the mission statement aloud: To provide special education opportunities for students who have been estranged by emotional, sexual or other abuse.

Review and Approval of Minutes

Mrs. Griffin asked for a motion to approve the open session minutes from the August 19, 2016 meeting. Susan Staton made a motion for approval and Katherine Gatewood made the second. The vote passed unanimously.

Resignation of Dr. Brubaker

Mrs. Griffin informed the council that Dr. Brubaker has tendered her resignation from the Advisory Council due to her new position as Governor Elect for the Kiwanis Club.

Mrs. Griffin advised that administration is recruiting new members for the Advisory Council and currently reaching out to staff members of Appalachian State University and Lees McRae College. She asked if anyone is interested in acting as the interim Chair Person and no one wanted to take on the position at this time.

Social Studies Teacher Update

Mrs. Griffin advised she has an applicant for the Social Studies position coming to do a demonstration lesson at 11:00 am today. She said Lisa Maris is still acting as the long-term substitute and doing a terrific job until we can fill the position with a Highly Qualified teacher according to state standards.

Discussion of Upcoming Charter Renewal

Mrs. Griffin gave an update on the recent charter renewal visit. She apologized to the Advisory Council for the short notice on the day of the visit and explained about the mix-up regarding the date when the visit was rescheduled. She advised when the Office of Charter Schools staff arrived, she was on her way to an EC meeting in Burke County, Mrs. Knowles was in route to a meeting in Morganton, Mrs. Myers was off, and Mr. Saunders and Mrs. Turbyfill were in Raleigh doing CECAS training. She said since the visit needed to be complete by September 30ththe Office of Charter Schools decided to proceed with their review and were gracious enough to wait for Mrs. Griffin and Mrs. Knowles to return to campus.

She advised they met with the teachers and they called several parents via-teleconference to ask questions about their satisfaction with their child’s educational services. She said they were complimentary of the cleanliness of the school and the grounds and were impressed with how well things were running with so many staff out of the building.

She said she received their report in the mail yesterday and it will be presented to the Charter School Advisory Board on October 13, 2016 for renewal. She said the report did list some concerns about the data on student achievement. She said she sent an e-mail to Shaunda Cooper, who was part of the review committee, and asked if Mrs. Cooper could make sure the advisory board understands the population we serve.

Mrs. Staton asked what they looked at when they came for the visit. Mrs. Griffin said they checked in on the classrooms and the students appeared engaged. They looked for areas of compliance such as Special Education. They looked at the cleanliness of the facility. She said they told her they felt like this was a good picture of how day to day operations take place. She said they were able to observe Mrs. Maris attending to a student outside of her classroom who was struggling emotionally and she felt like that gave a positive impression. She said she discussed with them how hard it is to find research on our type of facility and they agreed it is one of a kind.

Mrs. Griffin also advised that Patti Cox came by yesterday and closed out our EC audit. She observed Mr. Saunders during his EC inclusion services and was only there for a short time. Files were previously submitted to her and determined to be in compliance.

Behavior Policy Discussion

Mrs. Griffin discussed details of a meeting she had with Children’s Hope Alliance Managing Director Matt Gaunt regarding the Behavior Policy. Mr. Gaunt asked if we could work on adding some things on the consequence end of behavior. He said he would like to see consequences laid out for specific things like using profanity. Mrs. Griffin said the policy is currently written based on a case by case scenario instead of specific consequences for certain offenses. Mrs. Griffin said inappropriate language is a big problem and Mr. Gaunt feels like one curse word is too many. He said we are not setting the students up for success by letting the language go without consequences. She discussed the lack of staffing for covering ISS and the fact that we don’t have the option of using OSS here as a consequence. We are limited to what privileges we can take away.

Mrs. Gatewood said it would be difficult to have the same consequences for every offense because it really is based on the individual student and what is going on with them. She said it seems like a better idea to stick with positive things instead of negative consequences. She said she doesn’t know how you would implement negative consequences because so much of it is attention seeking behavior. Mrs. Staton and Mr. Merritt agreed with Mrs. Gatewood.

Mrs. Griffin talked about the High Five Program and all of the things staff have been doing to reward positive behavior. She explained they use a system similar to PBIS. She said the teachers give the students a ticket with encouraging phrases for doing positive things and these go into a raffle where a prize is awarded to the winner every Friday. Mrs. Griffin said she could report back to Mr. Gaunt that the advisory council wants to continue to structure things towards positive behavior. They discussed incentives for rewarding behavior and decided that gift cards for iTunes, Amazon, etc. might be a good addition. Mrs. Gatewood said it would be nice to set up a store with items the kids would like such as hoodies, hats, and gift cards.

Dress Code Discussion

Mrs. Griffin informed the council that Matt Gaunt has asked if some changes could be made to the Dress Code policy. They asked if the line stating shirts should be tucked in could be removed since the uniform shirts fall below the waistline. They also asked that an update be made to the line regarding belts and asked that it be changed to state that therapists should make the call to restrict wearing belts. Mrs. Griffin said she would like to add that pants must have buttons or zippers and leggings, jeggings, jogging pants, and spandex are prohibited. Everyone was in favor of these updates and Mrs. Griffin will make changes and bring back before the council to approve updates as a formal policy.

Mrs. Staton asked if this meant the students would be required to purchase new clothing. Mrs. Griffin said so far they have only implemented using the uniform shirts. The school pays for the polo shirts and sweatshirts for each student and the admissions staff makes guardians aware of dress code requirements prior to admission regarding pants. Inappropriate items are supposed to be kept in storage until the student is discharged. Mrs. Griffin said Grandparent Club funds might be a possibility for any student that did not own appropriate pants. She said she feels if they could purchase khaki pants for everyone, it would eliminate most of the dress code issues. Mrs. Gatewood said she could not imagine there are not enough funds in the Grandparents’ Club to cover khakis for everyone. Mrs. Griffin said she would continue to look into ways to fund the purchase of khakis for everyone.

Circle of Courage Update
Mrs. Griffin advised there have been some scheduling issues with the Circle of Courage program. They have to be careful and make sure students are not being pulled during the EC time. Mrs. Draughon only has a small time frame to work with students, some kids are not finishing their books. She also said since students are not staying as long as in the past, it is hard for Mrs. Draughon to complete the program. She also said some students are not interested and don’t want to participate. Mrs. Griffin said students participating in Circle of Courage will be recognized during the next awards ceremony and hopefully this will encourage some of the others to participate as well.

Upcoming Meeting Dates for 2016-2017 School Year
Friday, October 21st at 12:30 pm

Friday, November 18th at 9:00 am

Friday, December 16th at 12:30 pm

Friday, March 17th at 9:00 am

Friday, April 21st at 9:00 am

Friday, May 19th at 9:00 am

Other Business:

Mrs. Gatewood asked for an update on the enrichment program. Mrs. Griffin advised that the Why Try program has been purchased and she hopes to train the new behavior support assistant and have this implemented soon.

Mrs. Gatewood advised she has a friend that is a chef and will be free soon. She would love to come in and do some cooking classes with the students. Mrs. Griffin asked that she contact her to set up a time. Mrs. Gatewood also said she could line up a music person as well. She also suggested asking the Lees McRae Wildlife Center to come in and do a presentation. Mr. Merritt is also willing to come do the presentation he previously mentioned.

Adjourn

John Merritt made a motion to adjourn and Katherine Gatewood made the second. All were in favor. The meeting adjourned at 10:00 a.m.

______

Signature Date