School Without Walls LSAT Meeting

5:30pm, Nov. 5, 2014

Minutes

LSAT MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE: Ed Lazere, Kristin Kelly, Rachel Blessing, Joan Kirchner, Art Klawender, Jason Bullock, Shanna Young, Sylvia Isaac, Melanie Gisler, Melissa Mehring, Nico Stauffer-Mason. Additional guests: Parents Melody Webb, Cricket Dadian, Peter MacPherson, and Mandy Basso.

MINUTES from the October 2014 LSAT meeting were approved on a voice vote.

NON-INSTRUCTIONAL STAFF REPRESENTATIVE TO LSAT: Mr. Lazere said SWW business manager Danny Ware will be the non-instructional staff member of the LSAT.

USE OF “PROVING WHAT’S POSSIBLE” FUNDS FOR TUTORING: Ms. Young said the Administration is working with faculty to come up with a system of how to use the $18,100 designated for tutoring from the Proving What’s Possible grant. She said teachers would be paid $34/hour to provide tutoring at designated times after school. So far, only a small number of teachers signed up to participate, but Ms. Young said she was trying to recruit more teachers. Ms. Young said she would bring a more detailed plan to the next LSAT on how the PWP grant will be used to provide tutoring.

HOME INTERNET ACCESS SURVEY: Ms. Kelly and Ms. Blessing surveyed 183 students about their access to computers and the internet at home. They found that the vast majority of SWW students have access to computers and to the internet at home, but that 10-11 percent of student do not have access and thus have difficulty doing homework that requires the use of a computer and/or the internet. Ms. Isaac said she has anecdotal evidence of at least one student whose poor grades were related to the fact that there was no internet access at home. That student now works with teachers to adjust assignments. The LSAT also discussed the problem of student access to printers. There are often lines of students waiting to use printers at school and Ms. Young said SWW spent approximately $800 on printer toner for the first advisory period. Mr. Stauffer-Mason said many teachers require students to provide hard copies of their presentations to all classmates, and that requires a lot of printing. Ms. Isaac said the Administration is working on options to restrict the amount of printing. Ms. Lazere appointed a committee to address home technology issues and printer issues. The committee will include Ms. Gisler, Ms. Kelly, Ms. Blessing and Mr. Lazere.

COMMITTEE ON VISION/MISSION OF SWW: In October, the LSAT created a committee to review the mission of SWW. Ms. Kelly will chair the committee, and other members are Mr. Lazere, Ms. Kelly, Mr. Engman, Ms. Gisler, and Ms. Isaac. There is also a plan to advertise this effort in Penguin Nation so that parents and teachers who are not members of the LSAT can participate if they so choose.

INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL: There is an ongoing survey of parents and students regarding international trips at SWW. An LSAT committee will use the survey results to help address issues of cost, scheduling conflicts, access, domestic vs international trips, etc.

IT STAFFING: Ms. Young said DCPS has not yet provided the full-time IT staffer for SWW that was promised. Currently, SWW has an IT staffer for four hours a day Monday-Thursday. Ms. Young said it is unclear when DCPS will provide the fulltime IT staffer.

USE OF “PROVING WHAT’S POSSIBLE” FUNDS FOR TRAVEL: Mr. Lazere asked the Administration if there is a plan for spending the PWP funds that are designated for “travel.” Ms. Isaac and Ms. Young said they have not developed a plan yet but would talk to Mr. Trogisch and report back.

STUDENT RESOURCE CENTER: Ms. Kelly said she and other teachers get asked constantly by students for staplers, scissors, glue and other such supplies. She floated the idea of setting up tables around the school with these supplies that students could access as needed. The Administration said they would help provide the supplies.

MIDDLE STATES ACCREDITATION: Ms. Isaac said SWW is at the midway point of its accreditation period and that a school committee chaired by Ms. Piper is in the midst of writing a five-year report that is due Dec. 1, 2014. Ms. Isaac said she would share more at the December LSAT meeting.

BIKE RACKS: At the request of the Student Government Association, Mr. Stauffer-Mason raised the issue of SWW bike racks with the LSAT. The Fire Marshall recently told SWW bikes may not be stored inside the school building anymore because they create a fire hazard. At the same time, students have complained that the bike racks outside in front of the school are too flimsy and students feel their bikes could be easily stolen. Ms. Isaac said she and Mr. Trogisch are working to address the problem and recently walked around the building outside to look for possible solutions. Ms. Kelly said she and several teachers agree that the solution must involve keeping bikes outside of school. Ms. Isaac said the Administration will work with the SGA on options.

LIBRARY RESOURCES: Mr. MacPherson said SWW was shortchanged last year when DCPS spent approximately $3.4 million on DCPS school libraries. While some high schools received 6,000 to 10,000 new volumes, SWW received only 300 new volumes. He said SWW could easily accommodate an additional 2,000 volumes, and that its current library is far below accepted school library norms. Mr. Lazere said the LSAT would send a letter to the DCPS Chancellor documenting the SWW library needs.

NEXT MEETING: The next regular meeting of the SWW LSAT will be December 3, 2014.

ADJOURNED: The meeting was adjourned at approximately 7:05pm.