Muirlands Middle School Site Governance Team / School Site Council

January 30, 2006

Approved Minutes

Attendees:

Mary Jane Linsky, Julie Latta, Craig Goldman, Victor Totoris, Andrea Escobedo (ASB President), Jennifer Nash, Jorge Lobo, Peter Scott, Paul Abrahamson, Melanie Gold, Amy Hunt, Jennifer Eve, Chris Hargrave, Derrick Mitchell, Karen Davis, Joanna Hurley, Terry Schwartz

Meeting called to order at 2:34 PM.

Approval of Minutes:

November 28, 2005 minutes were unanimously approved as written. 

Committee Reports:

ASB:

The talent show 6-to-6 partnership with ASB is scheduled for February 2. Valentine grams are being sold for Valentine's Day dance. Clubs need to be approved through ASB in order to spend funds. Victor will have a step-by-step procedure for clubs that fundraise. For all fundraising, ASB must approve it. 

Foundation:

Karen Davis reported that the taco/pizza fundraiser is going well. They will continue throughout the year on each minimum day. Casino Night is scheduled at the La Jolla Country Club on March 4. There will be a golf competition, and a Texas hold 'em table, and other activities. A funding meeting is coming up next week. There will only be one more funding meeting after this one (in April). Mr. Lobo wanted to thank the Foundation for the two class sets of textbooks. Ms. Latta commended the Foundation for their innovation and efforts. 

Technology:

The technology committee recently met and discussed protocol for distribution and maintenance of I-book resources. Both long and short-term goals discussed. Derrick Mitchell is currently working on reconstructing the Muirlands website and working with teachers on their individual sites. The computer literacy requirement is being offered second semester. Rich Gray will be asked to write a description of this course to be published in the newsletter regarding requirements. Keyboarding is being offered as part of this class (although not the focus); 6th grade advisory classes rotating through computer lab to work explicitly on keyboarding. 

PTA:

Jennifer Eve mentioned that there was a science-related question surfaced at the last PTA meeting. Ms. Hargrave mentioned that the 9th grade LJHS advanced biology class uses a college-level text. Ms. Latta said this issue arose when MMS and LJHS met. The acknowledgement was that reading in the content-area is an extremely relevant and necessary skill to teach. This is our main focus and at the top of our agenda. There should be joint responsibility to prepare students for understanding expository text. Ms. Gold relayed concerns from PTA: 8th grade doesn't have a text per se. Do our 8th grade students have experience reading challenging texts? 8th graders now pull from many different texts. Science should be experiential, inferential learning. Ms. Latta and Ms. Stephens are meeting with Ms. Leshaw on assisting students reading in the content area. 8th grade science is standards-based and teachers supplement CIPS text. CIPS is one of several resources that they use to address the 8th grade standards. Science fair projects are a great way to differentiate - the sky is the limit. Can someone from the Science department come and talk to PTA? 

ELAC:

Ms. Robledo learned a lot at the first ELAC meeting. We need to have a committee of five parents to run it or vote whether they want the school to run the committee. School has to find the parents to form the committee. Every year, there needs to be a committee formed. Last year, we had three representatives. We need to get four parents at least to run committee and help make decisions. Ms. Nash and Ms. Robledo will work together to help identify parents and set out a vote. 

GATE:

The committee applied for Foundation to administer approximately $3000 in enrichment for English and Science. These monies will be used to fund John Ritter assemblies/author library visits, workshops, and after school clubs. Getting personal feedback on writing would be excellent. For Science, Natalie Mann elicited input from Science teachers. This is going to be an annual outreach for all students. There are many parents in the local science community. GATE committee will elicit interest/availability from them. GATE questionnaire should be completed shortly. 8th grade seminar parents wanted to make sure that there was going to be a meeting to discuss seminar options/transition for next year. A February 28th parent meeting with MMS and LJHS counselors is scheduled for 6:30-7:30 PM. 

4.) New Business:

Format for the Spring Open House will be discussed next week at Staff meeting. In past, parents were invited to shadow students during the day. Last year, it was an evening program with fun activities. The Governance team's feedback: Ms. Gold thought the evening program was good for parents who work. Perhaps students could showcase curriculum and/ or projects? Ms. Schwartz suggested that student work be displayed. May 18 is the current date for the Open House. Students are welcome to come and translate for parents if necessary. Office will create a flyer for Spanish-speaking parents to guide them through the process. 

Roundtable:

Mr. Lobo had a question about scheduling. He asked that we not schedule Governance and SSC on back-to-back days. Future meetings do not coincide.

Next meeting is scheduled for February 27, 2006.

Meeting was adjourned at 3:45 PM.