Muirlands Middle School
Site Governance Team Meeting
March 27, 2006
Approved Minutes
Attendance:
Craig Goldman (English), Julie Latta (Co-Chair/Science), Jorge Lobo (Electives), Mary Jane Linsky (PTA), Victor Totoris (Math/ASB), Chris Hargrave (Principal/Co-Chair), Paul Abrahamson (History), Terry Schwartz (Counseling), Brenda Montgomery (Classified), Edith Robledo (ELAC), Melanie Gold (GATE), Dorie Gayner (Foundation), Jennifer Eve (PTA), Margaret Ohara (PTA), Peter Scott (guest), Joanna Hurley (SPED)
Meeting was called to order at 2:31 PM.
ASB reports:
Mr. Totoris reviewed the recent approvals for funding requests. Among them were 8th grade trip transportation to Knott’s Berry Farm.
Foundation:
Ms. Gayner reported that the next Foundation meeting will be held April 4 focusing on mini-grant proposals. A party for all the large donors will be held April 30 from 4:00-6:00 PM. Tomorrow (March 28) is painting day at the mural. Tile work is also going well. The March 4th Casino Night raised about $35,000 for the school. La Jolla sweatshirts/t-shirts still on sale. March 23 volunteer information meeting, combined with PTA, drew a very large crowd and went very well. Last day of film-making club is coming up; author visits and science enrichment (ex. Birch Aquarium, DNA, Science Fair) were also coming to a close (funded by Foundation). The Foundation is still looking for a few more board members.
GATE:
Ms. Gold reported that district gate office would like to fund four teachers in the La Jolla cluster for one week workshop in San Marcos to work on vertical teaming. The next district GATE meeting will focus on science. Meeting on April 27th for all schools in the La Jolla cluster 3:30-5:00 PM at LJHS library. Dr. Cohn will be there. It would be great to have some of the teachers there. On May 10 there will be a forum called Teaching the Gifted. Dr. Judith Roseberg will be speaking at the Education Center in Normal Heights. There will also be a plug in the next newsletter requesting parents to give time toward their expertise to volunteer hours (e.g. biologists discussing career applications).
PTA:
Ms. Ohara reported that the PTA had a joint volunteer coffee with Foundation. There was a very good turn out. We have new incoming 6th grade parents already signed up to serve on the PTA. Next meeting, we will have a guest speaker to discuss signs and symptoms of substance abuse on April 6th.
DAC:
Ms. Robledo reported that she contacted a parent, Evie, who was very interested in forming a board. We need to have an election soon. DELAC is doing a revision of the master plan. They have covered personnel development to advisory committees, to conflict resolution, placement in EL programs, promotion and retention policy, etc. After the revision, there will be a district presentation.
Technology:
It was mentioned that teacher webpage design is going well, with 25 individual or team pages set up currently. We are in the process of assessing which software (e.g. Dreamweaver) would be more appropriate for making modification possible at teachers’ workstations.
New Business:
Report Card comments: Ms. Latta reported that teachers are feeling limited in terms of comments on report cards. It would be nice to have the capacity to complete teacher comment areas with more freedom. We will meet with the staff to discuss more options. Ms. Montgomery said that options A-P are mandated by the district. Others you can tailor per school. Zangle only allows you to complete four comments per report card. Parents and staff can provide input. The committee discussed ways to better communicate with parents regarding student progress.
Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) & Academic Performance Index (API)
Ms. Hargrave described Adequate Yearly Progress, the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requirement, and Academic Performance Index, California’s composite student achievement score on the STAR testing. AYP measures whether or not schools (and their subgroups) met their progress goals. API scores are a combined with a composite score. Our base was 860. When they compare like schools, they give second API Similar School Comparison (SSC) score. SSC looks at several demographic factors: Socioeconomic status (SES), English Learners (EL), Grade span enrollments, GATE, Reclassified Fluent English Proficient (RFEP) students. Different school districts have different criteria by which they qualify students for GATE. We moved into a different group (API 10/3) based on the new emphasis placed on GATE students. From the surface, it looks as if the second number indicates a regression. However, our overall API score rose 13 points between the same years. The only factor that changed were the 100 other “similar” schools with which we are now compared.
Open House:
Teachers and the team discussed the purpose of Open House and its proposed structure. This is a night to showcase student work in a general sense; a time for students to bring their parents to see major projects. We need to move away from parent/teacher conference type interactions and move toward more programmatic discussions. Parents could schedule conferences on sheet of paper and a box in each classroom. If parents ask specific questions about their student, they may fill out comment/conference sheet. Every parent should have access to each teacher’s syllabus. The purpose of the open house is a time to display and celebrate student work.
Roundtable: None
Meeting adjourned 3:50 PM.
Next Governance meeting scheduled for April 24, 2006.