Muirlands Middle School

Muirlands Middle School Site Governance Team / School Site Council

March 28, 2005

Approved Draft Minutes

 

Attendees: 

Michael Mertz, Lynn Reineman, Anita Graham, Julie Latta, Peter Scott, Terry Schwartz, Linda Dowley, Katya Newmark, Joanna Hurley, Eleanor Ainslie, Leslie Pedersen, Jeanne Tejada

 

The meeting was called to order by Ms. Latta at 2:30 PM.

 

Approval of Minutes:

The February 28, 2005 SGT/SSC meeting minutes were reviewed and approved unanimously.

 

Old Business:

 

Advisory Format:

Mr. Scott sat in for Ms. Hargrave in explaining the feedback she received from Muirlands faculty and staff regarding the Advisory format for 2005-2006.  The following plan reflected what most teachers preferred who wanted to keep Advisory:

 

1.      Will meet on Tuesday/Thursday after lunch for 30 minutes

2.      Specialty Advisories will meet during this time (8^th grade students in Science Olympiad will have Marcia Halpern for 6^th period Science)

3.      Lessons/Activities/Articles will be provided for teachers to use during Advisory

4.      School-wide competitions will be held during Advisory, and

5.      Teachers will have their own students in Advisory classes.

 

There was consensus among the SGT that we open a subcommittee whose job it would be to better define the parameters around the academic focus for Advisory.  This subcommittee would discuss pedagogy and curriculum as well as roll out a description of the revised format to parents before the start of the new school year.  An e-mail will be sent out from the office inviting interested participants (parents & teachers) to meet at least once before the next SGT meeting (April 25).  All agreed with Ms. Graham, who mentioned it is important to define the purpose of the Advisory program and then work backwards to frame the logistics, format, etc. around which the work would be done.

 

Registration Format:

Mr. Scott and Ms. Schwartz asked the SGT to identify priorities of what they would like to see implemented with regard to registration in late August, 2005.  The responses:

 

1. Program cards (schedules) distributed up to a week before school begins
2. The availability of PE clothes to be purchased
3. Locker and textbook distribution

 

Ms. Schwartz mentioned that while the office staff agreed that it would be ideal to Òhit the ground runningÓ at the opening of school, much of the aforementioned priorities were dependent on the master schedule being set.  Historically, the master schedule has been necessarily adjusted up to the final day of summer break.  Therefore, the program cards could not have been produced early.  This may be the case for the 2005 opening of school.  In light of these challenges, the SGT agreed that the staff should make a greater investment in making the first day of school smooth, particularly in the distribution of schedules.  There was widespread consensus that lockers and books are best distributed in tandem through the Science department later during the first week of school.  Ms. Dowley said that she would ask the PTA to help with the first day of school logistics. 

 

Committee Reports:

 

PTA:

Ms. Dowley reported information from the La Jolla Traffic & Transportation Board meeting she attended on March 24, 2005.  She mentioned that she and several others have become involved in a task force concerning driversÕ speed in the ÒtriangleÓ (West Muirlands, Nautilus, & Fay).   She also reminded the team that the next newsletter submissions were due April 7.  Ms. Dowley spoke for several parents who were disappointed at the use of an acronym to describe the 6^th grade group that wasnÕt permitted to participate in a pizza party rewarding academics and citizenship.  Avoiding stigmatization while acknowledging student achievement was discussed and widely supported.

 

Foundation:

Ms. Newmark reported that the Ònon-auction auctionÓ has raised $19,106 to date, which is very encouraging.  She also mentioned that feedback on the Open House format was well received.  Ms. Newmark described the utility of a family directory and how we might elicit information for it next year.  The purpose of the family directory would be so that parents and students could better communicate with other members of the Muirlands community.  The key will be in gathering more familiesÕ contact information than before; administration would need to encourage greater participation.  Ms. Newmark would like to arrange a date with Ms. Hargrave to plan for the next ÒFamily Night on the FieldÓ in the fall.  The last Foundation funding meeting will be held on April 5, 2005.

 

GATE:

Ms. Pedersen asked whether teachers were spending their GATE monies.  She also described a Local Education Agency (LEA) survey designed to assess the districtÕs efficacy regarding improved student performance, district hiring practices, and school safety.  The survey is due April 8, 2005 and can be completed online at www.studata.sandi.net/saa/leap.  The last GATE meeting will be held from 4-6 PM on April 26, 2005 and will include a discussion on the social/emotional needs of GATE students.  Ms. Reineman asked a question about Seminar CPU allocation, to which Ms. Pedersen replied she would look into answering it at the next meeting. 

 

 

ASB:

No report.

 

New Business:

 

API Base Report:

Mr. Scott prepared several slides demonstrating API growth among various subgroups and an overall comparison of growth compared with similar schools in California.  Major items highlighted:

 

1. Muirlands moved from a Similar Schools Ranking of Ò6Ó in 2003 to a Ò9Ó in 2004.  Only two other SDCS schools ranked higher, and both are atypical (Preuss and High Tech Middle).  Muirlands retained its API 10 Statewide rank. 
2. The 22-point overall API base improvement, 50-point Hispanic student improvement, and 47-point Socioeconomically Disadvantaged student improvement from 2003-2004 are several of the largest one-year growth margins among all SDCS schools.
3. Muirlands outpaced growth among most comparable subgroups in the district from 2002-2004. 

 

Bulletin Utilization:

Ms. Latta expressed concern about how the bulletin is currently being used (or not used, as is the case in many classes).  Other teachers have said that more would read the bulletin if it contained relevant and interesting information or if it were consistently provided in hard copy in teachersÕ boxes.  Mr. Scott mentioned that often times information is redundant simply because there isnÕt any new information to report.  Ms. Latta mentioned that it might be better to publish the bulletin twice a week to be read during Advisory to make its reading more meaningful to the students.  It was agreed that an effort will be made to improve communication via the bulletin. 

 

Roundtable:

Ms. Newmark mentioned that several parents were disappointed at the activities planned for the 8^th graders who did not attend the East Coast Excursion.  Ms. Graham briefly described the concerted effort made to ensure that classes would be interesting and unusual during the week, culminating in a picnic lunch on Friday. 

 

SSC:

No new business

 

The meeting was adjourned by Ms. Latta at 4:10 PM.

 

The next SGT/SSC meeting will take place on Monday, April 25, 2005 at 2:30 PM in the library classroom.