1. Claudia P.: Updated the council on the status of the All-Night Party. The goal was for the

Junior class council to recruit their parents to take this on, but the recruitment has been difficult. A meeting with Mike S. and Becki H. led to a suggestion that YLI take it on and help recruit parents. There are also parents of seniors interested but this does not sustain the "knowledge" as these parents are often gone when their students graduate. Mary Z. agreed to open it up to her group and Mike S. will follow up with her. Also, the All Night Party has never been a school sponsored event. The PTO (Parent Teacher Organization) always planned and hosted it. There is no PTO this year. If senior parents are interested, we should encourage them to take it on.

2. John B. (on behalf of Deb S.): The districts Parent Information Fair will be held on

January 22nd. Site Council members should sign up to sit at the Humboldt table in shifts. (A sign-up sheet was sent around.)

3. Karen W.: There will be trainings for site council members on Tuesday and Wednesday on

SCIP plans and the role of site councils in creating and monitoring the SCIP. (A flyer was passed around announcing these workshops.)

4. Heidi G.: Gear-Up is finished working with Juniors and Seniors on postsecondary school

applications. Gear-Up is now helping students with FAFSA (Financial Aid) applications. In addition to presentations for students, HESO (Higher Education Service Office) will give a financial aid presentation for parents at their office on Energy Park Drive.

1. Between state aid, comp. education money and desegregation money, the school gets about $4,000/student. State aid is about $2,100/student. This allocation is not large enough to keep with inflation and to fund federal and state mandates. There is a policy in place, which prohibits the city from generating more money through taxes, we can only pass additional levies. There is also movement to switch comp. ed. money and desegregation money around to please legislators, but this will hurt St. Paul. There really is not good option, it would not be good to take money from Health and Human Services for Education and the other option is Casinos. There is also the potential for problems hiring as many non-teaching staff as we require.

2. Ways to get involved: Attend the educational and organizing forums hosted by NEAT, get information from the Parents United Network, attend a rally in February at the capitol, and start a letter writing campaign. Karen W. and Val A. will work with YLI and the Site Council to draft a letter.

3. Commissioner Seagren and Steve Kelly will visit Humboldt on Wed. January 19th. It will be a great opportunity for us to discuss the image of MN schools as they do not meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) under No Child Left Behind (NCLB). We can talk about the inconsistencies in NCLB. For example, Minnesota approved the Minnesota Comprehensive Assessment (MCA) as the test that measures our AYP but this test is much more rigorous than tests adopted in other states. This makes Texas look like it is making more progress than MNs schools.

1. Sporting Events: Had a wonderful crowd at a recent basketball game. Gil Zamora from Boys and Girls Club brought a group of youngsters, EAs and TAs staffed the PA system, and lots of staff attended to support our students.

2. Cameras: Surveillance cameras have been mounted in the parking lot and entryway today. Staff can watch these cameras in real time from our computers.

3. Student Body: 16 students have left Humboldt due to behavior problems, 20 students were counseled into other academic settings that will suit them better, and 15 more have been identified to counsel into different academic settings.

4. Eco Lab Grant: Eco Lab provided a $4,500 grant which will allow Humboldt students to enter a statewide competition to build a go-kart. There are certain requirements on the cars construction, such as weight and speed, which offers unique hands-on learning opportunities for our students. We are the first St. Paul high school to enter the competition. The balance of funds will be used to support or graphic arts department and the yearbook.

5. SCIP: SCIP is moving along. This year we qualify for Title I funds, these funds will be tied to reading and math instruction. We also need funds to hire teachers with elementary licensure because they have developmental reading training. High School teachers do not receive as much of this training in their degree programs, but this is the type of curriculum some students at Humboldt would benefit from. We will have to refigure some programs but the goal is not to cut staffing.

6. Academies: The academies have been changed so they have clear jobs attached to them. Academy Chairs will be required to apply for the position and go through an interviewing process. Teachers will apply to be in academies and ELL teachers will be assigned to balance across all academies.

7. Recruiting: The school is working hard to recruit students to Humboldt. Packets will be given to all Humboldt Junior High students in the 55107 zip code. We hope to get some of the Montessori students from the junior high, we will set a meeting with the parents of these students. Diane S. can be the contact for Humboldt recruitment plans.

8. Senior Project: A group of teachers have worked hard to create a Senior Project curriculum and course. They did a heck of a job and will present their work to staff tomorrow. Eventually, it would be nice to see all kids leave the school for 1 trimester to get postsecondary experience.

1. The site council participated in a "go-around" with each member stating their favorite part of

the parent engagement proposal. Members preferences were scattered fairly equally across each of the three action step ideas. Final decision is that action step 1, creating space to build authentic relationships with parents, is very important and will take the most energy and planning. Action ideas 2 (make site council more visible) and 3 (improve existing communications) are easier to implement. As we attend school events, such as parent-teacher conferences, the group will refer to the proposal and implement the suggestions there (i.e. site council members sitting at the sign in table at conferences). Also, someone can have a one time meeting with Mike S. and go over suggestions to improve the school newsletter (who will do this?).

2. The group agreed that it is difficult to talk with parents and build relationships with them when we do not have an agreed upon message to get across. Karen W. suggested that "site council" language turns people off, so we also have to learn how to talk about what we do in a way that people can understand. At the February meeting, we will set aside time to discuss what our message, what opportunities exist for parents to involve themselves with and to create a timeline for how to connect with parents.

1. The 9th grade academy and SETA (Science, Engineering and Technology Academy) will

remain the same. SETA is embarking on a Mini-Welding course with a community collage, this will feed into the "Super Mileage Challenge" go-kart competition. Humanities is now the Business, Law and Communications Academy. CLA is now the Creative Arts and Professional Services Academy. CAPS will focus on child development, culinary arts, community service, band, choir, and graphic arts.

2. New steps: Staff are now identifying electives that correlate with their academies. 9th graders are being prepared to choose their academy by writing papers on career interests and meeting with Val in the career center.

1. Becki attended a training on the role and responsibilities of the site council and found it very

helpful. She urges people to read the chart handout in their blue folders which lays out the

roles we can and can not take.

1. We will review the SCIP in February.

1. Jim S. would like to join the Site Council in the open non-teaching staff spot. Jim works in the library and is very interested in the creative arts with a career focus. He is also interested in improving our technology capabilities at Humboldt.

2. Jan 19th meeting with Commissioner Alice Seagren: Kari D, Dave M., and Carol H. are

confirmed to represent the site council at this meeting. Anyone else who can attend is welcome.

3. The Site Council and SCIP Meeting: Val A will attend this meeting on the 19th and bring

4. Accelerated Reader: Jim S. solved the licenses problem without needing additional funds.

About 100 student will not have licenses, but overall the program can get started.