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· Valerie Atkinson: HAWK Crew Leaders met on Monday, March 13. They will coordinate with the help of JROTC a food drive for Neighborhood House. The food drive will begin on Monday, March 20 and end on Wednesday March 29. Food items will be collected during advisory. Administration will provide treats to the winning advisory with the most pounds of food donated.

· Natalie Hamilton: I believe it was a bit unfair to hold an entire assembly for Julian Mancha. Granted, he did a superb job and won first place in the state for his weight class, but I feel that having an all school assembly for him was a bit too much. I keep asking myself why is it just for him and wrestling? Last year, two of our girls for badminton won first place in the state for doubles, but they weren’t acknowledged like he was. Why is that? Our adapted athletics always do a fantastic job, too, but they are not recognized like him either. Then, I wondered why it was always athletics? What about academics or community and volunteer activities? I know a handful of students who every Wednesday night, come to Jane Adams to help the new Hmong-Thai students with their English and other various things, but they have never been recognized for this either in front of the entire school. These group of students volunteer their time outside of school to do something great and to help others, but we have never had an assembly for them. By no means am I trying to minimize Julian’s achievement, but if the school has an assembly for just him, then why not for our other students who excel in academics and community/volunteer activities.

· Congratulations to Julian Mancha winning first place in the state wrestling championship in the 171 lb. weight class.

· I would like the support of the Site Council to approve that Humboldt seek the support of the District to have the AVID (Advancement through Individual Determination) program at Humboldt next school year. The AVID program is currently at Central, Arlington, Harding, and Highland High Schools and Battle Creek, Murray and Ramsey Junior High Schools.

· Humboldt received a VISTA volunteer from St. Paul, Jeremy Neren. He is working in our library, coordinating volunteers and seeking out funding sources for our building.

· The MCA (Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments) will be April 25 and 26. Students in 9th grade will be take the SAT 10, 10th grade will take the MCA reading and 11th graders will take the MCA math test. There will be a late start for 12th graders.

· Thursday 3-9-06 was the last day of the trimester; grades will be mailed out next Monday or Tuesday with the newsletter.

· We received a preliminary budget from the District. The Integration funding formula has changed from site specific funding to per pupil funding ratio. This negatively impacted Humboldt’s funding; I will not disclose the exact amount at this time, because the District is re-examining this; therefore, I will not create unneeded stress.

· Please comment on the District’s proposed calendar, see email from Valerie Atkinson with my comments

· Humboldt Junior and Senior staff are working to develop classes which complement each other. We will be providing classes for junior high students to take in the senior high and vice versa. Currently looking to trade a wood shop (currently jr. high only) for a small engines class (currently sr. high only), thereby enhancing the elective offerings at both schools

· We have worked with the District’s architects and Pat Quinn to develop proposals interior and exterior improvements to the building, including but not limited to artificial turf, bleachers, lights, entry renovation, carpet and lockers for the junior high. We have submitted a proposal for a soccer grant through Ramsey County to assist in defraying the cost of the field turf.

· John’s therapy is coming along and he plans to return after spring break.

Hey mike thanks for the update. A few comments: it was good to hear that john b. is " coming along ". On the AVID is there any feed back from students or staff from the other the schools that have AVID program about the effectiveness, things that work or don't work , etc. ? I remember when Roosevelt & Humboldt had wood shop , metal shop etc. I think it would be a great addition to the curriculum. Maybe include some plumbing & heating / electrical too. How helpful this could be for our students when they become home owners.

Gilbert, the schools which currently have the AVID program are experiencing success with increasing the number of students passing honors courses. Ultimately, they expect to experience success in the numbers of students passing the AP exam, but this is the first year of implementation in SPPS. The challenges involve the difficulty getting tutors in the building during school hours twice a week to assist with the AVID class. We will be asking for community support and also assigning our VISTA volunteer to the task of recruiting college students.

Though the AVID program involves teachers teaching the AVID class one period class all year, we could use our existing teachers, since we are moving to a six period day, we would not need to cut any existing courses with the addition of the AVID program.

We are fighting to bring this program to Humboldt, because it pushes kids who typically wouldn't be in advanced placement classes into those classes then provides them support to be successful. There is reluctance at the District to expand the AVID program without mindful planning, however, we feel the benefits it brings cannot be overshadowed by the District's will. At a meeting today, District staff stated Humboldt should plan on a planning year next year, with full implementation occurring in the September 2007. We feel we cannot afford to wait, our kids need this support. We requested the District to allow us full implementation at second trimester (early December), instead of waiting an entire year to plan. They are considering this request and are checking with the national AVID program to see if mid-year implementation is possible. We will have the AVID program at Humboldt in some fashion next year, one way or another. Ecolab is willing pay for the up-front costs of the AVID program, this eases implementation.

To get to your second point, I agree with you the addition of electrical/heating/plumbing courses would be beneficial to our students to prepare them for independent living. I would support this, however, given the state of the current budget, we cannot afford to add additional teachers to teach specialized courses, such as plumbing, heating and electrical. This would involve hiring teachers who are licensed in those areas; we do not have that in our budget. Great idea, but unless there is oil under the football field, I don't see that happening. Sorry for that news.

Hope this answers your questions.