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Site Council Minutes

Monday, October 09, 2006

Present:  Valerie Atkinson (non-teaching staff, co-chair)), Jackie Lundgren (alternate non-teaching staff), Derby Campo (alternate non-teaching staff), Bonnie Bellows (teaching staff, treasurer), Michael Sodomka (principal), Kandy Hedlund (parent), Karen Woodward (guest), John Hines (parent, co-chair), Katelyn Lynch (student), Lauren Rekonen (teaching staff, secretary), Preston McMillan (teaching staff, union), Steve Aeilts (guest, assistant principal), Israel Moses (guest, assistant principal), Marilyn Mauritz (teaching staff), Jennifer Purtell (parent), Jessica Wetmore (guest), Saul Castillo (student), Dave Mergens (teaching staff)

Not Present:  Andy Mosca (parent), Sam Buffington (community member)

I.                    Approval of Agenda –John Hines

a.       Motion made by B. Bellows, Unanimously approved

II.                 Approval of September 11, 2006 minutes – Valerie Atkinson

a.       Motion made by B. Bellow, seconded by J. Purtell

b.      Unanimously approved

III.               Open Forum

a.       J. Hines:  Homecoming events - “thank yous” to those who participated in the Homecoming dunk tank in efforts to raise money for the senior class party.  It was a great success.

b.      Jessica Wetmore:  From Admission Possible, which is a twice-a-week after-school college admission program for 11^th graders here at Humboldt.  They have 22-25 students participating.  Tuesday, Oct. 24^th they will be having a “Make a Difference Day” where the students will rake and clean-up the school grounds.

V.                 Student Council Report – Katelyn Lynch

a.       Are students getting all of the information that they need from announcements over the television?

                                                               i.      Sodomka says that they will be announcing them from a microphoned podium during lunches.

                                                             ii.      Preston McMillan expressed concern about staff and students not being serviced by the announcements which are currently only on the television

                                                            iii.      Different ideas were discussed about what would be the most effective way to get the announcements out to the students.  For the meantime, teachers will be encouraged to turn on their televisions during advisory and the announcements will be made during lunches.  No consensus can be made about what the most effective method is.

                                                           iv.      Saul Castillo suggests that we have announcements made in several languages.

VI.              College Access Programs – Karen Woodward

a.       College Access = kids getting ready for life after high school.  These programs don’t necessarily mean that every student will go to college, but they will be prepared for life after high school.  The district has about 40,000.  Nearly 28,000 of them are in grades 4-12.  Only 4,300 students have access to these programs, although they do all have access to guidance counselors and career centers.  MN is number 49 in terms of counselor-to-student ratio.  Humboldt has the most college access programs of any school in the district.  30% of our students have access to these programs.  Humboldt is the first school in the district to coordinate the different college access programs within one school.  70% of Juniors are not involved in any college access programs.  Karen’s job is to figure out how to coordinate all of these programs.  Karen is very happy about how open Humboldt is to all of these different programs being here at Humboldt. 

b.      Aside from Valerie Atkinson:  the purpose of the Career Center is so that all students have equal access to career and college information and preparation.  Some programs are run through the district, some through the schools, and some through outside guests.  It creates conflicts and confusion for the students and staff.  We want to make sure that the student’s time is not taken up too often through being in different programs.  There are criteria for the college access programs, but not for the Career Center, as far as access goes for the student. 

c.       Aside from Derby Campo:  ETS and MEP have been coordinating to not serve the same students and to make access available to as many students as possible.  It is a challenging task to coordinate this effort but it is beginning to happen. 

d.      Staff members need to be made aware of the different programs and helped to understand them and their differences.  Valerie Atkinson is the most obvious central contact for all of the programs.

e.       Admission Possible (11^th), AVID (9^th – 11^th), and Upward Bound, MEP, and ETS are recruiting here at Humboldt.

VII.            Principal’s Report and Academy Update – Mike Sodomka

a.       John Bianchi will not be returning to Saint Paul Public Schools

b.      Conferences/Open House is on Thursday, October 12^th in classrooms.

c.       Grade reports have not been received at homes yet. 

d.      Academy Update:  Academies are no longer aligned through classes, but only through advisories.  9GA has a common prep and a common set of students.  Relationship development and career focus are being accessed through advisories.  Academies are developing into grade-level focused advisories.

e.       MCA’s:  Every MN 11^th-grader took the MCA II math test.  Less than 20% of SPPS students were proficient, even lower at Humboldt.  We are realigning our curriculum to teach to the standards addressed in the test in math, reading, and writing.  As a site council, we need to contact our state legislatures about the unfair aspects of the tests in concerns to a student’s socioeconomic and cultural status (i.e. needing an expensive calculator to take the test or having extremely wordy math test). 

f.        If the referendum does not pass, Humboldt Sr. High will lose $569,576.  This is equivalent to 8 teachers. 

g.       Budget:  We are projected to have 80 more students this year, giving us $200,000.  After all is said is done, $125,000 will be available to us in December to spend.  We immediately need to hire a new special education teaching assistant and to hire two science teachers for two periods and a science EA.  We also need to buy new books for our libraries.  We need to buy new computers and to use some money for publications and recruitment.  1.5 Americorps workers have been hired to work with ELL, AVID, and Career Resource. 

h.       The proposition to remodel our front entrance, etc. is still on the table. 

i.         Staff development:  POL training will be at staff training to give our students a uniform way of learning.

j.        Homecoming:  A success!  175 students attended the dance.

k.      Ecolab recognized their grant winners at an awards ceremony last week. 

VIII.         New Business

a.       No new business.

IX.              Adjourn

a.       Motion made to adjourn by J.Hines

b.      Seconded by M. Sodomka