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|  | | | SITE COUNCIL MEETING September 13th, 2004
HUMBOLDT SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
SITE COUNCIL MEETING
September 13th, 2004
MINUTES
The meeting was held at Humboldt Senior High School at 6:00pm.
Attendance: Valerie Atkinson (Staff, Co-Chair), Becki Hamilton (Parent, Co-Chair), John Bianchi (Principal), Bonnie Bellows (Staff, Treasurer), Kari Denissen (Community, Secretary), Lisa Gonsalez (Community), Carol Hugley (Parent), Ann Gangl (Parent), John Hines (Parent), Mai T. Vang (Student), Kita Her (Staff), Dave Mergens (Staff ), Deb Godfrey (Staff), Preston McMillan (Staff, Union), Diane Schroepfer (SLC Project Manager), Gilbert de la O (Community, Alternate), Nan Kari (Community, Guest), Mike Sadomka (Assistant Principal, Guest), Patty Murphy (Assistant Principal, Guest), Deb Shipp (Assistant Principal, Guest), Andrea Dickinson (Counselor, Guest), Marlyn Garcia (Counselor, Guest), Jason Schlukebier (Counselor, Guest), Mary Zehrer (Counselor, Guest).
Item #1: Approval of Agenda
1. Clarification: Open Forum has been moved from the beginning of the Agenda to Item #7 to allow guest
presenters to present early in the meeting so they may leave if they wish.
Motion to approve the agenda so moved by Lisa G., seconded by John H. Unanimous.
Item #2: Approval of August 09th, 2004 minutes
1. Change to Process: To shorten the time spent during meetings on corrections to minutes, all grammatical corrections should be emailed or hand written and given to the Secretary. Any significant changes to content can be discussed during the meeting.
2. Amendments: Change the spelling of Gangels to Gangl throughout minutes.
Motion to approve the minutes and the new process stated above so moved by Dave M., seconded by Bonnie B. Unanimous.
Item #3: Approval of 2004-2005 Site Council Meeting Dates
1. 2004-2005 Meeting Date Schedule: Sept. 13th, Oct. 11th, Nov. 8th, Dec. 13th, Jan. 10th, Feb.
14th, March 14th, April 11th, May 9th, June 13th
Motion to approval the above stated 2004-2005 Site Council Meeting schedule so moved by
Bonnie B., seconded by John H. Unanimous.
Item #4: Principal's Report
1. Staffing: Staffing was completed 3 weeks prior to school starting. We welcome 3 new
administrators and 2 new counselors. Teachers were motivated and excited to get started this year with a renewed focus on achievement.
2. New Students: The school has adopted a philosophy of welcoming students who clearly
want to attend Humboldt and who are focused on academic achievement. Students who have had trouble succeeding in a traditional high school environment will be referred to Area Learning Center's.
3. Six Year Plan: Counselor's are focusing on working with students on 6-year plans.
4. Advisories: There is not an advisory curriculum in place. Students will receive 1/3 of a credit for each trimester successfully completing the advisory curriculum. There will be a focus on math and reading.
5. School Climate: Opening week at Humboldt has been excellent. The climate in the hallways and cafeteria is much improved. Students are clear that rules, such as no hats and headphones, will be enforced. Students are responding positively to these expectations and most are now self-enforcing these expectations. A focus on character education has influenced this shift.
Item #5: Introduction of Administration and Guidance Staff
1. Report from Patti Murphy (Assistant Principal): Presented a flow-chart showing the communication paths and relationships between the administrative team, Humboldt Implementation and Leadership Team (HILT), the Site Council, the Small Learning Communities (SLC) Coordinator, and Academy Chairs. Also shared that curriculum cluster teams will exist and the Professional Development Plan (PDP) will call for all professional development opportunities to be geared toward improving reading, math and advisory. Well-rounded learning opportunities are offered through AP (advanced placement) courses and academy topic electives. Curriculum teams will share their work with the Site Council when appropriate. The site council's role in the School Continuous Improvement Plan (SCIP) is to review and give input after HILT creates the initial draft.
2. Report from Deb Ship (Assistant Principal): Deb will serve as liaison to Special Education and will spend 1/3 of her time at Humboldt Junior High. Also working on the overall feeling of safety and mutual respect at Humboldt Senior High. There will be a focus on character and citizenship development (see article provided by Deb Ship), staff training will be offered to correlate. Ecolab has agreed to fund the training of selected students as peer mediation and character education. These students will then work with Humboldt Junior High and possibly Cherokee Heights Elementary school in addition to the Senior High.
3. Report from Marlene Garcia (Counseling Staff): Brochure distributed on the 6-year plan, this year each freshman must complete one over their 4 year high school career in order to graduate. Advisories are allowing time for students to learn about and be encouraged to engage themselves in extracurricular activities.
4. Mike Sodamka (Assistant Principal): A scheduling committee was created with 2 people from each academy to review school scheduling options. The school currently has appropriate staffing for a trimester schedule. Semesters would require reducing teachers by 1 to 2 positions. Quarters would require the school to hire an additional 1 to 2 teachers. 109 11th and 12th grade students were surveyed; these students experienced both semesters and trimesters. More than a majority of those surveyed preferred the trimester schedule. It will be important to see how each schedule affects each type of program like AP or special education. For example, trimesters are great for English teachers, but make it difficult for post-secondary students to take semester long classes at an area college. Another option is the 4-period day with skinnys offered for music and JROTC. This would require music and JROTC to teach 6 periods a day. Next step is to visit other schools to see which schedule seems to best fit each type of school. Students will be asked to give input through an update and call for input in the parent newsletter. Discussion occurred on improved ways of getting parent input for future issues.
Item #6: Humboldt's 125th Anniversary
1. Report by Dave Mergens: A district staff person informed Dave that some research showed
this year marks Humboldt's 125th anniversary. There are records of a building existing in 1879 on the West Side (in a different location) called Humboldt; it is believed that at the time it was an elementary school for the immigrating Jewish community. 4-5 years later it was known as a continuing school for students to gain credits toward a high school diploma. In 1888 a new school was built and also called Humboldt, it became an official 2-year high school. In 1895 it was commissioned as a 4 year high school. The school must decide to celebrate a 125th anniversary based on the 1879 date or the 1888 date.
2. Discussion: If it is celebrated in conjunction with the 1879 date it should be framed as a
celebration of learning on the West Side, not of the high school (Kari D.). In order to create a plate that could be used repeatedly on the cover of the Humboldt Year Book, a lot of research was done a few years ago. The agreed upon date for the Anniversary of Humboldt on this printing plate does not correlate with the 1879 date.
3. Decision: The issue should be brought up at a staff meeting and staff should make the
Ultimate decision. It seems as thought the anniversary of Humboldt as a High School does not correlate with the 1879 date. Regardless, there should be Alumni recognition events at this years Homecoming game. Ann G. and Gilbert D. will contact churches asking them to announce in bulletins that all Humboldt alumni are invited to this year's homecoming and will receive free admission and concession stand treat.
Motion made to defer decision of when to celebrate Humboldt's 125th Anniversary to staff so moved by John H., seconded by Lisa G. Unanimous
Item #7: Open forum
1. Change to process: Open forum will now only be open to individuals attending the meeting
who are not Site Council members. Members of the site council must forward any topics they would like to discuss at the site council meeting to the Co-Chairs one week prior to the site council meeting. A "New Business" section will be added to the agenda to deal with these issues as needed.
2. Kari D: (on behalf of Nan Kari) The Neighborhood Learning Community hosts the
Community Learning Fellows program (formally the West Side Teachers' Institute). The CLF program is open to 5 Humboldt Sr. High teachers and 5 community educators. The 10 participants will design and work on projects to link learning in school to community resources, projects could focus on strengthening reading and math skills through hands on learning. Graduate credit through the University of MN is available and tuition and fees are waived. The program begins in October and monthly seminars will occur. (on behalf of the Day of the Dead Community Committee) The West Side community has created a Day of the Dead Committee with representation from multiple West Side organizations. They would like to use space at Humboldt for part of these week long cultural festivities. In addition to simply using space, the committee hopes that the school will chose to be involved. Students could participate in the creation of "Ofrendas" or could invite in community presenters to teach about the cultural history and significance of Day of the Dead.
3. Gilbert De La O: Would just like to comment that he is very pleased to hear about the
improvement in behavior and learning environment at Humboldt.
Item #8: Treasurer's Report and Compensatory Education Application and Rubric Update
Tabled until October Meeting
Item #9: Goals and Expectations for 2004-2005 Site Council and upcoming leadership conference.
Tabled until October Meeting
Site Council members are to read the Goals and Expectations handout and come prepared
to discuss this topic in October.
Item #10: Old Business - Review of Site Council By-Laws
Tabled until October Meeting
Site Council to review by-laws before October meeting, please send proposed by-law
changes to co-chairs.
Additional Old Business:
1. John and Ann each know an interested parent they will bring to a future meeting.
October Agenda:
1. In addition to all other bolded items, Mike S. and an update on Scheduling Committee decisions should be on October agenda.
Item #11: Next Meeting Site
Humboldt High School
Item #12: Adjourn
Motion to adjourn made by Becki H., seconded by John H. Unanimous.
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