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– Site Council

May 1^st, 2006 – Minutes

Attendance:  Valerie Atkinson (Staff, Co-chair), Becki Hamilton (Parent, Co-chair), Kari Denissen (Community Member, Secretary), Natalie Hamilton (student), John Hines (Parent), Dave Mergens (staff), Kandy Hedlund (Parent), Diane Schroepfer (staff, alternate), Mike Sodomka (Acting Principal, AP), Isreal Moses (AP), Bonnie Bellows (staff), Jennifer Purtell (Parent), Lauren Rekonen (staff), Sam Buffington (WSCO, guest), Anne Gangl (parent), Derby Campo (Gear Up, guest), Marilyn Mauritz (Staff).

I.                   Approval of Agenda

Approval of agenda so moved by Dave M, seconded by John H.  Unanimous.

II.                Approval of April 10^th, 2006 minutes

Approval of minutes so moved by Anne, seconded by John H. Unanimous.

III.             Open Forum

Dave:  We have been approved for a 100,000 turf grant for Ramsey County.

Val:  Pass around sign-up sheet for the site council potluck at our June meeting.

Kari:  Introduce Sam Buffington, new Community Connector for Neighborhood Learning Community at WSCO.

Derby:  Gear Up Banquet on May 17^th at D’Igidios on West 7^th.

IV.              Update on presentation to the Committee of the Board- May 9th

Presenting our two part plan for Humboldt to the committee of the board next week.  The two part plan are to strengthen curriculum and our physical improvement plan.  It is important for as many of us as possible to attend, the meeting begins at 4:30 on Tuesday May 9^th at the district’s colborne office.  Dave will deliver three community letters to the board, one from Neighborhood House, from Boosters and from Community Education.  There was discussion of getting a letter of support from WSCO.  This needs to happen at a WSCO board meeting on Monday the 8^th- Sam and Kari will work on this.  Mike S. had a conversation with Anne Carroll (school board member) earlier in the day.

V.                 Approval of the School Continuous Improvement Plan (SCIP)

-Addressed an email sent by Gilbert De La O (community member) who was concerned that 3% increases were low goals.  3% of the student population seems larger in whole numbers and it is realistic for the school.  Also, each initiative addresses increasing parent and community engagement in at least one bullet.  Gilbert’s suggestion was 5 phone calls to go home- unclear if this is per year per student.  Many phone calls do go home to parents, teaching staff could share stories of calling more than five homes in one week.  This is already being done and is already expected of staff.  Discussion:  may not be necessary to contact each student’s family per year, it depends on the student.  A parent shares his experience trying to reach Humboldt parents and out of many calls only six parents were reached.  In the SCIP plan it says we will start new efforts to engage parents.  We do need to be able to say in a year what these new efforts were, maybe we do not need to quantify it.  We do need to show that we have taken actions to meet these goals.  A teacher shared that she keeps a separate notebook of all the parents she has attempted to contact.  Many teachers keep track of this.  Maybe teachers should report how many parents they have contacted each trimester for reporting in the SCIP.  We should also keep track of voice messages left to parents to say something positive about their student- these calls need to happen as well.  A parent suggests that parent portal may be another way to connect with parents because parents seem to be using this.  May be arbitrary to assign a specific number of parent contacts because it does not take into consideration all of the various efforts to connect with parents.

-Question:  SCIP goal to increase graduation rate by 5% each year, it would be helpful to know what the past years rate was so that the site council has a sense of how much of an impact 5% would have.  Answer:  This information was given out in the fall, there is also information in the data section of the SCIP.  Discussion:  It is fine to keep the wording in the SCIP the same, but for Site Council discussion it would be helpful to verbally remind and say what these figures are.  As part of the Site Council, we don’t look back and access how we did on the goals in last years SCIP plan but we should do this.  We should play a role in checking in and making sure we are meeting the SCIP goals.  Another parent comments that the site council should do a better job of periodically monitoring the SCIP and making sure we are on track with the goals.  Also, are we positive that the African American and Hispanic students will increase their scores?  Answer:  Yes, there are a lot of curriculum measures in place to work on ensuring all groups of students are improving their scores.  Discussion:  Staff member shares that the MCAs seemed more difficult than they were in the past and we should know that as we get the results back.  A teacher comments that some students stopped half way through the exam because it was so frustrating that they needed a break.  Many started back up or came back to it the next day.  Others were unsure where they were supposed to record their answers, so they may know the math but record their answers in the wrong place.  There were also problems with the Spanish translation CD, the questions were backwards but this was corrected before testing.  Another staff shared that it is not fair that only one or two language groups get a translated exam, Somali students did not get this.  The state sent us only spoken English for special education students.  The district translated it into Spanish and Hmong, we don’t know what happened with other languages.  Overall, it is unfair, but it is good that at least two language groups were able to get a translation.  The state does not seem to want to provide for any translations.

Israel will put together a bar chart of projections for improvements in MCA’s and including past two years results (by August).

-Goal number 2 and goal number 4 seem to say essentially the same thing but goal number 4 speaks to special programs like the AVID program and the six year plan which not every student will be involved in.  Goal number 2 speaks to the school as a whole.  Discussion:  We need to make sure we keep real good data connected to AVID so that we can measure the success of this program.  Answer:  the AVID program requires this sort of data collection so we will have it.  AVID will start mid-way through the year.  Question:  If we hope to run AVID for at least 5 years than we should be able to project what outcome we would like to see from AVID.  This would give us a yearly goal that would build to that 5 year goal.

-The site council walked through the core purposes of each initiative.

Dave M. motions to approve the SCIP plan, seconded by John H.  Unanimous.

VI.              Principal’s Report

-John B. is due back next Friday, May 12^th. 

-Of all students who took the MCA, only 10 were absent (this is a very strong showing).  Staff worked hard

-Basic standards writing tests came back and scores are 10% up from last year.

-This Saturday Humboldt Senior High will be walking in the Cinco de Mayo celebration- if you are interested in walking with the school let Mike S. know or just show up.  The car Humboldt students built for the super mileage challenge will be in the parade.

-June 2^nd there is a ice cream social to celebrate the districts 150 year celebration from 11-1pm so seniors can also be involved.  Community

-80 students were out today, possibly as a result of the boycott in support of immigrant communities.

-Minnesota Business Academy is closing and we will be recruiting their current students.  They have 118, 9^th-11^th graders.

-We are projected at 803 students next year, this will give us 1 more FTE.  If we get 837 to keep one FTE, otherwise we will need to cut a position. We have told ELL to get kids into Humboldt to keep a staff person they were missing.

-AVID program will be funded by a grant for EcoLab and St. Paul Travelers.

-Teachers called students who had not been assigned a high school, 47 were interested in Humboldt Senior High and applications were sent to those students.

VII.           New Business

August meeting:  New Neighborhood House building recommended for August 14^th meeting.  Ask Gilbert if he can get us a room free of charge.  If this is not possible we should consider Riverview Library, Support Our Schools, Baker Recreation Center or here at Humboldt Senior (in that order).

Site Council Elections:  Read through roster to note whose positions are up.  Bonnie is elected through 2007, Dave is elected through 2007, Lauren is elected through 2007.  There will be one teacher slot open and two non-teaching staff positions open.  Becki and Anne will be leaving us.  John will re-run for a parent position.  Four parent positions will be open.  Kari D. will resign and Gilbert’s term is also up so there will be 2 community slots open with 2 alternate slots.

How recruit for people to come and run in August?  This will happen through newsletters and through staff email communications.  Sam will request that WSCO make an announcement for open parent and community member slots in WSCO’s column in the St. Paul voice.

VIII.        Reminder of upcoming Site Council dates: June 12^th Pot Luck Dinner

Valerie will email a reminder of who will bring what to the potluck.

IX.              Adjourn

Motion to adjourn so moved by Dave M, seconded by Marilyn M.  Unanimous.

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