SITE COUNCIL MEETING December 12th, 2005



	SITE COUNCIL MEETING December 12th, 2005 Humboldt High School Site Council Minutes December 12, 2005 Present: Valerie Atkinson (Co-chair staff), Jason Schlukebier (Counselor), Gilbert de la O (Community), John Hines (Parent), Diane Schroepfer (Staff), Kandy Hedlund (Parent), Saul Castillo (Student), John Bianchi (Principal), Kari Denissen (Community), Bonnie Bellows (Staff), Mike Sodomka (Assistant Principal), Isreal Moses (Assistant Principal), Dave Mergens (Staff), Anne Gangl (Parent), Tom Krantz (Staff-Union), Deb Shipp (Assistant Principal), Jennifer Purtell (Parent), Andrew Purtell (Student). Members Not Present: Becki Hamilton (Co-chair Parent), Marilyn Mauritz (Staff) Approval of Agenda Announcement: Becky is absent due to illness in family, Dave Mergens will fill in as co-chair. Motion to approve agenda so moved by John H, seconded by Anne G. Unanimous Approval of November 14, 2005 minutes Motion to approve agenda so moved by Gilbert D., seconded by John H. Unanimous. Open Forum Gilbert: Thanksgiving weekend the neighborhood was hit hard by gang graffiti, the community got together and to clean up and come up with action steps. We are being hit repeatedly. The police are increasing patrols and have arrested sixteen people so far. Call to open eyes and ears and be united as community to prevent this, let Gilbert know if you see it so it can be documented. Idea to put mural on large wall space at Humboldt Jr. High because murals seem to prevent graffiti (the principal of the Jr. High is supportive of this). Discussion of student groups to help with graffiti removal. Call to county justice system to do restorative justice with the kids- many not from the community or from Humboldt Sr. High. Kari: Update on survey data about community perceptions of Humboldt and update on the work NLC is doing with member of St. Paul School District around permits and connecting curriculum with schools and OST learning. Committee Results & Goals (Diane Schroepfer) Our next meeting is the day before the school board meeting- do we want to add another meeting date, change our meeting date? -seems at this point no. Education Summit is on December 15^th at 6:30 PM, it has been in paper, newspapers, cable access, and flyer handouts around the neighborhood. Lots of parents with younger students at bus stops who were interested in it. Agenda is attached, only change is the in the Goals section it will follow: Instruction, Programs, Student Panel. Next in packet is the public comment sheet so people can give comments. Not a dialogue because we have had community meetings to get input and we just want to do a presentation about what we have come up with. (register of concern that this may not be the best received by community if it is more, "here is what we are going to do" as opposed to, lets have a dialogue about this together). Just presenting the goals, no decisions have been made on how to get to them yet. Part of challenge with engaging a lot of people is that we are under a timeline given to us by the district and we need a description in by Dec 16^th for the school profile bulletin. The school is also trying to do damage control about reporter who said that Humboldt may be closing. Some on council feel there has been plenty of opportunity for community, students and parents to contribute at parent nights, etc. It is important that the school does not use school jargon but try to use "everyday" terms. Updates to Education Summit Agenda: (3min) Welcome by John H. as site council rep to do a welcome and introduction of principal and junior high. Will find a site council member from junior high to co-welcome. (10min) John and Mary Williams will give overview of what they have been doing up until know that has resulted in these three goals. (15min) Demographics by Tom Watkins (of district and specifically about West Side – senior and elementary schools). Goals – who will transition to this piece and lay down the "process rules" about taking 3 clarification questions/goal or something. Karen Woodward may be a good moderator but may not be able to attend- what about Roger Barr or Ken Wright? (15min) Program/Instruction/Schedule with Isreal Moses, Mike Sodomka, and Tim Williams. (10min) 4-5 member student panel talking about what opportunities they take advantage of at Humboldt. BREAK HERE (say 5 but plan on 10min) (10min) Environment (15min) Standard Dress (5min) Timeline/Summary Overall questions: John H and Val will act as MC’s representing the site council but still ask Karen W. to moderate the "goals" section. Have Mike S. tape it. Who will record it so that it can be sent out to school community (timeline moves fast so people need to hear what happened if they were not there)? What will really be known for the Dec 16^th insert? We won’t know if we are changing the schedule or the uniforms, etc. We need to focus on core positives about the school that will not change even if schedule changes, etc. The site council will meet with the school board on Jan 10^th at 4:45 p.m. to present status on above goals. Decisions on many of these goals should be made by the parent fair on January 21^st. Change "question/feedback" form so it includes school contact information (a specific person). Take name change question off and change to, "do you have any other recommendations." This is being taken off because it would require some "intro" that there is not time for at this meeting but this idea has come up from business partners, community organizations and some individuals. Kari to get translation equipment from WSCO and bring to event. Humboldt’s Proposed School Board Presentation – January 10^th 2006 Committee of the Board meeting at 4:45 pm. Purpose: to share with school board the barriers that exist to Humboldt reaching its full potential (resources for a choir, better sports facilities) and why Humboldt has received inequitable consideration. Some of the goals from the Dec 15^th Summit should be stated, we should be strategic about who talks and what they say. It makes more sense for parents, community and students to speak than for the staff to speak to this audience. We should fill room, even if only 5 people talk (John, Becky, Kari, Saul can all speak). Parents who will speak should meet with Valerie in the Career Center room 2254 at the school on January 4^th at 6:30pm to prepare; all members of the site council that want to meet concerning the presentation are also asked to come to this additional meeting. More on message: Concern is how we attract more schools to this school when school choice has been a barrier to recruiting our own neighborhood kids because of how the district has allowed the school to go. How did they let our theatre and choir go away? Why can’t we have IB courses here? Other: This group needs to take a vote on what happens on each of the 3 goals and all be on board and supportive before we can go as a united group to this. Email board members Humboldt’s plan ahead of time (send updated packets- strategic plan). Principal’s Report Meetings going on constantly to build relationships with the neighborhood (Neighborhood House, Boys and Girls Club, Jocelyn from West Side Safe Neighborhood Council and would like to meet with Joe S. at WSCO). If I meet with 10 people in the day than I get 10 different perspectives and it is very interesting. We are also meeting with the elementary schools. Boys and Girls would like to have us send staff in shifts to spend time there and see what they do. We are also working to improve our perception with the business community. Recruitment efforts are happening and everyone is pitching in- that is great to see. We are trying to accomplish everything and it is great that we are partnership with the Junior High to try and do some things. There are always challenges with partnerships, as well as positives and we keep moving forward. Our perception in the community is kind of like an athletic team or the bad news bears – it seems like we can never do anything right but in the end we are going to look really good! The size is actually a good thing and kids are getting a lot out of it here. New Business Publicity: should have Humboldt gear (clothing) up at Appleby’s and other businesses that do that (Sibley and South St. Paul have that). Also, to sell athletic gear at local stores. Suggestion is to have a monthly column in the St. Paul Voice or at least get articles in there more often. Parent nomination of new member: Kandy is a parent who would like to join the site council. Has a son at Humboldt in 11^th grade and he is a drummer in the band. Her child’s grandparents also went to Humboldt. Lives near Cherokee Bank. She and her son do not see the problems with Humboldt that other people talk about, she feels that everyone is very nice here. Jennifer nominates Kandy and John seconds. Unanimous. We are missing a teaching staff and a non-teaching staff position- Valerie will send email to staff about this in January. Next Meeting – Monday, January 09^th, 2005 John and Gilbert will bring treats. Adjourn Motion to adjourn so moved by Dave M, seconded by John H. Seconded.