MINUTES

The meeting was held at Humboldt Senior High School at 6:00pm.

Attendance:  Becki Hamilton (Parent, Co-Chair), Valerie Atkinson (Staff, Co-Chair), Bonnie Bellows (Staff- Treasurer), Kari Denissen (Community Member, Secretary), John Bianchi (Principal), Joan Paulson (Staff, Union Steward), Kita Her (Staff), Dave Mergens (Staff), Anne Gangl (Parent), John Hines (Parent), Chai Lee (Student, voting rep.), Gary Partney (Staff Alternate), Diane Schroepfer (Staff Alternate), Jim Swick (Staff, Guest),  Deb Ship (Staff, Guest),  Julia Seper (Gear Up, Guest).

Absent: Marilyn Mauritz (staff), Carol Hugley (Parent), Gilbert de la O (Community)

Handouts provided at this meeting:  Site Council folder, Humboldt testing and scoring results, School Continuous Improvement Plan (SCIP) handout, Parent Engagement Initiative Proposal, BST testing materials (optional for those interested).

Item #1:  Approval of Agenda
   Motion to approve agenda as amended so moved by Becki H., seconded by Valerie A.       
  Unanimous.

Item #2:  Approval of May 10, 2004 minutes
   Changes:  Change "Hintz" to "Hines".
Motion to approve minutes so moved by Becki H., seconded by Valerie A.  Unanimous.

Item #3:  Open Forum
Jim S. (EA):  Informing the Site Council that the Accelerated Reader program owned by the
school can not be utilized without an additional $2,000 to buy licenses for students to take the 
baseline test associated with the program.  Accelerated Reader was purchased in 1999 by a past
Humboldt librarian to help improve students' reading ability, it offers comprehension tests on
books already owned by the library.  Up until now there was no staff person to operate the
program.  Jim S. is willing to do this but initial set up of the program resulted in to many licenses in one area and not enough in another.  Jim is interested in a non-teaching staff site council position.
Discussion:  The principal did not budget for this expense in this year's budget and money is tight at the moment, if there are compensatory funds available Jim should apply.  Dave M. suggests that Jim work with the tech staff to adjust the licenses so they are in the correct areas.  This may solve the problem with no additional licenses being purchased.
    Julie S. (Gear Up):  8 families attended an event featuring 8 alumni who discussed their 
experiences with post secondary education.  The families then attended a Timberwolves game.             On January 26th, Gear Up will host Financial Aid night and Bob T. was hired to update student
     transcripts.   

Item #4:  SCIP presentation (Dr. Murphy)
1.  A presentation of testing required and of the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) that must be met under No Child Left Behind was given.  A handout showed Humboldt's current progress on AYP in Math and Reading tests by demographic group.  Currently students are tested in math and
reading, science and social studies tests will start being used in 2006.  In order to graduate from high school in MN, students must pass the Basic Skills Test (BST), this tests students at about a 7th or 8th grade level.  AYP is measured using a different test, but students do not need to score a certain level on this test in order to graduate. 
2. We are qualified for free and reduced lunch funding.  Taking this money requires all teachers to be licensed in the area they are teaching.  If teachers are not, a note to the parents of all students in that class must be sent.
3. Some staff members are currently creating a Senior Project course.  The freshman academy and the three others will be kept but some clarification is being done on the role of academy chairs.
4. We currently have five goals and the plan is to narrow this to three clear, strong and measurable goals.  Also, we will keep the goals for about five years so that we have some time to measure and see the results on improvement in these areas.  Our current goal 3 may be too broad or focus on "easier" things; we want to focus in on Reading and Math improvement using our data.
5. Discussion: English Language Learning students take the Test of Emerging Academic English (TEAE).  Members discussed challenges to getting students to take the MN Comprehensive Assessment seriously because it is not necessary for graduation.  Teachers mentioned that if the significance of the MCA's are explained to students they do take them seriously.  Members also asked why junior high students are passed on to high school if they have not passed the BST.  The principal commented that the district is recognizing that students' test scores start to slip most significantly during the Junior High years and are looking into ways to work with Junior High Schools so accountability exists.

Item #5:  Electronic SCIP (Gary P)
1. A tech demonstration of the SCIP as it appears on-line was given.  The on-line tool contains a Data Dashboard which shows basic demographic and testing data about the school.  This year, an AYP work plan must also be filled out.  If we are a Title I school we also need an additional work plan is this area.  There is a matrix which allows you to ensure that each of your initiatives clearly correlates with a goal and there is an assurances section for administration to cross-check what needs to be done to meet state and national laws.
2. The goal is that the SCIP be used as a working document used in everyday meetings.  The Site Council should check the status of SCIP initiatives at monthly meetings.  The Site Council is also able to ask questions and make recommendations for changes to the SCIP plan after the draft is created and reviewed by HILT.  Site Council members must read all SCIP materials in their blue folders and be ready to discuss them at the January meeting.

Item #6:  Principal's Report (John B)
1. District Budget Deficit:  The upcoming year represents a $24 million budget deficit for St. Paul Public Schools; this is one of the largest deficits in some time.  It is caused from decreasing student enrollment in the district.  Each year, this decrease in enrollment compounds its effect.  Money from the legislature has increased by $100/student but this does not keep up with inflation in fuel and insurance costs.  The law does not permit school districts to raise property taxes to fund education, funding can only be raised through referendums.  St. Paul already passed one that will continue for some time but it also can not keep up with inflation.  Also, the school district used to have a reserve but this has been spent down.  We are now in an emergency state.  People notice when a football program is cut, but not always when teachers are being let go due to lack of funds.  Private schools and charters also influence the number of kids enrolling in traditional public schools, and therefore our funding.  The state will no longer fund our pre-k program so this will suffer as well.  It is time that we do something about it to get people's attention.  In the past teachers rode busses and sat on the steps of the capitol to raise awareness and show that "education is important."  The school district is putting together a group to work on this; we need people from Humboldt to come to a strategy meeting about how we can be active in changing this.  Strong recommendations to parents to go to the Parents United Network website and start writing, it also shows you how to contact your representatives.  John B, Kari D, Gary P, Tim S, Patty M, and Dave M. agreed to be representatives from the site council to work on this.  John would like time on the January agenda to further discuss.
2. Senior Party:  The group still struggles to find parents and other volunteers to help out.  Vicki Stoffel is the contact person.
3. 9th Grade Academy:  The academy will enter a two week blitz to prepare for the Basic Skills Test (BST).  This was done in the past and was a huge success; the intensive focus helped the students to recognize the importance of this exam.

Item #7:   Parent Engagement Initiative Proposal (Kari D and John H)
 The parent engagement proposal was created by Kari D, John H and Anne G. It lays out many
 ideas and possible action steps to increase parent engagement at the school.  The proposal is not
 asking that we undergo every idea listed at this time.  Instead, we should chose a few that we can
 accomplish in the next year.  Site Council members will read the proposal and come with
 comments and their view on which ideas should be focused on first.  This will be discussed
 at the January meeting.

Item #8:  FYI Article Update (Kari)
 Kari was able to connect with Gear Up staff and learned that the students were told to put
 Together an article but did not do it in time.  Kari plans to work with the student again to get an
 article in the next edition of the FYI.  Also, the next FYI issue will contain an article about lack of  funding for schools and out-of-school-time activities.

Item #10:  District Co-Chair Training (Becki)
 Becki has placed materials about the role of site councils in our blue folders.  Please look it over,
 shares what our role can and can not be.

Item #11:  New Business (All)
 Due to time restraints, please let Becki know of any and she will try to place on next month's
 agenda.

Item #12:  Next Meeting Site
 Next meeting will be January 10th at Humboldt High School.  Val will announce if the room
 location of the meeting changes.

Item #13:  Adjourn
      Motion to adjourn made by Bonnie B., seconded by John H.  Unanimous.