In attendance: Julie Printz, Elaine Strohfus, Bonnie McLellan, Craig Roen, Steve Peacock, Gene Yates, Jody Murphy, Kathy Bigelow, Emmett Donnelly, Karen Benson, Jessica Pihlstrom, Kris Hageman, Ann Hobbie, Jeff Sambs, Cleva Jobe, Chris Miller, Kari Brennan, Deb van Neste, Laura Simon, Allison Bittner, Dorothy Slegman

The meeting commenced at 5:21 p.m. Minutes from Oct. 19 and Nov. 9 were approved. The agenda was also approved.

NEAT: The agenda indicated a representative from NEAT was to speak. The representative was not present.

Ad Hoc Marketing Brochure Committee Recruitment: Ann Hobbie requested volunteers to generate a new Groveland Park Elementary brochure to be used for tours and at the School Choice Fair. Several parents indicated interest in helping and will meet with Ann at a later date.

• Parents United Network is hosting a joint meeting with Groveland and Expo parents on January 13 at 6:30PM at Expo Elementary. The discussion will focus on an explanation of education funding and budgeting history and issues. Parents are strongly encouraged to invite anyone and everyone they know to attend, even if they don’t have children in the St. Paul Public schools.
• The TLC at Groveland that was scheduled to begin in early January was moved up to begin on December 8^th. The TLC at Como is now full, necessitating an earlier start at Groveland.
• Questions were asked about how the space was being managed. Dr. Jobe responded that space is being made in empty classrooms that are currently being used as storage. Ashley Cannaday has been asked to give up her space as well. Kris Hageman suggested that the school try and rally parents to help with the move.
• Dr. Jobe mentioned that she is currently in negotiations with S’more Fun over shared space but she is hopeful something can be worked out with them.
• Questions were raised about after school care for the Hmong children. At this time there is an ALC program at the church across the street on Cleveland. Dr. Jobe would like to see an after school program specifically for our Hmong students on site at Groveland at some point in the future.
• All bilingual Hmong teachers have been hired but are unavailable until January 3^rd. One of these teachers is a PhD and counselor.
• All ELL teachers are currently employed by SPPS but would have been cut if not for the opening of the TLC at Groveland.
• Prior to January 3^rd Ann Scoville will be teaching in the morning and Jeannie will be covering the afternoon for the seven school days. Two Hmong EA’s will start right away (one is coming from J.J. Hill). One of them, Dua Vang, is a returning Groveland staff member.
• The Hmong children are very shy, and have had no exposure to formal education. 75 % in K-3 have never been to school, 60% in grades 4-6 have never been to school of any kind. If they had exposure to schooling it was in crowded circumstances and largely involved learning by rote.
• The additonal prep person is still to be determined.
• Bus 282 will bring these children. Dr. Jobe prepped the current bus 282 kids and drivers on how this will impact them. A Pioneer Press reporter will ride with them and follow them around the on the first day. Nutrition services will bring breakfast to them in room 3109.
• The immediate training will involve the establishment of rituals and routines. More formal education will begin on January 3^rd.
• At 10:30 a.m. a snack will be sent up to them. They will spend time learning how to used the cafeteria and pin #s.
• School supplies and backpacks have been donated. In fact, many community organizations and individuals have been very forthcoming with offers of help for these new students. Nativity Parish sent over donated books. There is also a clothing drive under way.
• Dr. Jobe is hoping to get a Hmong parent on site council.
• A suggestion was made to assign Groveland sponsor/buddy families for the new Hmong families.
• Another suggestion was made to add family bios to the newsletter each month to help parents, students and teachers become aware of the sorts of trials and celebrations these new students have experienced.

Transitional Language Center – Plan for Implementation/Next Steps: Jeff Sambs presented information on "Ideas to Welcome and Manage New Students" with subcategories of: Administrative, Connection with social services, community organizations and new parents, Connection with District, Building interactions between students. Some highlights and discussions included the following:

• There will be an information event at the Hmong Cultural Resource Center on January 20^th from 6-7:30 for staff and community.
• Ann Hobbie mentioned the Hmong Odyssey Workshops and asked if others from Site Council or school community would be interested in attending. The first in the series is Dec. 15^th, all day, with a focus on teaching about the Hmong in our communities and the afternoon focused on Hmong culture and potential mental health implications. It is to be the first of a series of five workshops. It costs $10 and is sponsored by the Wilder Foundation.
• Groveland community is encouraged to write letters to support Senate version of House Bill #5006 that will provide $15 million in "Impact Grants." This will be discussed further in subsequent Site Council meetings.
• Groveland has been deluged with offers of help from the community and individuals.
• Jody Murphy and Jeff Sambs explained what they have done in their own classrooms to prepare their students for the new Hmong students. Jody mentioned that her students are being asked to give up their "extra" lockers and both talked about reading books in class about the Hmong immigration.
• Many of the "bubbles" in the document Jeff handed out have been completed. It was suggested that a new printout be made identifying what steps are left to be done so that parent volunteers can help out with these areas.

• Jeff and Ann will revise this flow chart to amend it, as well as identify which items are complete, in progress, and yet to begin, and identify steps for ensuring successful implementation.

Friends of Groveland: On Tuesday, November 30^th, Friends of Groveland held their annual funds allocation meeting. $29,000 in requests were granted. Most committees were represented and most of the requests were fully or partially granted. Committees were very generous and gracious in negotiating where cuts were needed. Karen Benson reviewed specific allocations. The next step for Friends will be to communicate the results to the requestees with explanations where needed. Julie Printz read aloud the Friends criteria and priorities for allocating dollars.

Technology gave up a large chunk of dollars that it was carrying over with the intention of buying computers in the fall of 05-06. They had hoped to make a capital investment in computers of $21,000. Karen threw out the possibility of using some of the "Celebrate Groveland" funds to restore some of that money. Friends has asked Nathaniel Lindley to give a presentation to the Groveland Site Council about the future plans for technology at Groveland.

Future Agenda Items: Jeff Sambs and Ann Hobbie are trying to get agendas out earlier to site council members. Someone suggested that agendas be posted on the web site so parents are better informed.