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Groveland Park Site Council

Minutes

September 20, 2007

In attendance:  Craig Roen, Julie Printz, Jean Bergstrom, Jeremy Lish, Michelle Brasuve,  Michael Arquin, Katie Parke-Reimer, Allison Bittner, Anneke Krall, Rene Akimoto, Connie Johnson, Jody Murphy,  Jennifer Sparks, Julie Bach, Ann Hobbie, Becky Pedersen, Scott Brownlee, Annette Hanson, Jeff Sambs,  Betsy Kennedy,  Marta Hanson, Bruce Finger, Karen Benson, Emmett Donnelly, Michelle Brasure, Todd O’Bert, Riley Kane, Dawn York, Maddi McDonell, Lori Otto, Deb Van Neste, Becky Ropers-Huilman, Jill Galding, Mike Arquin, Teri L. Bookless-Geis, Jose Brizard, Riley Kane, Lisa Keitel

Meeting commenced at 5:18.  The minutes from June, 2007 and the new agenda were approved. 

The new principal, Becky Pedersen was introduced and said a few words about her background.  Welcome Principal Pedersen!

Parent co-chair Craig Roen welcomed parents to the meeting and stressed that Site Council is a friendly, somewhat informal and welcoming body.  Craig and Jody collected email addresses on the sign-up sheet in order to solicit agenda items for future meetings. 

Principal’s Report:

·         New teachers/staff were introduced:

Suzanne Crandall – works on math and reading with students, volunteer coordinator

Mary Elliot – ELL Language Academy at 2^nd grade level, comes to us from Ramsey JH

Marta Hanson – 5^th grade teacher

Michelle Hyatt – ½ time enrichment specialist

Brenda Leach – new LD teacher

Shannon McParlan – curriculum coach (new position provided by the District)

Randy Peterson – new band instructor coming from Capitol Hill.  He will take over an empty special ed classroom. 

Lori Seastrand – now a 1^st grade teacher

Jennifer Sparks – 4^th grade teacher

·         Curriculum/Parent Information Night – Thursday, September 27^th, 6:30-7:30

Each classroom presentation will be repeated twice.

·         MCA data: 

Concerns – 4^th grade reading and 6^th grade reading scores, and the total scores have dropped. We are on AYP for our ELL and Free and Reduced Lunch populations.

Curriculum contact coach and the ALC after school program will start in October (voluntary but recommended for kids who struggled with MCA scores).

Craig Roen testified for a Senate hearing on school testing, arguing for a growth model as opposed to tracking a group’s progress (should instead track individual children from year to year).  

Becky stressed that we will work on the things we CAN change.

·         G/T Task Force – Jeff Sambs summarized some of the loose ends from last year’s task force.  Background on the task force:  It was formed to research and address some of the controversy here at Groveland about this program.  Action taken included providing more communication to parents (hence Curriculum Info night), curriculum mapping displayed on the website, and interest inventory given to kids last year

Loose ends just wrapped up included creation of an “enrichment map”, and a decision on a formal title for the G/T staff member: “Enrichment Specialist”. 

Pull-out versus classroom enrichment (collaboration with enrichment specialist and teacher) – district is moving in the direction of collaboration. Students are still identified thru the NNAT as G/T and are required to get special services which Groveland provides. 

The Task Force is generally considered done and the initiatives identified are now up to the staff to implement.

·         Communication with families:  This is how we can communicate with our new principal:

1. Newsletter (letter from Becky)
2. Principal’s Corner on the website
3. Contact her by email and phone (be aware she has a SPAM jam that may filter out your email – so if you don’t get a response, try calling her)
4. Staff can reach her by walkie talkie
5. Spur of the moment meetings are possible as needed

6. Census – numbers are floating yet, but right now we have 415 (just a little above projected enrollment),

Site Council Member Orientation:  Please contact Craig Roen or Jody Murphy if you’d like to be a voting member.  This is a 2 year term.  Next month we will elect voting members.

Playground Committee:  Groveland is getting a new playground!  We did not get STAR funding but city council member Pat Harris gave us the funds with strings attached.  Volunteers still needed for installation days and we are still taking donations and selling bricks!  There will be two phases – equipment installed this fall, landscaping, sidewalks and benches to be installed in the spring.

Marketing Committee:  Alice Lightner Johnson is asking for help with marketing work for the Marketing Committee (writing, PR skills, graphic design).  Marketing committee is sponsoring an information night for new parents.  Tuesday, October 9.  7-8 p.m at Coffee Bene.

Future Agenda Items:  The following issues were brought to Craig’s attention for discussion in future site council meetings.  The group voted on these issues for -07-08:

1. Large class size in grade 1 (numbers are 25, 26 and 27) – teacher aids are doing ½ hr in each class, the ELL teachers are also in there some of the time, also a special ed aide spends time in the classroom.  District says 24 is an approximate average district wide.  Becky asked parents to please contact her as soon as they have concerns.  We will revisit this issue next month. 
2. Library – there is a need for part time staff; lack of adequate funding – there were many votes to discuss this further
3. Reassess .5 G/T position; if budget allows, restore to .8 or 1.0?  Just three votes for this one.  The staff is optimistic about our current direction and staffing level.
4. Develop a readiness plan to better deal with fluctuation in student population and funding. 
5. Student council – would need a parent to lead this.  We had a parent volunteer for this.  Craig will follow up with her.
6. K and 6^th grade graduation ceremonies – revisit in spring
7. Environmental – review current recycling practices; areas of improvement; environmental education as part of curriculum – we’ll have Kris Hageman present on what she has in mind for this in a future meeting
8. More deliberate effort at grant writing; hire a grant writer?  The District has a grant office we can use as a resource.
9. Peace site – web site advertises this, but people don’t seem to know what this is.  The “Friends” model of conflict resolution used here.  Staff had previously been trained in these methods.  A parent offered to help get this going.  Becky Pedersen can bring this up with staff and see if the staff can spare the time.
10.  Implement a wellness committee. 

October 2 – Davanni’s Groveland night from 4-8 p.m.

Meeting adjourned 7:04 p.m.