Groveland Elementary

Site Council

January 15, 2008

The meeting began at 5:20PM. 

Present:  Maddi McDonnell, Katie Parke-Reimer, Connie Johnson, Ann Hobbie, Tasha Klepp, Jeff Sambs, Emmett Donnelly, Jeremy Lish, Alice Johnson, Tiffany Wortman, Renee Akimoto, Dawn York, Allison Bittner, Jody Murphy, Becky Pedersen, Deb Van Neste, Todd Obert,, Lori Otto

I.  Principal’s Report

•  Homecroft Closing

The degree to which the closing of Homecroft Elementary would affect enrollment at Groveland is yet unknown.  The school has been holding community meetings to propose viable alternatives to closing.

If the school closes, SPPS has told  Becky Pedersen that approximately 50 Language Academy students from Homecroft will be eligible for bussing to Groveland next year, should they opt to enroll.  Most bilingual Hispanic students at Homecroft would go to the bilingual program at Wellstone Elementary and would therefore not be part of the LA group coming to Groveland.

More on Homecroft’s status will be known in February.

•  Library Update

Becky Pedersen was able to use Friends of Groveland funds to hire a licensed elementary librarian to assess and “weed” our collection.  The results of her work included pulling 400 out of date non-fiction titles, which will be available free for students and teachers.  She also trained volunteers to process title on the computer, as well as assess current fictional titles for updating.  Our library has a total of 35,000 titles, valued at $500,000.   She recommends that we hire a TA/EA or librarian periodically to order and update the collection.

Mrs. Pedersen suggested we look at using Friends dollars in the future to hire her to order for our collection.

•  Half Day Kindergarten for ’08-’09

Mrs. Pedersen reports that the district elementary administrators are currently discussing what to do about half day K options in the district.  She says that the district is aware of a few schools where there is interest in a half day program. It was suggested that we consider proposing a half day K program option, that is independent of transportation, to the district to be proactive about our interest.  Mrs. Pedersen assured us that the district knows we wish to sustain this program if possible. More will be known by the February SC meeting.

•  Maps and Globs throughout the building (some in excess of 50 years old) were replaced using Friends of Groveland funds.

•  Open House and Curriculum Night Feedback

Mrs. Pedersen asked for feedback on both the pre-school evening Open House that was held last August as well as the Curriculum Night held in September.  Parents present unanimously spoke in favor of both events.  Some suggested to rename the Curriculum Night so that parents know it is an informational overview provided to them by the teachers, as well as to market the event by parents who attended.  The possibility of hosting different grade levels on different nights so that teachers did not have to do two, rushed presentations back-to-back was also raised.

Parents suggested that staff decide whether to host Open House/Meet Your Teacher event during the day or evening.  However, since the district’s scheduling of teachers’ opening week is unpredictable, it is hard to know for staff which time format is better.

•  Mrs. Pedersen reminded everyone that Parent Information Fair is Feb. 2 from 9:30-2PM.  Dawn York is coordinating parents to volunteer at the event.

2.  Marketing Committee

The marketing committee has produced a new brochure for Groveland as well as a new video.  The video was viewed with very positive response.  The committee will oversee distribution of the new materials to area preschools in the coming weeks.  The video can be viewed on Groveland’s website.

3.  Parent Survey

The end of the year survey that has been given in recent years will be reviewed and simplified at the next Site Council meeting.  We discussed the importance of finding a volunteer to tabulate the results while maintaining confidentiality of responses.

4.  Parent Co-Chair for Site Council for Next Year

Parents are urged to consider serving as Site Council co-chair with a staff member next year as the two-year term for Jody Murphy and Craig Roen will end after this school year.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:30PM.

Agenda for February Meeting:  Transient families issues, Celebrate Groveland, Parent Survey