March 22 Saturday Morning Updates

Summary of this morning's flurry of updates (done at the frequently noted expense of playing bball or football with the 2nd grader "K.")

• Substantial changes to the calendar on the front page based on enews and duveneck alias content
• Changes to the staff list
• Posted SSC minutes (see the posts below)
• Posted the Duveneck Dispatches and put link on the front page for the latest one

Minutes for the February 5th, 2008 Duveneck Site Council Meeting

Members in attendance: Ching-wen Miron, Kathy Thibault, Kathleen Meagher, Diane Gosney, Linda van Gelder, Heidi Mickelsen, Jon Foster, Mark Robbins, Esther Yoon, Jaynie Schemel

Guest in attendance: Susan Mittmann

Review Agenda; Approved minutes from January

Open Forum: Susan Mittmann shared some concerns brought up by some parents at previous coffees with the principal regarding after school programs. She expressed that some people would like to know the following and requested that the site council consider asking such questions on the school wide survey:

1- how many families are seeking supplemental academic instruction (eg. math, science, writing, foreign language) outside the classroom.

2- why (eg. enrichment, remediation, different teaching style, different content).

The SSC received correspondence from Giselle Galper and Soma Mitra requesting that the group discuss concerns they have regarding mathematics. It was agreed that this topic would be placed on a future agenda.

School Site Plan:

The SSC continued to monitor the 2007-08 School Site Plan (aka Single Plan for Student Achievement). The group discussed progress in the areas of School Climate.

Discussion of 2008 Survey:

The group continued a discussion of the parent survey in terms of questions to include and appropriate phrasing to ensure that we will get the information we are seeking. We did not complete this task and agreed to reconvene on Monday, February 11th.

Scheduled an additional meeting for Monday, February 11th

Issues to be discussed include:

• Which questions need to be answered if families have more than one child?

• Do we want to include questions as requested by Susan Mittmann;

• Clarify the question we want to ask about PiE;

• How to phrase the question about the Duveneck Partnership;

• Questions for the teacher and student survey.

Meeting was adjourned.

Minutes for the February 11^th, 2007 Duveneck Site Council Meeting – This is a continuation of the February 5^th meeting, due to unfinished survey discussion

Members in attendance: Ching-wen Miron, Sarah Sands, Kathy Thibault, Kathleen Meagher, Diane Gosney, Linda van Gelder, Heidi Mickelsen, Al Yuen, Jon Foster, Mark Robbins, Esther Yoon.

Guest in attendance: Doug Burress

Agenda Items:

1. Diane Gosney noted that the Asia Fantasia event feedback from one class was very favorable and she showed a thank you card from the class.

Discussion of 2008 Survey: Continued clarification of Duveneck survey.

1. PIE question – It was suggested that we put a “please comment” section on this survey to determine why people do NOT participate. In addition we will put several choices for reason why families did not participate.

2. Duveneck partnership question – put a sentence in front to explain what it is and ask whether parents have experienced the Duveneck partnership. Change “do you believe” to “do you find.”

3. Add one last comment box – “Do you have any additional comments about your family’s experience at Duveneck?”

4. Changed the last question to “would you be willing to be contacted.”

5. There was a long discussion around whether we should include a question regarding after-school programs. A concern was expressed that if we put in such a question, there would be an expectation that Duveneck would act on any deficiencies. As a result the site council decided not to put in a question about after-school programs. There was also concern expressed that including such a question may send a message to parents that they should send their children to after school programs. The SSC does not want to create stress or misconception in the community by posing that kind of question.
   
   

ACTION ITEMS: Diane and Heidi will contact the parents that requested this question to be added and give them our feedback and conclusion. They will also let Soma Mitra and Giselle Galper know that their concerns will be addressed at a future SSC meeting that will occur after the Math Curriculum Night.

6. Targeting March 7^th as the deadline for the surveys to be completed (flyer will go out this Friday, 2/22/08).

Agenda Suggestions for Next Meeting

• Kathleen passed out suggested survey questions for teachers and one for students for all to review for the next meeting.

Meeting was adjourned.