Duveneck School Site Council
Meeting Minutes
June 2, 2008
Members in Attendance
Heidi Mickelson, Kathleen Meagher, Diane Gosney, Linda van Gelder, Mark Robbins, Jaynie Schemel, Kathy Thibault, Ching-wen Miron, Sarah Sands, Esther Yoon, Maya Misner, Soma Mitra, Jon Foster and Al Yuen. Other Guests-
Approval of Minutes:
May 5th minutes were approved unanimously. Minor changes were suggested before public viewing.
Correspondence/Open Forum:
None
School Safety Plan for 2008-2009
Playground conflict reduction and tools such as “talk it out” were presented. Earthquake disaster preparation is also covered from emergency supplies to practice drills. Each quarter a report will be provided to see how we are doing. Annually there will be a summary review as well.
Binder Content for Next Year’s Members
What is valuable in the binders? This year’s surveys, previous minutes and site plan should be included.
Discussion of allocation of remaining Site Block grant
Money allocated from last year’s school site council. We have spent a total of $17,231 on various projects (kindergarten fence, assembly speaker, security gate, staff development…).
There is $10,917 left for 2008-2009 school year. Kathleen suggested some ideas including: Staff development, assembly speakers, release time for teachers (time for teachers to observe each other and learn best practices), and laptops for teachers. PTA reserves have paid for the bulk of laptops. $3789 is left from the PTA laptop purchase that has yet to be absorbed.
A discussion occurred on what else we could do with the remaining funds. Kathy made a motion to approve Kathleen’s suggested budget for the remaining $10,917. It was approved unanimously.
PTA Report
Linda noted that we have a proposed PTA budget including the following: PTA will spend $17,000 on laptops for the teachers, $2K for a new smartboard, $3K for three LCD projectors, $500 for a new MP Room screen, and $10K will be contributed to next year’s operating budget. There will be $2500 left for either ceiling fans or curtains for the MP room. Honorary service awards ceremony this week. The County Fair event went well thanks to everyone who served at the event. Heidi asked for clarification regarding the DirectAsk program. A letter explaining the DirectAsk program will be going home with the report card to all parents.
Principal’s Report
School will end at the same time for all grade levels on Wednesdays next year to simplify the pickup schedule for parents and caregivers.
Review the 2007/2008 school year: Accomplishments, Challenges, Priorities for 2008-2009
Communication with the parent community improved. Suggestions to use enews, website, Dispatch etc to continue improved communication with parents. Completed the Kindergarten playstructure, security gate, Kindergarten garden area, the survey (parent, teacher, and student) was a success to access what parents are thinking.
Site Council Evaluation: Successes, suggestions for next year
More efficient way of getting through the Site Plan. Suggestion was to have Kathleen continue to add her notes of explanation and suggestion on the Site Plan – that was found to be very helpful.
Need to improve the communication and implementation of the Duveneck Partnership. A marketing campaign was suggested.
Improved orientation of NEW Site Council members, so that everyone can hit the ground running when school begins.
Make sure we prioritize the action plan from the survey next year.
A suggestion was given of potentially doing the survey every 3 years vs. the current 2 years. This would leave more time by the Site Council to do other school related projects. The survey took a lot of time and effort by the site council.
Meeting was adjourned.
