AS#1 Community Meeting - 8/5/09
Transportation:
How can we connect out of cluster AS#1 families who need assistance? Need to get the list of out of cluster families from Franchesca when she gets back to school. One family in need in Ballard. Families who need help should contact Doh. One strategy is to find a bus route closest to your home address and have your child bussed from there. Will we still have use of the AS#1 bus? We need more parent and staff drivers (must get school bus drivers liscense).
Decision Matrix:
We need a logical way to make decisions at the school. There is one that we can work on. This is a goal for Roy so that everyone is clear on where we are and what we are doing. Who does what and where do you go for help. That will start at the beginning of the year. In the mean time we will be working from the old paradigm. This matrix is now posted on the community listserve in the files section.
Core Choice vs Assignment:
Staff and Roy will meet to assign students on August 17th. In the past, students have had a choice. Teacher 1st work day is September 2nd. 206 students enrolled. 6th grade families have not been informed of the change to an elementary model. Grade spans are currently set at:
1 – K Victoria
2 – 1/2 Lauryn, Joan
2 – 3/4 Sara, Paul
2 – 5/6 Maggie, Carolyn
2 – 7/8 Iesha, Jo
6th grade is moving to an elementary model. Roy is to send out a letter to incoming 6th grade families to let them know about this. This could be a major issue for many families.
Teachers have to teach within their endorsement. Can no longer do it the “old” way where people taught what they wanted.
Goal is to have core descriptions and placement out to families on Aug 27-28. Roy will be meeting with available teachers on Aug 17th to work on the placements. We will need to evaluate how choice/placement will be handled in the future. This is an odd year because of the transition.
Improving academics:
.5 literacy coach and .5 math coach provided to the school. Middle school teacher will be using The Source (district online program) to track assignments and grades. Parents will be able to check in.
Text books. If they are not provided for use at home can they be purchased.
What about the 6th graders? Will they be a part of Source program? No, Roy is hoping to have 5/6 included.
We will have the Continual School Improvement plan to update. Roy will meet with teachers to go over academic data. October 1st is when it has to be submitted. We don’t have to use WASL measurements to create the C-SIP. We also talked about adding our Alternative priorities to the document so that we are held accountable for improving in those areas as well. It is a fluid document.
Before and After School Care:
Roy will be working on it in the next two weeks. Cheryl talked to Boys and Girls club who said that we needed to submit an RFP for childcare services to the district; something about a bidding process. Right now, it looks like we may not be able to have it onsite. One solution is to have teachers staff it until we get a permanent placement. Another solution is to partner with Olympic View or Northgate Community Center’s programs. Cheryl is taking the lead on following up on this.
Hiring:
.5 councilor is hired. His name is Darrel James
.5 librarian position is still open. Roy will do an open job posting as the only displaced librarian is looking for a full time position.
.6 art teacher is still open. There are 3 displaced teachers who could possibly be assigned
Roy’s Goals:
- Developing the arts program
- Improving Academics
- Continuing the Experiential Learning focus – how will this look? He wants to make sure that fieldtrips are connected to the teacher’s curriculum and that they are thoughtful. He will support teachers in facilitating big fieldtrips and is committed to Rites of Passage.
- Decision Making Matrix
- Improving Communications. One way to do this will be the time trackers and the list of district policies printed in the front of it. Also it will have a directory with whom to contact for specific questions so parents and students know ahead of time.
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Restructuring Plan
Question: Will we be moving away from an alternative methodology because of the required 90 minutes of Literacy and 75 minutes of math required by the restructuring plan? Roy’s goal is that teachers will be free to be creative in what they need to do. Teachers are committed to continuing the experiential learning focus of the school.
Question: can the document be made available to the community? Roy said that he would pass it along.
Plan requires 90 minutes of reading/literacy daily, 75 minutes of math daily, district provided .5 math and .5 literacy coaches and principal coach for Roy. Also included but not brought up by Roy were the requirement for a name change and the creation of a signature program at the school.
Roy wants parents to know he has an open door policy and that they are always welcome at the school to help out and be a part of the school.
Snow Sports:
How will it work this year? We need a teacher to take charge of it. Need to look at how fees and scholarships will work. UP in the air for now but Roy is not opposed to it.
Discipline:
Roy has a no tolerance stance on harassment, drugs/alcohol, violence and … (I am missing the last one)
The district policy on these 4 things will be followed and they will be described in detail in the Time Trackers handed out to all 3-8 grade students. K-2 families will get it in the mail? Specific consequences are described for each infraction and students are expected to read them and know that they will be applied.
Roy shared that he has a long history of working with kids who struggle with behavior issues. Its something he connected with early in his career and is very passionate about. Classroom discipline will be dealt with as a team between parents, student, and teacher. Hallway and playground discipline will first be looked at proactively, where was the supervision, etc. Didn’t really respond to how he would handle that kind of thing.
Question: What about Positive Discipline? Are we still committed to this? Roy said he has read the book and they did institute it at Summit but it was taxing as far as data collection. Teachers can make a commitment to following the guidelines of Positive Discipline. (I may be missing some information here as there was a lot of personal stories shared and we never really got back on topic as to whether the school was going to adopt it as a discipline policy). At the last BLT meeting, the BLT did make a commitment to having it be part of the school.
Forum would also be a part of the problem resolution system.
Extreme behavior issues would be handled closely by Roy. A summit parent shared that people don’t need to be worried about Roy being a harsh ruler. He is very hands on. He spends most of his time out in the halls and doing lunch supervision. He is proactive and open. Another parent shared that his child has often been the subject of discipline issues and that Roy always treated his child respectfully and had his best interest in mind.
An AS#1 parent wants to have it on record that she is very uncomfortable with the presentation of the zero tolerance
Roy’s number one priorities are safety and building relationships.
Minor Changes:
School starts at 8:20 and ends at 2:40
6th grade moving to elementary model
All School Picnic and New Family Support:
We started to run out of time here. A tentative date is September 3rd for families to meet teachers in their cores and hear about the upcoming school year. A parent run picnic could happen afterward to connect new families and describe opportunities for parent participation in committees, site council, etc. Also get permissions for a directory. We need to set up a committee to work on this ASAP. Lauryn is willing to help.
Roy’s summer hours:
Monday 8/10 and Friday 8/14 8-2
Week of 8/17 8am – 2pm. Building will be officially open at this time
