Thursday, October 21, 2010, 6:00 p.m.
(Minutes taken initially by Janice Banta, and then completed by Helen Sharratt, beginning where Helen volunteers to be Secretary)
Attendance: See Parent Group Attendance Sheet dated October 21, 2010.
Principal’s Report:
Sick child. Not available for meeting. [Helen note: Harlod joined the meeting – see below]
Staff Representative Report (Ken).
An Intensives policy change is in the works. The proposal is that students have more variety in the intensives they participate in. Also, staff will commit to more variety in the Intensives they offer. Often students go to the same activities time after time. Great ideas for Intensives are proposed, but they still vote for the same choices. The proposal will go to Ad Board tonight. There will be a cap based on the size of the classes, so that there is balance across teachers.
Parents approve a Motion to Support the Proposed Change in Intensives.
Intensive dates: Not allowed to have overnight trips during culturally significant holidays. Vote for next year’s Intensives is August 27th through September
Student Group Report:
The dances are continuing. An all School Meeting for only students was held (a few staff for legal purposes only) to address some behaviors noted (off campus incidents). Purpose of meeting was to get students talking about it. This is still in process.
Meeting notes from students were too specific to be posted on the website. The webmaster is willing to edit the minutes to address this concern. How can we prevent this from recurring? It is recommended that the Student Group work with adult helpers and webmaster to develop a plan for minutes. No more than 4-5 guidelines and this can be applied to all minutes.
Treasurer’s Report:
$6,200 collected ($350 more than initial budget). Will work with Tatiana to bring in an auction budget. Last piece will be to pull in the auction under overall Parent Group budget. Coffee/Kitchen has $1,000 for that project.
CES fundraiser – tee-shirts sold. There’s a little bit of money for them.
Need a volunteer to obtain a gaming permit. Parent volunteers.
Raffle tickets are now available for $20 each. Done with Holy Rosary Academy. 2010 Mazda Tribute 4X4 plus cash prizes. Steller keeps 50% of the proceeds. Fliers are also available.
Old Business:
CES group is working on revised notebooks.
Parent survey via the Flash. Approved at last meeting. A request was made to use the “Family Engagement†language.
Nominations for Co-Chair: Joe Banta was nominated for Co-Chair. A Motion was made and passed.
Secretary: Helen Sharratt volunteered to be secretary. Katie Bates volunteered to be a back up for Helen if she is not able to make a meeting to take the minutes. There were no objections.
Questions regarding the different school groups:
Parent Group alternates Wednesday/Thursday monthly meetings (holidays)
Advisory Groups send students to Ad Board each week about concerns/operations within the school. One student from each group has a seat on Ad Board. Students have 15 seats. Teachers have 3. Parents have 8. Anyone can attend/participate in Ad Board.
Community café discussion – Eliza and Bridget want it to be about getting back to Steller’s roots and what it is about. A meeting is scheduled for Nov 3 at 6 pm on the community café itself. Notice will go out for the meeting. It will be a potluck – Italian theme but not restrictive
Could we coordinate this with the community arts? Bridget – we are trying to set the mood – a café community with music and art. Will coordinate with the art teacher.
Harlod – what don’t want to have happen is lose the focus on the art itself. Alayne is enthusiastic about having this event at Steller with families in the lounge to discuss and share the art.  We don’t want to take away from that aspect of it. So whatever other plans are being planned to make the lounge cozy, kids can get together, but that should not take away from the art and the student’s articulation of what they are doing in art and why.
It is not the intent to show case art – it’s for a different purpose. Just art work around for ambience and not to take away from Alayne’s event. Agree that it is important for the focus to be around the art of the kids for Alayne’s plans.
Harlod – 2 seniors are “comfortizing†the lounge – magazines, warm colors, bistro tables, etc. as their senior project. He is working on this with them to see the lounge furnished based on this project, which will give that ambience
Joe – Need a Motion to be allowed to eat food in the MPR which is generally not permitted, to allow it at the café.
Harlod – won’t make a decision until it comes to me.
Janice – I move to allow food at the café accompanied with a talk about why it’s important to be careful
Rebecca seconds.
No objection.
Joe Banta – Family Engagement plan:
Janice has worked with Harlod and staff and we have come up with this. It’s a requirement to get these goals into a district plan
Janice – parent involvement plan is required at every school – all schools have to have a writing goal, a second academic goal and a social/-emotional goal.
Harlod – math is the other goal.
Social-emotional goal – Janice suggested to the nurse that the drug education program be tweaked and used as this goal. Also this can encompass technology etiquette assistance – to look at the challenges of social networking with texting, Facebook, etc. It is important to learn how to foster good relationships. John (counselor) is going to work on writing up that goal.
Rochelle, Michelle Brown and Janice will work on it and any input from this group or pass it along via us. Has to be finalized by October 31, 2010.
Social networking piece – it would be helpful to have education on this for parents as well as students.
Janice – students could come back with training and work with other students and report to parent group for staff and parents.
Rebecca – shall we make this a topic at an all community meeting?
Harlod – we can add some goals, it’s a continuous process, and we can implement it even if it doesn’t make that deadline. Can still look at it.
Joe – should more people be involved in the family engagement plan?
Harlod – we have three but a couple more would be good, for different perspectives
Harlod – how you would want to be notified about these things? We currently use Robo calls, the Flash, emails, etc. If you want to be notified any other way, how?
Joe – we need to attend the band concert. We have covered all the action items, but haven’t done all the business on the agenda.
Rochelle – look at kitchen info handed out.
Vince and Rebecca – Bill Gates Grant for Prince William Sound hand-on scientific field study.
Gerald is willing to work with them on it. This program takes place in Cordova – Prince William Sound received a Bill Gates grant for scientific hands-on study in the Sound. This is an excellent opportunity to build a curriculum around this so our students can get some experience. The Sound is not that far to go – it would be a field trip and intensive opportunity. Joe Banta visited with a group. There is money out there and Gerald has agreed to lead this effort to find out more about possible participation.
Adjourn.
Next Meeting, Wednesday, November 10 at 6 pm.