SIT Meeting, November 15, 20010

1) Call to Order
2) Attendance

 

X Brad Royal - Admin X Tamara Hughes – encore
X John Downs - Tech X Deborah Cummings - encore
X Candi Fernandez – CC X Daniel Bryant – 6 th
X Lisha Vannoy - guidance X Elizabeth Hobson – 6 th
John Cardarelli – S.S. X Matt Fossa – 7 th
X Kelly Hall – L.A. Robin Moon – 7 th

X Dave Jenkins – Math X Kirby Carespodi – 8 th

X Mark Schnably – Science X Brent Atkinson – 8 th
X Jill Friesen – encore/secretary X M.Hunter/J. Fangmann- PTA
X Karen Parker – Teacher Assistant

 

3) Minutes

 

 -Motion to approve last meeting minutes? Fossa motioned, Carespodi second, all in favor.

 

4) Staff Development

 

- Raines/Dietrich to Middle School Conference at $355 each. There was much discussion on this issue. Brent said we have roughly $1600 left in Staff development funds for the rest of the year. If we fund these two in full it would use up almost half of all that is left. The registration is $195.00 (rest of cost is for subs, Raines may not need a sub?). Question to fund the sub or the registration? Mr. Royal mentioned that the registration is tax deductible, so maybe pay the sub so they could deduct the cost of the registration? A suggestion was made to pay a fixed amount based on what others have been paid so far this year (roughly $160.00/person). D

 

Question: Were they members of the Middle School Association? (Cheaper cost to register) The conference is not subject specific so participants could share what was learned with the entire staff. We tabled the discussion; and came back to it at the end. Motion was made to pay the registration amount (as done for previous teachers’ proposals), and teachers could possibly take personal days at a cost of $50.00 per day. This motion was approved.

 

5) Meetings during last week of a quarter? – (8th grade teachers)

Discussion was about all the things teachers have to do at the end of the quarter (Blue diamond testing, entering grades, etc). Bryant made the point that in past years we did not have meetings the weeks progress reports were due, so this year we are already having more meetings. The least we could do is cut the meetings out at the end of the quarter. Mr. Royal said that PLC’s are a district mandate, and that may or may not be an option to cut them out. However, he believes we can certainly accommodate not meeting the last week of the quarter (definitely grade level, most likely PLC).

 

6) PTA Capital Campaign/location of Classroom Solutions – Bryant/Downs:

 

 Downs asked for SIT’s input on the location of the 7th and 8th grade classroom solutions. We have three submitted proposals (Humphrey, Dietrich, Schnably) for “housing” the first phase of classroom solutions. Though there were no formal proposals submitted, Downs mentioned that Abbey Allen had suggested at the faculty meeting that her room (010) was available every other day and she was willing to house a solution and share her room. Brigman’s room (227) was also mentioned as a possible “shared location” (Mr. Royal said that could be changing pending the outcome of EC changes). Encore liked the idea of a shared location like Allen’s room, but others insisted that it is best located in a classroom where a teacher will likely use it every day. Schnably made the point that he would like to see one in a science room, and this why he submitted a proposal. Carespodi raised the issue of the hassles of being kicked out of your room, etc. Bryant said that sharing classroom space is just the reality until we reach our goal of having many more classrooms outfitted. Additionally, it is critical that we have teachers who are “professionals” when it comes to incorporating all of the technology into lessons on a regular basis. Brent reminded us that the “spending money” committee had hashed out many of these issues previously. That committee decided that Media center “classroom solution” was designated to be first available to Encore and 6th grade during this first phase. The remaining two solutions should located in the annex and in the main building to serve 7th and 8th grade. With those guidelines in mind, motion was made by John Cardarelli (second Friesen) to support a solution in Dietrich’s room in the annex, and Humphrey’s rooom in the main building. Motion was approved, was not unanimous.

Bryant discussed the “capital fundraising campaign” by PTA to raise money for technology. This campaign will target individual donors and corporate sponsors. We are looking for a group of committed teachers (maybe 6-10) to serve on this joint committee in order to show our support for this campaign and to help direct it. PTA is having its first meeting on Monday, November 22 at 6:00 PM to get the ball rolling. Then, the same group of teachers need to coordinate and help present at the December 9th PTA General Meeting where we will highlight what the classroom solution can be like. Please discuss with your constituents, and get back to Bryant some names of teachers willing to serve by Wednesday of this week.

 

 There was a side discussion at this point when Eric Schoulda mentioned that the Media Center is completing a grant and may need PTA to support a matching amount of $2500 (to complete a grant for $12,500 for books in the Media Center). TJMS Media Center is short on books compared with other schools. Carespodi advocated that in order to improve reading scores we need to get new and exciting reading/print materials in front of the kids. Carespodi said that technology will not improve reading scores. Brent reminded that while this is a legitimate need, our current agenda does not include discussing this as a part of the technology push. If needed, this topic should be brought forth as a new item of concern in a future SIT meeting.

 

7) Afternoon announcements – Schnably

 

 Concern was raised about the length of afternoon announcements and whether they could be abbreviated. Mr. Royal said he is just doing what was done, and is reading what is given to him.

 

 Suggestions:

 

• Don’t start till 1:59.
• Keep announcements to 30 seconds to 1 minute.
• Could afternoon announcements only be made if there is a change during the day to something that was said in the morning (a cancellation for example) or regarding events that afternoon?
• Could afternoon announcements only be about items occurring that afternoon?
• Could we continue to remind students to be in tutoring by 2:10?
• Jennifer Covington gathers all the announcements together, and teachers should direct announcement changes to her for the afternoon.
• Effort will be made to incorporate these suggestions.

 8) Custodial Staff – Atkinson:

 

 Part of our school improvement plan was to provide positive feedback to staff. Last year, folks complained about the cleanliness of the school. Things are better this year, and let’s give some positive reinforcement to the custodians.

 

 9) Media Center - Humphrey

 

It would be beneficial to be able to check reference books out on a “mobile cart” to free up media center. With the classroom solution coming to the Media Center, can we encourage teachers to check out reference materials so Media Center is not signed up for that purpose only? Argabright said that they are fine with checking out materials as suggested here, and will work on encouraging teachers to do that.

 

10) Staff Member of the Month (For Oct/Nov?) - Royal/Schnably/SIP

 

 There was quite a bit of discussion on this issue.

 

Mr. Royal has seen this at other schools where SIT would nominate names for employee of the month, and it was a very positive thing. Mr. Royal has come up with the following for winners: 

• Patriot head trophy
• Patriot MVP t-shirt
• Free oil change/tire rotation from Parrish Tire
• Free meal from Chick-Fil-A and McDonald’s
• $25.00 gift certificate from Harris Teeter

 

Suggestions/Ideas

 

• Standards for nominating?
• Criteria, a rubric?
• Have nominations and pick “winner” out of a hat?
• Will people just vote for friends? We all professionals and can handle this.
• Should we have different categories of winners and spread the love?—grade level, encore, support staff? 
• No names with nominations, just what was accomplished to keep it anonymous and fair?
• Don’t let this be such a big deal, just nominate people to SIT members who will bring to the meeting
• Brent: we will nominate and vote for someone at December’s meeting for the month of November. Be on the lookout for someone to nominate.

 

Final reminder from Brent: Please read minutes, get information out to staff members.

 

Meeting adjourned around 3:35