January 17

                                            SBDM Minutes

January 17, 2002

The Picadome School Community is committed to all students attaining the highest levels of academic achievement and responsible citizenship through equitable opportunities in becoming lifelong learners.

 The meeting was called to order at 6:00 by chair Darla Simms.  Members present were:  Darla Simms, Juaacklyn Cunningham, Tammy Johnson, Betty Ann Scott, and Tom Barnes.  Parent member, Tammy Lynch, was ill and unable to attend.  Carol Linton was the only visitor.  Miss Simms introduced new parent member, Tom Barnes.  Council again discussed the need to purchase a tape recorder for SBDM meetings.  Tom Barnes said he would bring a tape recorder to the next meeting.  Tammy Johnson agreed to take notes again and Miss Simms will type the minutes from these notes since we do not have an SBDM secretary.

 The minutes from the December 13th meeting were read and approved.  Miss Simms asked permission of the council to change the order of the agenda so Carol Linton could present the Read 180 program first. Council agreed by consensus. 

 Action Item

            Carol Linton, Language Arts Curriculum Specialist, explained a reading intervention program (Read 180) for 4th-12th graders for which the district is planning to apply for a grant to expand this program within the district.  In order to qualify for Read 180, the school must meet the following criteria:  at least 30 students in 4th grade or higher who are 2 or more years behind in reading, available classroom space, be able to schedule a 90 minute block for Read 180, provide 5 computers, tape players, computer headphones, and computer microphones, and have a teacher who could teach Read 180. Since the grant will not cover the teacher's salary, council members were concerned about the funding source.  Mrs. Linton explained that one possibility might be ESS funds depending on our ESS budget for next year.  There was a question as to whether we have 30 students below grade level in 4th and 5th grade.  Miss Simms reported that according to our fall student achievement data we do have at least 30 students in 4th and 5th grade two years below grade level in reading; Mrs. Linton had looked at the scores and wasn't sure there were 30 students below grade level.   However, since this grant will be for the next school year perhaps we should be looking at reading scores of our current 3rd and 4th graders.  After much discussion on the importance of all students needing to be reading on grade level, council agreed by consensus that Picadome should apply for this grant.  Miss Simms will fax the signed form in tomorrow.

 Budget (see attached)

            Miss Simms reported on her conversation with Mrs. McDowell about a concern council members had expressed at the December meeting regarding the availability of funds for all students on fee waivers to attend all class field trips.  Mrs. McDowell reported that no student at Picadome has ever missed a field trip due to lack of funding.  Most fee waiver children pay for field trips.  The December budget does not reflect money teachers will be collecting for spring scheduled field trips.  Council members were satisfied that our field trip budget is fine and needed no further information on this issue.  Miss Simms must approve all field trips in advance.  Miss Simms has a draft form for use in ensuring trips are directly linked to curriculum.  Council agrees this form could be used beginning second semester or next year; will leave this choice up to Miss Simms.    

            Miss Cunningham asked about the funding source for the purchase of overhead calculators.  Miss Simms will speak with Mrs. McDowell about purchasing these.

            There was some discussion about the amount of the copier rental budgeted.  Miss Simms explained that this is based on a district bid; the school does not own the copiers, they are leased to the district; each school is responsible for the rental fee.  Therefore we are not able to seek a lower rental from another company.

            Miss Simms reported that Charles Skipworth did send an e-mail with information about who to contact concerning the key lock his company uses.  She called this person  (Jim Taylor) but feels we need to see how much the key code lock system we are getting from Fayette County will cost, if we need another system after we get Fayette County’s, and if we have money available to purchase another system.  Council agreed by consensus.

 Information Items

             Miss Simms gave Mr. Barnes a copy of the Elementary Parents Information and Exchange, will send one to Mrs. Lynch, and post one on the bulletin in the front lobby.

            Committee reports scheduled for tonight will be postponed because all committees have worked on our mission statement and standards and indicators for a successful school as part of the Consolidated Planning process and therefore do not have reports of individual committee work.  Mrs. Smith is compiling the results of the committees' work, which will be presented to the Planning Committee for further work and then presented to SBDM.

 Discussion Items

 ESS Proposal

            Brenda Smith reported that our new ESS 2001-2002 budget allotted July 1, 2001 was $17,637; we have spent $5,154.49 for ESS thus far this school year.  Our fall ESS program actually cost more, however we were able to cover September ESS expenses from money left in our budget from the 2000-2001 school year (money that had to be spent by September 30 or we would lose it). 

The fall ESS program was two hours, two days a week because we could not get a bus before 5:00 due to routing for middle and high schools.    Teachers felt this was too long for elementary students after a full day of school.  In the winter/spring proposal which Mrs. Smith presented, we would not provide transportation because of these bus issues.  This would allow us to have ESS for one hour, two days a week.  (see attached)  The proposal is flexible in which days each class would have ESS since we are not dependant on bus transportation.  Several council members thought this may cause a problem for parents if siblings were asked to attend ESS sessions on different days of the week.  After much discussion, council approved the ESS proposal by consensus with the following exception:  if transportation causes an equity issue for our low socio-economic students and if having siblings attend different days cause a problem for parents transporting their children, Mrs. Smith will need to revise the proposal and bring it back to council at the February 21st meeting.  Mrs. Smith explained that the proposal was due the day after this council meeting.  Council members signed approval of the proposal trusting Mrs. Smith's implementation of the proposal dependant upon the exception clause.

Mrs. Smith also reported that materials for summer school need to be ordered soon.  Council feels a decision on summer school will be dependant upon the summer ESS budget amount.

 Consolidated Plan     

            Mrs. Smith reported on the progress of our 2002-2003 Consolidated Plan.  All SBDM committees have been working on the needs assessment for our plan.  In December committees met together to revise our school mission statement. Committees met twice in January and will meet once in February to review data, identify needs, review data including standards and indicators, and begin to identify strategies and activities to improve student achievement.  Mrs. Smith also shared the CATS Performance Report with SBDM members (see attached).  We have not met our goal but are progressing. Mrs. Smith has been working with the state provided Goal Calculator CD to calculate scores we would need to meet our goal this biennium.  A rough draft of our Consolidated Plan is due on March 13^th to central office.

 Primary Exit Criteria

            Since the January grade level meeting was used for a committee meeting to work on the Consolidated Plan, primary teachers have not had another chance to meet to complete their work on the Primary Exit Criteria.  This report will be postponed until primary teachers have had a chance to meet in February.

 Disaggregated Student Achievement Data

            Miss Simms presented the disaggregated student achievement data from the fall district testing.  She reminded council that we do not report data for sub groups with less than ten students as this would make it easy to identify those students and would not keep results confidential.  (see attached)  We will continue to implement strategies to close the achievement gap between low socioeconomic students and non-socioeconomic students. 

 Action Items

 February 21^st SBDM Meeting

            Because our Science Fair is also scheduled for February 21^st, we need to change the time for our SBDM meeting to give more parents an opportunity to attend the Science Fair with their child in the evening after work.  Council agreed by consensus to change the SBDM meeting from 6:00-8:00 to 3:00-5:00 on February 21^st and the Science Fair will be from 5:30-7:00 that same evening.  

Smaller Class Size Initiative

            School Districts have not been informed as to whether the Federal Government will continue funding for the smaller class size initiative.  Fayette County has asked principals to find out if SBDM will vote to continue this program if it is funded.  After discussion on this, council decided staff should be surveyed for their input before council decides.  Miss Simms will survey staff and put this on the agenda for SBDM after the survey is complete and the results are compiled.

 Day 4 Staffing

            For elementary schools, Fayette County determines staffing for the fall in the spring based on enrollment projections.  After the fourth day of school the staffing is adjusted according to the actual enrollment.  At middle schools and high schools the staffing is not changed in the fall after day 4 unless classes go over the state class cap size.  The district has asked for elementary council input on perhaps changing elementary schools to the high school system.  This system works for secondary schools because they have such large staffs and more latitude in moving staff and students to provide overcrowding in classes.  For elementary schools this could make a big difference in class size if we were not given extra staff after day 4 and were unable to make adjustments within the building.  Council voted by consensus that we prefer the day 4 system already in place.

 Work Session

             Fayette County has asked councils for a list of budget priorities for  programs/personnel currently funded by the district and others we may like to implement.   These will be turned in to the district to determine district priorities.  Council members discussed these priorities and compiled the following lists:

 Historical List (currently funded)

        ·        Special Education Facilitator

·        Smaller class size

·        Full day kindergarten

·        Full time PSA

 New Priorities

• Literacy Specialist

• Curriculum Specialist

• Staffing full day K

• Expand smaller class size

• Full time science teacher

Council agreed by consensus to submit these prioritized lists.

 The meeting was adjourned at 8:35.

 Respectfully submitted,

    Darla Simms