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Agenda

1. Introductions
2. Meeting with Climate Committee
3. Approval of September minutes
4. Status of LSAC
5. Revised Bylaws
6. Discussion of curriculum across grades

Members Present: Rob Gibson, Tricia Barry, Melissa Dragich, , Linda Kapranos, Chris Tebben, Carol Schrader, Ingrid Petersen, Annie Tabshy, Tom Fuller, Dana Barbarick
School Climate Committee: Cynthia Thomas, Shelly Kennedy, Jen Edler, Diana Kruger, Carol Hewig
PTA Representative: Craig Williams

Meeting with School Climate Committee to align plans (first half of meeting)

Ideas:

- Buddy classes – gardening, tutoring, reading
- Fridays, last 40 min., 5th- 8th graders select activity to teach to lower grades (chess, science, Spanish)
- Peer mediators
- Spirit weeks
- Bullying books across grade levels
- Wacky Wednesdays led by older students

• Decision made to meet with all staff committees for second half of each Site Council meeting
• Question: Where should concerns about school culture be addressed?

Status of LSAC

-LSAC to be merged back into Site Council

Status of Vision Statement

- Family action statement to be addressed at PTA meeting on November 19th for family input/feedback
- Carol to summarize for PTA promotion

Revised Bylaws

-“Hollyrood-Fernwood” changed to “Beverly Cleary”
- Change in election process – took out “drawing lots” to determine length of membership – everyone to serve for 2 years
- Date approved to be added…

Discussion of Work Plan

• Review of work plan established at spring meeting

• Alignment of student learning/teacher planning

• Next steps:

a) November 17th - Rob to talk for 5 minutes regarding plan to look at math across grade levels
b) Teachers to discuss at team meetings on December 8th and discuss what is helpful with planning and what are expectations for students coming in each year.
- Annie to come up with template for meeting?
c) Teams to share out at staff meeting on January 5th
d) January 12th site council meeting - decide next steps based on teachers’ input
e) From there we will research and develop a model for Beverly Cleary, then look at grants for 2009-10 school year

Members Present: Rob Gibson, Tricia Barry, Melissa Dragich, Linda Kapranos, Chris Tebben, Carol Schrader, Ingrid Petersen, Annie Tabshy

Discussion of Work Plan    

Review of work plan established at spring meeting

1. Alignment of student learning/teacher planning

Next steps:

a) Rob to fill teachers in on proposed plan at next staff meeting.  Plan is to look at writing across the grade levels.
b) Teachers to discuss at team meetings on December 8th
c) Teams to share out at staff meeting on January 5th
d) January 12th site council meeting - decide next steps based on teachers’ input
e) From there we will research and develop a model for Beverly Cleary, then look at grants for 2009-10 school year

2. Student achievement growth model

- decision made to put this off until spring 09

3. School Culture Development

- Meet with School Climate and Culture Committee for first half of meeting on Nov. 3

Vision Statement

Linda passed out draft of vision statement (including staff action statement)

Next steps:

- Present to PTA
- Solicit family members to focus on the family action statement
- Determine way to create student action statement
- Post on website
- Adopt final vision statement

Bylaws Changes    

1. Change “Fernwood” to “Beverly Cleary”

2. Change elections

Agenda for next meeting (November 3)    

-First half: meet with school climate/culture committee; what are the goals, how can we support?
-Review minutes from last meeting
-Discuss status of LSAC
-Review status of vision statement
-Look at revised bylaws

UPDATE 10/17/08: Congratulations to Dana Barbarick, new Adult Family Representative to the BCS Site Council!

Beverly Cleary School (BCS) Adult Family members need to elect a
couple of Adult Family Representatives (AFRs) to our school's Site
Council. 

Some BCS AFR FAQs:

What will Site Council do this year?
The purpose of the Site Council is to increase BCS student achievement. 

Site Council has chosen 3 priorities for the 2008-09 school year: 
1.  Enhance common teacher learning and planning for integrated instruction;
2.  Develop a student growth model; and
3.  Promote school culture, including strong intra-school communication.

Other duties are a part of the Site Council work, but we are focusing on these priorities.

Who serves on Site Council?
Site Council has a balanced membership of about ten school
administrators, teachers, classified staff, adult family
representatives and a community member.

How often does Site Council meet?
Site Council meets during the school year for a couple hours about once each month.

Should I nominate myself or someone else for Site Council?
Site Council is looking for adult family representatives who have
experience with or skills that would support our work priorities for
the year.  We hope to maintain a balance between the two sites, e.g.,
have a rep with a student at the Hollyrood site and a rep with a
student at the Fernwood site (if you have a student at both sites, that
makes it easy).  We meet after school one weekday each month (more or
less) for a couple of hours.  Some work outside of meetings is to be
expected.

How do I nominate someone (including myself)?
Site Council Bylaws require us to have the AFRs elected by September
30.  However, to maintain our Site Council balance with school staff,
we may not be able to appoint the AFRs before the teacher and staff
elections, which need to be held by October 15 (nor know how many AFRs
we need).  Long way of saying:  please submit a brief statement of
nomination (moderately sized paragraph) at either site office no later
than Tuesday, September 16. (Quick turnaround, to be sure.)  Please
identify which site your student attends and why you are a good choice
for Site Council.  The nominating blurbs and a ballot will be published
in the BCS newsletter on Friday, September 19.  Then all adult family
members who care to vote should submit their ballots at either site’s
office by Tuesday, September 30.  We will then tally up the votes, but
won’t be able to say for sure how many AFRs will be on Site Council
until we know how many staff reps will be on Site Council.  Phew.

Who should I check in with about any of this?
Feel free to contact any of the current Site Council members with questions. Current co-chair contact information:  Rob Gibson and Carol Schrader.

PROPOSED AGENDA

3:30      Welcome and Introductions

3:40      Agenda Review, Approval of Minutes from June 5, 2008 Meeting

3:45      Stakeholder Input and Public Comment

3:55      Setting Course for Bringing Work Plan to Life

4:45      School Vision Statement Presentation and Discussion

5:00      By-Laws Revision:  Change Name of School within By-Laws

5:05      Review Next Steps for Timely Election of New Members to Site Council

5:25      Set Key Agenda Items and Time for Next Site Council Meeting

5:30      End of Meeting

The purpose of the Beverly Cleary School Site Council is to increase student achievement.

Site Council Priorities

• Common teacher learning and planning for integrated instruction.
• Student achievement growth model.
• Intentional development of school culture.

I.  Common teacher learning and planning
A. Get input from teachers about their goals in this area.
B.  Research models that would support the teachers’ goals.
C.  Develop a model for achieving goals at Cleary.
D.  Pursue grants to fund the Cleary Model.
E.  Begin model implementation on or before August 2009.

II.  Student achievement growth model/curriculum development
A.  Get feedback from school community – staff and family reps –
about what makes sense for the growth model and related curriculum
development.
B.  Research models that would support community model.
C.  Develop model for achieving goals at Cleary.
D.  Pursue grants to fund the Cleary Model.
E.  Begin model implementation on or before August 2009.

III.  School Culture Development
A.  Review Chris’ written text about school culture, etc.
B.  Have community based investigative inquiry about what the
school community likes about the Cleary school culture and what the
school community thinks needs to change about the school culture.
C.  Give attention to how we communicate with each other as a
school and how that might be strengthened, e.g., through a
communication plan.

Attendees: Linda Kapranos, Melissa Dragich, Carol Schrader, Barb Hopp, Rob Gibson, Trisha Barry, Ingrid Petersen (minutes recorder today)

Upcoming Meetings: May 12th, June 5th (voluntary)

Agenda Review and Approval of Minutes from February 11, 2008 meeting
No quorum at time of discussion.  Later decided to approve minutes during May (?) meeting.

Stakeholder Input and Public Comment:
Craig Williams asked Carol to communicate that Site Council be mindful
of health and wellness policies during Site Council considerations.

2008-2009 Staffing and Specials: 

Next Steps
Difficulty in identifying $ sources for developing specials courses
during the summer that core teachers will be teaching next year.  
Linda and Melissa are not finding much in the way of grant money to
allow teachers to develop their courses.

Melissa to be in contact with Cynthia Gillam as she thinks there may be
PPS $ allowing teachers $ to develop curriculum work.   Melissa to
follow up.  NW Regional Education (?) Labs also mentioned as a
potential source. The Oregon Foundation Data Book,  also mentioned as a
source (showcases Oregon foundations offering grant money for various
causes.)  Ingrid to follow up on that.

PE, World Language and Music will be offered 2008-2009.  Linda wants to
include art once again but monetarilyschool not in the position to do
this now.  As such, a group of parents has been talking about an-end-of
year pledge drive targeted at 2008-2009 art offerings.  

At upper grades kids will have to choose between world language and music.  They will not be offered both.

Discussion about the school needing to be mindful of the building
blocks taught for PE, Music and World Languages as the K-8 curriculum
is planned so that there is a deliberate continuum over the years.

Linda stated that the media specialist will be reinstated (and housed
at Fernwood) once foundation money is freed up.  World Langauge will
also be reinstated.   There is no money currently for a library/media 
assistant.  This position is gone.

The auction raised approximately $72,000.

Linda is also communicating with Grant’s Band Director, who may work a
bit at our school.  This is pending foundation money, however.

School Vision: 

Status and Next Steps
The drafted school vision is currently receiving small group staff
feedback.  The Vision Statement will be discussed later this month
during a staff meeting and will work towards staff agreement.  Once
this is finalized as a staff (during May 27th meeting).  The Vision
Statement will then go to Site Council for feedback

Site Council Priorities:

2008-2009 Work Plan
Priorities as identified during previous Site Council discussions are
the following: Common teacher learning and planning for integrated
learning; Student achievement growth model; Intentional Development of
School Culture

The following questions were discussed about the above priorities:

1. Do these priorities capture our priorities that surfaced in our previous discussion?
2. What kind of growth model will we use?
3. What problems will surface?
4. What kind of assessment tools will we use/were used?
5. Once information is known, what resources can we use to fill the learning gaps?
6. What data points are we already using and how can we use that more
effectively to assess kids.so that kids can reach their potential?
7. How does Site Council help with this?
8. How can site council help in a meaningful way?
9. What is the role of Site Council with this information?

Carol emphasized the importance of the site council’s actions being
meaningful to the school. Perhaps stuff needs to come off the agenda
because there is not enough time to cover all items during next year’s
meetings.

Melissa and Linda discussed their priority of wanting to offer “Basic
Skills” teaching resources but currently there is not enough FTE.  The
District Directives include offering  3 periods of enrichment for all
students each week and time for team planning (?)

Some professional development time will be provided for grade level
teams to meet together next year which will lead to greater continuity
with the kids

Rob suggested looking at the school program and curriculum alignment.  Much discussion ensued about “curriculum mapping.”  

Discussion about a curriculum alignment ladder and having the K-3
teachers model for the whole staff their approach.  Once teachers have
their curriculum maps, perhaps Site Council could make a master
document that will show a broad school program.  There was discussion
about how this could help facilitate integrated learning activities
between contents and with “specials” offerings to help support core
content.  Linda stated this would be ideal to have for back to school
night.

Inter-Group School Leadership Meeting:

Next Steps
Carol suggested convening School Leadership Groups at end of ’07-’08 to
share our agenda priorities for upcoming year so that there is not
necessarily a duplication of efforts or cross-over of agenda
priorities.  

Carol will talk to Foundation and PTA members about a voluntary June
5th Site Council meeting.  The agenda will include Site Council general
business 3:30-4:30 and 4:30-5:30 discussion with school leadership
groups.

There was also discussion about having workgroups that are part of Site
Council but that don’t have to include Site Council members?

Fall Site Council Orientation: 

Next Steps
Perhaps in lieu of a fall orientation (?), Site Council can close this
school year with a solid idea of its work plan for next year so that
the early fall months are not spent on developing a work plan for the
year.

Also suggested to develop a minutes and agenda notebook with by laws, especially to help orient new members.

General consensus on formally approving minutes as part of opening business of Site Council.

Communication of Site Council Work with Broader Community
Suggestion to have a communications person to post draft minutes and
meeting times on school website, etc and to generally promote the
business of Site Council.

Priorities for May Meeting and Work to be done in the Interim
Vote on Site Council officers and communications person (see responsibilities above)  during May 12th meeting.

Site Council members to review February minutes which will be forthcoming

Sketch a work plan for next year that includes goals/priorities, steps and timeline

Members Present

• Rob Gibson, Vern Marshall, Tricia Barry, Melissa Dragich, Wiki
  Smith, Linda Kapranos, Chris Tebben,, Tom Fuller, Kim Ilosvay, Carol
  Schrader, Ingrid Petersen
• Guests: Craig Williams, Madeline Kokes, Gabrielle Tanner, Julie
  Wainwright, Katherine Muller, Julie Jetton, Cheryl Hering, Anita McKey,
  Nancy Drinnon, Ron Hartmann, Christine Dean

Update from Linda

• Diagram re: class size vs. enrichment
• Sharing what staff said – pros and cons of low class size vs. enrichment
• Melissa explains difference between enrichment (as the district
  mandated 3x per week) and electives (which happen as part of a daily
  schedule)
• Library and counseling don’t count as district’s 3x/week mandate

• Ron – advocated for band program, thinking about long-term
  philosophy of school and wondering if we can increase transfers to add
  to FTE
• Julie W. – advocating for music program, stating academic benefits
• Craig – Music/Band?  Wondering, any way to build up FTE by increasing transfers?
• Gabrielle – recognizing we are in a “no-win” situation, advocating
  for doing one thing well vs. snippets of many enrichments and…25 is not
  a “small” class size
• Others – Julie Wainwright voicing support for band/music program
• Point made that Freshman may not join band at Grant without taking band in 8th grade
• Madeline – votes for smaller class size to get core subjects
  • importance of foreign language and technology
  • can we form partnerships with companies for enrichment?

Recommendations /Prioritizing Staffing

• Linda ~ district set aside money for kindergarten to decrease class size
• if classes go above 23, they get an EA
• if kindergarten enrollment is over 76, we get a 4th FTE, but lose all EAs
• Model “A” (lower class size, less enrichment) seems best
• site council informally votes by show of hands, vote unanimous
• Kim wonders if less enrichment will mean longer Basics classes, Linda not sure now
• Carol – reiterates that we need to come up with priorities as a community, for a long-term vision
• Linda  -  wonders, what can we begin to start early and implement throughout the grades
• Wiki – any chance of a “zero period”?   Parents in attendance vote
  favorably for zero period, plus period and mixed age periods (as long a
  skill levels are put together)
• Melissa – we need to think about .5 vs. 1 FTE – what can we support?
• Site Council informally votes on prioritizing enrichment:
  • 1st – PE
  • 2nd – Library
  • 3rd – Spanish
  • 4th – music
  • 5th – art
• Some parents voiced desire to say more in the larger community about decisions being made regarding enrichments.
• All in attendance vote (added with site council vote)
  • 1st – PE
  • 2nd – Music
  • 3rd – Library
  • 4th – Spanish
  • 5th – art
• Some parents voiced desire to say more in the larger community about decisions being made regarding enrichments.

Agenda for next meeting (March 16th)   

No agenda made at meeting

Attendees: Tricia Barry, Wiki Smith, Carol Schrader, Ingrid Petersen, Melissa Dragich, Chris Tebben, Rob Gibson, Kim Ilosvay

Guests: Craig Williams, Martha Struxness, Andrew Briggs, Chris Frimoth, Barb Hughes, Katherine Muller

Next Meeting: March 3, 2008

________________________________

Community Input: Craig Williams offered comments,
concerns, and suggestions regarding the Wellness Plan adopted by the
PPS Board in 2006.  He made a request that SC adopt/ratify the Wellness
Plan and that we review our school wellness plan in order to evaluate
its attributes and deficiencies and determine how to incorporate
wellness as a priority and curriculum focus on a daily basis.

Stakeholder Input: Martha Struxness & Andrew
Briggs offered PTA input regarding the K-8 Transition Meeting scheduled
for February 19th with Superintendent Carole Smith.  They were
gathering input/recommendations for that meeting.  It was suggested
that PTA consider a quick, brief survey of the H-F community.

Craig Williams reported regarding the School Naming Committee:  In
addition to our internal survey, the Grant Park Neighborhood
Association newsletter has had a notice soliciting input regarding the
new name.  A similar notice will soon be running in other neighborhood
newsletters and in the Portland Tribune and the Oregonian.  The survey
will close 2/29, at which time the results will be narrowed for a
second survey.

Leadership Team Update: The staff Leadership Committee
is working on a Vision Statement - requested and obtained staff input
on 2/1 and will meet again Wednesday 2/13.

Facilities Update: Discussion was held that if the
District pursues the bond measure being discussed, the District will
need to prioritize how that money will be spent.

Chris is working on a first draft of a letter to the District, the
intent of which will be to ensure that our site issues are and continue
to be “in their sights.”

Craig gave an update re: process/planning.  (Should we consider and
pursue private partnerships in order to achieve our facilities goals?)

2008 Enrichment Programs: A request was made that Linda pose any questions or need for data in time for thought and preparation prior to the next meeing.

Melissa offered an administrator’s perspective that input looks
something like an answer to an administrator’s query, “How big are you
willing to see class sizes go in order to get enrichment.  Then, what
should enrichment look like?”

Identify SC Leadership:    We did not.

Planning Session 2008-09: Discussion was held in an
effort to identify what SC wants and should expect to achieve by the
end of the 2008-09 school year.  Our ensuing charge will be, given
these priorities, to look at where we’re going and evaluate the next
steps toward reaching our goals (surveys, meetings with Arts Committee,
Leadership Team, PTA, LSAC leaders, etc.).

When narrowed down, the three priorities were: Teachers need common
learning and planning time; Develop a student achievement growth model;
Focused attention needs to be paid to the intentional development of culture

Attendance 

Members Present: Rob Gibson, Marcia Miller, Vern Marshall,
Tricia Barry, Melissa Dragich, Wiki Smith, Linda Kapranos, Chris
Tebben, Tom Fuller, Kim Ilosvay, Carol Schrader

Guests: Craig Williams, Ellen Fortin, and Madeline Kokes

 Public Comments

• Who are the Site Council Members?
• all members present, plus Ingrid Petersen
• Carol Schrader is the newly elected parent member
• How do LSAC and Site Council meld?  What is the communication between the two?
• possibility – put time on agenda for groups, such as LSAC to present
• standing time slot or meeting by meeting basis?

On to the Agenda

• By-laws
• Agenda for next meeting
• (all else was tabled until next meeting)

By-laws

• Lots of discussion around balance of teachers/parents/admin. –
  final decision for Tom to come up with 3 versions (language-wise) to
  vote on
• Change Line 4 under ‘Purpose’ to read “…to vest authority in Site Council”  
• General agreement that there should be an Admin. from both sites.
• Add in a sentence about the intention to balance both parents and staff grade-wise and with diversity
• According to PAT contracts, Site Council elections need to happen by Oct. 15th
  • Proposal made to have elections Sept. 30. or before
• Proposal made to include a Co-chair as well as a Chairperson  -
  parent and teacher as “go-to” for other folks – Chris volunteered for
  this position
• Under “Termination” section, add that parents/teachers may no
  longer serve as parent rep. after kids are out of school/ not working
  in school.
• Pg. 4 – take out “team building” sentence at top of page
• Pg. 4 – Add “prepare for meeting” under ‘Responsibilities’
• Admin. ask to be excused for being late to meetings due to other committee.
• Request to circulate agenda 1 week prior to meeting
• Pg. 5 – implementation of decisions…quorum -  to vote, not to meet.
• Pg. 5, #12.  In school newsletter and posted…add website and community meetings; take out voicemail and site council newsletter
• Pg. 6 – add community to those who will be notified of a vote

Tasks for members before next meeting

• Carol to work on ‘Purpose’ piece
• Tom to e-mail 3 versions of membership language re: numbers of members, etc.
• Chris to co-chair
• Everyone – take a look at Strategic Plan, which will be e-mailed by Carol
• Everyone – be thinking about next year’s programs

Agenda for next meeting

• Public Comment
• Bylaws – work toward voting/adopting
• Looking at what we can use from Strategic Plan as a resource and way to look forward
• Update on Staff Leadership Team
  • Vision work
• Thinking about next year’s programs using last year’s info.Communication plan to incorporate other groups – ie. LSAC
• Long term agenda – this year and beyond