SSC Minutes for March 12, 2020
School Care Presentation by Karen Bottwinick
● background & purpose of School Care
● goal is $300,00
● recent year raised $349k
○ funded full time library techs at HS and MS (historically had been funded with the District)
○ 3 elective sections in Dance and Computer Science(HS)
○ Portion of College/Career Coordinator (HS)
○ Enrichment Instrction (Elementary)
○ 1 full time counselor (MS)
● There is a great deal of confusion with the different fundraising organizations in Albany
○ School Care is unique in that it funds positions
● District is once again facing cuts and community needs to come together to help encourage volunteering
○ brochure drop over the weekend 3/14 & 3/15
○ phone-a-thon/text-a-thon
● The way they decide what to fund is by speaking with principals, SSCs, PTSAs, and a survey (students, parents, and staff)
○ Middle school has a high rate of survey return (it is administered in homeroom)
○ High School it varies
■ a message from the principal and buy in from admin garners a better response percentage
Doc# SP-3, 4.16.12
■ the parents from the high school students have an incredibly low response rate
● Superintendent has demonstrated a commitment to helping support a partnership with School Care
LCAP Feedback will be shelved due to COVID-19 update
● Local Control Accountability Plan
○ how do we support students who aren’t achieving?
● There is a feedback survey in the community
○ Alexia will include the link and forward it to the Community
Weighted GPA Update
● IIC is still gathering information
For the Good of the Order:
COVID-19
● Precautionary exercises are currently in place
○ poster campaign for hand washing went up today
○ increse in disinfectent supplies for classrooms and school
■ working with district to try and secure company grade products
● No Current cases in district or schools
● School Needs to Plan for What may happen next
○ School Closure
■ a distance learning model
● planning days and followed by instruction
● teachers will need days to plan and develop online curricula (at least 3-4 days)
■ Concerns re:
● students in Google Classroom (working with Jeff Castle to evaluate face to face/zoom options)
● Student access to computers and internet
○ internet could be provided to
■ School cannot make this decision in a silo because the state mandates 180 school days of instruction
● If the school were to close today then the class of 2020 would not graduate on their intended graduation day
■ Principal has been informally gathering information from teachers and departments about what distance
■ Planning week could potentially be waived
■ Currently the school cannot shut down until their is an identified case
○ Don Hoban shared that they just got IXL (a math program)
■ it is not a perfect solution and he is not sure
■ provides data about log-in and he can “see” them in the computer and whether or not they are idle
■ there is not instructor interaction
Doc# SP-3, 4.16.12
■ not sure about its correlation with the CPM book
■ shares that Khan Academy goes too fast and the problems aren’t leveled appropriately
● it is appreciate that the leadership is indicating that the staff needs the training
● Has the distict hired clearning service?
○ the next step would be to bring in a deep clearning
● Staff Development Day will not be a large group gathering
● Would be helpful to provide students with links to where real information is present and not fake news
○ reputable Instagram accounts for students follow
● Question from Administration re Communicatoin:
○ Too much informatio?
○ Consistent Information from Leadership?
○ Trying to find a balance between the 2
● Parents feel that the tone of the district office communication is convuluted
○ there should be clear and latent communication and specifically addresss the issue of waiver for instructional days
■ the concern is if there aren’t symptoms in kids in the same way- then are there sick students and we don’t know it yet
● There are precautions being taken
○ if parents have concerns then they are invited to continue to express them
● Over the next 2 meetings
○ updates on GPA discussion
○ present the draft of the site plan
○ Site plan approval
SSC Minutes for February 13, 2020
Motion to approve minutes from prior meeting was approved
Tom Kearney is a visiting member- he is looking to find more information about the GPA grade bump. Elaine Kearney is also a visiting member to review the weighted GPA information.
IIC is the governing body that will make the decision about the policy and ultimately voting it in or not. THere was a student forum hosted on Wednesday 2/12 (with roughly 150 students in attendance) - it is likely that the next IIC meeting will be open to the public in order to provide information to families who are interested on getting to know more.
Jessica Park, the English Department chair, was the pioneer introducing this idea.
Faculty feedback from the straw poll has been provided.
53 responses of a staff of about 80
Thoughts from SSC in order to provide feedback-
*Parent member is concerned that the number tied to the GPA is not going to be the element that encourages
* students are going to feel stressed to take advanced level courses with out without a grade bump
* another parent feels that the teacher feedback seems like a naive reflection of the system.
* another parent shares that the list of school’s currently being referenced in the FAQs is an inaccurate representation of schools as compared to Albany High School. Colleges are looking at schools and the caliber of the course work that is being offered and at Albany High School the students need to set themselves apart with the advanced level course work. There is a diverse student body here is as compared to other schools referenced. Notes there is an effort to support the arts and questions if this is the underlying tension. There are students that over extended themselves in to AP level coursework- took those classes to prove themselves in their college applicaiton process. Are there students who don’t want to be there and making it harder for all the students to learn.
* The librarian shared her personal experience. And that the first parents expressed concern isn’t a reason against the change.
* Counselor shared colleges will still see the grades
* Board member asked student to reflect on whether or not students choose to take advanced level courses in place of art or music
* Some students shared with the students representative- students should know what their capabilities and should know how much they can handle
* Parent shared that there are many students who aren’t able to know this much about themselves. Also notes the argument that the cushion/safety net of the grade bump. A lot of this discussion has history in that kids who don’t take the risk are more willing/able to try out the new classes.
* Board member feels that it won’t hurt their GPA is a deceipt because colleges are going to look at their overall application and interpret it as they do
* Parent has expressed that when they are applying to UCs there is a range of GPAs to get in- and they are seeing this “4.1 + GPA”
* it would be helpful to bring back Alumni who have gone on an “alternative” and going to a CSU or community college is a bad thing.
* Principal Ritchie shared that we stopped ranking
* Counselor shared that the GPA doesn’t actually reflect student achievement and the number is arbitrary and doesn’t factor in many other
* Parent shares that we need to look at the research from schools that and that the problem of student stress and the different threads identified in the teacher feedback need to be teased out
*Albany can’t fix the inability to access UCs- but fear that unweighting the GPA could make finding a college option that is affordable-
* It could be important to share community college transfer data with student body to help reinforce a lower stress path
* students are concerned with the timeline
SSC Minutes for January 9, 2020
Review of Agenda from previous meeting on 11/14/2019
Math Hour Feedback (as of Nov 13th): Review of feedback from participants in the math hour. AHS currently has a Math 1 and Math 2 intervention courses.
Principal Ritchie noted that Math 3 students are utilizing the course after school.
Librarian suggested using a google form survey during math class to inquire about how many students have been to math hour. Librarian is willing to work with the math department to create a google form in order to gather more data from students.
Principal Ritchie also suggested a different sign in sheet to help collect data from the Math Hour usage.
Student mentioned about half of the class would ask questions during math hour the other half of the students used the time to work independently during math hour. Some students would work in groups in the math hour class.
Site Plan is currently supporting Science and Math hour. Principal Ritchie suggested looking at adding a Writing Support Hour.
Counselor Durell would like to look at data trends in student performance in math with and without support classes in Math 1- 3.
Review of FAQ for the Unweighted GPA Reporting at AHS
Principal Ritchie is soliciting support from Site Council to share with IIC .
Counselor Durell gave background of class rank at AHS. Last year, June 2019, the graduating class did not have ranking.
Parent shared that she liked the changes in principal, but did not think that this would change the culture of AHS.
Parent shared that students may be more willing to take non-AP courses if the unweighted and weighted GPA are not listed on transcripts.
Student shared that some students may be discouraged from taking an AP class if they know that do not get a grade bump.
This is a first step to help level the playing field at AHS.
83% of AHS Staff is in favor of the change.
For the Good of The Order
*Librarian would like to offer tea and treats during finals week and asked for offerings for treats.
*Librarian also commented that she has noticed a positive shift in cleanliness on campus..
* Challenge Day is offered for all 10th graders on Feb 3, 4, and 5th at AHS. Everyday we need 25 adults and seek adult volunteers.
SSC Minutes for March 11, 2019
Attendees: M.E. Durrell, counselor; Don Hobin, parent and educator; Linus Sun, student; Liz Reimuller, Asst. Principal; Amber Dinov, resource teacher; and Kellie Stoddart, resource teacher.
Wasc Visit -- Liz went over the particulars of the upcoming WASC visit. SSC members are invited to meet WASC members during a Sunday reception.
Upcoming topics for meeting -- LCAP feedback and compare it to the site plan.
Minutes of last meeting were reviewed and approved. Stoddart moved to approve the minutes. Durrell seconded. Passed unanimously.
WASC goals --Group looked at WASC goals and compared them to the Site Plan. Each member took a WASC goal and looked at them and then compared them to what is in the site plan. Their insights were written on a worksheet. Participants shared out about their observations about how the SPSA was similar/different to WASC goals. Participants discussed how some actions related to each goal and how other actions might relate to another goal. Liz collected the worksheets written about each WASC/SPSA comparison.
SSC Minutes for February 11, 2019
Attendees: Caroline Macarah, Karen Buttwinick, Shawn Lucas, Liz Reimuller, Becky Hopwood, Don Hoban, Linus Sun, Stacy Kamau, Amber Dinov, Kim Trutane, M.E. Durell, Sara Marcellus
Karen presented School Care origins, fundraising this year ~ $274, 000, School Care funded staff for Dance 2, Computer Science, 2D art electives at AHS, assist in funding for library tech, college career coordinator.
Survey- collecting data from students, staff and parents
parents:
highest priority: electives
second: library tech
third: college/career coordinator & school culture and inclusion program
lowest: flex tutoring
Students:
electives
college/career coordinator
School culture & inclusion
library tech
teachers
electives
library tech
flex tutoring
school inclusion
School Care Sprint- last minute fundraising
how can we have a larger sample size for data
provide “sample” inquiry to help voices to get heard (guidance to what school care is able to do- define parameters)
fundraising strategies-break down what funds would go towards ie $4500= +30 minutes a day of college/career counselor time
WASC report is ready!- visit Mid-March
School Site Emergency Plan- (new proposed plan in progress with same information) view current plan in place; Questions/comments:
will site council review new plans?
how does plan get communicated to long-term sub/ subs?
Clarify maps for teachers ie.which rooms go where
Plan B ie. if threat is at meeting place, where to go? (median as alternative meeting place)
motion to approve, seconded & approved by members.
Motion to approve January 14th minutes, seconded, approved by members.
Liz Presented AHS WASC Action Plan goals 2018-2019
Report available for staff to view, will be available for community to view soon.
goals briefly reviewed by members
will revisit next meeting
Meeting convened at 6:00
SSC Minutes for January 14, 2019
Attendees:
Liz Reimuller - Facilitator
Christina Godfrey
Sara Marcellino
Becky Hopwood - Note Taker
Mary Ann Scheuer
Don Hoban
Oscar Leimbach
Linus Sun
M.E. Durell
Welcomed by Liz, introduced agenda and priorities for discussion. Explained WASC (Western Association for School and Colleges) accreditation. AHS will be assessed March 18-20.
Motion to approve October and November meeting minutes proposed by Becky, seconded by Sara. All in favor; motion passed.
Liz distributed draft copies of Albany and MacGregor High School Site and Emergency Plan for review by SSC members. Due for approval by February.
Sara asked about AED training.
M.E. asked who would be in charge of student medications in the event of an emergency. According to Liz, Melina Landry is responsible for these.
Liz explained new evacuation route during construction and general evacuation procedures.
New Lockdown Protocol distributed. The procedure has changed from Hide, to Run-Hide-Fight. Liz elaborated on the various steps.
M.E. mentioned that this training would be useful for counselors and new staff.
All staff are assigned to emergency teams: Light Search and Rescue; First Aid; Parent Check-In; Student Release; Safety and Security; Student Supervision. Obviously teams can adapt as needed. Every classroom teacher/room.
SSC Minutes for November 26, 2018
Attendees:
L. Reimuller, Asst Principal
C.Macarah, Resource Specialist
C. Godfrey, Parent
O. Leimbach, student
L.Sun Student Rep
A.Dinov, Resource Specialist
Don Huban, Parent
Mary Ann Schener, Librarian
Calif Healthy Kids Survey and SBAC data exploration.
Discussion topics of interest:
Socio economic level and achievement
Accessibility of tutoring resources for disadvantaged populations
Accessibility of after school tutoring for students with family obligations/ responsibilities ( babysitting ect), how to support these population
Importance of community events such as Homecoming Dance to help facilitate community connectedness
Concern about instances of student thoughts of “suicide”
How to give teachers the resources and support to help “build community” in the classroom, opportunities for professional development
-Team notices that the Healthy School Data was impacted by the Racial Events that happened in 2016 school year.
Team shared that the general academic functioning of the student populations at Albany is exceptional. Students are not aware of the high academic performance compared to rest of the State.
SSC Minutes for October 8, 2018
Attendees: Sara Marcellino, Becky Hopwood, Christina Godfrey, Shawn Lucas, Don Hoban, Amber Dinov, Oscar Leimbach, Liz Reimuller, Mary Ann Scheuer, Kellie Stoddart, Kim Trutane (School Board Rep), Linus Sun, ME Durell, Stacy Kamau
Introductions around the room
Went over the areas (Data Collection, Communication, PD, Student Outcomes and other areas) of the Site Plan brainstormed in September, and talked through them more.
Student Outcomes:
CTE outcomes discussions...how to know where students go? How to track outcomes as it relates to careers after graduation as part of student outcomes? More classes in the trades. More technology based now.
The saturation effect - cut assemblies to increase participation
If moving forward to career and college night, ask teachers to hold back on homework/tests for following day, make it more appealing to the students
Went over action items in the current Site Plan. Dovetailed with the outcomes the site council members brainstormed.
Data Collection:
Brainstormed over data collection.
SSC Minutes for September 17th, 2018
Personal introductions of new and continuing members- focus on our roles and connections in AUSD and to education in general.
Attendees: Becky Hopwood, parent; Kellie Stoddart, teacher; Don Hoban, parent; Linus Sun, student; Christina Godfrey, parent; Kim Trutane, BOE trustee; Shawn Lucas, custodian; MaryAnn Scheuer, Librarian; M.E. Durell, counselor; Liz Reimuller, Asst Principal.
Note: others will be attending next month. Council has balanced representation so election is not required. Goal is to include more student reps.
Liz: Articulates the difference between the LCAP and SPSA. We want to make sure the sight plan goals align with the LCAP. This is an overarching guideline coming from the district. It is the job of the SSC to get input, make the plan, and submit the plan. Last year’s was approved. Without looking at the previous plan- “What do we think about these topics?”
Elements that will be reviewed this year:
SJCs
Behavior Matrix
Data- (ex. test scores)
This is about people and students and what is happening at the site.
4 Goals in our Site Plan.
Student Outcomes (i.e.- achievement, learning, graduation, career & college)
How are the kids doing? are we preparing them for the world?
Communication (i.e.-Website, bulletins, newsletters, etc)
What is our communication style with the community?
Professional Development
What kind of trainings are people getting? What support is being provided to the teachers & staff?
Data Collection (powerschool, Aeries, Grades, SBAC, anecdotal)
How are we measuring out goals? How are we assessing the efficacy of programs and student learning?
In soliciting feedback from site council members- individuals will write their name next to a note where they are comfortable being a reference point and leave as blank or anonymous if they don’t want to be attached to the feedback.
Focus on one outcome for remaining 15 minutes:
Focused on Student outcomes information
QUESTIONS:
How does relate to the SSC?
How do we prioritize what to work on?
Is the Site Plan connected to money? (Yes)
Liz: Good questions to ask when reviewing a Site Plan are: What do we want to start? What do we want to continue? What do you want to stop?
Group:
A lot of mention of vocational programs for kids. There appears to be a lot of pressure from peers.
Newspaper article regarding community college pathway to the UCs
Career & Technical Education
Broad Course Access
Group consensus: We will continue to discuss observations/questions/comments we wrote about the 4 goals in our future meetings. (save feedback charts)
6:00 Meeting adjourned
SSC Minutes for May 14, 2018
-Getting additional parents involved with SSC:
-2017-2018 Theresa’s last year on SSC, possibly Phyllis’s also (willing to serve or pass on)
-September 2018 will have a reassignment: Kim Trutane (?) in place of Ross Stapleton-Gray
-Current members can suggest parents or others they think can contribute to SSC next year
-Behaviour Matrix:
-Goal is to get as many community members to know abt Behaviour Matrix
-Timeline & Rationale: Summer-Fall 2017
-Behaviour Matrix looks at discipline differently than previous discipline grid
-Beginning of year we looked at social and emotional competencies, hoping to bring this into classrooms K-12 next year
-Reasoning & Evidence: example: harassment and bullying: unwelcome social, written, or electronic comments that are ongoing and hurt the recipient (make them feel powerless)/create a hostile environment
-Goal of behaviour matrix is to make sure discipline is more of a learning experience rather than a punishment experience through conflict resolutions/restorative circles and reflective assignments
-Regarding schedule change: no matter what, students are always going to be there, not just kicked out as far as we can get them; schedule change is very possible as a resort
-Conflict resolution or restoration circle communicates that AHS supports victims of harassment and bullying
-Next Steps: 2018-19 Goals
-Overall goal is to increase student engagement in-school and guiding positive behaviours from all students
-Use freshman orientation, advisories, and interactions w/ students/staff to communicate matrix expectations
-We want to ground our decisions in what is actually happening
-Next year, the behaviour matrix will be part of the handbook, finished with the transition when 2018-19 school year starts
-When we ask a student to stay for detention is to spend some time reading an article or TedTalks on various topics: mindfulness, decision making etc. followed by a reflective assignment
-Two Year Discipline Data Comparison @ AHS:
-Violation: a student who keeps coming down for the same reason
-Disposition: A student who is coming down for multiple infractions
-Between 2016-17 & 2017-18 school year there are decreases in actions and suspensions, increase in students counseled
SSC Minutes for November 13, 2017
Attendees: Don Hoban, Phyllis Pennington-Kent, Liz Reimuller, Sean Krazit, Zoe Ou, Chloe Park., Claire O’Brien, Ross Stapleton-Grey, M.E. Durell
Motion to Approve the Minutes by Phyllis, Don seconded and minutes were approved by the group
Social Emotional Learning and Social Justice Competencies Document:
- Review of where these come from
- We will review these and then ask the question: how could we tie these into the site plan for next year?
- Read aloud of the Competencies:
- Self-Awareness
- Self-Management
- Social awareness/Understanding and Valuing Others
- Relationship Skills
- Knowledge of Societal Inequities
- Skills to foster equity and inclusions
- Responsible decision-making
- Deepening of content on a spectrum
SSC Minutes for October 9, 2017
Approved the minutes from last time
Attendees
- Don Hoban, Parent
- ME Durell, Counselor
- Sean Krazit, Teacher
- Claire O’Brien, Student
- Chloe Park, Student
- Theresa Bittner, Parent
- Valerie Williams, Superintendent
- Elizabeth Reimuller, VP
- Ross Stapleton-Gray
- Allan Garde, Chief Business Official
AUSD Budget Presentation- Allan Garde
- Questions about other districts and how they’re dealing with these changes?
- Are these things we need to think about when working on next year’s site plan?
- Targeting to know full budget priorities by end of January, so decisions can be made?
Single Plan for Student Achievement 2017-2018
- Approved
SSC Minutes for September 18, 2017
Attendees
- Liz Reimuller, AP
- Don Hoban, Parent
- Phyllis Pennington-Kent, Parent
- ME Durell, Counselor
- Sean Krazit, Teacher
- Claire O’Brien, Student
- Chloe Park, Student
Minutes
- Site Plan went unfinished last year and we have an extension. It must be completed in 3-4 weeks. Our task today is to go over the main goals. Then we will begin the cycle again this year to make a plan for next year.
- Site Council met 9 times last year, but we may not need to be so many times.
- Wednesday and Thursdays were discussed as possible alternate meeting days, but we stayed with Monday due to attendance needs of current members.
- We discussed the goals #1-4 of current plan: Achievement Gap, Professional Learning, Data Collection and Communication.
- (Notes on feedback collected from members will be attached to this agenda this week.)
- Next meeting will be Oct 9 from 5-6 in the Library. Allan Garde from the DO will be here to talk about the budget.
- 6:30 adjourned