February 5, 2003

Members Attending: Harvey Adams, Sandy Ahles, Renee Aplin, Gina Cirillo, Lyanna Doxey, Mara DuBois, Andrea Eiffert, Patty Hudda, Vivian Lane, Claudia Lindstrom, Tina Martinelli, Chris Mayer, Diane McCoy, Terri Pole, Chris Renouf, Lisa Schubauer, Allison Stewart, Betty Stoltzfoos, Susan Whitesides, Connie Zalud and Ambassador Representatives Matthew Tellor and Deanna Falconetti.

Members Absent: Rick Dreiling, Barb Kolb, Ann Neiwold, Jennifer Singer, and Publix Representative

OLD BUSINESS

Minutes – Approved

PTO REPORT

Current PTO Bank Balance $31,000+-
Jog a thon Committee have begun contacting sponsors and have received almost $3,000 toward Tshirt sponsorship to date
PTO will provide the funding for:

Physical Education Presidential awards
Supplies needed for fifth grade to participate in The American Heart Association jump rope contest
Astro Citizen party for the end of the year pizza party for 100%ers

The Executive Board will be presenting a change of ByLaws stating that membership meetings may be held quarterly, or on an as needed basis.
Dominos Night is scheduled for Feb 12
Chick-Fil-A Night is scheduled for March 20
Nomination forms for new PTO officers will be going home very soon. Please encourage friends and neighbors you think might be interested in serving in this capacity.

Special thanks to Gina Cirillo for putting together the monthly SAC Newsletter. Keeping our families informed of SAC decisions and discussions is of the utmost importance.

FOUNDATION REPORT

Valentine’s Day Carnation Sales
Has netted $1,400 +
Flowers will be delivered to school on February 14th
Note: Betty suggested teachers bring vases for the carnations they’ll be receiving from their students
Golf Tournament
Scheduled for May 10^th at Seranoa Golf Course
Letters have been sent to Ashton Business Partners asking for their participation
Closest to the Pin will again be presented – more to come on that fun activity

· Please give the names of any friends, neighbors, businesses, etc., interested in donating prizes or sponsoring a hole at the Second Annual Ashton Golf Tournament, to Betty Stoltzfoos or Dana Pierce.

AMBASSADORS REPORT

Volunteers will be needed for the following events:

Car wash at Wal Mart – the date not yet determined
Great American Clean up is scheduled for April 5^th

REACH SUB COMMITTEE REPORT

Final meeting was held on Monday, February 3^rd.

· Students identified as gifted will automatically be in the Reach Program next year.

· A profile for selection of students to be recommended for REACH testing will be presented to all classroom teachers. It provides information on suggested qualifications when recommending a student for testing for the Reach program

· A”mandatory” meeting will be scheduled, in the spring, for all parents whose children have been recommended for Reach. Notification of this meeting will be well in advance of the date and will be mandatory for parent/guardian attendance. This meeting will provide valuable information to parents of recommended students. It will provide information concerning students who will enter the Reach Program and those who will stay in Ashton’s “superior” regular education program. Parents will also be notified of the number of Reach slots available at each grade level.

· The families of all students tested will be notified in July. This early notification date will allow adequate time for questions to be answered as to why a student did or did not qualify

· Students exiting Reach will be assigned, as a cluster, to the grade level identified gifted teacher’s homeroom for one year.

· Can a gifted identified student be removed from the program? Not without proper documentation and parent meetings. The State of Florida requires that any student who has been identified as gifted must receive gifted services. Many rules and regulations tied to this.

SAFE & ORDERLY SCHOOLS – Mr. Padfield

Mischievous vandalism has been occurring when the school is closed (i.e. weekends and holidays)
Officer Sicks has asked the Sheriffs Department to step up patrols during evenings and weekends
Chris & Jerry will be meeting with Facilities to investigate options available to curtail this problem:
Looking at the possibility of installing security cameras and the addition of a security trailer – These two ideas will be investigated
Looking into the hiring of a Security Company to patrol the campus on weekends and holidays
Four NO TRESPASSING signs have been installed at the suggestion of our Risk Management Department
Additional outside lighting has been ordered and will be installed by the county

CLIMATE SURVEYS – The results are in

The confidential envelope that was attached to this years’ Climate Survey seems to have doubled the number of responses this year
Thanks to everyone who helped tally the surveys…and especially to Betty Stoltzfoos and Vivian Lane for their hard work.
Chris will be putting together a Quarterly update to parents which will include the results of the Parent Climate Survey

PARKING

A sidewalk will be installed beside the square parking lot, with a fence, all the way to Ashton Road. The fence will be constructed down both sides of the grassy area between the square and circle parking lot.
A flyer has been sent home to alert families that this construction will begin in the very near future.
There will be a number of new parking spaces provided in the back of the school and the back gate will remain open so parents may come and go during the school day

NEW BUSINESS

PARENT HANDBOOK

The 2002-2003 Parent Handbook was distributed. Please check out the handbook and bring back any ideas, corrections or changes to the next meeting. Changes will be made on next years handbook.

(It was noted that the web address is missing … it will be added)

CAFETERIA MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Rewards and Consequences of the new stoplight system was distributed
Administration will be in the cafeteria during lunch periods to explain the mgmt. system
The stoplight will be demonstrated to students (including the siren) so they won’t be surprised by the noise or the element of surprise

PUBLIC FORUM

The next Public Forum is scheduled for Tuesday, February 11 @ 7 pm at the Landings. If you are interested in attending please let Sammye know.

STRATEGIC PLAN FOR EXCELLENCE

Information has not yet been received from Sarasota County outlining the requirements for the new Strategic Plan for Excellence. We are, however, beginning to collect information from Reading, Writing, Math, Science, Technology, The Arts and Character Ed Committees to put together a five-year plan which will begin with the 2003-04 school year.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:15 pm.

NOTE: Due to the fact that FCAT testing is scheduled for the first week in March, the March 5^th SAC meeting has been cancelled and re-scheduled for March 19^th. Please mark your calendars.