Ashton Elementary School

 

 

SAC Agenda

April 22, 2008

3:30 PM

 

1)       WELCOME/ANNOUNCEMENTS                                     S. WHITESIDES

                                                                                                W. MUTH

 

          Mrs. Whitesides welcomed everyone and started the meeting

          at 3:32 PM. 

 

 

2)      APPROVAL OF MINUTES 2/19/08                               S. WHITESIDES

 

          No deletions or corrections were made.  Mrs. Ward made a motion to

          accept the minutes; Mrs. Zebkar seconded, and the minutes were

          approved.

                  

 

3)      LETTERS FROM GOCIO                                                 W. MUTH

 

          Mr. Muth updated everyone on Gocio’s experience in Washington, DC.

          We received a letter from one of the students regarding her experience

          as well as a letter from Mr. Dragon, the Principal.  He was very thankful for

          Ashton’s generous donations.  Mrs. Brown reported that Sun Trust also         received thank you letters from Gocio.  Mr. Muth wants to thank the staff       for their participation and generosity.  Mrs. Quale also appreciated and          thanked the Ashton staff as a former teacher at Gocio.

 

 

 

 

 

4)      “ONE FOR THE BOOKS” SERVICE PROJECT                W. MUTH

                                                                                                J. DOBBERT

                                                                                                AMBASSADORS

 

          Mrs. Dobbert reported the project is going very well. Today was the second          day.  The collection bottles are in the media center.  The top grade level will win an ice cream party sponsored by Mr. Muth.  We thank Mr. Padgett      who made contact with Children’s Haven to be our community agency      recipient.

 

 

5)      PTO UPDATE                                                                 PTO REP

 

          Mrs. Steber reported the Star Sprint raised around $20,000.  Mr.    Redington’s class won the traveling trophy.  So far, 11 classroom

          computers have been purchased.  The final fundraiser for the year

          will be the Book Fair, which will run from May 5th through May 9th.

          There will be a family ice cream social on May 6th.  The PTO’s

          Recognition of this year’s Astro Citizens will be May 12th and a

          staff appreciation luncheon will be held on May 19th.  The PTO has

          received great responses from our parent survey, and all suggestions

          will be looked over very carefully. The Starry Starry Night gala raised         $24,000.  We have surpassed our estimated fundraising goals.  Mr. Muth        recognized our Ashton parents for realizing how important their children’s        education is and how these fundraisers help to keep Ashton soaring.

 

 

6)      AMBASSADOR UPDATE                                                REP

 

          Jacob Hurwitz, president of the Ambassadors updated the SAC

          in regard to the Kindergarten Round-Up, “One for the Books” project,

          “pig lung” lesson, Career Day, and Encore Park.  The Ambassadors

          greeted families, guided them around the campus, and served punch

          and cookies at the Kindergarten Round-Up.  They also made sign posters

          during the April 17th meeting to advertise the “One for the Books” service

          project.  They prepared plastic gabs for collecting quarters for every

          teacher and have assigned Ambassadors to pick up the quarters each

          morning from classrooms.  Ads will also run on the Ashton News.  Detective

          Brown and Mrs. Sims will introduce the anti-smoking “pig lung” lesson on

          April 28th.  Ambassadors will then prepare to teach the lesson to all

          4th grade classes in May.  Ambassadors will welcome guest speakers

          for fifth grade Career Day May 8th.  Ambassadors will also be part

          of the group going to Encore Park for a fun day of swimming, volleyball,

          putt-putt golf and barbeque prepared by Coach Adams.  This trip is

          to thank our students who go above and beyond to become involved

          and serve our school by taking on leadership roles, and helping to

          make Ashton a safe, friendly and welcoming school.

         

          Mr.  Muth complimented the Ambassadors for all their help with

          Kindergarten Round-Up.  120 seats were set up for parents, and all

          these seats were taken as well as the seats at the tables.  Several

          of the parents in attendance stated they were looking at Ashton

          in lieu of a private school.

         

          Mr. Muth was thrilled with the Tropicana speech competition held on

          Monday.  Our 4th and 5th graders who participated did a wonderful

          job, and the speeches were excellent.  We have much to be proud

          of with our great students and fantastic staff who all work so hard

          everyday.

         

 

7)      2008-2009 BUDGET                                                      W. MUTH

                                                                                                 J. BOYD

 

          Mr. Muth introduced the new Astro logo (astronaut) which we hope to use

          more often in the future.  Mr. Muth presented the proposed budget page by         page.  He discussed the student enrollment submitted by the county for the      next several years, and explained the difference between student FTE and

          weighted FTE.  The School Improvement funding is not included as the

          State Legislature is looking at diminishing these funds.  In the past the

          funding was $10.00 per student. The School board did not list these funds    at this time.  Capital funds are used for equipment.  He explained the

          Budget Allocation Worksheet as sent to us by the finance department.

          Last year the allocations were listed as A and B.  This year only one             

          scenario was used. The highlighted areas are what is allocated for the

          upcoming school year.

 

          You can follow down line by line as assigned by the finance proposal.  The       ESOL is for core classroom teachers.  We were allocated a paraprofessional

          ESOL           aide, which we did not have this year.

 

          Our allocation for assistant principal has been eliminated based on

          projections of student enrollment for next year.  We hope that the    allocation for assistant principal will be added back in the budget.

          We were extremely happy the .6 guidance position was put back in the         budget.  It is very important to have this service early on in a student’s life.

          The ITC position has been eliminated for each school.  Schools will be           sharing a person for next year.  The cafeteria aides will be all be .6          employees.

 

          We have 69.40 allocations for next year as compared to 78.60 this year.

 

          We are recommending that a computer teacher (instructional, not

          classified) be placed in the computer lab.  We would like to move Mrs.

          McCoy into that position.  We also would like to add an ESOL teacher

          (Mrs. Sloan) to continue in this position.  The ESOL paperwork is

          extremely difficult and time consuming.  Parent conferences are

          numerous and quite important for these students.  Funding is based

          on the ESOL students, and the paperwork must be completed in a timely

          and correct manner.

 

          The overall number of ESE students projected for next year is

          lower.  That is why we are losing one ESE position. 

 

          Mr. Muth explained the Waiver Memorandum as well as what the waiver

          would be used for.  We would like to convert the 98 extra duty days and

          the ESOL paraprofessional aide dollars to fund our additional ESOL teacher.          We feel this is an extremely justified position.

 

          If the waiver is not approved, Mrs. Sloan would be placed in a classroom and

          another teacher would need to be surplused. 

 

          Once the surplussing has been finished……maybe the third week of June,      some of our staff may still change. We are trying to protect our staff,        not to lose any others of our Ashton family.  We have maintained our        specials program and hope to add additional substance by placing

          an instructional person in the computer lab to help prepare our 5th graders   for middle school.         We have piloted a program this year with some of our     5th grade students using 6th grade math books.  We are attempting to do the    same by placing an instructional person in the computer lab full time.

 

          Mrs. Steber asked how the staffing changes were made.  Mr. Muth

          stated that we looked at certifications and instructional preference

          forms.  Mr. Muth moves teachers to strengthen instruction at various

          levels.  The cafeteria aides’ positions were mandated by the county.  

          When           looking at surplusing, you have voluntary and involuntary surplusing.      Because Mrs. Sparks was rehired under the DROP program, she    lost her       seniority.  

 

          Mrs. Ghose would like to have the foreign language program reinstated

          in lieu of the computer teacher.  She feels that a foreign language

          program would benefit Ashton in regard to prospective parents.

 

          In P.E. we will have one teacher and one aide, losing one aide to

          the budget reduction of an SSP-3 aide position.

          Does that mean there will only be two classes at P.E.?  The schedules

          have been looked over by the specials team, and there will probably

          be some changes next year because of reduced staffing.

 

          Part of our enrollment situation is the fact that we were not permitted to   participate in limited choice.  Can the parents have an impact on this     scenario in the future?  Mrs. Brown feels that losing our assistant principal       because our projected number is 789 (11 less than the 800) is not a good          scenario. As the business partner representative from SAC, she plans to           send a letter from the SAC to the School Board to relay their displeasure

          with this situation.  She can’t remember a time when Ashton did not

          have an assistant principal.  Much of the success of Ashton is due

          to the fact that this assistance has been afforded the parents, staff

          and students.  SAC is in consensus to send this letter.

          Will all the duties performed by the AP, now need to be assumed by

          the principal?  Yes.  

 

          Mr. Muth feels that Mrs. White will be a wonderful superintendent.

          Most of his colleagues and teachers he has spoken with are very

          supportive of her assuming this role. 

 

          Budget is due on Monday.  The budget was approved by consensus.

         

 

8)      OTHER                                                                         ALL

 

          Mrs. Zebkar wanted to thank the PTO for all the help they provide to

          our school, especially in this economy.  Mr. Muth also was very proud

          and thankful for what we have at Ashton.  In speaking with

          colleagues at the recent principals’ conference and hearing

          about all the different problems at several schools, he feels we are

          so fortunate at Ashton for our wonderful PTO, parents, students, and

          staff.  

 

          The meeting was adjourned at 5:10 PM.

         

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Attendance:

 

Steber, Zebkar, Ward, Boyd, Muth, Stith, Ghose, Wyatt, Bockler, Quale, Phillips, Morrow, Spada, Stelmashenko, Mihm, Whitesides, Beiler,  Alton, Padgett, Brown