Brentwood Elementary School

SCHOOL ADVISORY COUNCIL

October 12, 2006

Minutes from Meeting

Meeting called to order at 7:35 a.m.

Attendees:

In attendance were Michelle Henderson (principal), Keith Thompson (chair and teacher representative), Britt Galipault (secretary and parent representative), Staci Blackwell and Julie Lopez (parent representatives) and Brooke Blackwell, Nathaniel Galipault, and Rita Lopez (student representatives)

Agenda:

1. Approval of Minutes

Minutes from the previous meeting were read aloud and approved by all in attendance.

2. A+ Money

Brentwood’s Shared Decision Making Team recommended that the A+ money from the state be allocated as follows:

• $5 per student in vouchers for the book fair
• $200 set aside for each classroom teacher to pay for classroom supplies and materials (this is an increase from last year’s allocation)
• Balance to be divided equally among all staff who worked at Brentwood last year, prorated by time worked (e.g., a 0.8 employee would get 80% of the full share).

This division of the A+ money was approved by SAC.

3. School Improvement Plan

Brentwood’s School Improvement Plan was distributed and reviewed. Much of this plan is put together by the Landings, so our direct input as a school was limited. The intent is to make sure schools are setting goals in a consistent manner across the county and moving in the same direction. The plan was not presented to Brentwood’s Parent-Teacher Organization as planned on the general meeting held on October 10, so it will be presented at the upcoming meeting on November 14.

Some of the highlights of the School Improvement Plan are:

• We will be revisiting our school vision and mission in the coming weeks.

• Student achievement data was presented and reviewed. As a whole our school is exceeding its Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) target set by the “No Child Left Behind” Act. Where we have problems is within the subgroups required by the law to be evaluated. Our white student population performed well, as did our Limited English Proficiency population. Our black student population, however, fell short of the target and our ESE students just met the target. We need to focus on our black and ESE populations and bring them up to the level of our other populations.

• Part of our strategy for achieving our AYP goals is to develop a curriculum timeline for each grade, guiding teachers on what should be covered in classrooms on a month-by-month basis. The administration will be publishing these curriculum timelines on our school website and can bring someone in to discuss how these timelines are set, if SAC wishes.

• Our goals for the upcoming two school years were discussed (70% of students proficient in reading as measured by scores on the Sunshine State Standards Test by 2008, 70% in mathematics as measured by scores on the Sunshine State Standards Test, 85% in writing as measured by the Florida Writing Assessment, and 70% in science as measured by the Sunshine State Standards Test) as well as our strategies for meeting these goals.

• The need to communicate better with parents about the content of the 90 minute reading block was discussed.

4. Homework

This is a topic this committee will need to look at soon. Some parents feel that the amount of homework assigned is excessive.

5. Use of Media and Computer Lab for Parent Involvement

The SAC discussed opening the computer labs to parents in the evening, with the following schedule of events tentatively set:

• The first session will cover basic computer/Internet use.

• A second session on basic computer/Internet use will be targeted toward our ESOL population.

• A session will demonstrate the use of the FCAT Explorer program for parents of third, fourth, and fifth graders. This is a program that can be accessed by parents and students from home. Concurrently, we could also invite parents of kindergarten, first grade, and second grade students to come in and see the technology their children use during the day (e.g., Starfall, Smart Boards).

• A session on Internet safety will be held in the spring, open to all parents and open to fifth grade students as well.

Mrs. Henderson has spoken to Matt Avery and Ray xxx about staffing during open nights to make sure there are no problems with the computers, either during the open night or when school begins the next day. We have Title I money in the budget that is earmarked for events such as these that we can spend, as well as some money we can spend on food to be served during the event. We also discussed involving Geek Squad, who is one of our business partners.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:15 a.m.