SAC Meeting

Wednesday, January 28, 2004

3:00 p.m. in the Building 4 Conference Room

MEETING MINUTES

• Thanks: Many thanks to Kim Douglas and Mary Sanchez for the excellent refreshments.

• Reflections on School Board Presentation: Discussion regarding the December Strategic Plan Presentation to the School Board and other district visitors was very positive. The individual speakers did a wonderful job; the refreshments and decorations were great; the photo-jam presentation was very entertaining. Our format worked well with speakers preceding a tour that touched on significant changes in the school. It seemed that the board members became more relaxed and involved during the informal atmosphere of the tour. Board member comments were very complimentary as were comments from staff and SAC members who were in attendance. It was suggested that perhaps our next visit from the School Board might be during the school day so that they could see school improvement in action.

• Discussion of “A-Day” Celebration: The “A-Day” Celebration was deemed a great success. The school received support from so many who added to the team effort to create a great day for the students. Thanks are due to volunteers who stuffed popcorn bags and goodie bags, to staff who stuffed goodie bags and donated personal funds to cover the cost of the treats, to our business partner, Jane DeClercq (Radio Shack), who covered the cost of the “star bags”, to our business partners Dan Kiehl and Heather Sanborn (Publix) who provided all the popcorn and bags, to Donna Catanzarite for setting up our “eaglemax” theater in the Cafetorium, to all the staff who supervised the showing of Finding Nemo and pitched in during a challenging clean-up afterward, and to the students who were a great audience. Discussion noted that attendance was better than usual for a “last day” before the winter break, that there were many positive student comments and responses, that the students’ behavior for the rest of that school day was excellent, and that it was a great experience for the students and staff to come together as an entire school. In conjunction with “A-Day” and our celebration of student achievement, we were once again able to offer every Englewood Elementary School student the opportunity to choose a book from the Book Fair, thanks to financial and volunteer support from our P.T.A.

• Strategic Plan for Excellence Funds Expenditure –
• Agenda Books: After discussion, the SAC approved by consensus the expenditure of funds for 2004-05 Agenda books. The estimated expenditure is $3500. Melida will expedite the order to take advantage of early order discounts. Advantages of using the agenda books include organizational skills, communication with parents, pride in school, and consistent format throughout 1^st through 5^th grades.

• Blast Off Materials: Discussion of the purchase of Blast Off Materials in the areas of Writing, Reading and Math resulted in a decision to delay action on the item until the March SAC meeting. Blast Off Materials are correlated to FCAT benchmarks. Each SAC representative needs to poll their teammates on how they are using the Blast Off materials and which materials will need to be replaced. We also need to investigate the rumor that there will be Blast Off materials available in Science next year and the possibility that our new Math series adoption may provide appropriate math materials which could substitute for Blast Off. The adoption will not be decided until February, so we must delay our decision until our March SAC meeting.

• State Technology Survey Results: Donna Catanzarite began our systematic review of the STAR Report. STAR stands for School Technology and Readiness. Donna gave some background on the STAR survey itself and her experiences in filling out the 60 + item online survey. She explained the format of the survey which describes school performance as #1 Entry or Adoption Stage; #2 or Adaption Stage; #3 or Appropriation Stage; and #4 Invention or Target Stage. Sarasota County’s decision is that all schools have as their goal to be a stage 3 or 4 school. Donna shared a large chart which describes each of these stages for several items within the categories of technology administration and support, technology capacity, educator competency and professional development, learners and learning, and accountability. School answers on the survey are compared to the descriptions on this chart. Results of the survey are available for Englewood Elementary School, for Sarasota County, and for the State of Florida. Donna will continue presenting the STAR report data at our next meeting. It is important to note that several of these items require school improvement decisions which will support our technology goals as defined in the STAR report and in our own Strategic Plan for Excellence.

• February SAC Meeting: The February SAC meeting will be on Wednesday, February 25^th at 3:00 p.m. in the Building 4 Conference Room. SAC representatives need to remember to poll their teammates on their use of Blast Off materials and begin to review the STAR report results with their teams.