Present – Emile
Quinn
Teachers – Anne
Feely, Barb Henschell, Susan Ionescu, Gabrielle O’Berry, Robbie Thomas
Classified – Kim
Tubbesing
Community – Jack
Shultz, Dot Moore
Parents – Karen Blackburn,
Mollee McFarlane, Sandra Ryan, Anita Weber
Absent – Gary
Gray, Terri Ramey
1) Welcome –
Gabrielle O’Berry welcomed SAC members and started the meeting at 3:00 PM.
2) Budget – The
budget was presented. There was one new budget item. Kathy Rule was paid for
four hours during the January Garden Family Night ($92.85). The SAC balance is
now $7,763.97.
3) Climate Surveys
Update – All schools must use the same climate surveys (teacher, student,
classified, parent) which are being created by a district-wide
committee. We will receive the surveys by March 15. Administration of surveys
will be from April 5 – 22.
4) Teaching
Reading Comprehension – Emile Quinn discussed the difference between testing
and teaching reading comprehension skills. He then passed out books from
McCall-Crabbs. Each page had a passage with questions to answer after reading
the passage. This must be done in three minutes. There is a grade equivalency
component dependent upon how many questions were answered correctly. Teachers would
ask students to “prove” why their answers are correct by going back into the
passage and reading the part which helped them select their answer. Mr. Quinn
believes this will help increase reading comprehension skills. He has bought
one set for third and fourth grade. The books are not consumable. Students use
consumable answer sheets. He would like to order a set for fifth grade. Mr.
Quinn will check to see if there is a second grade level. Teachers will not use
these for a grade. Anne Feely mentioned that the McCall-Crabbs books would help
improve reading accuracy and fluency.
5) Marie Carbo
Workshop – Emile Quinn would like to send four staff members to the Marie Carbo
reading conference in
6) SAC Project
Update –
Garden Family
Night – February 10, 2005 – There were approximately 50 families in attendance.
For the next
Family Night on March 10, 2005, from 3:30 – 7:30 PM:
Mr.
Quinn will read The Giant Jam Sandwich. Two groups of students (24
children in each group) from Kindergarten through second grade will get to
listen to a fun story and make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with Mr.
Quinn. A flyer will go out at the beginning of March. Students must sign up.
Students who are first to respond will be placed on the list until 48 children
have signed up. Mr. Quinn will do a session at 5:30 and 6:30 PM.
Gabrielle
O’Berry will send out the flyer during the first week in March. Homeroom
parents will be asked to call families to invite them to the event. Kathy Rule
will be paid to run the
Kim
Tubbesing, Mollee McFarlane, Sandy Ryan, and Anne Feely have volunteered to
assist as needed. Emile Quinn will get the popcorn supplies ready. Robbie
Thomas will make popcorn. Gabrielle O’Berry will get soda/water from
Kash-N-Karry, thanks to Jack Shultz.
No
parent workshop will be held.
7) Other:
•Anne Feely asked
SAC members for $500 to attend the International Reading Conference in
SAC members agreed
to give $500 from the Staff Development budget to Ms. Feely so she can attend
the reading conference.
•Mr. Quinn
presented an immediate feedback assessment tool called “Quizdom.”
The Project:
Four classrooms at Garden will have a
SmartBoard, ceiling mounted projector, and the latest in ongoing assessment
equipment/software. The set-up will be
identical to our science lab with the addition of the assessment piece. In using Quizdom,
each student will have a handheld remote control at their desk. As the classroom instructor is teaching a
lesson, he/she may ask comprehension questions and the students respond by
clicking their answer on the remote.
With a click of a key on the teacher's computer, the results are instantly
graphed on the SmartBoard screen. No
student names are displayed, only the assigned number. The teacher can instantly see if more
instruction is needed and who needs additional assistance. Quizzes and tests can be given using this
program and the grades can then be transferred to an electronic grade
book. The Quizdom program also comes with specific instructional software and
questions for post lesson assessments.
All lessons are correlated to the Sunshine State Standards. Quizdom
program is totally interactive and very exciting. It gives new meaning to the phrase
"teachable moment" and children will be excited and anxious to be
"tested" (as strange as that may sound)!
•Mr. Quinn wanted
input from our SAC due to a concern raised by a parent about our school’s
release of students procedures. Garden’s policy can be
found in the Parent-Student 2004-2005 Handbook on page 3 under the heading
“Release of Students During School Day.” It says,
“(1) Written
parental permission should be sent to the teacher stating the requested time of
release.
(2) The parent (or other adult named
in the note) must come into the office and sign for the child. Children will
remain with the teacher until notified by the school office.
(3) Children may not leave the school
grounds during the day unaccompanied by an adult.
(4) PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING: IF ANY
PERSON OTHER THAN THE PARENT OR GUARDIAN IS TO PICK UP THE CHILD, THEY MUST
HAVE A STATEMENT FROM THE PARENT SPECIFYING THE NECESSARY INFORMATION. ALSO,
PLEASE BE PREPARED AND UNDERSTANDING IF YOU ARE REQUESTED TO SHOW
IDENTIFICATION. OUR INTENT IS ONLY TO PROTECT YOUR CHILD.”
After discussion,
SAC suggested that we continue to use these procedures plus ask the
parent/guardian to provide the last four digits of the child’s Social Security
number if they call during the day to change the way the child normally goes
home. There are situations that come up when a parent did not expect to have to
change how his/her child would be going home and did not send a note to school.
Having to provide this information would protect our children even more. Mr.
Quinn thanked SAC for its input and will continue to work on this issue.
The meeting
adjourned at 4:20 PM.
Next Meeting:
Tuesday, March 22, 2005 @ 3:00 PM