Garden Elementary School Advisory Council Minutes

August 30, 2005

Present: Emile Quinn, Principal

Teachers – Bruce Anderson, Anne Feely, Rachel Hallman, Gabrielle O’Berry

Classified – Karen Blackburn

Parents – Gary Gray, Mollee McFarlane, Sandra Ryan, Shannon Via

Community Members – Dot Moore, Terri Ramey, Jack Shultz

 

1) Welcome/Introduction of New Members:  Mrs. O’Berry welcomed everyone to the meeting and asked each member to introduce him/herself. New parent representative, Shannon Via, and new teacher representative, Bruce Anderson, will have the opportunity to either attend the PALS Annual SAC Training at Laurel Nokomis School on 9/8/05 or view the PowerPoint presentation which gives an overview of SAC’s operational guidelines and purpose.

 

2) Election of SAC Officers:  The following members were nominated and elected: Chairperson - Gabrielle O’Berry, Vice-Chairperson – Bruce Anderson, Secretary – Terri Ramey.

  

3) Operational Guidelines/Bylaws: The SAC guidelines for the 2005-06 school year were reviewed and approved as presented with the option of revisiting them as the year progresses and making suggestions for changes as needed. The minutes will be sent out to all SAC members and posted on the district website within 48 hours of the meeting. The meeting dates and times were distributed and agreed upon. Attendance was discussed. 80% at all meetings is needed, especially in meeting the criteria for Five Star Schools.

 

4) Thank You Letter: Gabrielle O’Berry read a letter that thanked SAC for approving funds to send six teachers to the Marie Carbo convention in New Orleans, LA last July. They all felt they learned many new and applicable reading strategies and will be sharing this knowledge with other staff members.

 

 

 

5) Budget: Gabrielle O’Berry reported on possible budget items. Garden was allocated $6,534 for the 2005-06 school year. A carry forward balance from the 2004-05 school year was $1,791.51. The total balance for the August 30, 2005 meeting was $8,325.51. Monies would be used to fund staff development, the SAC project, instructional materials, consumable supplies (ie…FCAT, Renaissance), and Supplements (SAC Coordinator stipend).

 

6) State Equity Laws Update: All Garden Elementary families and SAC members will receive the brochure concerning state equity laws (policy against discrimination for students/due process and student complaint procedures). Staff will receive copies at the September faculty meeting.

 

7) EQuiP Data:  Emile Quinn and Anne Feely went over the EQuiP data with members. While Garden Elementary did earn an “A,” the data will be closely reviewed and strategies chosen to determine how our school community can continue to help our students improve. Mr. Quinn mentioned that a teacher’s yearly TPAS goal relates directly to the SIP strategies. Anne Feely will assist teachers in the collection, compilation, and interpretation of the data to help their students make gains in all subject areas.

 

8) Writing of the SIP or School Improvement Plan:  The 2004-05 No Child Left Behind School Public Accountability Report was distributed to all SAC members and staff. Gabrielle O’Berry reminded SAC members that the data contained in this report dictates which strategies must be included in the writing of the SIP. The new vision and mission statements will state that all students should be “afforded every opportunity to reach his or her highest potential.”  An AdHoc committee has been appointed to meet and review all subgroups included in the EQuiP data and suggest strategies for improving academic performance. This committee will meet in early September. Members shall be Emile Quinn, Gabrielle O’Berry, Anne Feely, Sandy Ryan, Specials teachers, JoAnn Tomer, Camille Hilliard, and Mollee McFarlane. Input from this committee will be shared during the September meeting. All of Garden’s staff, SAC members, and PTO Board will be asked to report any suggested changes to our SIP. Discussion and approval of new strategies will also take place in September.

 

 

 

9) Five Star School Criteria: Congratulations to Garden for being a Five Star School for 2004-05. Gabrielle O’Berry recognized the amount of time and commitment put into this project by Karen Blackburn and JaneAnn Jennings and thanked them for putting together a wonderful portfolio. They will continue to compile data for SY 2005-06. Karen Blackburn will keep us updated as to the progress/needs of the Five Star School Committee.

 

10) SAC Project:  Emile Quinn asked for feedback concerning a possible project for this year’s SAC. He went on to explain that he had met with YMCA Director, Pat Ryan, concerning a YMCA/Garden Elementary reading tutorial partnership project for first, second, and specially selected third graders. Anne Feely will be the liaison for this project. A grant was previously procured by the YMCA which allowed them to hire a retired principal to coordinate the program. Volunteer tutors would be trained and then paired up with a student for 45 minutes two days a week. There would be two after school sessions on Monday – Thursday. A letter to the almost 40 identified students will go out on Friday, September 2. Mr. Quinn wanted SAC’s imput to support this project, which all agreed to do, and for ideas concerning how SAC could help. The four ways SAC could provide support include: 1) help the YMCA find volunteer tutors, 2) use a portion of the SAC budget to fund an after school snack (SAC Snack) for children who do not already attend the YMCA after school program, 3) ask staff/SAC members to coordinate the children during snack time, and 4) help create, maintain, and fund a reward program for the children. Mr. Quinn will meet with Mr. Ryan on Wednesday to let him know of SAC’s support for this program. Gabrielle O’Berry will work with Anne Feely and Emile Quinn to compose a letter to send out to Garden families to ask for volunteer readers.

 

11) PALS Training:  Garden Elementary will be sending representatives to attend the following workshops – Volunteer Coordinator, Business Partner Coordinator, Five Star School Coordinator, new SAC members orientation, Grant Writing, and PTA/PTO/PTSO brainstorming session. These work-shops will take place at Laurel Nokomis School on September 8 from

5:00 – 7:30 PM. Reservations have been made by JaneAnn Jennings.

Attendees will report back to SAC during the September 20 meeting.

 

12) Venice Foundation (now called the Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice):  This topic will be discussed at the September meeting.

 

13) Teacher Web Pages: SAC will no longer be funding this. The District will be setting up sites for all teachers. The fine details have yet to be given to schools.

 

14) The A+ School Monies ($65,000) Allocation Vote will be conducted at the school on September 7. SAC will review FLC’s recommendation as to how the A+ monies will be distributed. SAC will make its recommendation concerning these funds at the September 20 meeting.

 

The meeting adjourned at 4:02 PM.

 

 

Next Meeting: September 20, 2005, 3:00 PM

Front Conference Room