Garden Elementary School Advisory Council Minutes

September 19, 2006

Present: John McQueen - Principal

Gabrielle O’Berry – SAC Chairperson

Anne Feely - Data Coach – absent (Landings)

Rachel Hallman, Aggie Harrison - Teachers

Karen Blackburn – Classified – absent (excused)

Gary Gray, Mollee McFarlane, Victoria Stultz, Shannon Via - Parents

Denise Mattmuller, Dot Moore, Terri Ramey – Community Members

JaneAnn Jennings – Volunteer/Five Star School Coordinator

1) Welcome

2) Budget: Gabrielle O’Berry reported that $57.37 for the Chairperson’s stipend was the only new budget item. The September balance is $7, 239.30.

3) PALS Training: Garden Elementary sent 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 workshops took place at Laurel Nokomis School on September 7 from 5:00 – 7:00 PM. Attendees reported back to SAC. JaneAnn Jennings, Volunteer Coordinator, stated that we need to remember to recognize our wonderful volunteers more often.

4) School Improvement Plan (SIP): Gabrielle O’Berry and John McQueen presented a draft of the SIP to SAC members. After the discussion concerning the scores earned from the 2005 – 2006 school year and the expected annual learning gains for the 2006 – 2007, SAC realized that the Garden community has much work to do in order to attain the proposed percentages. Gabrielle O’Berry has already presented the draft of the SIP during a PTO meeting. The draft is also being distributed to Faculty Leadership Council representatives to take back to their teams. Representatives will bring suggestions for changes to the SIP to the FLC meeting on 9/26/06. Gabrielle O’Berry, Anne Feely, and John McQueen will be present at the meeting to answer questions and collect new input.

Parent representatives wanted more information about the 90 minute reading block. Gabrielle O’Berry distributed copies of the county’s “90 Minute Reading Block” reading plan. John McQueen will talk with Anne Feely about the possibility of including this handout in our school newspaper along with a list of ideas parents can do at home to follow up with classroom reading activities.

Parent SAC reps felt this would be vital information as they were not aware of the total ramifications of the 90 Minute Reading Block. Parent reps would also like to see more parent-friendly reports come home after students take the SRI and SCPT. Again, they would like the information so they can help their children at home. Gabrielle O’Berry will talk to Anne Feely and Susan Van Alstine about this request from parents.

5) Other: Gabrielle O’Berry reported that the PTO had approved Victoria Stultz to represent parents. Aggie Harrison was approved at a faculty meeting to represent teachers. Our new business partner, Denise Mattmuller from Michael Saunders Realty, was appointed by the principal and approved by the SAC.

John McQueen and Gabrielle O’Berry will attend the Five Star School Recognition Ceremony. This will be Garden’s tenth year to earn this prestigious award. Thank you to Karen Blackburn and JaneAnn Jennings for putting the portfolio together last year and for volunteering to do it again this year.

The meeting adjourned at 4:35 PM.

Next Meeting: Tuesday, October 17, 2006, 3:30 PM

Front Conference Room