Garden Elementary School Advisory Council Minutes

September 18, 2007

Present: John McQueen - Principal

Gabrielle O’Berry – SAC Chairperson

Lauren Hunt - Data Coach

Rachel Hallman, Aggie Harrison - Teachers

Lisa Saul - Classified

Gary Gray, Denise Mattmuller (absent), Dot Moore – Community Members

Maria Clapp, Terry Sochacki, Victoria Stultz, John Via - Parents

JaneAnn Jennings – PTO/Volunteer/Five Star School Coordinator

Tammi Stephens - PTO

1) Welcome/Introduction of New Members: Mrs. O’Berry welcomed everyone to the meeting and asked each member to introduce him/herself. New parent representatives, Maria Clapp, Terry Sochacki, and John Via, will have the opportunity to either attend the PALS Annual SAC Training at Laurel Nokomis School on 9/27/07 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 – Aggie Harrison, Secretary – Lisa Saul.

3) Operational Guidelines/Bylaws: The SAC guidelines for the 2007-08 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) Budget: Gabrielle O’Berry reported on possible budget items. Garden was allocated $6,462 for the 2007-08 school year. A carry forward balance from the 2006-07 school year was $2,835.82. The total balance for the September 18, 2007 meeting was $9,297.82. Monies would be used to fund staff development, instructional materials, consumable supplies (i.e.…FCAT, Renaissance, Character Education, New Families Orientation), and a supplement (SAC Coordinator stipend).

5) Next Generation Learning; John McQueen reported that he would be talking about the major points of NGL after the SAC meeting in October. All are welcome to view the presentation and join the discussion.

6) Student Incentive Proposals: Monies were approved for the following incentives: $1,000 for Renaissance, up to $1,500 for incentives/snacks for students in 1^st and 2^nd grade taking the Stanford and 3^rd – 5^th graders taking the FCAT, and $1,000 for Character Education consumable materials. These were approved because a majority of the student population will be positively affected.

7) Teacher Web Pages: SAC has agreed to fund this item once again. TeacherWeb will be used. Mr. McQueen would like to see all teachers’ web sites up and running within the month of September. The cost for this was $1,152. Board members discussed that TeacherWeb was fun and easy to use, for parents and children.

8) 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 received copies at the August faculty meeting. Mr. McQueen gave an overview of the laws and procedures associated with issues of discrimination.

9) EQuiP Data: Lauren Hunt and John McQueen went over the EQuiP data with members. Garden Elementary earned an “A” grade for the 2006/2007 school year. The data is being closely reviewed and strategies chosen to determine how our school community can help our students improve, especially the lower quartile. A teacher’s yearly TPAS goal relates directly to the SIP strategies. Lauren Hunt will assist teachers in the collection, compilation, and interpretation of the data to help their students make gains in all subject areas. She will also directly aid staff members by modeling reading strategies. Mr. McQueen reported that available personnel are working with our struggling students.

10) Writing of the SIP or School Improvement Plan: Gabrielle O’Berry and John McQueen presented the SIP or School Improvement Plan. The vision and mission statements will state that all students should be “afforded every opportunity to reach his or her highest potential.” An AdHoc committee was appointed to meet and review all subgroups included in the EQuiP data and suggest strategies for improving academic performance. The PTO and FLC also reviewed the proposed plan and made suggestions. Mr. McQueen congratulated the Garden community for working so diligently. Garden’s scores point out that we have made many gains. We will continue to work on reading/writing gains while putting more emphasis on math and science.

11) Five Star School Criteria: Congratulations to Garden for being a Five Star School for 2006-07. 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. Mrs. Jennings will continue to compile data for SY 2007-08. Attendance at SAC meetings is a piece of the criteria, so Mrs. Jennings reminded committee members to call the office to let us know if you have an emergency and can not attend a meeting.

12) PALS Training: Garden Elementary will be sending representatives to attend workshops for the new SAC members’ orientation. These workshops will take place at Laurel Nokomis School on September 27 from

5:00 – 7:00 PM. Attendees will report back to SAC during the October meeting.

13) Gulf Coast Community Foundation of Venice Grant: Mrs. O’Berry reported that the school received $30,000 which will be used to fund professional development activities (Kagan Cooperative Learning, remedial reading, writing, math, and technology workshops), substitutes for K and first grade teachers for conferences, subs for the Art, Music, and PE teachers to attend conferences, and funds for technology conference fees, upgrades and diagnostic assessment training. A big thank you to Jeanne Troiano and Diana Mitchell for helping Garden receive this wonderful gift.

14) Other: Please remember that the next SAC meeting is on October 16 at 6:30 in the Media Center.

The meeting adjourned at 4:45 PM.