RIVERVIEW HIGH SCHOOL

SCHOOL ADVISORY COUNCIL MEETING

OCTOBER 14, 2004

 

(Listed Alphabetically)

Members Present:

Pat Bliss – Instructional                                       Kate Mocherman – Classified

Amiee Buckman – Parent                                    Fred Monix – Community

Vinny Cannizzaro – Student                                 Alison Neville – Classified

Ali Dvoskin – Student                                          Linda Nook – RHS Principal

Caine Dvoskin – Student                                     Janice Piedra – Parent

Chuck Evans – Chairman                                    Curt Singleton – Parent

Abby Gerrity – Parent                                         Dusty Twining – Instructional

Lloyd Hankinson – Instructional                           Tracy Walls – Community

Sue Hlohinec – Parent                                         Frederick D. Williams – Community

Tina Martinelli – Parent                                            

 

Guests: 

Evie Eddins – RLC Coordinator                             Lorra O’Carroll – 12th Grade

Leo Lachambre – RLC Co-coordinator                  Rachel Shelley - RHS A.P./SAC Facilitator

Jeanne Ladimir –SAC Secretary                           Latrina Singleton – USF Ed. Leadership Major

 

Members Absent:

Jennifer Daly – Student (Excused)                        Jim Popielinski – Parent

Jorge Echeverri – ESOL (Excused)                        Kim Richards – Instructional (Excused)

Bonnie Kulha – Parent                                        Dimitrije Zdravkovich – Instructional (Excused)

Bob Marvin – Instructional (Excused)

 

MEETING CALLED TO ORDER

Chuck Evans called the meeting to order at 2:01 p.m. 

 

RENAISSANCE LEARNING CENTER (RLC)

Evie Eddins, RLC Coordinator, distributed handouts and explained that RLC was an after school homework help program that was started 3 years ago. The program was started by a team of 9th grade teachers who decided to work together and provide after school tutoring for 9th grade students on a voluntary basis with the help of some adult volunteers.  The administrator over Renaissance felt that RLC was successful and wanted it available to all RHS students.  Due to the limited number of adult and student tutors, RLC refers to itself as a homework help center and not a tutoring lab and does not want to give the impression that they are providing intensive one-on-one tutoring.  RLC 3 goals are to increase student participation, increase utilization of tutors, and to develop partnerships with the business community.  Last year, RLC served 387 students totaling 3,822 student hours and its staff, adult and student volunteer tutor hours totaled 1,976 hours.  RLC’s expenses were cut in half (over $7,000) from year one to year two even though there were more students and volunteer hours.  RLC will be getting a French tutor and the FCAT Lab is now the Language Lab.  RLC provides SCAT passes to students who require transportation.  RLC is available to all students Monday – Thursday from 2:00 – 3:00 p.m.

 

Evaluation of October 2003 FCAT Preparation Plan

 

FCAT Preparation Classes                                     FCAT Explorer Lab

# of 12th Gr. Students:  26 (Reading)/12 (Math)     # of 12th Gr. Students:  1 (Reading)/2 (Math)

# of 11th Gr. Students:  3 (Reading)/0 (Math)         # of 11th Gr. Students:  61 (Reading)/26 (Math)

 

Compared student scores received before Oct. 2003 test with those of the Oct. 2003 test.  Students w/o a previous test score were not included in the data. 

 

Average Improvement

 

Reading:                                                                        Mathematics:

FCAT Prep Classes showed 15% improvement        FCAT Prep Classes showed 51% improvement

FCAT Explorer Lab showed 58% improvement        FCAT Explorer Lab showed 98% improvement

 

Leo Lachambre, RLC Co-Coordinator, said that last year, 1/3 of the students who attended RLC everyday made the Renaissance. RLC is not only available to low level students, but to I.B. and honor students as well. He plans to spread the word that there is homework help for ALL kids.  He praised the students who volunteered their time for community service last year. Mr. Lachambre also talked about FCAT Explorer, a free program that can be accessed from home or school and is available to all students and teachers.  He said that he starts his students on the 8th grade level/benchmark first (recommended by the company) because it is a good foundation to build on before they go onto the 10th grade level.  If they can do the 10th grade level, they usually do not have a problem on the FCAT test. If they are lacking in an area, the 8th grade benchmarks will identify those areas early.  FCAT Language Arts is a phenomenal tool.  It covers ALL subjects.

 

Frederick D. Williams asked Evie Eddins if RLC is preparing students to pass the FCAT test or are they looking for improving the general overall achievement?  Ms. Eddins felt that whenever teachers prepare students for FCAT whether they are showing them the format of the test and having them practice FCAT-like questions, that is the Florida curriculum and she has no issue with teaching to the test.  She states that the test is of the standard and is the curriculum that the district has asked us to keep, however she thinks there is a big distinction of what students are receiving in FCAT Explorer, which is just one of their labs, and what they are receiving in other classes or lab situations.  Out of the 13 different areas that RLC is providing tutoring in, only one of those is the FCAT Explorer and that is directly teaching to the FCAT test. Everything else is for homework help and having someone there to answer questions.

 

Fred Monix asks how parents are made aware of the program.

Evie mentioned Ram News, e-mails to staff, Teleram and Open House.  Guidance Counselors are RLC’s biggest recruiters.  Linda Nook added that when a parent calls and says that their child is not doing well in a class, RLC is the first thing that we offer them.

 

Tracy Walls asked how RLC is identifying the students who are at risk and may not have high self-esteem and the initiative of taking the first step of getting into a program like this.  She also asked if the program was meeting the needs of its entire audience.  Evie stated that RLC started out with the lower 25% and that it is part of our SIP (closing the achievement gap).  She also said that it was more difficult to get I.B. students because they stay after school for other things.  RLC lets I.B. and advanced teachers know that there is help for their students if they need it.  Students who participate in band, sports and after school activities have the same problem so RLC works closely with coaches and even suggests that the students come for 20 minutes a day. 

 

Leo Lachambre will call home and track kids down if they do not show up. He finds this very effective.

 

Evie Eddins said that RLC has already been funded for its first semester.  She suggested a $20,000 budget and she is willing to keep this program within that budget.  She asked if SAC would consider funding RLC for its second semester in the amount of $10,000.00.  Linda Nook added that Ms. Eddins did not include the many non-duty hours she puts into the program and suggests that she get compensated for that.

 

The Renaissance Parent Organization (RPO) has agreed to fund RLC for ½ of RLC’s projected budget.  Last year RPO gave RLC $10,000 and RHS picked up the tab for $17,000.

 

Chuck asked Evie Eddins for a written request.

 

Chuck states that there is approximately $33,700.68 left in our funds and that each year on July 1st, SAC receives approximately $25,000.00

 

Chuck asks if anyone wants to edit Evie Eddin’s request for $10,000.00.

Frederick D. Williams asks if we have a quorum.  Yes.

 

Janice Piedra motions to give $10,000 to the RLC plus an additional sum to be determined not to exceed $4,000 for Evie Eddins (totaling $14,000.00).

Seconded by Curt Singleton

Third by Linda Nook

No objections – motion approved

 

BY-LAWS

 

Article V, #5   The School Advisory Council should consist of no less than 15 and no more than 25 members.

To date, RHS SAC has 26 members.  A decision has to be made whether to dismiss someone or amend the By-Laws.  The Florida DOE website showed no conflicts regarding the maximum or minimum number of individuals that may serve on the School Advisory Council.  If we have 26 members, our quorum will have to go up one (14 members instead of 13).

 

Chuck Evans:  Motion to amend by-law?

Sue Hlohenic motions     

Seconded by Pat Bliss

Motion – approved

 

SAC MINUTES FROM SEPTEMBER 9TH & SEPTEMBER 23RD, 2004

Reviewed and approved as written.

 

SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PLAN

Rachel Shelley reviews the SIP Plan for the district.  She mentions that the deadline has been extended from October 14th to October 22nd.  She reviews the timeline and reviews what will be presented:  School Vision and Mission, Needs Assessment, Adequate Progress for Overall Plan, Goals and Strategy/Activities, School Professional Development Plan, Public input, and Plan for School Improvement Activities. 

 

Linda Nook mentions that we will be videotaping as well as taking pictures to show examples of what we are doing to achieve our goals.

 

Rachel Shelley reminds everyone of the February 16, 2005 presentation before the school board from 2:15 – 3:45 PM.

 

All goals are driven from our Comprehensive Needs Assessment.  RHS has received a lot of support from its Curriculum Coordinators.  The needs are in the area of Reading, Math and Writing.  The Administration goal is that we make AYP.  In the area of Reading, all of our students are expected to be reading at or above grade level by at least 48% and for Math, 53%.

 

Collaborative Planning

All staff members received a list of areas and they chose which areas they wanted to perform their 30 hours.  They were identified Common Assessment, Small Learning Community (SLC) Activities, Professional Development Activities, Professional Learning Communities (PLC) and any other activities that were approved by Administration.  Collaborative planning will take place 2 hours a week.  Each teacher is expected to collaborate and meet as a team.  All of RHS’s strategies and activities were derived from its many meetings with individual Professional Learning Communities, training throughout the summer as well as input from faculty and staff members. 

 

PLC:  A group of people work collaboratively with others to address a particular concern. 

SLC:  Group of teachers working with a group of students on a common theme or interest.

 

 

Next SAC Meeting:  Thursday, November 18, 2004 at 2:00 p.m. in room 9-003.

 

Meeting adjourned at 3:10 PM.

 

Respectfully submitted by:

Jeanne Ladimir