Groveland Site Council Meeting Minutes

June 6, 2006

In attendance:  Craig Roen, Jeff Sambs, Ashley Cannady, Julie Printz, Ann Hobbie, Anneke Krall, Jean Bergstrom, Renee Akimoto, Allison Bittner, Katie Parke-Reimer, Heather Sweeney, Karen Benson, Lisa Keitel, Tasha Klepp, Roopali Phadke, Lisa Randall, Jody Murphy, Kari Brennan, Gene Yates, Kathy Bigelow, Lori Seastrand, Val O’Keefe, Emett Donnelly, Jeanette,  Sandra Yates, Kris Hageman, Jeanne Portoghese,

Meeting commenced at 5:24 p.m.  May minutes were not available at the meeting to approve.  They will be approved at the first fall meeting.  The agenda was approved with the addition of a Gifted and Talented update before the Renzooli Software discussion.

Principal’s Report:  In Cleva’s absence Ashley Cannady gave the report. 

• Fall Kindergarten update – For fall 2006 Groveland will have two full day sections and one half day section each containing 24 students.  There is also a waiting list.  The breakdown of the three classes presently looks like this:
• Full day - 14 neighborhood kids, 4 reassignment kids, 6 Language Academy kids. 
• Full day - 15 neighborhood kids, 9 reassignment kids
• Half day -  6 neighborhood kids, 3 daycare reassignment, 8 reassignment, 7 elementary transfer kids
• Wait list – 16 neighborhood kids, 7 kids registered but not placed, 21 kids not registered but requesting Groveland.

This is the first time in recent years that Groveland has had a large waiting list.  There was discussion about ways Groveland could potentially accommodate additional students and the issues surrounding staffing.

• It would take 35 more students to add another teacher
• There was a suggestion to change one full time section to 2 half-day sections -  some raised concerns that we’d lose some of these families by doing so.  Many families may have chosen Groveland because we offer a free all-day kindergarten.  On the other hand we may lose some of these families in first grade anyway. 
• Add an additional half day class.  Parents could enroll their kids in the kindergarten enrichment program offered through S’more Fun.  We’d need to try and schedule those families together in the afternoon kindergarten or the morning kindergarten.  S’more Fun needs to have at least five kids to conduct their program. 
• Another idea was to offer one additional half day class but cap the enrollment at 18, making it a more attractive option.
• One person made the point that turning kids away is not so bad for reasons of marketing.
• One person asked what number of kids does it take to consider a classroom full?  Also asked, if kids drop from the all day class, do we add kids from the wait list?
• A parent raised concerns about class sizes.   Some parents were told on school tours that Groveland tried to cap enrollment in Kindergarten at 18 per class.  Once they started school, class sizes were more on the order of 22-24.  Parents made the point that it is wrong to market Groveland as having small class sizes if there are 24 kids in the classroom.
• Groveland needs to put money into a full time technology person instead of a classroom teacher in order to support our new computer lab.
• Many agreed that Groveland should commit to small class numbers.  How possible is it to get additional resources to help classroom teachers?
• Site Council wished to recommend to Cleva Jobe that Groveland add one ½ day kindergarten class with a goal of capping enrollment at 18 for ½ day classes.  Ask Cleva if she can find additional dollars for TA’s.  Also, recommend that we don’t fill spots that become vacant when kids drop from the all-day kindergarten classes.  A staff member made the comment that Groveland doesn’t have the authority to cap enrollment.
• It was suggested that Kindergarten teachers be asked if they’d even like a TA.  The TA should be available more than ½-1 hour.  TAs also add to a teacher’s workload because they have someone else to manage.
• In the fall, Groveland’s marketing materials should be revisited to review the information about small class sizes.

At this point the Kindergarten teachers will be Patti Raub, Tracey Van Natta and Heather Sweeney.  Our technology person will be Paul Nelson.  Jeremy Lish will be one of the 6^th grade teachers. 

Title I Update:   Ashley handed out the 2006-2007 Home/School Compact. 

All Title I identified students and their parents/guardians and Dr. Jobe will sign this compact.  For the 2006-2007 school year Groveland will only be targeting grades 1-3.  She also handed out documents entitled “Target Assistance Program Description”, “Title I Targeted Assistance Model”,  “Title I School Parent Involvement Policy Procedures Checklist”. 

Gifted and Talented Update:  48% of Groveland kids are identified as gifted and talented.  Dr. Jobe wants to improve GT services.  A forum was held with parents and staff.  The forum brought to light three major issues:

• Need for improved communication between staff and parents.
• Desire for clustering by interest areas
• Developing curriculum for multi-ages.

The guiding philosophy should be that children will rise to their ability by interests.  There was some discussion of the need for Curriculum mapping in order for multi-age learning and interest area learning to occur.  This is where each classroom teacher and grade level schedules the topic areas they will cover throughout the year.  A curriculum grid is then developed and gaps are identified.  Once these maps are created teachers can figure out opportunities for clustering.  All staff would know what other teachers are doing when.  This can also help to avoid duplication of topic area from grade to grade.  It also makes it easier to group kids by ability and interests.

Renzooli Software:   This is a product purchased with the Microsoft settlement money.  The intent is to install this in the school computer lab.  Students will work on the program which gathers information about them – including ability levels and interest areas.  Software will gather and suggest information for the kid from the internet, from approved/researched sites.  The program will keep track of reading level and comprehension level.  Parents will be able to see what their kids have been working on by visiting the parent portal.  This software will be used by all students.  The Renzuli program tests for levels.  Teachers control the process.  The kids will have some scheduled lab time each week.   They also can work on it in the classroom and at home if they have access to the internet.  The plan is to start using this software sometime in the fall after it comes in, it is installed and the teachers are trained.  Our full time technology teacher will run the lab and help the kids with the reading assessments, use of the software and technology integration. 

It was stressed that computer time is not another prep for teachers.  There will be some flexibility in computer scheduling and the kids will not necessarily visit the lab every week.

The computer lab will be where the music room is currently and will contain between 28 and 29 computers.  The two laptop carts will be in there as well.

Other:  Friends of Groveland requested that Site Council discuss in the early fall what our larger spring fundraiser should be, whether it be another Celebrate Groveland event or a carnival or ??

Ann Hobbie and Jeff Sambs were recognized for their involvement as Site Council Co-chairs.  Thanks for all you do!  

Meeting was adjourned.