Farallone View School Site Council
2000-2001
Minutes for April 18, 2001

In Attendance: Mike Bachicha, Donna McCurdy, Bill Strom, Stacey Fitting,

Howard Hayes, Maria Murphy, Pete Zell, John DiNapoli.  Guests: Rachael

Gershenson, Vicki Laffen (president of Ed Fund), and Ken Greenburg.

Call to Order 6:08. Quorum established.

Review Agenda: Agenda reviewed and approved.

Approval of Minutes: Minutes for February 28, 2001, and March 21, 2001, were

reviewed and approved by majority vote.  Bill Strom noted that minutes are

posted on the web site and available in three formats: HTML, Word, and PDF. 

The web site is www.coastside.net/farview/Site.

Principal's Report (M. Bachicha)

   Principal Bachicha reported that the SAT-9 tests for grades 2 - 5 will be

held the week of May 7 - 11.

   The school is looking for a new yard duty person.

   Next year will be a PQR (Program Quality Review) for Farallone View

School, in which we will review, revise and/or rewrite the School Site Plan. 

The state has 3 methods of PQR: using county consultants, self-directed (for

research-based data-driven programs such as RESULTS or BASRC), or

participating in a PQR workshop.  This workshop of 6 sessions will be held at

the county office next fall and will walk us through the process.  The cost

is $500 per school for the principal plus 3 or more teachers/Site Council

representatives.

Tech Committee (B. Strom)

   Bill reported that the teachers do not support the need for a centralized

printer.  Therefore, the number one technological need at the school is

replacement of printers.  The cost would be approximately $150 each for 10

printers, plus supplies to fix existing printers.  There is also a pressing

need for more memory.

  The multimedia projector has arrived (purchased by Site Council).

  Bill noted that a Farallone View family donated a great deal of equipment

to the computer lab, including a flat-screen monitor (now in the library), 50

ethernet cables, hard drives, and more. 

Ed Fund (B. Strom & D. McCurdy)

The Ed Fund was pleased to report that the Silent Auction did well, with

profits of over $16,000.  They have discussed the possibility of separating

the Silent Auction from the Talent Show, due to space considerations, and

possibly holding the auction offsite.  There will be another Kids’ Night Out

this weekend.

Gifted and Talented Education [GATE] : (M. Bachicha)

   Principal Bachicha reported that 29 students, in grades 3 (and 4 and 5)

took the SOI test recently, which is the qualifying test for Gifted and

Talented status in this district.

  The California Poets in the Schools program will start next week.  This was

very well received last year by students and parents.

PTA Report (M. Bachicha)

Dr. John Bayless, superintendent of Cabrillo Unified School District, spoke

at the April PTA meeting about the complicated process of education funding

in our state.  He described the wide variance within our county between Basic

Aid school districts and our district.

   Mike noted that there is a bill currently in the state houses to recognize

the penalty we pay in having to fund PERS reduction at 13¢ per $1.00 for

certain staff such as classroom aides.  Basic Aid schools do not have to pay

this. 

    Dr. Bayless also warned that unless the state changed the funding

structure, the classroom reduction funding would be inadequate within 7

years, as salaries increase but the funding does not.

SDAC [Superintendent's District Advisory Council] Report: Meeting is tomorrow

night (4/19).

Open Forum: Rachael Gershenson and Ken Greenburg were introduced as parents

possibly interested in running for Site Council for next year.

Nominating Committee (S. Fitting) Candidate forms and information will be

sent out this week with the newsletter.  Two notices of the election have

been published.  Three interested parents were invited to attend tonight's

meeting.  Candidate's statements need to be turned into school by May 11 and

elections will be held at Open House, May 23rd.

Math Action Plan & Site Plan Focus Area (M. Bachicha)

   Principal Bachicha distributed copies of the proposed 2001-2002 Site Plan

Summary and explained each item.  The summary is based on the Site Plan with

some changes in strategies and activities. 

     Mike noted that the district is emphasizing a focus on writing in all

subject areas next year.

   One of these changes is the proposed use of “Book of the Month” and

“Author Study” curriculum to develop student skills in approaching literature

and improved reading comprehension.  Bill Strom asked if the Cornerstone

Literacy software program should be included in the Summary. 

   Next year Farallone View will be piloting new math texts, which will have

no cost implications for the school.

    All FV teachers will be trained in language fluency assessment by the

district on May 1, and all ELL (English Language Learners) will be tested for

language fluency starting May 14.

   Pete Zell asked if the Homework Club, the after school tutoring program at

FV, has an impact on the ELL learners, and if so, should be included in the

Summary.  He also asked if we could somehow note that many of the strategies

and activities were implemented without district or state funding (such as

Homework Club).

       After discussion, a motion was made to approve the Site Plan Summary

for submission to the school board, with changes and additions as discussed. 

 The motion was approved by majority vote.

Projected API Allocations There is still no information about when or if we

will receive the API allocations.  This was tabled until information becomes

available.

Complete 2000-2001 Budget

Bill Strom and Vicki Laffen, president of the Ed Fund, described the events

of two years ago (1998-99) when the Ed Fund agreed to fund a larger portion

of the computer lab teacher’s salary.  As the Ed Fund understood it, the Site

Council would then fund technological supplies and equipment.

     Principal Bachicha outlined the process of funding for the Site Council,

taking into account that both the SIP funds (School Improvement Program) and

the Site block grant can fluctuate greatly from year to year, and that the

Site Council reviews the budget each year, based on funds available and the

prioritized needs of the school as a whole.    He emphasized that there

continues to be, on the part of the Site Council and the administration, an

ongoing consideration to a portion of the budget allocated to maintain

technology.  He intends to analyze technology needs on a yearly basis with

Tom Ferenz, the computer technology teacher.

    There was a great deal of discussion about the roles of the different

parent groups at Farallone View and allocations of SIP funds for salaries. 

Bill Strom recommended that the discussion be tabled to the May meeting.

 Items for Next Meeting

Review of Allocation Priorities for 2001-2002; Complete Math Action Plan;

Nominating Committee; Projected API Allocations (if information available);

GATE, Tech, Nominating & Bilingual Committee reports. 

     The next meeting will be Wednesday, May 16, at 6 pm in the staff room.