Site Minutes of November 15, 2000 Meeting

Farallone View School Site Council 2000-2001
Minutes Of Meeting
November 15, 2000
APPROVED MINUTES

In attendance: Mike Bachicha, Peggy Rothenberg, Maria Murphy, Mary Balciunas, Bill Strom, Pete Zell, Jill McClennan, Howard Hayes, Stacey Fitting and Donna McCurdy

Approval of Agenda The proposal by Jolanda Schreurs (via e-mail) was added to Open Forum items. The agenda was approved with this addition.

Bill Strom noted that approved minutes for this and the past year are available on the Site Council web site www.coastside.net/farview/Site .

Principal’s Report Principal Bachicha reported that the CUSD School Board approved the Farallone View Site Plan Summary and Plan of Action. They had some questions about the funding of a classified salary through SIP funds, but were satisfied by the fact that this had strong staff approval and added measurable toward “teacher time on task” by relieving teachers of copying time (necessitated by approved curriculum materials). The Board complimented FV on the amount of time outside of school hours that teacher spend on

Principal Bachicha described some of the new strategies at lunchtime to improve student behavior and environment. He is reading to the students during lunch, as well as instituting weekly prizes for classes that meet the desired standard of behavior. This also works toward our goal of creating literacy and models reading for the students.

Tech Committee's Report Bill Strom reported that the Cornerstone server software for math (gr. 3-5) is up but has affected access to the MathKeys server software for math (gr. K - 2). This will be corrected. He noted that Cornerstone addresses differential education with individual reports on each student. The Cornerstone program for literacy will be coming in.

He also reported that Principal Bachicha’s computer was stolen during a break-in. In more positive news, two parents, Bill Haack and Mr. Whittemore, have come forward as tech volunteers. The Ed Fund will look at some of the furniture issues.

GATE Report (M. Bachicha) Pamela Teige has agreed to be the staff component of the GATE committee. She has experience as a GATE teacher.

PTA Report (M. Bachicha) At the November PTA meeting, a nutritionist spoke about eating disorders and obesity in kids which was very informative. The PTA is looking for volunteers for the Holiday Bazaar, coming up Dec. 3. They reported a profit of $3,000 plus $2,000 in books from the Troll Book Fair, and a profit of $13,000 from the Giftwrap fundraiser.

Ed Fund Report (B. Strom) The Ed Fund is on track for their fundraising goals, but have more commitments this year, needing about $120,000 total to fund their portion of the salaries of the librarian, computer tech teacher and the grades 4 & 5 classroom aides. The feedback on the aides from the teachers has been extraordinary.

The funds from the E-Scrip program are ahead of last year, and Ed Fund will also be selling special order scrip for the holiday season, as well as promoting the SchoolPop.com website. They will provide staff “scrip wish lists” for parents for the holiday season.

Open Forum Jolanda Schreurs proposed (via email to Mike Bachicha and Bill Strom) that the Site Council fund the purchase of a set of Math League tests to be available to the 160 4th & 5th grade students in addition to the Math-A-Thon this year. The cost would be approximately $550. The Council asked Mike Bachicha for feedback from the 4th and 5th grade teachers about this and tabled any decision until January.

Budget Review Principal Bachicha reported that he has a meeting with Diane Stupi, CUSD Director of Business, on Friday to discuss some possible over-allocations.

The goals and objectives for the year were discussed. In addition to approving allocations and preparing a budget for next year, the Site Council needs to evaluate two areas of focus, Reading and Math, against the Site Plan goals and Action Plan. Science and Arts will also be examined.

Principal Bachicha noted that a Bilingual Committee needs to be formed and a report submitted monthly to the Site Council, to assess the impact of the Site Plan on English Language Learners (ELL).

After discussion, the following calendar was approved by majority vote.

Month	Tasks	Reports
December	Approve allocations for this year (2000-2001)	GATE, Tech, Bilingual
January	Begin Reading Action Plan examination.	GATE, Tech, Bilingual
February	Complete Reading Action Plan Set up Nominating Committee (to report monthly)	GATE, Tech, Bilingual
March	Begin Math Action Plan	GATE, Tech, Bilingual, Nominating
April	Approve Proposed Budget for 2001 - 2002	GATE, Tech, Bilingual, Nominating
May	Complete Math Action Plan	GATE, Tech, Bilingual, Nominating (results of election)
June	Prepare Science & Arts Action Plan	GATE, Tech, Bilingual

Cost of Needs described in Site Action Plan Principal Bachicha presented cost of Needs as described and prioritized by teachers. He noted that several items would be funded from alternate sources.

The Reading Recovery program cannot be increased due to contractual obligations, as the Reading Recovery teacher is shared with El Granada.

The Expanded Leveled Library/Parent Library will be funded by a combination of Back to Basis grant, Noyce and District R. U. (reversal of unrestricted) funds.

The next highest priority on the teachers list, across grades, is “tables and chairs”. The council asked Principal Bachicha to provide specific information on how this new furniture would work towards to Site Improvement

H. Hayes made a motion to approve the GATE committee as a sub-committee of the Site Council, with committee members Pamela Teige, Mike Bachicha, Georgia Wright, and Erika Dinelli. Motion was approved by majority vote.