Marta McAllister Posted October 31, 2005 Report Share Posted October 31, 2005 Proceeding of the School/Community Committee Meeting District No. 2, Yellowstone County High School District No. 2, Yellowstone County Billings, Montana September 12, 2005 Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by Karen Moses Members Present: Karen Moses, Carol Wicker, Paul DiLorenzo, Jim Hartung, Tom Willis, Sandra Mammenga, Laura Simonsen, Michael Hughes, Gail Surwill, Michael Burke, Mary Jo Fox, Dawn Achten, and Jan McCandless. Excused Members: Lisa Posada and Jay Kirk Guests present: Boulder Elementary - Kim Halverson, David Carlson, and Colleen Nichols Orchard – Linda Bakken and Deborah Rowe Riverside – Lou Anderson, Carole Luster, Shanna Kennedy Will James – Dr. Joan Sorenson and Carrie Anderson Senior – Scott Anderson, Kay Erickson, Dan Bartsch, and John Selvig Communication from the Public: None School Reports on Parent Involvement Process for 2004-2005: A panel discussion format was used for the school reports. The following three questions were asked of the panel. 1. What did you learn by going through the process that you did not know about your school prior to the process? The panel’s response was: mutual respect and trust between staff and parents, excellence and enthusiasm of staff, good comfort level within the schools, broader picture of the whole District, additional technology, mentors of 7th graders at Riverside, team teaching at the Middle School level, external factors for low academic scores, curriculum overlapping of academics, and not much parent involvement at Orchard due to parents working multiple jobs. 2. How can parents assist the school in meeting their improvement goals? Some suggestions were: encourage reading, parents and the community need to be more involved in the school, parents physically can visit the school, parents need to identify school goals, parents can get to know teachers so better communication can exist, consider different ways to involve parents at Orchard, the perception that parents and staff are afraid of each other resulting in ineffective communication. 3. How does the review process help parents become informed and empowered as a part of the team with the facility and staff? Parents believe the process is helpful as they would not have been involved to this degree if not for this process. Many parents learned more about what was going on at their school. Teachers were more willing to interact with parents and community as communications opened up. Some of the suggestions and comments for the staff next time this process is done included: parents would like more time to observe the classrooms and talk to teachers, the staff should be informed why parents are doing the review and that parents are not reviewing teachers, parents like the idea of a non-structured review, parents would like to see the process done every year. It was recommended by the School/Community Committee that suggestions and comments from the parents need to be implemented or at least acknowledged and considered. Some of the suggestions were that the reports be: published in the newspaper, reports are incorporated in the District’s Communication Plan, and possibly using television to air the reports with Channel 7 or other news stations, create a way to involve the community with no children. All reports can be found on the District’s web-site. School/Community Committee Strategic Plan: It was the consensus of the School/Community Committee to continue focusing on the three items selected last year as the work plan for the upcoming school year as they were not completed last year. A motion was made and seconded to accept the Communication Plan as part of the School Community’s strategic work plan. The motion carried. A motion was made and seconded to accept the High School Renovation and Over-Crowding Solutions as part of the School Community’s strategic work plan. The motion carried. A motion was made and seconded to accept the Communication with the Legislature as part of the School Community’s strategic work plan. The motion carried. It was recommended that the October School/Community Committee’s agenda reflect an “internal review” of what the School/Community Committee accomplished last year and how the Committee is going to proceed for next year. A request was made that information of “no-cost” items in the Communication Plan be presented. It was suggested to review the minutes from last year and present a report of what was accomplished. Communication Plan Update: The District has committed twenty thousand dollars per year for a four to one match. The Community Partners are in the process of fundraising and figuring out which partner is going to contribute which amount for the four part match. The District is compiling a list of specs to present to companies wishing to bid to represent the District’s Communication Plan. Carol Wicker reported that a number of suggestions by the School/Community Committee’s “no-cost” items to the District are currently being implemented in various places throughout the District. Old Business/Announcements/Handouts: Karen Moses reported that the Legislative Interim Committee received the report from the firm that was hired to complete a study for a workable adequate funding plan for the state. The firm was hired by the Legislature in response to a court ruling from the Montana Quality Education Coalition’s court challenge. There are still a lot of questions and concern about the quality of the study due to the short time-frame given the firm doing the study and that the information given to the firm does not always meet the definition of what Senate Bill 152 provided. Governor Schweitzer does not see a need to call a special session if there is no consensus for fixing the problem. A meeting with area legislators and MQEC leaders is scheduled for October 6 at 5:30 in the Depot building. Minutes of the School/Community Committee Meeting: The minutes from the June 13 were approved and seconded. The motion carried. The reports for the July 11 and August 8 meetings will be “records of discussion” of the meetings as no quorum existed on either date. The next scheduled meeting is October 10, 2005. The Committee members will meet in the Board Room located in the Lincoln Center, at 415 N 30th at 6:00 PM. _________________________ ___________________________________ Karen Moses, Chairperson Brenda Cross, Recorder Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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