May 21, 2012

SIT Meeting: Monday 

• SIT members for next year?
• Whose rotation is ending?
• Worrell, Hoag, Elkins
• Brendan willing to stay-on
• Turner:  Should available positions be "advertised" ?  Conversation with constituents to decide if it’s okay if current SIT members who would be rotating off continue to stay.
• 8^th grade rep:  Laura Horn; Elkins to Horn--He is willing to "chair" if that helps her decision of whether or not to stay-on.
• Lakey represents EC and parent and is also willing to stay
• We can still clean up the representatives at the start of next year.
• There will definitely be an encore position
• Guidance rep (process of hiring for next year), and Guidance will determine in-house who their rep will be
• Amend the by-laws so people will serve for two years?
• A two year term would give some continuity
• Turner: bylaws can be amended  by full faculty vote and PTSA Board Vote
• (We can take care of both teacher and PTSA votes on June 4^th)
• A maximum of two terms (no more than four consecutive years)

•  Horn send out an email asking for suggestions for next year.  The following were some items sent back: 

• Procedures for walking through the halls
• Dress code (enforced) and emphasized at the start of the year.
• Someone said:  "behavior among grade levels varies because of differences among teachers and admin inconsistencies"
• Gentry: "CHAMPS" training might need to be re-enforced since so many new staff members
• We can build the training in at the start of the year to create some consistency
• Having consistent looking common expectations posted in hallways, cafeteria, multi-purpose room, and other common areas might also help
• We can do "CHAMPS" without feeling like an extra expectation
• Needs to be Simple, basic set of guidelines
• Hallway behavior always comes up, and Gentry has some ideas for next year
• 8^th grade movement is a known issue:  may have to tap into using teachers during their planning times especially if tutoring goes away
• Has to happen starting day one
• Could possibly solve the 8^th grade change problem.
• It will be a logistical deal for administration to plan, but should be well worth it
• Turner: If consequences for hall misbehavior would be enforced consistently, that would help. (for example, sending students to the back of the line)

• Duty would be broken down period by period
• There was a positive response on this idea among SIT members, and folks said it would be best if coverage happened throughout the day not just for 8th grade
• Will we have tutoring next year?  Possibly not?  It is being discussed at leadership

• Dress code: Thorne said that several people have expressed concerns about students being sent for dress code violations and then told they were "okay"
• Staff has to take ownership in the dress code issue:  We need some simple codes in place to measure violations
• Admins ARE making the decisions NOT office staff
• We need to simplify the process as much as possible
• Home base needs to be the first level of checking.
• It is difficult if everyone is not on the same page
• Lakey:  we can build it in the morning routine, maybe at the “Pledge”?
• Need to decide on what are the specific expectations of the teachers
• We do not want to go to a "standard mode of dress".
• Lakey:  There are three main issues:  "two short, too tight, and too revealing".
• Enforcement needs to minimize disruption and minimize lost class time.
• It become a discipline issue if it recurs
• "The bigger deal we make it,  the bigger deal it becomes".
• Dress code violations is a level 1 offense, it's when recurs that it becomes a higher level
• Clear expectations at the start and consistency is the key
• Maxcy:  Teachers have to step up and be clear to start out the year, a call to parents is sometimes the best defense.
• Teachers contact logs are supposed to be kept.
• Should we schedule a time during morning routine?  Gentry is willing to do that.

Tech summer spending update:

• Our matching funds grant application was approved by the school board.  
• Funds have to be used toward completion of "classroom solutions"
• We have essentially two new core classrooms that we have to outfit in the POD--rooms 311, 313, and we will use the ~ $4000 in matching funds to outfit those rooms. 
• We are still working toward a DELL mini cart, 7 dell mini's have been purchased, and we will look at purchasing more along with an actual cart.  But matching funds can NOT be used for laptops :(