Shearn’s SDMC

November 12, 2013

• Minutes

• Attendance- Push Everyday- Review Data (made 98% last year.. need 98.1% this year)

• Safety (Walker)

• Activity Funds (Buck)

• Construction (Buck) o Power off over Thanksgiving

• Lighthouse Team o Coach- Adair

o Keafer, Whitten and Garson

• Staffing o Third Grade Bilingual

o Hourly Tutor for First and Second Grade

• Professional Development o Questions/Concerns/Needs

• Academics o Be sure everyone is focused on objectives, questioning, data and Differentiation

o Mario Marquez- Walk Through

o Purchase of Common Assessments for Reading & Math

o Purchase of Data Base for Writing and Science

• Faculty Meeting

• Communication between Buck and Staff

• Support and Volunteers o Mission Southwest

o Willow Meadows

o Houston Chinese Church

o Head Start

o Parents

• Other business

Shearn SDMC Minutes November 12, 2013

Members Present

Bill Buck- Principal

Sandy Adair- Assistant Principal

Marisela Aparicio- Attendance Clerk

Sherry Walker- School Nurse

Lolly Hernandez- Head Start

Bob Chenoweth- Mission Southwest

Andres Monroy- Classroom Teacher

Eric Whitten- Classroom Teacher

Katherine Keafer- Classroom Teacher

Kathleen Garson-Classroom Teacher

Notes Taken By: Kathleen Garson

Attendance

Mr. Buck said that we are not going in the right direction with attendance. We need to be monitoring attendance. Ms. Walker said that there are some stomach viruses going around. Enrollment is 558.
 

Safety

We are still having some issues with dismissal. 2nd grades through 5th grade are not coming on time. Most people assumed we were going along with the expectations that were set during the faculty meeting. Lighthouse and Mr. Buck can work to get the letter to parents about dismissal. Ms. Walker said that there have been issues with the boys bathroom in the 1st and 2nd grade hallways. Risk Management person is coming by tomorrow to check safety and make sure everything is going okay.

Activity Funds

Teachers need to be reimbursed by PTO so Ms. Walker will talk to PTO to see how teachers will get reimbursed. When we take a field trip if parents don’t pay the day before, do not let them pay the day of the field trip. The parents need to have the money ready the day before if they are planning to go on the field trip. There needs to be something drafted (a letter) or a policy saying that parents need to pay the day before. Ms. Walker will draft a letter to parents about the new field trip policy.

Construction

All power will be shut off on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. We will need to cancel after school on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. Make sure that teachers pull up the blinds if they hang things in the windows. The AC should be better, but keep everyone posted.
 

Lighthouse Team

Mrs. Adair talked to the coach today. Lighthouse Team is going to go back and look at the roles assigned and everyone is working together. The coach said we should block

out 10 minutes to devote to Lighthouse/Leader in Me. Make sure we set aside time in an in-service. Take pictures or short videos of the kids working on the habits or helping each other. If students are doing well with the 7 habits they should be recognized. During the 9 week ceremony the student council could put on a skit. Faculty could also do a skit. We discussed creating a kids Lighthouse Team and it should be discussed at Friday’s meeting.
 

Dual Language Program

Mr. Buck was asked to be a dual language program. We would be able to call this program our own if we have the program. Disadvantages would be more splits. There would be more K/1 splits or Pre-K/K split. It would be a 50/50 model. Mr. Buck thinks it would increase enrollment. Mr. Buck thinks it would be a good investment. In the Spanish portion of the day the Spanish teacher would just be speaking in Spanish and the students could only speak in Spanish. In the English portion of the day the English teacher would just be speaking in English and students could only speak in English.
 

Staffing

We still need a 3rd grade bilingual teacher. There are not many applicants. We are still looking for hourly tutors for 1st and 2nd grade.

Professional Development

We need time to spend on the Leader in Me website on one of the professional development days. We will be attending the district trainings during the November 20th Early Dismissal so we know what is going on in the district.
 

Academics

Focus on differentiation and data in the classroom. We have purchased Common Assessments for Reading and Math. They are short assessments. Teachers want a blueprint that is aligned with the objectives. Mr. Buck wants all of the assessments given so that we can look at the data and see how they are doing. We purchased a database for writing and science.

Faculty Meeting

We need to bring up attendance needs to be taken at 9:30AM. Teachers need to make sure that they are keeping track of all of the attendance.

Communication between Buck and Staff

Teachers feel like communication is not good so Mr. Buck wants to know how he can fix it. A lot of communication is in email and tone does not come across in email and total communication does not come across face to face. We should make an effort to have more face-to-face communication. Tone is very important so we just have to be careful about how what we say comes across. Ms. Keafer suggested having an “office hour” that Mr. Buck would have open for people to come in and talk to him.