•  SDMC Meeting Notes

    December 11, 2012

    Minutes taken by Kathleen Garson

     Present:

    Bill Buck- Principal

    Sandra Adair- Teacher Specialist

    Ashley Green- Assistant Principal

    SherryWalker-SchoolNurse

    Elizabeth Portillo- PTO/Parents

    Bob Chenoweth- Mission Houston

    Angelica Almaraz- Head Start

    Laura Peters- MissionHoustonandWillowMeadows

    Eric Whitten- Classroom Teacher

    Kathleen Garson- Classroom Teacher

    Absent- Rachel Spring

    Activity Funds

    Mr. Buck addressed the current activity funds for Shearn. The committee discussed recognizing the teachers and staff members who have contributed to the Courtesy Committee Hospitality Fund. The money that was raised from Breakfast with Santa will be put into the Faculty Fund.

     Attendance

    Mr. Buck addressed attendance and how we can work together to get the students to school. Mr. Buck reminded everyone that he can meet with parents if there has been an issue with attendance. Mr. Buck is making sure that all of the rooms are being sprayed down every day. Friday, December 14 is free dress day and it should help with incentive. Ms. Walker addressed that pink eye, the flu, and chickenpox are going around. She said that hand washing is the best way to prevent these illnesses from spreading. All students must be using soap in the bathrooms and not hand sanitizer because it is not as effective.

     Budget

    Mr. Buck told the committee that there are $140,000 extra dollars in our budget with current enrollment. He is considering hiring our counselor Mr. Vasquez full time. This money could also go into Saturday tutorials, substitutes, iPad cart, or laptop cart. Mr. Buck said that it is more likely to get another iPad cart because the laptop carts are more expensive. Ms. Green brought up that the iPad carts need to be connected to an Apple computer in order to load and sync the applications correctly on all of the iPads. Ms. Green said that we can use her computer to help sync the applications. Ms. Green also observed at Patton F. and saw the iPads very effectively used. Mr. Buck and Ms. Green discussed doing an observation and visit to Patton F. to see how the iPads are being used effectively to bring more ideas to Shearn and how we can use them.

     Leader in Me
     
    Ms. Green discussed a new program called Leader in Me. Ten teachers are working as mentors to work with students with behavior problems on developing Covie’s 7 Habits. The mentor program will be starting in January and the mentors will focus on 1 of the 7 habits every week. The mentors are required to meet with their student at least 15-20 minutes every week. If the pilot mentor program goes well, Ms. Green thinks it will be a good idea to take the 7 Habits whole school. This would include using the posters and activity guides for every student.FondrenMiddle SchoolandLongfellowElementary Schoolhave both implemented it and seen tremendous results and decreases in the amount of discipline problems and referrals. There are 2 training opportunities for 4 teachers. The first is to attend a Region training on Covie’s 7 Habits, which would be the same training that the teachers would receive if Shearn takes on the 7 Habits whole school or there is a Covie/7Habits training inSan Antoniothat 4 teachers could attend to share ideas and get ideas from teachers from all overTexas. This training will take place from January 24-January 25. The committee discussed seeing how the pilot mentor program goes before taking it whole school. Everyone decided that going to theSan Antoniotraining would be more beneficial than the Region training because they can get real ideas at theSan Antoniotraining from real teachers. Mr. Chenoweth brought up the idea of looking up a blog on the 7 Habits and seeing if people share their ideas online and see what research articles are saying about the program and how effective it is. In addition, Mr. Buck said that he could send Mr. Whitten and Ms. Garson to talk to the principal and teachers at Longfellow to see how they like the program and how it has influenced their discipline.

     Reading and Writing

    Mr. Buck addressed that all teachers will be receiving reports on their students’ iStation usage. He reminded everyone that they need to continue working on the Lead4Ward Standards and AR points.

     Math

    Mr. Buck brought up two math programs that we could use at Shearn. They are Thinking Through Math Software and HELP Math. Teachers will be getting together during the Early Dismissal PLC on Friday, December 14thto decide on a program for the school. Mr. Buck discussed the necessity of there being consistency throughout the school.

     iStation-PreK-2nd

    Mr. Buck addressed that students should be able to access iStation in English within the next week for PreK-2ndgrade.