PTHS Site Council 12/17/07

Meeting Facilitator:  Yuko Umeda

Process Observer:  Chris MacLachlan

Committee Reports:

Forums – Nothing new to report.  Julie and Jennifer will begin working after the first of the year to get topics scheduled for February – April.  Thursday forums will lend themselves to discussions during homeroom.  There will also be some advertisement in the second semester newsletter and in the paper.  Topics will focus around ‘healthy teens’.  The group discussed formats for presenting in homerooms (maybe have the presenters talking on PTTV so that students can all watch from their homerooms.

Education Foundation- Jennifer reported that the board has met and has gathered almost $20,000 already.  They are working on putting together some tri-fold information on the foundation and their mission.  Another committee is working on fundraising and a third is working on the format for the application process and how the grants will be awarded.  There is a logo contest available to the high school students at this time.

District Site Council- Tracy reported that she is a new member on the committee.  There will be a meeting every 2 months.  The committee is made up of PTA and Site Council members from each school in the district.  Tracy sees this as a great venue for having schools share brainstorming and problem solving on important issues.  They have also spent time talking about curriculum and vertical teams.  We have vertical teams for math right now, and science is beginning.  Another topic was how to communicate with parents quickly.  There is a telephone system that calls all parents within a matter of minutes.  It costs about $3 per student per year.  Tom Opstad will continue to investigate it.  Parent access is a need for Skyward grading.  Gina shared concerns from teachers who are often behind in their grading, and how parents will perceive this.  Teresa mentions to make sure that we inform parents that grades are posted to transcript at the semester only.  For the next council meeting, Jennifer would like them to talk about the start and end times for the school day; and early releases.

Volunteers-  Tracy is willing to work on having volunteers keep the library open for 30 minutes after school.  Tracy needs a parent volunteer for each grade level.  We will put this in the newsletter.  Beth is the 9th grade parent contact.  Carrie will ask the teacher advisors to help identify a parent contact that could help with getting volunteers.  Also, we can talk to the parents of the student class leadership (presidents and vice presidents)

Follow Up on:

Increasing Library Hours- Lois Sherwood will hold the library open after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays during January with the honor society.  Starting in February it will move to Thursdays only.  This would be a great place for volunteers to plug in. Shelia suggested that we should do a contact sheet at all events – concerts, Arts Night, etc.  This would be another great way to bring more volunteers into our school.  Having a librarian at each school is something to discuss with the District Site Council.  Is there a way to link up with the main library in town and encourage students to utilize this resource more?  Teresa Janssen and Jennifer Wilson will work to explore this potential partnership.

Library Web page-  Yuko has been working on this.  Blue Heron has a nice library webpage that is maintained by Mary Stollas.  Carrie will ask Mary if she is able to help the high school with a library web page.  Jody Glaubman is another possible resource.  It would be good to have a grade level suggested reading list as well.  Carrie will ask the English department chairs to gather a summer reading list for each grade level for either enjoyment or to prepare for the next year’s curriculum.

Tutoring by Honor Society-  Lois Sherwood will hold the library open after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays during January with the honor society.  Starting in February it will move to Thursdays only.  The Honor Society kids will rotate through weekly with Lois.

Transition Committee Goals-  We haven’t done anything since the last meeting.  The transition committee will meet to look again at the transition that happened at registration and make a list of recommendations for continued improvements.  Navigation 101 is providing some frustration and challenges for the freshman teachers who are implementing it.  Looking at more of an advisory format could be positive.  It would have to be separate from the homeroom time.

High School Course Offerings-  The District site council has talked about looking at our elective options.  For example, could jewelry and drama move to after school slots?  How can our electives become more relevant and cover a broader variety of topics.  Web design class could be popular. 

Topic for Next Time:

Improve parent access for website through a parent link or grade level links.

Reminders for Carrie:

2007-08 Goals need to get onto the website.

Next meeting is Wednesday, February 6

The facilitator will be Shelia Murphy

The process observer will be Julie Marston

Carrie will take notes.

Teresa Janssen said she will facilitate the March meeting.