Site Council Minutes

Present:      Dan Mesick                           Principal                                Berhane Worku                    Parent

                                David Stahlman                   Faculty                   Cathy Nordin                        Parent

                                Bob Prifrel                             Faculty                   Denise Roth                         Parent

Adam Kunz                           Faculty                   Deb Paulsrud                       Community rep.

Walt Lofquist                        Faculty                   Dan Worku                            Student

Robyn Asher                         Faculty                   Luke Dauner                        Student 

Patty Prifrel                            Faculty                   May Yang                               Student

Molly McCurdy                      Faculty                                  

Bonny Ellison                       Faculty                                                  

Meeting Called to order 6:00 p.m.

Welcome & Reports:

Principal Report:

·          Things are going well at Como HS.

·          Looking at bringing on a .5 Volunteer Coordinator

·          Considering business support to help with tutoring ninth graders struggling in classes particularly Algebra.

·          The opportunity of teachers volunteering to chaperone the Winterfest Dance was met with twelve willing teachers.

·          Teacher/Parent Conferences is next Tuesday

Assistant Principal Report:

·          No new news reported

Teacher Report:

·          No new news reported

Parent Report:

·          Very pleased and proud that the teachers volunteered to chaperone the Winterfest Dance

·          Cindy Thrasher is coordinating food for teachers the night of Teacher/Parent Conferences

Student Report:

·          The November Food Drive resulted in over 400 pounds of food. The winning Advisory classes were Ms. Lisa Farm and Mr. Dave Stahlman

·          Met with Mr. Mesick and Mr. Paddock to discuss the shift in focus of the student dances;

o         Dances will be held in the Commons or Cafeteria

o         Raise the “fun” level of the dances by offering games and dance competitions

o         Hold Coronation Ceremony at the Homecoming Dance

SCIP: Attendance Committee: Bonnie Ellison

·          Letters (136) were sent in October and November  to parents if their student missed five or more days

·          The Como Newsletter will have an article about school attendance

·          The committee will support a contest including quarters 3 & 4, giving prizes to students for perfect attendance, and entries will be placed in a drawing for larger prizes.

·          Students who have missed ten or more days this year thus far:

o         42 twelfth graders, 34 eleventh graders, 29 tenth graders and 34 ninth graders

·          After seven days of being ill a letter is sent home asking the student to see the nurse or needing a doctor’s verification of illness.

·          Students become involved with the TIP (Truancy Intervention Program) by

o         Being absent 3 days a letter of concern is mailed

o         Being absent 5 days a group meeting of school, parents and student

o         Being absent more involves the County Attorney and they become involved in the family

o         Continued truancy will mean a court date will be set and the SART (Student Attendance Review Team) becomes involved

·          There is a District initiative to encourage attendance

SCIP: AVID Committee: Robyn Asher, Coordinator for tenth and eleventh grade students in AVID

SCIP: Information Literacy Committee: Adam Kunz

·          Helps students use search mechanisms besides Google

·          The Como HS Librarian, Ms. Wise has a subscription to data bases and she teaches students to site their work using the MLA style

·          Google docs is accessible from anywhere and unlimited in storage and space

·          Students are able to save documents and access through their Saint Paul Google doc account with the use of no hardware

·          All ninth graders take one hour training with Ms. Wise to introduce and follow up four times a year

·          All faculty are trained

·          All students are able to navigate on the computers, there doesn’t seem be a access or knowledge base problem based on SES.

Old Business: 

·          The Large Scale Committee Meeting was held at Como HS with a large attendance

o         The fear of Como HS moving to Arlington was addressed

o         Parents appeared to be comfortable letting their concerns be known

o         The closing of other schools may impact the untenured teachers of Como HS

·          Principal Mesick has created an Adhoc Committee of teachers that will meet and address the concerns of homework, extra credit and course syllabi

New Business:

·          Bob attended a meeting at the Saint Paul Federation of Teachers addressing the topic of “Teachers as Learners and Leaders” and through his participation has understood that Como HS is addressing this need very well.

Next Site Council Meeting January 12, 2009 at 6:00 p.m.

Site Council Minutes

Present:      Dan Mesick                           Principal                                Lori Vandersteen                 Parent

                                David Stahlman                   Faculty                   Cathy Nordin                        Parent

                                Bob Prifrel                             Faculty                   Scott McConnell                   Parent

                                Nicole Bates                         Faculty                   Cindy Anderson                   Parent

Walt Lofquist                        Faculty                   Berhane Workeu                 Parent

Denise Roth                         Parent                    May Yang                               Studen

Patty Prifrel                            Faculty                   Deb Paulsrud                       Community rep.

Molly McCurdy                      Faculty                   Dan Worku                            Student

Theo Olson                           Faculty                   Luke Dauner                        Student

Meeting Called to order 6:00 p.m.

Principal Report:

·          First quarter is finished, second quarter is beginning, and some logistical issues have surfaced with the move to quarters. The schedule of course finals will be reviewed. Final grades are administered at the close of each quarter, students who procrastinate are finding the quarter system challenging, teachers are finding the need to keep students focused to complete work.

·          Novemeber 17, 5:30-7:00 p.m. at Como HS Auditorium, there is the Superintendent’s “SPPS is Poised for Change” meeting, with the “Business as usual is not a sustainable option for achieving our mission”.

·          Noted a letter was distributed by a Highland Park parent  and submitted to the Saint Paul Pioneer Press re: HS start time, advocating a later start time.

·          The junior board and planning committee cancelled the Sadie Hawkins dance due finances. Holding the dance would have resulted in a loss of money due to required teacher pay of $20.00 per hour per teacher and the decline in student attendance.

Assistant Principal Report:

·          Como HS noted more mid-semester transfers this year, 12-15 students transferred, however, Como HS is still over capacity. Some of the students choosing to leave Como HS are credit deficient and leave to attend an ALC HS. The students in this situation have higher absence records and attend ALC with the hope of graduating. Students who are not yet seniors may and are encouraged to attend after school ALC and summer school to attain credits.

·          Como has some systems in place for these students, namely, Focus 9 and 10 are for students who are failing a class(es) and the students who enter Como HS with less credits that have been through the Excel  program are watched closely by AP Paddock . Students who are in the AVID program in the junior high are interviewed to participate in the HS program.

·          The District has chosen six power standards, one of which is “Transition” between the middle and high schools, Como HS will work primarily with Washington and Murray where 70% of Como HS students are derived.

·          The math curriculum is aligned across the district, providing a smooth transition in that all the students will arrive to the HS level with the same preparation. Science is in the process of being aligned.

·          Parent Forum being held on 11.11.08 will focus on college preparation

Teacher Report:

·          No new news reported

Parent Report:

·          No new news reported

Student Report:

·          Suggested that the Winter Sports Recognition Pep Rally be held the day of the Rice Street Cup.

·          Suggested that the lights at dances be dimmed more, due to that bright lights repel students from attending.

·          Suggested that the dances be held in the cafeteria vs. the gym

·          Suggested that teachers could volunteer to chaperone dances

·          Concern over not having enough support to hold dances.

·          Principal Mesick suggested that a committee of 4-6 student council members and some teachers could hold a discussion around these suggestions, and would follow up with the teacher union re: teachers volunteering.

·          Student Council is holding a Food Drive November 24^th with an award to the homeroom with the most food donated.

SCIP: Student Involvement Committee:

·          Theo Olson reporting, Justin Bonnett wrote for a grant to fund a “Broadcast Media Class” which is responsible for the “Como Morning Show” which is a mixture of entertainment and news. The students are demonstrating interest in the “Como Morning Show” while the students producing the show are working hard to involve many different students throughout the school. The show is being produced via Channel 12 while being streamed on the web with an alert page with a green screen and cameras.

·          Discussion: The SCIP goal is to have more students involved in a school activity particularly the nontraditional student

·          A general concern about students who were disconnected to the school, are we addressing this? A survey that includes a query that would address this concern was discussed.

Old Business: 

·          SC Faculty voting members: Nicole Bates, Walt Lofquist , Molly McCurdy, Bob Prifrel, David Stahlman

·          SC Nonlicensed faculty member: Patty Prifrel

·          SC Parent voting members: Scott McConnell, Denise Roth, Hilary Swanson and Cindy Anderson or Lori Vandersteen

·          SC Student members: Luke Dauner, Dan Worku, May Yang

·          Extra Credit will be discussed at the December 8^th SC meeting

·          Course Syllabi will be discussed at the December 8^th SC meeting

New Business:

·          Donation information

Next Site Council Meeting December 8, 2008 at 6:00 p.m.

SITE COUNCIL MINUTES

October 13, 2008

Present:          Dan Mesick                  Principal           Lori Vandersteen          Parent

                        Luke Dauner                Student John Wolf                     Student

                        Walt Lofquist                Teacher            Dan Worku                  Student

                        May Yang                    Student Bob Prifrel                    Teacher

                        Cathy Nordin               Parent              Patty Prifrel                  Teacher

                        Nicole Bates                 Teacher            Cindy Anderson           Parent

                        David Stahlman            Teacher            Berhane Worku            Parent

                        David Ricks                  Asst. Princ.       Matt Diediker               Teacher

                        Deb Paulsrud                Community       Scott McConnell          Parent

Meeting Called to Order 6:00 p.m.

Introductions

Reports

David Ricks – AP’s report

            Homecoming was successful

            Few incidents of vandalism, etc.

Sadie Hawkins is coming up and the price will have to increase to cover the cost of teachers

Cameras are now in the building

            They can see all the way down to Grotto and Maryland

            APs have monitors on their desks

            Year is going well

            Conferences went well

            Question about exterior coverage of cameras

                        Five exterior cameras – loading dock, front door, corner that sees grotto, corner by football field, back of school by field, back of school by parking lot, nothing out by the baseball field

How much will tickets go up?  $8-$10

Did the cameras catch the spray painters?  Cameras spotted them but they had a hood and could not be identified

Dan Mesick

            There were some reports of Homecoming vandalism – Dan M.

Walt brought up idea about student advisory board to deal with that vandalism

Testing is coming on Wednesday

            PSAT is available to all 10^th graders

            Rumor?  Como moving to Arlington?

                        District is studying adequacy of buildings in district

                        Meeting was last week

                        Outside group is helping with assessment

                        District is looking to close buildings

                        Pressure is more on Elementary schools

Johnson or Como have been rumored as possibly moving to Arlington

Como is in line to receive large investment for science space, so this seems to take us out of it

Important to get that message out so that parents are comfortable with sending their kids here

Students

            They met with the Superintendant

            GRAD test is high stakes test

            Goal will be getting students to believe that they can graduate

                        “Belief Campaign” – she wants input from parents, students, etc.

                        She wants every kid to take the PSAT

                        She wanted students support to get every kid to see that they can graduate

                        “grassroots” approach

Old Business

            Site Council voting

            Each group has four votes

            We have an overabundance of parent council members

Staff smoking area – there are no areas for staff to smoke so they end up on the sidewalk in front of school

SCIP – Dan reviewed the plan

Professional Development Committee

            Next professional day is November 7^th

            District has taken over some days

More pressure for the committee to accomplish building initiatives with limited time

                        Academic thinking in a rigorous curriculum will be addressed

                        Training will focus on getting people to think about best practices

                        2 weeks later we will begin learning walks

This is focused on giving the committee information on what needs to be done for professional development

New Business

Extra Credit – parent concerns over what type of extra credits “assignments” are being given.  Examples were given.  They involved money.  Parent suggested bringing a motion to support asking teachers to request that parents donate for students who may not be able to afford the supplies.

Como parent raised two issues of concern:

1. Extra Credit – She expressed concern about extra credit given in some classes for things that require parents to spend money, such as bringing treats for teacher meetings, dressing up for spirit week, and bringing classroom school supplies.  Her concern was that it sets up more of a have and have not situation to offer points for such things.  She suggested that extra credit assignments be focused on the content of the class and not require monetary expenditures. 
2. Syllabi – She was wondering if more teachers could have a schedule of assignments and other significant dates on their syllabi so that students and parents could plan other events accordingly instead of having major tests or assignments surprise them.

Next Site Council Meeting November 10, 2008 at 6:00 p.m.