Synopsis of March Meeting

Note:  This is an unofficial summary of notes from the meeting and not the minutes of the meeting.  Official minutes will be provided after they are voted on at the April meeting.

The meeting was called to order at 5:06 PM and inspiration was provided by Cheryl Anderson.

The minutes from the February meeting were approved unanimously.

The PTA President Report was given by Jennifer Hatfield and included:
1) report of successful spring book fair
2) upcoming cultural arts program called "Literature Sings" for the students in March
3) a special evening program featuring Evansdale student art is upcoming
4) this is clean commute week and tomorrow (3/6/13) is Georgia Walk to School Day

The Evansdale Education Foundation Report was given by Devon Christopher and it focused on the spring fundraising event which will be an auction similar to past year but will be at the Greater Good BBQ this year.  The adult-only event will occur on Saturday, March 23rd and tickets are now on sale.  Tickets can be purchased using the form that came home in couriers last week or via the internet.

The Principal's Report was given by Dr. McGuire and included:
1) addition of a new para for preK
2) enrollment is at 654
3) distribution of test data with explanations of the test results and implications which will be sent home soon to all parents; feedback on format and content was requested from the School Council members.

Unfinished Business:

1) Magnet Revision: Despite conflicting information given via telephone to some parents by the School Choice office, the revision is moving forward as previously described.  There will not be a lottery for magnet seats for in-district children because all children that live in the Evansdale district will be part of the Magnet School next year.

2) STEM kick off was February 26th for DCSD schools.  The STEM team from Evansdale attended and is moving forward with independent meetings separate from the School Council.

3) The DCSD ELL office has agreed to facilitate a parent meeting with interpreters for ELL families with Spanish as their primary language.  The meeting will include discussion of ESOL services as well as explanations of the changes in our school including the Magnet revisions, STEM, and the dual immersion grant.  In addition, Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) has offered to work with Evansdale ELL parents to help them better acclimate into the US school culture.  They have provided services at other DCSD schools that have been successful.  Dr. McGuire will follow up with Principals from those schools to hear their feedback on the program.  Scheduling of the sessions will occur outside of the School Council.  Both services described are free for the Evansdale community and supported by either Title III money through DCSD (ELL services) or MALDEF.

4) EIP is being facilitated primarily by the push-in model but when this is not possible the teacher's lounge is being used and is outfitted with a dry erase board and necessary supplies.

New Business:

1) Veronica Barnes gave a report on the recent Lakeside Leadership Council meeting.  The group is a collection of PTA, School Council, and DCSD school administrators with the common goal of solidarity and education quality in the Lakeside cluster.  Discussions at the first meeting focused on the DCSD accreditation and BoE issues.  Future meetings have not yet been scheduled.

2) Foreign language offerings were discussed.
    a) The dual immersion grant from the State DoE will start next year with 2 kindergarten classes.  One new
         teacher who is fluent in French will be necessary.  Core curriculum will be taught in French for half the
        day and in English for half the day. The mechanism by which children will be assigned was briefly
        discussed but the decision will be made above the level of the School Council.  More information will
        be forthcoming.  A video on dual immersion can be found here.
     b) The language that will be offered in general in the school was also discussed.  At the focus groups last
        fall a subset of parents stated that they would prefer that Spanish be offered instead of French.  After a
        lengthy discussion, it was generally agreed that a transition to a new language was not logistically or
        financially feasible.  There was no vote taken because the financial resources to alter the language
        offerings are not available.  In addition, the vast number of changes already slated for next school year
        tempered enthusiasm for leading an additional School Council initiative for change at this time.

3) School Council elections for 2013-2014 will occur the week of May 13-16 and will close at 7 PM on the 16th.  Voting will be located in a more prominent place this year and the additional days for voting are hoped to increase voter turn out.  Nominations for School Council will be due by May 9th and a letter will go home on April 19th with details.  The terms are 2 years and 3 parents will be elected to start terms in August 2013.

4) A new discipline plan was presented by Pamela McCloud, Assistant Principal.  The plan is currently being piloted in the school for grades 2-5.  Teachers are overwhelmingly supportive of the new plan.  Detailed communication will go home to parents following a trial period.  Ms. McCloud has visited each of the classrooms to detail the new process which is a revision of the existing "check" system.  To briefly summarize, the plan dictates that after 2 checks a child's parent/guardian is called to be made aware of the infractions.  If a third check is received within a 4.5 week period, the child must have a conference with Ms. McCloud to discuss why the checks were received and how checks can be avoided in the future.  A parent conference will not be requested unless repeated student conferences are needed and no resolution is being reached.  There was some disagreement among Council members regarding the plan and concerns about consistency of check mark assignment and the use of a punishment based system.  The point of consensus among Council members was that parents should be notified of the change immediately, even if it is only a work in progress.  Notification to parents should be sent home this week.  Concerns or questions regarding this discipline plan should be addressed to Pamela McCloud.  An update on how the new plan is working will be provided at the April meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:32 PM.