Horace Mann School Site Council

Unapproved Minutes

8701 Charleville Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211

Monday, November 7that 3:30pm

Room 231

Members Present: David Foldvary, Jill Bakhsh, Elaine Cantella, Belinda Maisterra, Sandi Mason, Andrea Pyer, Laura Stark, Kimberly Combs, Sharon Eshaghoff, Jamie Halimi, Julie Hershkowitz, Berenice Katcher, Wolfgang Odenthal, Alejandra Tokoph

Call to Order and Welcome: The meeting was called to order by Eshaghoff at 3:37pm.

Public Comment: Katcher brought up the idea of a “second-term” for SSC members. Discussed the number of years in each term and asked if it was ever possible to potentially vote on allowing second-terms for eligible members.

Approval of Agenda (Action): Katcher made a motion to approve the agenda; Halimi 2nd. The Agenda was approved unanimously.

Approval of Minutes from October 10thMeeting (Action): Odenthal made a motion to approve the Minutes; Cantella 2nd. The Minutes from the October 10th meeting were approved unanimously.

Safety Plan: Foldvary distributed a copy of the Site Emergency Organizational Plan to all SSC members. He discussed the four types of drills (fire, earthquake, lockdown, shelter-in-place) done at our school, announced and un-announced to faculty and staff.Foldvary passed around the Horace Mann Safety Plan binder for SSC members to look at. In addition, the school’s entire Site Emergency Organizational Plan was discussed among members, with the following issues being thoroughly discussed: operations during a major disaster, 72 hour mandated supervision of students in case of a major disaster, emergency phone tree leaders, and how parents would be contacted. Eshaghoff initially asked how parents would be reached; Foldvary thoroughly explained the Emergency Preparedness Teams which include Search and Rescue, Parent Request Gate, Reunification Gate, etc. Foldvary discussed in detail the message relay system: PACE emails, recorded phone calls, text message updates among staff, etc. Additionally, Emergency Contact Lists and the potential parent viewing of the safety plan was discussed. SSC members unanimously approved the updated Safety Plan and Site Emergency Organizational Plan.

Additionally, Foldvary presented the Student Safety/Connectedness goal. According to the BHUSD Student Safety Survey, 80% of students stated they feel safe at school. In addition, 77% of families indicated they feel part of Horace Mann. Our school goal is to raise both of these by 3%, with 83% of students indicating they feel safe at school and 80% of families saying they feel part of Horace Mann. Foldvary also mentioned student connectedness programs offered at our school, such as Conflict Manager, S.E.T., and our Wooden Pyramid of character education.

Construction Update: Foldvary discussed the ongoing construction of Building A, with an estimated substantial completionof July 2017. Additionally, Pro-West is still working on the “punch-list” for our new building.

Intervention Update:Mason discussed her role as the ELA Intervention teacher, providing K, 1st, 2nd students with push-in and pull-out services. Lina Kim is also providing elementary Math Intervention services via push-in and pull-out. Additionally, Katy Carter is providing one period during the school dayof Math Intervention for middle school Intervention students and Phillip Babcock is providing one period during the school day of ELA Intervention for middle school Intervention students.

Title I Update:Bakhsh stated three students exited out of Title I after this last testing period due to scoring ‘proficient’ on their past two tests. Additionally, Bakhsh stated David Hewitt is teaching one period of Math for Title I middle school students and Laura Stark is teaching one period of ELA for Title I middle school students. Bakhsh announced that Brian Tash, a math specialist, will host a Title I Parent Involvement Night on December 8th. Bakhsh shared that we would like to add two additional nights. SSC unanimously approved adding two additional nights and the next step is for board approval.

ELAC Update: Phillip Babcock invites families of ELL’s K-8 to attend meetings throughout the year. ELAC is a subsidiary of SSC. Currently, two 6th grade parents are on the Horace Mann’s ELAC committee and represent our school at the DELAC meetings. Foldvary discussed with parent members of SSC that every teacher in the state of California has a credential that authorizes the teaching of English Language Learners.

New Business:

a.Upcoming Events

i. Veterans Day, No School Nov. 11th

ii. Book fair Nov. 14th-Nov. 18th

iii. Thanksgiving, No School Nov. 24th-25th

iv. MS Holiday Concert Dec. 13th

v. K-5 Holiday concerts Dec. 15th

vi. Pupil Free 6-8 Dec. 13th

vii. Winter break Dec. 17th -Jan. 2nd

viii. No school, MLK Jr. Day Jan. 16th

A discussion regarding the presentation of the school’s safety plan during a PTA meeting was initiated.

Furthermore, the class size limits were discussed: currently, 23 student limit in K-3 classes, 29 student limit in 4-5 classes, and 32 student limit in middle school classes.

Announcements: The following will be the future meeting dates for 2016-2017. These meetings will occur at 3:30pm inRoom 231.

January 23rd

February 27th

March 27th

April 24th

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned by Eshaghoff at 4:54pm.