WHES 2017

PATT

2017PATTMeeting Synopsis

Subject / PATT Meeting / Date / 3-30-2017
Facilitator / Mina/Karen H. / Time / 8:15am
Location / WHES Auditorium / Scribe /
  1. Bleske

Key Points Discussed
No. / Topic / Highlights
1. / Welcome /
  • Karen H. called the meeting to order at 8:20am

2. / Principal’s Message /
  • Local Control Accountability Report was discussed. Will be posted in May but the hard copy will be in the office as well if you would like to see it. It is a bulky copy and that is why it is not being distributed.
  • We provide tutoring on Tuesdays and Thursdays and will continue that throughout the next year.
  • Would like to continue teacher web pages.
  • There is a new reading program called benchmark advance – coming in June- have to pack up our old curriculum and replace. Very excited about this. Replacing “Treasurers”.
  • Budget has been allocated for next year.
  • Every month we get a bulletin from District and we have to make sure that we are meeting those district requirements. This is why we send out changes and bulletins.
  • Update for next year: Last year we were studying IB schools, its an amazing program but you have to be trained. We went through and analyzed it and decided it was way too costly for our school. But the one thing that we need to take away from this is integrated content. The other goal out of this is to get away from the traditional seating. They have more engaging discussions in less traditional environments. Flexible seating is ideal
  • Testing has been reduced to 2 weeks because we have one to one chrome books. May 11th is the first science test.

3. / Additional Speakers / Bruce Wright
  • Introduction of Mr. Wright as the 5th grade teacher.
  • Speaking for the teachers and the SSC – here to clarify what the teachers want.
  • The number one priority is the children and their academic progress: small class sizes are essential.
  • Second to that we want help in the classroom- need teacher aids and supervisor aids- these are different and have different qualifications.
  • TA’s are people who are on a teacher track.
  • Library aid and steam – we have a new steam program Isaac will be talking about later in this meeting. Needs to start with 4 and 5 and then we can expand to the younger grades.
  • ArtTrek: was relevant for us while it was relevant for us. Now, it is about integrating content and integrating art into our other content. The thrust of education now and the methodology is integrating subjects. Teachers feel that they want to be able to do art when they need it. This does not preclude volunteers, etc. It just means that teachers want to add art to what they are already doing. We have to do the best we can for your kids within the parameters the district wants us to do.
Gillian Baldocchi
  • Donor’s choose: A great way to fund items for your classroom. You basically pay for items and once your project is fully funded the items are sent to the school. This was a way a teacher at Welby Way got her alternative seating classroom funded.
  • There is a program called “LA Shares” that you can look at in getting free items as well.
  • Main thing as Brusca already talked about is the district mandate for badges. You DO NEED to apply for a new volunteer badge every year.
  • Persons giving direct instruction to a child has to be fingerprinted by FBI and that is why ArtTrek no longer works for them.
  • Persons volunteering in the school for more than 16 hours per week also need FBI fingerprinting. We will have someone come in at the beginning of the year each year to do volunteer training. Trying to decide if this is an opportunity or a requirement because the district highly recommends this.
  • Art: The opportunity to switch classes and teachers to make sure that the teachers are teaching their strengths will be there.
  • Some teachers are more comfortable in teaching art than others. Teachers here won’t be doing anything half way.
  • What about an art teacher or art room? We’ve looked into that and right now the big thing is funding.
  • Spellathon is cancelled: It is a fundraiser during the school and cannot be done because it is done during instruction time.
Isaac- Engineering representative for STEAM and More.
  • Not just a math class, not just an art class.
  • LAUSD has a 250 page book on what they children need to learn for STEM.
  • This next year we will be offering it to 4th and 5th grade and then the younger grades.
  • What do we do? Changing the way the kids learn. It is no longer learning on the wipe board but now learning in the classroom.
  • Isaac showed a demonstration of different projects he will be doing in class.
  • Questions: who are the instructors? Different teachers with credentials and also industry professionals. 1-2 instructors per class. When we have more advanced projects, there may be more instructors.
  • It is a FULL contract for the entire school year.
  • NOT fine arts.
  • Questions? Go to stemnmore.com
  • Have 2500 students in our company.
  • Isaac is CEO and owner of the company and is very well versed in LAUSD regulations.

4. / President’s Message/Report /
  • Was tabled to next meeting due to time limitations.

5. / Secretary’s Report /
  • Minutes are not being put on the website in a timely fashion. They will all be up before elections.

6. / Reports from Committee Heads / Fall Festival/Silent Auction
  • Fall Festival minus the auction had a gross revenue of 23k
  • Fall Silent auction (including birthday marquee and December online auction) had a gross revenue of 16k.
  • No finals on Spring Online Auction but looking like we surpassed last year’s numbers already

7. / Treasurer’s Report /
  • Tabled because of time

8. / Report from Committee Heads / Fall Festival/Silent Auction:
  • Fall Festival was extremely successful this year. The expenses for the year were the same at about 12k, but we increased our attendance and our revenue for a net income of about 11k.
  • Fall Silent Auction was also successful, with a GROSS revenue of 16k including birthday marquee and the short December online auction.
  • Our spring auction is already going gangbusters and has surpassed our online sales from last year.
Glow Dance
  • Tabled to the next meeting in lieu of time.
Earning4Learning
  • WHES had another successful year in the annual E4L school fundraiser held between Oct 2016-Feb 2017,placing 1st place for the 2nd consecutive year amongst 15 schools. It was a close race between 1st and 2nd place so every receipt mattered! Through everyone's effort we earned $2500 plus $250 for the most receipts in a single month (Jan) totaling $2750 contributed to the school. Next year we hope to make it easier to turn in receipts at the school and, of course,more volunteers are always welcome on the committee to help get those receipts submitted!
Gala
  • Tabled to the next meeting in lieu of time.

9. / Treasurer’s Report /
  • Tabled to the next meeting in lieu of time.

10. / Meeting adjourned /
  • Meeting adjourned by Karen Hellerstein.

Future Events and Meetings
4/272017 / PATT Meeting and Elections 7pm
May 1-5th / Teacher Appreciation Week
5/29/2017 / No School – Memorial Day
6/9/2017 / Last Day of School – Minimum Day – Early Dismissal

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