PEIRCE LOCAL SCHOOL COUNCIL MEETING
Thursday, June 15, 2017
*****6:00 pm *****
Gymnatorium
NOTE: Please Enter at Door #8
AGENDA
1) Chair Calls Meeting to Order – 6:02 PM
2) Roll Call
Present: Eilene Edeger (EE), Jeff Korte (JK), Brooke Thompson (BT), Lori Zaimi (LZ), Shelly Terzian (ST), Lynn Carro (LC), John Azpeitia (JA), Ariadna Ginez (AG), Joanne DeSantis Kirk (JDK)
Joe Dunne (JD) arrived at 7:16pm
Absent: Bill Kennedy (BK), Jorge Rodriguez (JR)
a) Approval of the Order of the Agenda - BT moves to approve, JK seconds, Passes unanimously
3) Principal’s Report
Competency A: Champions Teacher and Staff Excellence Through a Focus on Continuous Improvement to Develop and Achieve the Vision of High Expectations for All Students
● Next years professional development plan will have a heavy focus on Balanced Assessment & Grading, Differentiated Instruction for all students and Restorative Approaches to Discipline.
● Have not received FY17-18 budget yet.
● Principal met with PPC and staff voted on a model to flex out (3) PD days into monthly 1.5-2 hour sessions. Teachers also voted to spread out the (3) Teacher Directed PD Days into monthly committee meetings and to bank time towards school-wide events and professional development opportunities.
● A recess survey was administered to staff to gather input around strengths/opportunities for growth during recess. 34 responses were received. Several staff members expressed interest in supervising students during lunch/recess and being compensated for that time. See Recess summary of responses from surveys collected.
● Attendance is currently at 95.68%
● Members of the Behavioral Health Team visited other schools to learn more about their models and approaches to supporting students.
● All MAP testing is completed.
● We have (3) 3rd grade students and (3) 6th grade students projected to attend summer school. This is a huge decrease from last school year, last year's numbers were that (1) 3rd grader and (13) 6th graders attended.
Competency B: Creates Powerful Professional Learning Systems to Guarantee Learning for All Students.
● PYP Site Visit was a success - we will learn about our status in authorization by the end of the summer. Initial feedback was that our areas of strength were around (Culture/Climate, Collaboration and Leadership) initial feedback also suggested the need to continue working on (Central Ideas, increase inquiry and decrease direct instruction, assessment strategies and more clarity in what is documented in the unit planners).
● Next Years Professional Development Plan will focus on Balanced Assessment & Grading, Differentiation for all learners and Restorative Approaches to Discipline. PD Plan is being constructed for the beginning of the school year and for flex time spread out throughout the school year.
● Staff were surveyed to gauge interest in helping develop and present PD during the opening week of PD.
● Ms. Zaimi attended a session on LLI - Leveled Literacy Intervention - this is a possible program to bring in to support reading intervention K-8.
● Ms. Hernandez (MS Science) and Ms. Jetton (MS Science) are both resigning from CPS. Ms. Keiner will move into the 6th grade science position.
● Interviews have begun for the 2 vacancies and job offers were made to 2 candidates. Middle School teachers were involved in the final interview.
Competency C: Builds a Culture Focused on College and Career Readiness
● 8th grade graduation was held on June 15th in the morning for the first time ever at Senn HS. Pre-K through 7th grade students gave them a send off the day before as students paraded the hallways. 8th grade students also took the end of year Algebra Exit Exam - results will come in over the summer and went on the Odyssey Boat cruise.
● 5th & 7th grade students showcased their work with Giordano Dance in an end of session performance.
● Our school band hosted their final performance - the band has made some major improvements since beginning in October.
● The 7th/8th Grade soccer team won the network 2 championship!
● A parent meeting was held for next years 7th/8th trip to Washington D.C. and 7 students are already signed up to attend!
● 7th grade students in the Shakespeare after school program presented their final performance.
● 7th grade students went to Springfield, IL for their 7th grade trip.
● We are very close to launching our Tech Campaign, funds raised will go towards the creation of a Makerspace.
● Ms. Miller and the Yearbook committee sponsored an 8th grade dance.
● Fiesta de Arte was a great success, despite the weather. This year, a student showcase was held where students performed a variety of dances, songs and instruments.
● 3rd grade students culminated their work with Lookingglass by hosting a performance of the Lorax.
● We had 5 SCC violations between 5/20 and 6/14 (2) Level 2 Violations (1) Level 3 Violations (1) Level 4 Violations (1)Level 5 Violation
Competency D: Empowers and Motivates Families and the Community to Become Engaged.
● 5th grade parents were invited to attend the MYP transition meeting - which focuses on the transition from 5th to 6th grade.
● Over 100 parents combined attended the Volunteer Celebration and Kindergarten Tea - many incoming parents signed up to participate in school wide events.
● Ms. Lebovitz is the new staff representative for Friends of Peirce.
● Ms. Zaimi met with parents and staff to develop next year's calendar of events - all events that are in place are currently scheduled and available on the Peirce website.
● Several Peirce Staff and family members volunteered to pour beer at Midsommarfest, funds raised will go back to Friends of Peirce.
● Ms. Zaimi met with the Lakewood-Balmoral association to talk about Peirce and the progress we have made as an IB school. Mary Beck from Senn HS joined this discussion as we talked about our PK-12 partnership.
● Principal sends a monthly e-newsletter home to families, works with parent leaders in maintenance of the school website and supports the dissemination of information to the school and PSO Facebook sites.
● Principal works to have a 24 hour turn around window when responding to parent and family inquiries.
Competency E: Relentlessly Pursues Self-Disciplined Thinking and Action.
● Principal attended a session at the Public Education Fund - the group is looking for new principals to bring into their Educator Advisory Council.
● Principal attends monthly network meetings.
● Principal meets with teams of teachers as needed/requested to respond to concerns/celebrations.
● Principal maintains an anonymous suggestion box on the school website.
● Principal works with teachers and parent group leaders to disseminate information - robo calls, emails, website, backpack mail and social media are current tools of communication around activities.
● Principal encourages staff to give each other “shout outs” in our weekly staff bulletin.
● Principal takes staff, parent and student confidentiality seriously - works to maintain a positive relationship with all stakeholders.
4) Public Participation - none
5) Items Needing Council Approval
a) Minutes of the May 18, 2017 regular meeting – BT moves to accept, JK seconds, passes unanimously
b) Minutes of the June 6, 2017 special meeting – unable to approve
6) Budget
LZ wrote a check over $6680 to Hemisphere for 7th grade trip – move to approve by LZ, second by BT, passes unanimously.
7) Transfer of Funds
a) Federal
b) State
No budget transfers.
8) Internal Accounts
LZ moves to approve internal accounts, second by BT, passes unanimously.
9) Least Restrictive Environment
LZ – no major updates, but looks like CPS might change its funding formula again – will keep an eye on it and let us know – concerned that funding for diverse learners might be affected. 13 students higher at end of year this year compared to end of year last year. We’re attracting a lot of families with students with special needs because of inclusive model.
10) Old Business
a) Principal Evaluation
JK - We’re still working through the principal evaluation. We had a feedback session in the beginning of June, now we can move to approve unless we want to discuss further in executive session.
i) Motion to Approve Principal Evaluation – JK moves to submit principal evaluation to Ms. Zaimi with scores as discussed in executive session. ST – seconds. Passes unanimously.
b) Fundraising
Nothing on fundraising.
11) New Business
a) Recess
JA – for the question on how frequently issues come back to the classroom, is less better?, LZ – yes, the smaller # is best.
JK – Which one are you leaning towards, Lori?, LZ – Not sure but leaning Playworks because of ability to manage staff directly
EE – is there a way to tally how many issues were brought up during recess this year compared to last year?, LZ – do not have a total # because it’s not electronic, but something that’s being looked into. CPS employees only have access to Student Locker, but there are changes to the system that could be made moving forward if we continue to work with Right at School.
BT – we don’t get a recess budget, it’s something that’s taken out of the account? LZ – yes, this is the model that a lot of principals use, allocating dollars to contract an provider for recess.
ST – is Playworks least expensive option? LZ – yes. The component that sets Playworks apart is the class game time piece and conflict resolution piece. There are issues with the implementation of it and the administration of it but we would have to set and hold accountable to expectations. There have been issues with current Right at School program.
BT – parents do not like Playworks. LZ – worked with it at Boone and it was great, surprised to see that it was not working at Peirce, could be administrative issues that could be fixed.
BT – students are used to current staff and could have a challenge with changing it again. LZ – this is something to take into consideration.
BT – does LSC approve recess program? LZ – LSC approves budget so by extension, yes.
JK – when is decision needed? LZ – when we have a budget.
12) Committee Reports
a) BAC/PAC – JA, summary meeting of the year, discussion was whether both should be merged and have 4 meetings with alternating planning meetings and planning workshops/panels/etc. People were on board. 9/22 org meeting for both groups. Meetings on second Fridays of the month for both.
b) FOP – EE - reorganized board into committees - Communications, Sponsorship, Budget, Social/Operations, members of the board are co-chairing each committee and someone from the board is chairing each event as well. They are getting more organized in their efforts and trying to be more aware of Peirce community events to make sure there is no overlap/competing events.
c) PPLC – BT - met on 6/8, talked about next year’s budget, made sure grade levels knew there will be more focus on restorative practices, scheduling models (middle school needs to come up with ideas for schedules, there will be more classrooms, maxing out with 12 classes eventually so will need to start thinking outside the box), looking at what IB requires vs. what CPS requires and looking at different models and ideas. Parent expectation meetings – reviewing. Also, extending algebra requirement from 8th to 7th grade so that kids can go to Senn for first period in their 8th grade to take geometry/etc. and then come back to Peirce.
d) PSO – JA - they meet tomorrow 6/16, they are planning the back to school picnic during the last week of August. End of year, Foster Beach day on last day of school.
e) Others
13) Public Participation
Parent opinion (Gina) – with Playworks, there were times that incidents happened that she did not know about. Appreciates that with the current provider is in touch and she feels she knows what is going on.
Sabrina - It’s been nothing but a pleasure to serve the students at Peirce, wonderful mission and she’s completely invested. She’s felt like a lucky person from day 1 to bring her spirit, creativity, and energy here and she’s moved by that. Her child is a part of Peirce and she enjoys working with Right to School. It’s not an easy job but it’s important to them to put kids first and take on a lot of challenges. In a perfect world, what happens at recess stays at recess but in reality, it’s much tougher but we continue to work on it. The work goes beyond the hours that are expected but is done because the work is rewarding and is invested. Very strong team, they really care about Peirce and want to be here and continue to move forward and enhance the work that is being done – feeback and concerns shared are important and they are working on them to meet the expectations and provide a quality product.
EE – you’ve been with both programs?
Sabrina - Yes, Playworks was the first time. There was a lot of structure to the recess and it was hard for the students to adjust. Now a lot of creative projects have been taken on. When conflict happens, the team is doing the best they can to work with administration to resolve and they feel proud of the work they are doing/how hard they are working. Have been promoting communication amongst parents/teachers/admin/recess to improve. Came here because is so honored to be in the role and with budgets the way they are, we need to be sure that we are getting the most for our money, but it goes beyond money and we should be looking at it as a whole and considering additional factors. Current staff has relationship with the children and they are invested in continuing to work here.