ASBURY ELEMENTARY

CSC (Collaborative School Committee)Minutes

1-14-10 @ 4:30-6:30 in the auditorium at Knight / CEE(The Center for Early Education)

Facilitator - Emory DinnerSecretary- Shelley PopkeTime Keeper– Anita Theriot

Observer –Nina Daugherty Drinks –Colleen NyhusSnacks –Sarah Oglesby

4:30-5:30 in the auditorium

CEE: Background on current program

  1. Suzanne Rougier- Principal / Director
  • Purpose of this evening is for the CSCs from the participating schools to see the facility and hear about the program as well as the (waiting to be determined) expansion
  • Introductions of CSCs from four schools and CEE administrator
  • CEE was formulated as a result of the Cory Beacon School efforts; other schools showed interest and they opened this school
  • Have an integrated autism program for 4 and 5 year olds
  • Building was previously occupied by a program that moved to north Denver
  • Teachers are involved in a collaborative programming effort
  • Have been able to offer an integrated arts program for the full day programs around visual art, music and movement
  • Proud of the wonderful way that the four schools have worked together—meet at least monthly to review program
  1. Teacher—Kathy Kaskuluis
  • All of the teachers love it here—wonderful facility, safe environment, nurturing environment, like having grade level meetings, professional developments are much more meaningful, have a fantastic integrated arts teacher
  1. Parent
  • Has a five year old in ECE—loves the classroom and the teacher; wants to stay at this school!, feels that her child is safe here (better than having ECE children with 5th graders); really likes the art teacher, but has an issue with throwing away her child’s artwork (maybe the pieces could be a little smaller!)
  • Comment about transportation—will address it when the transportation person comes here
  • Her child has flourished socially and academically at the Center; feels like it is an integrated part of DPS
  • Suzanne has 12 years of experience in Early Education in another district; very dedicated worker and deserves a big hand—Suzanne feels like this is the ideal job for her

Moving Forward

  1. 2010 (3 year olds?, 4 year olds, 5 year olds…not from Asbury (Advanced Kindergarten, other configurations?)
  • Currently have 8 classrooms in the Center; have been approved to be here for another year; want to consider what it would be like to be here for a longer period of time
  • Want to show the district that this is a model that would work well going forward and that it can serve 3-5 year olds; feedback that without a continuum of service, parents feel that it is not as much a part of the community because the students move on after one year
  • Looking into 3 year old programming, move 4 year old programming and more kindergarten—Bromwell is interested in the 4 year old programming
  • Would like to do surveying about the interest of 3 year old programming; Asbury and Cory are interested in starting 3 year old programming
  1. Budget and Transportation discussion
  • Preschool programming will be cut by 3 million dollars next year
  • Need to figure out the need for tuition based 3 year old programming—registration is happening right now, so if we do not have a program to offer, they cannot register
  • For three year old programming, would students from the different schools be in the same classroom?
  • A program for Asbury would need to offer 4 days a week
  • Moms groups consistently discuss preschool options due to the lack of high quality preschool
  • Theriot is advocating for free and reduced lunch Asbury students—by offering quality education at age 3, we can give children (especially ESL students) the head start that they need; important component for closing the achievement gap
  • Would like the ability to offer options, where parents can have their children in programming full day for 5 days a week
  • Tuition structure—2010/2011 half day $300 per month, full day $600 per month; it is based on a sliding scale
  • Other preschools in the area have waitlists, require a lottery, require a deposit, and are closing registration in the next 2 weeks—need a decision soon so that parents can consider sending their children here
  • Suggestion that if enrollment is extended through August, people could still pull their children out of other programs or get a spot here even though they could not in another place
  • Suggestion that the program will not have a difficulty filling up and that the sooner that a program is approved, people could get the word out in their communities
  • Need to offer full day programming for working parents; especially important in this area, where preschool programs are so expensive
  • Concern that expanding the CEE program would impact the neighborhood with traffic and having two drop-offs for parents is difficult for them
  • There are significant overcrowding issues at most schools, not just the ones that are represented here
  • In other parts of the country, preschool is typically not considered a part of the elementary school system; in those places, dropping children off at two different locations is not considered a hardship, but rather part of having young children
  1. Hiring
  • Bromwell and Steck coming to the Center for 4th grade would require more teachers
  • Talk about having an advanced kindergarten class, etc.
  • ECE does not qualify for transportation; they are buying busses with integrated seats so that exceptions can be made for ECE siblings of Kindergarten students
  • With budget cuts (8-10%), we will need to be as creative as possible; at Cory, there is a shuttle that takes 5 year olds to the CEE, but 4 year olds get on as well
  • Want to work shuttles into the existing puzzle and then it can be done for little cost—the school would need to monitor the kids when they are waiting for the shuttle
  • Would it be possible for the parents to pay an additional fee for transportation and have it on a sliding scale like the tuition?
  • Schools have different bell times so that a bus can serve different schools; 8-8:30am and 3-3:30pm are the high traffic times

The future of CEE

Tour of the CEE

5:30ish to 6:30 Asbury specific CSC meeting in the faculty lounge

Community Input

  • None

Teacher Reports

  • Emily Kluver starting homework club soon; strengthening partnership with DU to expand homework club and enrichment opportunities
  • Will write the Lights On After School Grant—Emily will start looking into this; Anita has examples of successful grants that can help us with our planning

Principal’s Report

  1. 2010 Budget Staffing Timelines
  • We are looking at a 3-4% cut at the school level and 9% at the district level
  • Anita and Courtney will review the budget and figure out what to do—will get budget 2/5/10
  • Will try to save as much money as possible this year; we have approval to carry any additional money forward to next year and will want to use it for salaries; $3,000 of mill levee money that needs to be spent; might be forced to cut specials
  • Met with School Leadership Team this morning re budget
  • In a meeting, Tom Bozeburg suggested a parent campaign through CSC and PTA—we need to start working right now for 2010/2011
  • Denver had an increase of 3,500 students this year
  • Mill levee is protected

Old Business

  • Copies of the revised School Improvement Plan distributed

New Business

  • Move Math Night to April
  • Will do Pajama Day on January 28th
  • Colleen is a new 1st grade para
  • With Asbury students at the CEE going to school with these high achieving schools, are we going to lose students to the other schools? Our Kindergarten roundup went really well and some parents are trying to get their students into Asbury instead

Committee Reports

PTA

  • Offering a parent education session at the next PTA meeting
  • Organized Kindergarten roundup that was so successful
  • Working on doing food fundraisers (Noodles, Chipotle, etc)

Enrichment-

  • Heather is finalizing the schedule for all Enrichment programs through the end of the school year
  • Shelley is coordinating DI—3rd, 4th, 5th team (one each)
  • Heather will be coming up with a schedule for next year—suggestion that she sent out a solicitation to teachers for enrichment ideas for next school year
  • Possible club for next year—Philanthropy Club (through DU connection)

Other Business

Date and agenda items for next meeting:

February 9, 2010