District Site Base Committee
Minutes
April 29, 2015
In Attendance:
Kenneth Estes / Tommy Brown / Andrea WilburMaribel Diaz / Kurt McGrath / Teresa Sloan
Alice Richters / Keith Graham / Tracy Redman
MaryAnn Wood / LouAnne Stevens / Shelly Castania
Micki McCrory / Susan Mayhew / Jerry Pritchard
Lori Nunez / Amy Tatum / Cyndi Yaeger
Mark Ratcliff / Tonya Kelley
Welcome & Introductions
The meeting was called to order at 2:03 PM. Dr. Estes welcomed everyone and thanked them for attending. Introductions were made.
TEA Briefing
Dr. Estes began the meeting by briefing members on the recent TEA visit. The representative from TEAstressed that we have a fantastic staff at AISD and that they appreciated working with everyone in the district.
Standing Reports
•School Safety & Security
The Safety & Security team met on 4/28. At this meeting, the following issues were discussed:
1)the addition of a weather alert system at AJH and AHS to detect lightening and any other severe weather conditions
2)improving alert systems on campuses (to communicate with other campuses)
3)continuing to improve access to buildings/campuses within the district
•Update on Construction of new AJH
Mr. Ratcliff stated that construction is going well. He also reported on the following items:
1)new equipment would be arriving every day for the next 4 weeks
2)tours will be set up soon for district personnel and community members
3)Sunday, May 3rd from 1-2pm, the old junior high would be open for people to visit and take pictures
•Special Education/SST/Dyslexia/Autism
Ms. Gallagher was not in attendance.
•Special Programs
Dr. Nunez informed the group on these Special Programs item:
SHAC–We won the Indian Challenge for our community size!!
Focus is now on planning Back to School Bash (August 14th 1-4pm). Donations are being accepted. Sabre has agreed to purchase and donate backpacks. 15 vendors have been confirmed to attend. JROTC students will be on hand to help on the day of the Bash.
Textbooks – Proclamation 2015 includes Social Studies (K-12) and HS Math textbooks adoption. The District Textbook Committee selected Pearson Education for the entire adoption. Pearson will give AISD a $40,000 discount for utilizing their company for the entire adoption.
G/T – A GT parent meeting took place on April 27th in the high school auditorium for currently identified students in grades 1st – 8th. A GT Summer Camp has beenplanned for June 15-18 at AIS. Mrs. Holland and the technology staff will assist the GT Summer Camp teachers with the Lego curriculum/Robotics. AISD’s Transportation Department is allowing GT camp to partner with Summer School for transportation of the participants.
CTE – The following items were reported regarding the CTE program:
1)A student and teacher program evaluation has been completed – results will be announced at the next meeting.
2)The CTE teachers are looking for internship possibilities with surrounding businesses for CTE students. Businesses that have already agreed to participate are CVS, Motor Home Specialists, JC construction, and Comfort Inn.
3)The REZ has posted videos on the High School’s website, show casing the different career clusters offered at AHS. These videos will be viewed at the Junior High as an informational and recruitment tool prior to registration.
Federal Programs– Title I, Title II, and Title III federal funds have been spent or encumbered for the 2014-2015 school year. The Special Program Team has already begun the budget process for the 2015-2016 school year. The federal program funds are used as a supplement to the district’s budget, ensuring that at-risk student’s needs are met.
•Bilingual/ESL Program
Mrs. Díaz reported on the following:
1)Summer School has been planned for PreK, K, 5th and 8th grade students.
2)Cinco de Mayo celebration took place on May 3rd from 2-5pm at the Old Settler’s Reunion Grounds. A lot of AISD students participated!
•Math
Mrs. Richters reported that grades 3-8 have been STAAR testing and all was going well. TEKS Resource System no longer posts the tests – they are in the AWARE data system.
•Science/Social Studies
Mrs. McCrory was not in attendance.
•Elementary Instruction
Kindergarten registration was scheduled for April 27 – May 1. A special “Kinder Now Night” was held on April 30 at AES for parents who could not register their child for kindergarten during the normal registration times.
•Accountability
Mrs. Diaz and Dr. Estes asked the group if there were any questions regarding the PBMAS TEA visit. There were no questions. It was also reported that nothing major was reported on the PAR report. Any problems TEA had with the 29 folders submitted by AISD were minor and were corrected as soon as they were found. AISD is making changes to improve based on the TEA findings. The actual report from TEA won’t be available until mid-late June.
•Community and Student Engagement Rubrics
Mrs. Diaz asked members to review the rubrics flyer that was distributed. She will send out an email requesting approval of these rubrics before the end of the school year.
•Operations
Mr. Ratcliff reported the following on the Operations department:
1)PAR requests from TEA are being addressed
2)During the summer they will be re-doing tile at AHS and the floors at AES
3)Over 7,000 library books are being ordered for new AJH. The library will house an “Exemplary” library
4)A new scoreboard will be ordered for AHS baseball field
5)New practice turf will be installed at AHS
•Finance
Mr. Toon was out of district, but Dr. Estes reported:
1)The Finance department has created its own Mission Statement.
2)Bond refinancing is scheduled for April 15th
3)Budget freeze will take place on May 15th
•Human Resources
Ms. MaryAnn Wood reported:
1)First Financial cafeteria group will be in district on May 18th and on campuses
2)AISD will possible be changing dental insurances
3)The health insurance premiums have been received yet. Hopefully we will find out these premiums in mid-July
4)There is a need for bilingual teachers at AISD. If you know of anyone – send them to Ms. Wood.
•Child Nutrition
Mr. Ransom informed members that a Mexican food line has opened and is very popular at AHS. He recognized Jack Aspinall and all the Chartwells staff for their help in making the year successful.
•Member Input
-Tommy Brown
- On July 1st, AISD will have a new website. On Monday, April 27th, Teachers and other staff members met with 2 vendors for demos. It has not been determined which vendor we will choose. There will be training during the summer and in August.
- June 24th – AISD Night at the Ranger game
- Circus is in town. Tickets were distributed.
- Girls track team won both the District and Area Track Meets! They beat Kennedale – twice!
-Dr. Estes
- Discussed the Mission Statement for AISD. It was agreed to use “Inspiring and Empowering Learners”
- He would like to create a new Vision Statement. What is our vision…to be the most sought after school district in Texas!
- Dr. Estes plans on having focus group meetings with teachers, parents, community members, etc. He would like input from them on how to make our school district better.
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 3:30 PM.