Mays Local School Council Meeting Minutes
November 12, 2013
The Benjamin E Mays LSC meeting was held on Tuesday, November 12, 2013 in the Media Center at Mays, 3450 Benjamin E Mays Drive; Atlanta, GA 30331.
November 12, 2013 Local School Council Meeting
Local School Council Memebers in attendance:
Dana Price, Wayne Grady, Robert Smith, Michael Cohen, Kim Harris Johnson, Beverly Gullatt, Dawn Brockington-Shaw, Bernadette McAdam, and Brianna Martin.
Local School Council Members absent:
Stacia Jackson, Robert Smith, and Dr. Tyrone Smith,
A quorum was established. ( X ) Yes ( ) No.
Call to Order
Meeting called to order by chairman Wayne Grady: 5:19P. Quorum established at 5:21.
Chair’s Report
Silence all electronic devices.
Generate a Sign in sheet for meetings beginning in January.
Brianna Martin is active interim Secretary.
Mays JROTC was in Veterans Day Parade.
Per the news, bullying is not a teenage issue.
Mental illness and Stress handouts were distributed.
Principals Remarks
Principal Representative: Bernadette McAdam
Request that Dr Smith speak on what we are doing to improve our school for teaching and learning for upcoming meeting.
Spencer Oliver from Stevenson High School is new Band Director
Preparing for Advanced Ed Review formerly SACS review.
Discussion
Concern with the perception of Mays now versus years ago. Mays had a reputation of a very elite high school. Over the years, there has been a change in the demographics of the students and make up of the faculty. Parental involvement has decreased. Socioeconomic make-up of the student body has changed. We have a different generation of teachers that relate to the students differently. We have behavioral issues as well. These combinations have affected us. We are still an elite school.
How do we make Mays the school of choice? As our Cluster schools have declined, many community residents have withdrawn their children from the community public schools and enrolled them in private or charter schools. Many parents that have left the cluster have stated that they have chosen to leave the Cluster due to the socioeconomic decline of the cluster for fear that their students may not be strong and mature enough to mix with certain groups. People see the negative media and wonder if this cluster is the best environment for their children. Parents are very concerned about the safety and well being of their children.
In Charter environment there is a great emphasis on discipline and academics regardless of the socioeconomic status of the students. There is parental support to have your voice heard. At Mays, parents have to go thru hurdles to get their voice heard. Parents are being heard but issues are not addressed. Charter Schools also do a great job with partnering with the community for funding and academic support. We need to tap into our resources and get the community involved.
At Mays, we have a high turnover of teachers. Some teachers further their educations or transfer. Also, there are commutation issues. Working parents try to contact teachers through emails and conferences. Many parents do not get response or feedback. It would be appropriate for parents to have response to their concerns in 48 hours unless it is a bullying issue which should be an immediate 24 hour response time. Sometimes the teacher may think they have provided an answer, but there is not clarification on the expected response the parent may desire. Parent stated that there was a death in the family. The parent sent written information to the attendance office and also sent emails to the teachers directly. However the student received several zeros for missed assignments on that day. The parent had to follow-up multiple times to get the student grades correctly updated.
Parent, who has had students at North Atlanta, Sutton Middle, and Best Academy, stated that she has noticed that the problems we are experiencing are across the board at other APS schools as well. We need to change he perception of our environment. We need to promote the positive aspects at Mays. We can send out a card to the community to promote the good things occurring at Mays to allow our community to know the great things we have going in our cluster. Then, we can provide an open house. Thus, enrollment may increase within our neighborhood. If we want people to come back to Mays, we need to promote our school and we need to build our community. build our community up. Mays Graduation program is a great asset promoting the numerous scholastic achievements of our graduates. We have an awesome band at Mays and Young are excellent and well renowned. We should positive aspects not the negative at Mays. Our kids and parents need to know the great things going on here.
At Mays, we may need a medium where parents can be heard such as a message board. We have a noticeable amount of teachers that turn over each year. We have 5 to 10 TFA (Teach For America) teachers and others that go back to school.
Review of Minutes
Reading of minutes.
Minutes approved.
Old Business: Bylaws
Developed bylaws committee.
Bylaws sent out last month electronically.
Added Parent Ambassador Council Person appointed by Principal.
Standing Committees
- Education
- Academic strategy
- Elections committee
Elections Process
Article 6 is not clear on terms length.
Dawn Brockington-Shaw will work on election process details and specifics.
Clarification that meeting notices must be published in a Local Newspaper for an on-call meeting within a 24 hour notice.
We need to have staggered terms. We were all elected at the same time. The entire board will resign June 2014.
March 2014, LSC will post available seats with staggered terms of one and two year terms.
Bylaws can not be approved until the Election Process is compete.
Public Comments
Introduction of parent attendees. Terrie Weeks, parent of 9th grade parent at Mays.
Parent concern about students who were not allowed to play one quarter of an athletic game because they attended a school sponsored, college tour. Students should not be reprimanded for desiring to further their education and exposure. Allowances should be made to encourage students to further their education.
Athletic Director addressed the concern at PTSA meeting stating that the coach penalized students for not providing advanced notice of trip.
Students should be encouraged to strive for academic success and not be punished for attend college tours. Expectations should be exemplified.
Adjournment
Meeting closed @ 6:25 pm.
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