Mcfatter Technical College and Technical High School
McFatter Technical College and Technical High School
School Advisory Council
September 10, 2015 Meeting
Attended by: Ellen Albano, Billini Benoit, Deborah Bluth, Gwen Burkholder, Tom Collins, Lorraine Cowell, Cara Daniel, Patrick Eloi, Andy Gaskin, Marlene Fayette-Cowgill, Andy Gaskin, Lynn Goldman, Lillie Henry, Rachel Howlett, Mary Francis Jeanno, Jeanette Johnson, Joan Kovac, Jose Laverde, Bryan Marin, Sheldon McCartney, Nicole Marti, Gordon Merle, Chris Mimbs, Mitch Nowak, Cara Pasquale, Alexa Sauvagere, Aymara Schmidt-Toro, Ivan Serrano and Ashley Woods.Excused: Giselle Bayone,Brian Cunningham, Kona Gray, Scott Julson, Brigitte Lynn, Carlos Molinet, Hannah Seigel.
The meeting was called to order by Chairman Patrick Eloi at 11:50. Patrick remarked that he hoped everyone enjoyed their summer and thanked those in attendance for coming.
Self- introductions were made.
Motion was made, seconded and approved to accept the minutes to the May 5, 2015 meeting. (Pasquale/Gaskin).
Old Business:
Campus/staff updates:Jeanette Johnson reported that the Admission office and the Administration office have traded places on campus. The rationale is that the admission office should be the first thing that people come to when then come to campus. Jeanette thanked the staff for making the moves go smoothly. The Career/Alumni Services Center will be open soon just waiting for some of the furniture to arrive. The Testing Center has also moved to a larger space and McFatter will be a Person View Testing Site in the very near future. The building materials have started to arrive on campus for the new 11 classroom building. The process should take 6 to 8 months to complete. The building will go to the south of the ESOL- International Village on the old CVD area.
SMART Initiative dollars for MTC: Jeanette Johnson reported on the $800 million bond referendum, that this year McFatter will be getting a new HVAC renovation in most buildings. This will cost $2.6 million dollars. The wi-fi will be expanded for a Cat 6 cabling a cost of $488,000.
COE Update: Ellen Albano handed out a copy of the program matrix for the three Broward Technical Colleges and all of the campuses.
Scholarship Foundation Award from June: Lynn Goldman reported that there were 37 applications submitted. There was a total of $10,925 awarded. The breakdown was: 9 students received $650, 3 students received $525 and 7 students received $500. Lynn thanked the committee of reviewers for their time and effort. Lynn also noted that just two days after the selection was made, one of our long time sponsors and supporters, Bill Ellis passed away. We will miss Bill and his support of our students.
New Business:
School Improvement Plan: Cara Daniel reported the following:
SIP/PGP Goal of Completion 2015-2016 increase the Program Completion Rate, Licensure Rate, and Placement Rate by 3% or more by May 2016
SIP/PGP Goal 2015-2016 increase student performance on FSA Assessment, EOC Exams Assessment Math and Biology, Advanced Placement Performance, SAT, ACT, PERT Performance, Course Passing Percentage, and Industry Certification Passage Rate by 3% or more by May 2016
We are operationalizing our school improvement plan by utilizing the district’s four Best Practices.
BEST PRACTICE #1: A Focused and Authentic PLC
PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES - A Professional Learning Community (PLC) is a process in which teachers work in teams and use student information to develop strategies to improve their classroom practices.
BEST PRACTICE #2: An Embedded High Quality RtI Process
RESPONSE TO INTERVENTION (RTI) - RtI is an evidence-based model of schooling that uses data-based problem-solving to integrate academic and behavioral instruction and intervention. RtI is delivered to students in varying intensities (multiple tiers) based on student need in order to accelerate the performance of all students to achieve and/or exceed proficiency.
BEST PRACTICE #3: Optimal Internal/External Relationships ACCREDITATION PROCESS
The Accreditation Process leads schools to critically evaluate teaching and learning with a focus on academic excellence. All stakeholders (parents, students, staff, and community) are part of the accreditation process.
BEST PRACTICE #4: Scaling Up Best Practices
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT – School improvement is based on a continuous improvement model, using research-based accepted best practices, which align with student achievement needs, insure student progress, and may be revised when appropriate.
Final Exam Schedule: Cara Daniel presented information that will be voted on during the November meeting. SAC Proposal for Semester One Final Exams
Action Requested: We are proposing that the three Technical High Schools, Atlantic, McFatter, and Sheridan, take exams as indicated on the 2015-2016 BCPS Calendar, January 6-7, 2016 as opposed to December 15-18, 2015.
Rationale:January 4-8th is the actual final week of the quarter/semester and our students are taking final exams, not mid-term exams due to our block schedule. Additionally, during the December 15-18th timeframe, our students will be taking the State FSA and EOC Exams including, Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, U.S. History, and Biology, whereas regular comprehensive high schools are not.
Performance Data: Jeanette Johnson
New Program Offering: Ellen Albano reported that Commercial Photography, a 1600 hour program has been changed to Digital Photography a 1050 hour program.
Discovery Fest: Ellen Albano reported that because of the huge success of the Discovery Fest last year, the Broward Technical Colleges will again host the fun and informative community event. On Saturday, November 14 from 9-12 the community in invited to stop by, have fun, learn about the program offerings at McFatter, each, enjoy family style activities. Please tell all of your friends and family.
Approval of the By-laws, Vision and Mission Statements: Lynn Goldman had previously emailed the by-laws, vision and mission statements to the SAC membership. Lynn explained that we have a good problem—there are more parents interested in sitting on the SAC then there are seats available. To solve this challenge, the parent group leaders from SAF, SAC and PTSA will hold an election for parents. On September 24th at 11:30 in room 602 of the culinary arts building all interested parents are being invited to attend. Each interested parent will have the opportunity to self-nominate, and say a few words about themselves. The following seats will be filled:
• I-Zone representative (willing to attend I-Zone meetings dates and times TBD)
• ESE representative (must have an ESE child)
• ESOL representative (must have and ESOL child)
• Gifted representative (must have a gifted student)
• 9th grade parent representative
• 10th grade parent representative
• 11th grade parent representative
• 12th grade parent representative
• Parent at large representative
The School Advisory Forum (SAF) and the Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA, each have representatives on the SAC and have already been identified via the SAF/PTSA selection process.
There was discussion about the by-laws, term of office, business, community representation… Motion to approve (Kovac/Pasquale) motion passed
Reports:
School Advisory Forum: Ivan Serrano reported that he continues to attend the South Area Advisory meetings. The first meeting for the school year will be held next week. Ivan will give a full report at our next meeting.
PTSA:Mary Francis Jenno reported that the mission of the PTSA is: A powerful voice for all children. A relevant resource for parents. A strong advocate for the education and well-being of every child. The scheduled dates for this year’s meetings are: September 28, 2015; October 20, 2015; November 17, 2015; December 8 or 15, 2015; January 25, 2016; February 22, 2016; March 28, 2016; April 25, 2016; and May 23, 2016. All of the meetings will be held on a Monday evening at 6:30 p.m. in the Bistro.at he has enjoyed serving as the PTSA representative to SAC. This will be his last meeting as his child is graduating. This has been a great year= increased membership, name change to just McFatter, book night and Pollo Tropical fundraiser.
Student Government Association: Nicole Marti reported for Hannah Siegel. Today is Club Day. This allows students to see all the clubs and what they have to offer. Homecoming: Will be November 6, 2015 at either the Signature Grand or the Renaissance Hotel. The theme this year is Neverland. Upcoming Projects: Pet supply drive for the Humane Society and the Honor Flight.
Class of 2016:Geena Hernandez --- no representation, no report.
Class of 2017: Byran Marin, Class President reported that the Class is working on the following projects: Candy Sale fundraiser; Talent Show is under the secretary’s management; Collaborating with Health Club for the sponsored tournament and that the Class has a table for the Club Day activities. Class Shirts: Looking for new sponsors; Completely replacing class shirts and hoodies; Reducing costs and supply; In need of new designs, possibility holding a contest. Government: New Vice President and Treasurer. There will be interviews on Tuesday for Class Officers. The first Class meeting will be next Wednesday. There will be a vote at the nominations meeting for advisor appointment of positions.
Class of 2018:Alexa Sauvagere, Class President gave the following report: As of the moments, The Class of 2018 meetings have been for officers; the class’s first open meeting will be next Wednesday, September 18. However, the class officers have set aside a few goals and wants to the 2015-2016 school year. Things aren’t exactly being set into motion and are sort of vague, but the class officers have plenty of ideas and goals.
On a general note, we would like to get the class more involved in activities and know what is going on. We are setting feedback boxes into motion for the class members to give back their opinions, complaints etc. Today, during Club Day, students will be informed about them at the Class of 2018 Booth and then tomorrow, they will be put into 4 sophomore classes, two on each block. Last year, the officers and I conducted a survey to see what the class wants and plan on doing activities/projects the class would like to do, hopefully getting a higher turnout rate.
Another, major goal that the class officers have is to raise a minimum of $2,500 for the class. Last year, our class raised around $1,600, so we would like to increase the amount added by roughly $1,000. To do this we are plaining at least one fundraiser a month. This is why the officers conducted a survey, making it easier to decide on what to do; the highest projects were low-key dances, movie nights, game nights, field trips, a haunted house, and a carnival/fair. Others ideas were selling ice cream during lunch or a junk food sale. Lastly, hold a school store. Still working out some of the details.
Class of 2019: They haven’t held the class election yet.
Security: Officer Christi Laguna was unable to attend. Ms. Johnson reported that all is well.
Member comments: the only comments were how glad people were to hear that Scott Julson, manager of the Publix on Peters Rd and University Dr. was joining our SAC. Scott had been the SAC Chair at Sheridan Tech when he managed the Publix across the street from the school. Scott continues to be a HUGE supporter of our Foundation.
Motion was made, seconded and passed to adjourn at 1:10 (Kovac/Gordon)
Submitted by:
Lynn Goldman