Northview High School—School Governance Council Meeting

Minutes—April 24, 2014 at 4:00 pm

Meeting Type: Meeting with Public Comment

Members Present:

Jacqueline Royal-Bryant, Ashley Ulrich, Susan Auerbach, Brian Downey, Vicki Templet, Seong Su Kim (non-voting student representative), Paul Brannon (principal—non-voting), Rebecca Burkley (non-voting student representative), Grant Hickey, Terry Lemons, Hyejoo Jeong

Not Present:

Jason Weinberger

Guests Present:

Susan Walker, 11 parent and community members

The following items were on the agenda:

4:00-4:02- Call to Order

4:03-4:05- Approve Agenda/Approve Minutes from March 27th meeting

4:05-4:30- Public Comment- Class Rank

4:30-4:40- Principal’s Report

4:55-5:00- Announcements

2014 Meeting Dates: May 22nd, 2014 @ 1pm

Meeting Notes:

The meeting was called to order by Susan Auerbach at 4:05 pm.

Lemons moved to approve the agenda; Downey seconded. Voice vote to approve was unanimous.

Ulrich stated that the March minutes need to be corrected with the right date at the top, since they staye February’s date instead of the date for the March meeting. Downey moved to approve the minutes with the change; Lemons seconded. Voice vote to approve was unanimous.

Public Comment: Class Rank

Downey overviewed the process of the public commenting period. Four parent/community members spoke to address the issue. Downey ended the public comment period and thanked individuals for attending.

Downey made a motion to take a break. Hickey seconded; voice vote to break was unanimous at 4:18 pm.

Auerbach called the meeting back to order. Downey moved to approve the meeting resuming; Ulrich seconded. The meeting resumed at 4:21 pm.

Principal’s Report

Dr. Brannon summarized the US News and World Report article, where we were ranked #154 out of all schools in the US. He also summarized the CCRPI (College and Career Readiness Performance Index) results, which ranked us #1 in the state of GA. All schools outranking us in the USNWR article were private/selective entry schools, so we were the highest ranking public high school in GA. The new CCRPI results were an improvement once they corrected the errors in data. He stated that there is little room for us to go up from here, as we are scoring extremely high in all areas. He explained the scoring process for the gauge/growth and measurement tool used for CCRPI and stated that the teachers and students are doing a “great job” across the board in work and performance.

The school board is considering a $65/student increase for the budget, which would possibly allow us to hire two additional teachers. The EOCT and AP testing occurs during the next few weeks. There was an increase this year in the number of AP tests that we will administer this year, which reflects a higher percentage of our student population taking AP courses. Also, our performance on National Merit (based on PSAT) is likely to be very strong as well.

Announcements

Royal-Bryant stated that the band addition has a reception this Friday, April 25th, which will allow the public to see the new wing. Burkley summarized the results of the Latin competition, where Northview ranked first out of all schools attending the competition. Lemons stated that currently, the NHS Robotics team is ranked 8th and is still competing through the weekend. Jeong distributed an article addressing student stress and ways to improve stress in school. She and Auerbach reminded the council to keep our Strategic Plan in mind. Brannon stated that the PE department is already looking into other classes and activities to offer through their classes. Also, he stated that a group of staff members participated in a Boot Camp at the Forum gym across the street for about 2 months, also addressing the issue of stress. Auerbach stated that it is important for us to focus on this as a cohesive approach.

Brannon asked Burkley and Kim where the largest stress comes from for them—parents, students, or teachers. Kim said parents and students. Burkley stated it was a combination of all three, based on peer pressure, parent pressure for college admission, and teacher pressure for the importance of their classes. Brannon stated that the school has tried to stress that an AP course is a college-level course, and the courseload for that is rigorous. We try to communicate that repeatedly to parents and students; often, a student or a parent is setting that overload of AP courses even despite teacher/administration discouragement. Royal-Bryant asked if there has been an increase in online courses, and Brannon stated that there have been online courses, but it’s been mostly one class for a student, and those courses come with an additional cost. Lemons stated that there is a swing the other way, as well—that his freshman in college reports that his freshman college courses are easier, and as a result, he’s earning straight A’s in pre-med. Brannon stated that this is a common report from Northview alumnae—Northview is well preparing our students for college. While nationally, 50% of students need to take a remediation course in college freshman year, it’s only about 3% of Northview students.

Templet asked if we had any data about how confident graduating seniors feel about a career path after elective courses at Northview. Brannon stated that the exit surveys of seniors gives us some data, and that last year, there were almost 50% of our students interested in the medical field. He stressed that we also need to be attentive to our 2% of students who do not go on to college, as well.

A parent asked if there are still a dramatic number of major shifts in college (3-5 shifts/changes of major while in college was widely reported years back). Brannon stated that this is not quite as common, but that reports now state that most adults will change their career/job 11 times. The shifting seems to happen later.

Auerbach reminded those present of the upcoming meeting on May 22 at 1 pm.

Lemons made a motion to adjourn the meeting; Auerbach seconded. A voice vote to approve was unanimous. Meeting adjourned at 4:58 pm.