School Advisory Council (SAC) Meeting Minutes (Revised)

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Walter C. Young Middle School

School Advisory Council (SAC) Meeting Minutes (Revised)

1. Welcome. Meeting called to order at 4:03pm by Madelyn Doval. A quorum was reached.

1. Roll Call- Caroline Barta, Risa Bell, Victor Calderon, Melina Cicone, Madelyn Doval, Wendy Stull-Milordis, Graciela Forte, Charles King, Jr., Marcela Martinez, Jason Oestricher, Harold Osborn, Doreen Spector, and Marques Brown. Guests included Daniele Jones, Errica Maddox, Rachel E. Malca, Camille Henry, L. Bruce Greenberg, Susan Kincaid, and Marcela Mansur.

1. New SAC Members – An election was held. Ms. Wendy Stull-Milordis was elected to Co-Chair, Mr. Marques Brown was elected to Secretary, and Ms. Ericca Maddox, Ms. Daniele Jones, Ms. Camille Henry, and Ms. Rachel Malca, were voted into membership. A motion was made by Mr. King, and a second by Ms. Forte. All present approved.

1. Approval of the May minutes- Ms. Forte made a motion, and a second was made by Ms. Bell to approve the May minutes.

1. SAC Meeting Dates – SAC Meetings will be held on the second Tuesday of every Month. Dates are as follows: October 11th, November – No SAC meeting due to early release and voting, December 13th, January 17th, February 14th, March 14th, April 18th, and May 9th.

1. Mathematics Fundamentals- Mr. Greenberg presented a program that will help intensive students called, Think Through Math. Compared to last year, the percentages of students who scored a level 3 or above in FSA Math fell 7% for 6th grade and 4% for 7th grade. The program is a prescription based, computer based program and can be done at school and in home. The program will be used for 55 minutes, three times per week combined with two days straight of traditional instructional teaching. The purpose is to fill in grade level gaps and understanding, while impacting a students’ math achievement. For $3,000, 250 intensive-class students will be able to utilize the program at their own pace. A motion was made by Mr. King and a second by Ms. Bell to take the funds out of the Accountability fund to purchase Think Through Math. All in favor passed the motion.

1. SMART Initiative- Walter C. Young has been included in the 2016-2017 group of schools to receive infrastructure, cabling, wireless access points, and computing devices from the technology portion of the SMART initiative funds. There will be an initial meeting to discuss the scope of work regarding the infrastructure needs of the school, and academic programs and devices. The meetings report will cover Academic Programs (what programs are in use or will be anticipated), Computing Devices (types and quantities), and Professional Development (support for a seamless transition for the schools team). Areas of concern include replacing servers, data lines, and broadcasts around the school.

1. Gizmos (Science Department)- Ms. Spector presented the Gizmo Program to attendees. The Gizmo Program needs to be renewed by November 2016. Gizmos are virtual labs that students utilize online. A hand out that is used by students was handed out to all in attendance. Students are given a warm-up exercise and are provided with Activities A (simple or basic level), B, and C (more complex level). Students will be able to do virtual experiments by forming hypotheses, collecting data, and drawing conclusions for usage on handouts through web based programming. Students will get a balance of hands-on and virtual experimenting experience. Accountability Funds are currently at $8,539, while A+ Funds are at $5,406. The renewal license is $3,675. A motion was made by Mr. King and a second by Ms. Jones to approve the funding for the Gizmo program. All in favor agreed.

1. Principals Report- Walter C. Young was voted an A school according to reports released in July. Grading was based on FSA English, FSA Math, and Acceleration. In 2015, there were 97 A schools in Broward County compared to 62 A Schools in 2016. Walter C. Young placed 6th in the total number of middle schools.

• FSA English Language Arts – 6th grade is down 1%; 7th grade is up 3% and 8th grade is the same.
• FSA Math – 6th grade is down 7%, 7th grade is down 4%, and 8th grade is up 15%.
• Science – is up by 1% when you add in calculations for the Biology student scores.
• Civics – up by 7%.
• There are no percentages for Algebra, Geometry, and Biology. However, 137 students passed Algebra, 37 students passed Geometry, and 49 students passed Biology.

The next ED Talk is Saturday, November 5th from 9:00am to Noon. The ED Talk is a forum designed to engage the community in discussing educational strategies and advancing the District’s Strategic Plan. Registration is not open yet but is expected to open in October.

Walter C. Young is now on Social Media. Walter C. Young now has a Social Media Specialist and currently has both Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Formative & Progress Monitoring Assessments – Formative & Progress Assessments are ways teachers gather progress on student learning. USA Test Prep, one of the various programs, was purchased in October last year. 16,000 activities were done using USA Test Prep in May 2016. The program includes games, puzzles, and enhancement activities, and allows teachers to share and collect data school wide while monitoring student progress. USA Test Prep will only be renewed in FSA English for all grades and Science for 7th grade. A motion was made by Mr. King and a second by Ms. Malcolm to fund the USA Test Prep purchase for a total of $1,200 from the Accountability Funds. The motion was passed.

1. Accreditation- This October there will be a re-accreditation process from October 24th – October 26th. Walter C. Young has been chosen for an Internal Review and External Review. The Internal Review consists of Self-Assessment, Executive Summary, Student Performance Diagnostic, Stakeholder Feedback Diagnostic, Assurances and School Improvement Plan. The External Review includes team evaluations of the systems adherence to the AdvanceED Accreditation Standard, examination of the systems framework, assessment of the systems’ student achievement, and an assessment of the systems’ Stakeholder perception data. The Areas of Notable Achievement were assessed by Mr. Greenberg, as well as the Areas in Need of Improvement.

AdvancED Standards include: Purpose and Direction, Governance and Leadership, Teaching and Assessing for Learning, Resources and Support Systems, and Using Results for Continuous Improvement. The purpose is to demonstrate that the District is focused on raising student achievement, providing a safe and enriching environment, and maintaining efficient and effective operations staffed by highly qualified educators.

1. For the Good of the Group

1. A motion was made to adjourn at 5:37pm. A motion was made by Mr. King and a second by Ms. Henry was passed. All present approved.