SITE COUNCIL MINUTES

Tucson Unified School District
Catalina High School
School Council

September 11, 2012 3:30 pm; Catalina High School Library

Attended: Cindy Dunn, Kate Gallion, Rosa Lara, Carol Armstrong, LysaNabours, Cheryl Beran, Terri Herlein, Rex Scott; parent, Michelle Mayo; student ZeljkaKlipic.There were no parents in attendance.

Call to order: 3:43 pm.

Previous minutes: were approved.
Call to Audience: No one present.

Reports:

Introduction of new student representatives: Amber Hall, ZeljkaKliplic (present) and Diana Martinez

Principal’s Report:
The football field has been successfully re-crowned. The irrigation system is all brand new and the controls to operate it are still being learned. The football team “broke-in” the new field with a win against Pueblo (our first since 1983).
The front page of our website contains the AIMS tutoring schedule. There are some Title I funds available for teachers doing tutoring. Sophomores are being targeted because they are the ones taken into account in terms of growth. PLCs are targeting those who did not meet the AIMS math and/or reading standard.
Release time has been approved for departments to work on NCA actions and whole school AIMS reviews. Whole departments can take a day to do this with subs being provided. Departments must get approved by Rex so he can coordinate everything with Lori and Nancy. Only one department per day will be approved (for any day but Friday because it is really hard to get subs those days.)
Freshmen House teachers are identifying and working with students who had troubling progress reports. The teachers meet each Tuesday during their planning period. Each teacher is “stalking” several students to check up on them.
New Learning Support Coordinator is our own Tammy Hille. Joan Meggitt will fill in as counselor until we hire someone.
Mr. Hanna is meeting with each and every senior to discuss their post high school plans. He is on # 100.
All juniors and seniors who still need to pass AIMS math are in RTI classes. Mr. Collingwood now has a 6/5 contract and Carol Armstrong is doing one period. Mr. “C” has really clicked with the students and they report they are enjoying his class and feel like they are learning.
There is $6.700 in Title I budget for tutoring (only math and English teachers). Math departments have 7 teachers doing after school tutoring.

Shared Vision:
Mr. Scott gave us a copy of our Shared Vision document. He would like to touch on it each meeting. He wants us to continually keep it in mind. Be ready to discuss any relevant issues pertinent to the handout each month.
School Climate/Spirit: Terri met with Student Council to discuss this. They are changing the Homecoming tailgate name to carnival. More kids understand that word and it goes with the theme of Mardi Gras. They are also planning fun events during Friday lunches. The first one will be a competition among the classes in a bubble blowing contest. There will be points awarded for each class. The one with the most points after all the different events will be awarded the Trojan Cup at each pep assembly. They will advertise these events thru posters and morning announcements. Teachers will be asked to volunteer at these events. It was suggested that Terri and some of the students come to PD and tell the teachers of this.
Student Behavior/Attendance: around 175 kids have been referred for tardiness. Most are single offenders. Once they get community service and a letter goes home they clean up their act. Passes, sign in and sign out sheets and monitors in hallways all contribute to emptier hallways. Transportation determines our start time but not our bell schedule. They have our start time as earlier so the kids get here earlier and actually have time to eat breakfast.

Continuous Improvement Plan (CIP):
Everyone was given a copy. Rex would like us to review it from time to time to see what needs worked on. Dr. Morado wants it streamlined so he knows exactly what is being worked on this year to see what we are doing to get away from our “D”. We are one of 4 “DD” schools; schools that have gotten a D two years in a row. (Catalina, Howenstine, Maxwell and Hohokam). We do not want to be a “DDD” school. Palo Verde, Rincon and Naylor have undergone a turnaround process. Palo Verde’s scores went up 25 points this past year. We only have to go up 12 to get out of the “D” range. Freshmen are doing benchmark testing to see who needs additional assistance. Half of the PLC kids have improved on their progress reports. Mr. Berry has gone above and beyond with the PLC info he has distributed to the staff.
Review:
Diane, Jama and Rex are on the team. Dr. Hawley is overseeing deseg and how s are doing. The review will be done by mid Oct. In the 2nd semester all schools will be “re-tooling” their programs. Schools that are not classified as will not be able to become s.

Concerns from the groups we represent:
We want students and classified staff to know that they also have a voice at Site Council. It is hard to get info to some of the staff because they do not have work stations and their mail boxes are full.

Student Report:
Zeljka wondered about teachers teaching a new class; whether they knew ahead of time so they could prepare lesson plans. She was concerned about the new math class; it seems to her that the teacher is planning just day to day. She also wondered about how the other kids would know who the reps were. Something will be put into the announcements. The students are putting in suggestion boxes in the library and student services for the students to give us their ideas, opinions, etc.

Action items:

SCPC- SCPC representative:
Mr. Scott needs to turn in a name to district. Mr. Hall was recommended. Rex will also check with the Palo Verde Neighborhood Association and Catalina Foundation to see if any of their members would like to represent us. We gave Rex our blessing to choose someone for us.

Discussion/information items:

School Council webpage:
The webpage contains our agenda, minutes, members and by-laws. Mr. Berry does a great job of updating it for us.

School Council Training for 2012- October 10, 2012, 5:30- Tucson High

Parent/Family Info Nights:
We are all to come to next meeting with suggestions. The 2 best ways to get parents to come is to have food and a very compelling topic. In Oct. there will be a Title I Parent Night/Ask the Principal forum. Rex also wants to have one in Dec., Jan/Feb, Mar/Apr. What do we think will get the parents here. It was suggested to tie it into an event such as Talent Show, Choir Concert, Band Concert, Family Fitness Night, Stargazing, etc.
RTI Reading:
Although we do not offer the class anymore we still have access to the online reading program to use for tutoring.
Agenda for next meeting:
Shared Vision
Continuous Improvement Plan
Review
Parent/Family Info Nights
Parent Representation: teachers need to approach parents at conferences. Kate will set up a table by the main entrance.

Next Meeting: October 9, 2012.

Meeting adjourned at 5:07 pm.