Thornwilde Elementary School Based Decision Making Minutes

April 8, 2015

Call to Order/Pledge/Minute & Agenda Review

The meeting was called to order at 4:50 PM. Chris Rice, VanitaFleckinger, Guy Frye, Deshae Barnhorst and Pam Thamann were in attendance. The council read and approved the agenda with a motion made by Chris Rice and seconded by Deshae Barnhorst. The council read the minutes of February 11, 2015 and approved with a motion made by Guy Frye and seconded by VanitaFleckinger. Kim Staton joined the meeting.

Good News

  • The A&H Career Week is coming up for all students. They have an exciting lineup for the students to enjoy.
  • The 4th Grade classes raised over $1000 with a service learning project.
  • Parent Power Awards: We had 6 of our parents recognized at the March Board meeting for their volunteer services to TES.

Audience of Citizens

Kristen Scheid attended the meeting to observe.

Student Achievement

  1. Curriculum/Instruction:
  2. The District Office has given us recommendations for curriculum, ELA and Math. We have three teachers who will pilot a lesson plan from this program to see how it works with our students.The 2nd, 3rd and 4th Math showcase is April 8. The district will make a recommendation and SBDM can decide to go with the district recommendations or stay with what we are currently using.
  3. Ten 4th and ten 5th grade students participated in the Pomeroy Problem Solvers. These students were chosen by their STAR scores, leadership skills and teacher recommendations. The students visited Pomeroy and were given “real “life” situations where they had to determine the course of action needed to be taken to find a solution. It was a very enriching experience.
  4. Our STAR benchmarking end of the year assessments and ATMs are coming up.
  5. The summer school program will consist of these schools: Thornwilde, North Pointe, Kelly, and Goodridge. Funding will be shared by all schools involved.
  6. Celebration of Learning: Our Celebration of Learning will be April 22, 2015, from 6-7:30 pm.
  7. Calendar Waiver: Council agreed by consensus to waive 4 days for the 2015-2016 school year.
  8. EHO/AH: Mr. Frye spoke about the Arts & Humanities being included in the EHO requirements for students. We will add a line to the current form to include A&H.

Policy Review

  1. The updated Safety Policy was handed out to council for a second read. After correcting a grammatical error, Deshae Barnhorst made a motion to approve and Chris Rice seconded the motion. The Safety policy was approved.
  2. SBDM election review: The council discussed a possible two year term for SBDM members and changing the March 31st deadline which would need to be changed in our bylaws. Council did agree by consensus to change the election deadline to April 30, 2015 for this year.

Parent/Community Involvement

  1. Our GOTR 5K race is coming up on April 26. We also have our Spring Fling and Field Day coming up with our obstacle course built by our Wild Dads.
  2. Kindergarten Kamp/Kindergarten Café: The Kindergarten Kamp will be on June 9, 10 and 11. They will be led by Mrs. Browning and Mrs. Cesene. The Kindergarten Café is a workshop for parents to help prepare their child for kindergarten.

Staffing

  1. SBDM reviewed our staffing allocations. K-2, 1st-5, 2nd-5, 3rd-5, 4th- 4, 5th-5. 1-Art, 1-Music, 1-PE, 1-Tech, .5-Drama. Plus 1-STEM, 1 (additional) certified RTI and 4 special education certified. We still have a .5 classified that we will do further research on how to use it. Council agreed to these allocations by consensus.
  2. We have two positions to be posted that have been resigned by current staff.

Finance/Budget Report

  1. Council read over SBDM and school activity budgets. Council agreed by consensus to approve budgets. Council was given the 2015/16 budget. Council approved the budget by consensus. Council also agreed by consensus to continue paying stipends for all extracurricular positions.
  2. Summer Reading Books: Council agreed by consensus to use SBDM funds to purchase books for the summer reading program if the PTA could not do so.

Committee Reports

  1. Technology: We have purchased 62 computers with monitors. We have also submitted a lease agreement with Dell for 40 laptops. The PTA will pay the 1st year’s lease. We are waiting for approval from the district office.
  2. Program Review is embedded into instruction and our staff and students are exercising it daily.

Assessment Update

  1. Council received a handout for future testing changes. Once, effective, the regulations will apply to the 2015-16 school year.

New Business

Adjourn

The meeting was adjourned at 7:18 PM with a motion made by Kim Staton. The motion was seconded by Guy Frye. Motioned passed. Meeting was adjourned.