Vail Academy and High School

is a small Learning community that Encourages Achievement,

Responsibility and Nurtures relationships for Success!

September 15, 2014

VAHS Site Council Minutes

Members Present:

Ms. Tamra Ross

Ms. Christine Creasy

Mrs. Betty Biswell

Mr. Michael Melton

Mrs. Mea Santiesteban

Mr. Ed Kestler

Mr. Bryan Witzens

Mrs. Gina DeLaOssa

1. Call to Order
Ms. Creasy called the meeting to order at 4:54 pm.

A. Pledge of Allegiance
Ms. Creasy lead the council in the pledge

B. Approval of Minutes
Mr. Michael Melton motioned to approve the minutes as read. Mr. Kestler 2nd the motion; all were in favor, minutes approved. With correction to a few typo’s.

C. Reports
Member Reports
No member reports

Administrative Reports
Mr. Barger reported to the council. We have finished up our Book Fair where we had the highest dollar amount since having a book fair. Thursday during parent teacher conferences we made over $1,500.00 in sales. Teachers K-5 received $100.00 to spend for their classroom. In the Spring, we will receive more monies for classroom teachers.

Mr. Barger shared with the council that Prop 424 is the Vail School District Bond for November. Mr. Barger also shared with the council the district has sent a letter to the parents of open enrollment students currently attending the 8th grade in regular Vail schools. The letter informs parents that it is highly unlikely their child will be allowed to continue on to high school in Vail. All high schools are operating at capacity. As of now, Mr. Barger is not planning on any immediate changes to enrollment here at VAHS. As of now, Cienega is over 1,800 students built for 1,650, Empire is over 850 built for 750 and Andrada is over 650 built for 500.

D. Call to the Public
No Public

E. Recognitions
Mr. Barger recognized our Middle School sports program. Boys Flag Football, Girls Volleyball. Mr. Friggle will be shaving his head on Friday before break due to a bet with the kids on the football team. Mr. Barger also recognized the PTSA for feeding the staff breakfast and dinner on Thursday for parent teacher conferences. Also, Mr. Barger recognized the PTSA for the great turn out for Family Movie Night. The movies were The Lego Movie and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Mr. Kestler’s chess team was recognized for a great kick off to the season.

2. Consent Agenda
Motion was made by Mr. Bryan Witzens to approve consent agenda as presented, seconded by Mrs. Mea Santiesteban, all were in favor.

3. Old Business
A. Enrollment Summary
All members were given a copy of the enrollment summary as of the morning of September 15th. Mr. Barger shared with the council the summary and the breakdown of students per grade, the gender and ethnicity. Our target numbers in high school are 9th –48, 10th-48, 11th-40 and 12th-40. Our target for the start of the year was 484 students.

B. Staffing Update
Mr. Barger shared with the council we have new additions to the staff. Jennifer Bury as the new Special Ed teacher, and Stephanie Gallardo as the Speech Therapy Assistant.

C. 301 Goals
Mr. Barger shared with the council there will be 2 goals the staff will need to meet to receive 301 monies.

D. Book Review Committee
Mr. Barger shared with the council the purpose to the Literature Review Committee. The committee meets and reviews books that are to be read in a class. After several have read the books certain hot spots are notified and up for discussion. All books need to be approved by the governing board. Mr. Barger has a copy of the list of books if anyone is interested in seeing the list. The issue behind all this is that the governing board did not approve a book that a principal allow her teacher to let the students to read. A question was raised about using tax credit money to purchase books. Tax credit money cannot be used to purchase books unless it is an extra- curriculum activity.

4. New Business

A. Graduation Provider

Mr. Barger shared with the council that the site council approves vendors for things such as graduation items, school pictures. Mr. Barger shared with the council a few of the things we do here at VAHS being a K-12 school with Josten’s. Mr. Barger is requesting the council to approve using Josten’s as the graduation vendor. Mr. Bryan Witzens made a motion to approve using Josten’s as the vendor, Mrs. Betty Biswell seconded. Question was asked regarding when we would review them again for people to come in. Mr. Barger shared with the council that if another vendor was to call and ask to bid for their service we would have them meet at a council meeting and that is when the council would decide.

B. Sodexo Food Service

Sodexo serves over 7,000 kids every day. They were up for bid and the governing board has a committee to listen to all the vendors as presented to the district. Mr. Barger received a call from the director of Sodexo and would like feedback. Put it on the agenda to get feedback from the parents and staff on the council. Some of the feedback is the food is not warm, the food is pre-packaged, do not do fresh cooking, some is done, most vegetables are canned. Carrots are bagged, any alternatives to pre-packaged meats. They do cut the lettuce for salad bar. There is a difference from this year to last year. Last year was better. The menu has changed; the pizza is different for the elementary, middle, and high school, the pizza taste like cardboard, want more food, not enough. Last year it started changing at the end of the school year. No choice for students that have milk allergy. Mr. Barger asked staff if anyone has worked at other schools in the district and what they thought. The salad bar was better had more choices. Mr. Barger will go back to Sodexo with the feedback.

C. Adjournment – Mrs. Betty Biswell motioned to adjourn meeting and Mr. Bryan Witzens seconded. Meeting adjourned at 5:48pm.