MINUTES
SCHOOL SITE COUNCIL MEETING
November 3, 2004

  1. Call to order—5: 06 pm
  2. Flag Salute
  3. A quorum was confirmed.
  1. Chairperson Aurora Villon asked that we stay within the ground rules, especially sticking to the agenda and avoiding sidebars
  2. Minutes were approved with the following exception:
    1. The name of the priest at St. Mary’s Church is Don Liberty, not Ron Liberty.
  3. Student Reports—No students present—Mrs. Linares will make sure students will be represented at the next meeting
  4. DAC—
    1. Mr. Genis has advised us that a SSC member must attend these meetings in order to disseminate information, which is DAC’s sole purpose
    2. Vivian Martinez will be the member responsible for meeting the DAC requirements
    3. Parents will meet after the meeting to set calendar for sharing DAC responsibilities
    4. A motion was made and approved that the minutes of DAC meetings be kept at the school for easy access by SSC members
  5. Special Ed.—Nothing to report
  6. Title 1—DAC concerns which were acted upon by the council already
  7.  GATE—
    1. Priscilla Linares is the facilitator
    2. Facilitator receives a $750 stipend, which she is placing back into GATE funds
    3. Students are placed in GATE based on several methods including standardized test scores and teacher recommendations
    4. Administration has received a list of potential students that are currently being investigated and designated
    5. GATE funds are being used for equipment, supplies, textbooks, teacher training, and occasional teacher reimbursement among other things that apply directly to the education of GATE students
    6. Numbers of GATE students are approximately 150-200
  8. Administration—
    1. It is Homecoming Week
    1. November 12 th is Veteran’s Day—the football game has been rescheduled to this day because of the holiday
    2. November 19 th is the last day of the first trimester
    3. November 22 nd is the first day of the second trimester
    4. CAHSEE will be held on November 16 th (ELA) and 17 th (Math) for 11 th graders only
    5. Received our final API score on October 28 th—we made our target of 630; we will receive our new target in January of 2005
  1. SAT Prep.—
    1. We had a college prep. grant that funded the Princeton Review—we lost that money in the budget crash
    2. The Professional Development Team is looking for a grant to bring it back
    3. Websites we’ve looked at are pricing at $200-$300 per student
    4. Suggestion was made that perhaps the city will subsidize test prep.
    5. Priscilla Linares will look into it   
  2. Fundraising—
    1. Not going to be able to have a scholarship through Activities
    2. Quickest, easiest way to set up scholarship fund is to have Frank Moreno open a private account;   easier to request donations; easier to allocate funds
    3. Need to start planning in March for the Scholarship Awards
    4. Fundraising ideas
  1. Bylaws—None
  2. Public Comment—
    1. Vivian Martinez volunteered to supervise at Night Pep Rally
    2. Mrs. Esther Mejia was introduced;   commended SSC for placing the monthly minutes on the Don Page; concerned about the DAC issue; explained that we would be fulfilling the DAC obligation that we had discussed earlier
    3. Comment about gate that is locked on the West Access Road; it’s being locked so that teachers don’t park there anymore; also, ROTC needs the space; asked that one side be left open so kids, but not cars, can get through
    4. El Rancho’s library has a wish list on Amazon.com—there is a link on the Don Page; people can go to the link and order books to be donated to the library—the request list is there
    5. Suggested that we look more closely at the Student Ambassador program
    1. Band awards not mentioned in bulletin—accomplishments of all groups of students, sports or otherwise, need to be acknowledged
  1. Professional Development Team—Greg Smith and Marcelo Leonardi
    1. Group came together about 1 ½ years ago
    2. Dedicated to school improvement and reform
    3. Put together Project Fair
    4. Increased size and goals for this year
    5. Support professional development
    6. Helping to mentor new teachers/run workshops
    7. Promote social interaction
    8. Promote school in community—image and quality of education
    9. Have a lot of ideas
    10. Plan to accomplish:
  1. Agenda—
    1. The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, December 1 st
    2. Grant Program (need someone to oversee in district)
    3. DAC  
  2. Meeting adjourned at 6:45 p.m.