MINUTES
SCHOOL SITE COUNCIL MEETING
February 7, 2007

1. Call to order at 5:07 pm
2. Flag Salute
3. A quorum was confirmed.

• Members in attendance were:  Parents— Esperanza Angelo,  Andy Castanon, Esther Mejia, Frank Moreno, Antoinette Paez and Aurora Villon Students—  Andrew Palacios Classified Staff—   Certificated Staff—James Halley Administration— Julie Ellis and  Priscilla Linares ELAC—
• Members who sent regrets:  Parents –Lourdes Baeza, Judith Rojas and Manuel Mejia ELAC—Students- Justine Medina, Genesse Carrillo, and Maleny Carrasco —Classified Staff—Tony Hernandez  Certificated Staff— Charlene Brown and Carol Stella
• Visitors – David Angelo, Martin Martinez, Pete J. Ortiz, and Angela Aguillon

4. Minutes approved for December 2006 with changes
5.   Student Reports— Andrew Palacios
a. Today El Rancho High School hosted Career Day in the school gym.
b. Upcoming school events include the Book Fair during Teen Read Week March 7th.

6. DAC – Esther Mejia
1. The topic for the DAC meeting was Title I. Information included requirements for schools to be granted Title I funds and school accountability for the funds.
7. Special Ed – Priscilla Linares
1. CAHSEE testing took place Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. This test was only for 12th grade students who have not passed one or both portions of the exam. Approximately 65 seniors took the ELA portion of the exam 25 of which are Special Education students. Approximately 52 seniors took the Math portion of the exam 23 of which are Special Education students.
8. Title 1 – Nothing to report
9. GATE –
1. The 2007 Advance Placement Report to the Nation was released to the press yesterday. In it, El Rancho is praised for achieving success in AP biology among Latino students. We are cited as having the largest proportion of Latinos scoring 3 or better in AP biology.
10. Administration  - Priscilla Linares
1. TeleParent is up and running. Teachers enjoy how easy it is to use.
2. Parent Conference night: approximately 1300 appointments were made. 2nd mishap w/ progress reports. This was a district technology error. Reports sent home w/out grades. They re-mailed the 9th and 10th graders on Friday and the 11th and 12th graders on Monday of Parent conf. week.
3. ER Pride Day: very successful – expected about 300 students and 600 showed up. We had about 30 teachers volunteer their time to this event. A lot of work was done, but not everything we hoped because many of our plants froze and could not be planted on that day.
4. Academic Decathlon results: Final results will be given tomorrow at the banquet. Superquiz is one-half of one tenth of the overall score and it is an oral competition in front of an audience. In that portion of the competition El Rancho tied for 1st place with West High School.
11. Separate or Action items
1. School Plan for 2006-2007

• Priscilla Linares explained the addition of the Block Grant page to this year’s SPSA. Mrs. Mejia asked Ms. Ellis about the money set aside to purchase student handbooks for the 2007-2008 school year. She wanted to know if there was any way of also providing the handbooks for the 10th grade class. Ms. Ellis said that it was a possibility, but that she first wanted to make sure the handbooks were utilized successfully this year. Ms. Ellis will speak to teachers and get their feedback.
• Ms. Villon asked if this draft for the Block Grant expenditures was the same as the draft reviewed by the SSC in December 2006. Ms. Ellis replied that some adjustments were made. The district agreed to pick up some of the costs for items in the Deferred Maintenance of the grant expenditures.
• Ms. Villon also inquired about the possibility of offering an SAT prep course for students. Ms Ellis said that she has spoken to Mr. Ortiz and that right now the cost per student is approximately $400.00. Ms Ellis also said that we may need to look at building this into our future by developing a systemic plan to give students the opportunity to fundraise the cost of the prep class. Ms. Villon asked how much money it would cost to train El Rancho teachers to teach the courses. Ms Ellis said that El Rancho was able to do this in the past because a graduate from Pioneer High School volunteered to train our teachers for free. Ms. Ellis also said that the school may need to look at setting aside funds from a car sale. Ms. Villon asked if GATE funds could be used for an SAT prep class. Ms. Ellis said she would look into that. Mr. Castanon asked if the school had software available to students who wanted to prepare for the SAT. Ms. Ellis said that the school has the software available on computers in the Career Center. Ms. Villon suggested sharing the cost with the City of Pico Rivera. Ms. Ellis said that she would develop a cost analysis for the prep course. Mr. Moreno suggested going through the Chamber and asked how many students we would be serving. Ms Ellis said no more than 150 students.  
• Ms. Villon inquired about the purchase of a translating system to better serve bilingual parents who attend School Site Council meetings. Mrs. Linares said that it will be purchased and that the approximate cost for the system would be $1100.00.
• In regards to the money set aside to purchase printers for teachers, Mr. Moreno asked where teachers currently print. Ms. Ellis said that those teachers without printers, put information on a flash drive and print in the teacher resource center, H-1.
• In regards to the Math calculators, Mr. Castanon asked if the Math department was informed as to the type of calculator to order and where to go to order them. Ms. Ellis said yes, this is something the department handles well.
• The SSC agreed that they needed to see more of an explanation of expenditures in categorical programs before they were prepared to vote to approve the SPSA for the 2006-2007 school year. Mrs. Linares agredd to bring this information to the meeting on March 7.

12. Public Comment
1. Ms. Aguillon asked the school administration about the procedure for providing support to a teacher with classroom management issues. Mrs. Linares replied that teachers are regularly evaluated formally and informally. El Rancho High School also has two resource teachers that work with teachers who may need additional support in the classroom.
2. Ms. Villon also complimented teacher Ms. Padilla. She was grateful for her constant communication regarding her son’s progress and was impressed by how much personal attention she gave to both students and parents.
13. Agenda—next meeting will be Wednesday, March 7, 2007.
1. School Plan  
2. School safety and use of the dogs on campus
14. Meeting adjourned at 6:50 p.m.