Churchill High School Site Council Minutes  
                                              October 21rd, 2009, 3:30 pm

Members present:
Greg Rikhoff, Greig Thompson, Leah Dunbar, Janell Schoellhorn, Gina Bauer, Delia Graham-Waters, Sara Hubbe, Karla Nelson, Teresa Grube, Lodi Soderholm, Doris Rinaldi, Jenna Careccia.    

Others present: Londa Rocholz (filling in for Kim Finch)

Convener: Sara Hubbe
Recorder: Lodi Soderholm

Review agenda: Sara went over agenda

Welcome and Introductions

Public Comment:  All members.  No public comment.
    
Safety Plaza – action item
Plaza information distributed.
    Comments/Concerns:    
-Will it be target for vandalism?  
-Plaza was not intended to memorialize the young boy who was hit.  
-FYI: NHS proposed have a bench to commemorate the boy who got hit.  
-From a supervision standpoint, is it a visual block for keeping an eye on kids?  
-Could the design and placement take into consideration the need to have it not create a visual block?  
Where is the plaza?  

-There was some confusion about the orientation of the sign and exact site location. -Request for more information about the type of sign (what is it made of?)
-Clarification: City in charge of maintaining/up-keep of plaza

Greig Thompson -motion to approve the plans for the Safety Plaza with follow-up to clarify questions.   2nd by Greg Rikoff
Vote:  All in favor-motion passed.

Student Report:
Leadership has been working  with local bank (Liberty?) on Community 101 Project.  If students raise at least $1000, the bank with donate $4000.  Students set a timeline to reach their $1000 goal near end of May.  The money will be divided between  selected non-profit organizations chosen by elected leadership group.  They are currently putting together a list of non-profit organizations.  They will then narrow it down to a smaller list.  Project will start with elected leadership, then involve big leadership.

Everything is on track Homecoming and Fall Fest.  
Need more parents to help chaperone the dance.
Days for Fall Fest:  November 2 – 7
Mon-80’s day
Tues-Stop light day Red Yellow Green
Wed-Twin Day
Thur-Ugly Sweater Day
Fri- CHS Day

Congratulations to Jenna for getting into Carnegie Mellon University!

Parent Report
Lancer Parent Assoc. Mtg. forwarded the suggestions from Site Council for the EEF grants (2 in $500 category and 2 in the $1000 category).  Discussed the importance of the Document cameras and discussed no letting it go.  Parents were receptive.  Perhaps we will see purchases before the end of year.

Also discussed the Career Center:  
What are the requirements up to graduation, etc?  Beneficial for newer parents.

Greg Rikoff represented at EEF-strong commitment for balanced funding.  It was inspiring and additional money was raised.  
LPA $200 donated to Petanque for uniforms and  able to submit a Lowe’s grant

Put discussion about document cameras on calendar.  Greig Thompson will be at the Nov Lancer Parent Assoc. meeting to discuss the benefits of Document Cameras.

Lancer Parent Assoc. now has a Webcam at the meetings so parents not able to attend can see what is happening.  It is posted on the CHS Website.
It is helping to get people engaged.

Decision Making Process
Londa presented issue:  Kim would like us to review our Decision Making Process.  Site Council looked at our section and started discussion to determine if this is what we want.  We are a consensus body but if we can't find consensus, how do want to handle it?  We will start by looking at each section at a time.  Site council would make suggestions so that any changes could be taken to the staff for a vote.  

Comments:
It was thought that this process came from district level.
With the current system, we are able to see where everyone is about a particular issue.

1st bullet :
-Greig commented that Curriculum Council seems to work more on the issues listed.  Are we addressing them?  Should we have an order on how we should look at them.  

-In the past, the 1st priority for Site Council seemed to be the School Improvement Plan, EEF, Budget, and Tripod.

-Under the 1st bullet for Decision Making it states that Site Council advises the administration on issues of staffing allocation.  

-Do we want to take it out or do it?  It hasn’t been done in the past.  

-It is mandated by the state to have a Site Council Committee.  But how much of structure is directed by the state? Info needed to make an informed decision so as not to restrict future council.  Might be layered-state vs. district?  

-The organizational flow of the document needs to be re-done.

-Since the specific dollar amounts change, exact amount should be excluded from the document.  

-Membership:  District Site Council teacher stipend?  Re-work this entire section.  

-Decision Making Process
-    further discussion is needed on having something in place to deal with if/when consensus is not reached.
    -It was suggested to looking up the definition of "consensus"?
    -Suggestion: Possible change to move to 2/3 vote if consensus is not reached?

-If someone becomes detrimental to the council (e.g. blocking the progress of a vote for the sake of blocking the progress), there are ways to deal with person instead of the model.  District has resources if needed.  

-Discussion about the number of members on council.  Is it state mandated?  
-Membership:  
    Alternate student-do we have one?
    Classified?

-Questions about the purpose, state requirements, and membership pay.

School Improvement Plan
Londa-2007-2010-needs adjustments, corrections to dates, this is the agreement we came up with, is it still what we want.  Homework-look at it and make notes on it.  It was suggested to create a Google document so everyone could make comments on it.  We will divide into 5 groups to look at the 5 areas.  Each of the 5 certified Site
Council members will pair up with one other Site Council member:
    Pairs:
        Delia-Greg R.
        Leah-Janell
        Lodi-Doris
        Theresa-Mike/Gina
        Greig T.-Jenna
        Sara will join any of the groups.

Other/Emerging agenda items:
    Site council meeting frequency /Meeting times per month
    Food/refreshments
    Safety issue:  using light to cross
    More discussion on Decision Making Process
    Need to approve Sept & Oct minutes
    

Meeting was adjourned at 5pm.  The next meeting will be held on November 4th  from 3:30 to 5:00, location Room F55.

Nov 4th next meeting.  Greg Rikhoff will bring snacks.