Connecting
Parent Council Meeting
UNADOPTED MINUTES
1. Call to Order
The meeting was
called to order at
2. Pledge of
Allegiance
3. Approval of Agenda
4. Roll Call
There were 20 parent council members present were
5. Consent Calendar
Approval of Minutes
1. Unapproved
Minutes of
6. Hearing of the
Public
None
7. Information Items
The report was given to the parent council for review.
The report was given to the parent council for review.
The report was given to the parent council for review.
The report was given to the parent council for review.
The report was given to the parent council for review.
The report was given to the parent council for review.
The report was given to the parent council for review.
The report was given to the parent council for review.
The report was given to the parent council for review.
The IEM President stated that the treasurer’s report dealt only with the CWCS fundraising account and did not cover the CWCS budget. He stated that new software was installed to use for school accounting. Also that we now have a time deposit of $300,000 to cover summer expenses so that we will not have to pull from the 5% reserve held by the district. He also stated the audit has been completed and sent to the district. He also stated that the audit came back very clean.
The report was given to the parent council for review.
8. Director’s Report
The CWCS Executive Director summarized the director’s report. Regarding accreditation the CWCS Executive Director gave a special thank you to two of our parents for their work with the Leadership Group and also five other parents for their work with the Parent Focus Group. The CWCS Executive Director stated that their help has been very valuable with the WASC accreditation.
The CWCS Executive Director mentioned that we have now completed two cycles with the Edusoft/Benchmark exams and all is going well.
Another special thank you went to the two parents volunteers for organizing our school wide GEAs this year.
It was mentioned that our guidance department would be holding high school orientations for our 7th & 8th grade student this year to help prepare them for entering high school.
It was also mentioned that due to lack of vendor participation that the curriculum fair scheduled for the spring semester has been canceled, but that a parent/student workshop would be held instead. The workshop will focus on learning styles. One of our parents explained that she had attended a learning styles workshop and had found it very useful in determining curriculum choices.
Regarding the SB740 Waiver, the CWCS Executive Director explained that we did receive full funding for our third year of operations. It was explained that we would need to apply each year for a waiver unless we got a multiple year wavier, but due to the fact that we did not have an API score we are only able to get a one year waiver. The CWCS Executive Director has explained to CDE the plan to improve next years testing attendance so that we will be able to have an API score.
9. Discussion Items
The Waterford Unified School District Board Policy for the sale and disposal of books, equipment and supplies was reviewed. The CWCS Executive Director stated that this policy could be used as a basis for a CWCS policy for the sale and disposal of books, equipment and supplies. The Parent Council President stated that on page three, item four of the policy the cost of the property should be changed to the value of the property. One parent suggested that obsolete instructional materials should be donated when at all possible. The CWCS Executive Director stated that a policy would be written up based on the WUSD Board Policy and be presented to the parent council at the March meeting.
The STAR participation
confirmation letter was reviewed. The CWCS Executive Director explained that
the letter would be sent to CWCS parents to be signed and returned to their ES.
The letter would be from The CWCS Executive Director, CWCS parent council,
assessment department, and staff. It was decided that the letter would need to
be shortened, preferably to one page or less. It was also decided that it would
need to clearly explain the dilemma the school faces regarding testing. The
CWCS Executive Director stated that she would email a revised copy of the
letter to the parent council member by
Some parent council members asked why students, who did not participate in testing, could not be dropped from the school. The IEM President explained that legally we can not exclude students from the school if they are not willing to test, but that Connecting Waters will not be able to renew our charter if we do not get 95% of the students to participate with testing. It was stated that it would only take 60 students not to test to cause us to fall below 95%. It was asked if instructional funding could be used to pay teachers to test students at the students’ homes. The IEM President thought that it was possible, but would do some further research to make sure testing could be conducted at students’ homes. Many parent council members thought that the main responsibility to encourage our students to test lies with their ES.
The CWCS Executive Director also explained that there would be extra incentives for the students to come to testing such as a pizza party, raffle, and other prizes. The IEM President was going to check on the possibility of the school purchasing the pizza for testing. One parent suggested that a flyer about the pizza, raffle, and prizes be included with the letter sent to the parents concerning testing.
The parent council members were encouraged to sign up to help monitor students during testing. A sign up sheet was passed around.
1. Annual end of the year picnic
It was stated that the person who
organized the end of the year picnic last year, would not be able to organize it
this year due to a schedule conflict. The CWCS Executive Director asked if
there were any parent council members who would like to organize this event or
should we cancel it this year. One parent volunteered to organize the picnic in
the
10. Council Comments
There was a suggestion that a
policy should be created that would deduct $40 dollars per student from the
instructional funding to support the CWCS learning centers. The Parent Council
President asked that a written proposal showing the advantages and
disadvantages be presented at the next parent council meeting. Three parents
volunteered to work on the proposal.
11. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at
The next Parent Council Meeting: