Connecting Waters Charter School

Parent Council Meeting

Adopted Minutes

 

Tuesday                                                         Lucille Whitehead Intermediate School MPR

September 13, 2011                                      119 N. Reinway Ave

6:30 p.m. Regular Meeting                           Waterford, CA 95386

____________________________________________________________________________________

 

1.  Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 6:37 pm at the Lucille Whitehead Intermediate Multipurpose Room, 119 N. Reinway Ave., Waterford, CA by Robert Avila, Parent Council President.

 

2.  Pledge of Allegiance

 

3.  Approval of Agenda

Kelly Phillips moved to approve the agenda.   Holly Sink seconded.  There was a unanimous vote to approve the agenda.

 

4.  Roll Call

Name

Present

Absent

1.    Andrea Adams

X

 

2.    Robert Avila

X

 

3.    Lisa Bliss

X

 

4.    Peggy Hall

X

 

5.    Eden Henn

 

X

6.    Chris Henry

X

 

7.    Blake LeBaron

X

 

8.    Angel Leverich

X

 

9.    Denise Lindvall

X

 

10.  Shawna Luciano

X

 

11.  Tessie Machado

X

 

12.  Tina Maxin

X

 

13.  Elizabeth McCarthy

X

 

14.  Kelly Phillips

X

 

15.  Melissa Rawlins

 

X

16.  Sue Roscoe

X

 

17.  Debbie Rushing

X

 

18.  Holly Sink

X

 

19.  Cynthia Soine

 

X

20.  Tina Troglione

X

 

21.  Toni Wirkkala

X

 

22.  Doreen Zanutto

 

X

 

 

5.  Consent of Calendar

Unapproved minutes of the June 21, 2011 phone meeting were reviewed and approved.  Tessie Machado moved to approve the June 21, 2011 phone meeting minutes.  It was seconded by Andrea Adams.  There was a unanimous vote to approve the June 21, 2011 phone meeting minutes.

 

6.  Election of Officers / Committee Members

A.  Our Charter requires that we have five members from Parent Council to serve on the Suspension & Expulsion Committee.  The following Parent Council members are willing to serve on the Suspension & Expulsion Committee:  Robert Avila, Holly Sink, and Toni Wirkkala.  We need two more council members to serve on this committee. 

 

Peggy Hall and Tina Maxin volunteered for the Suspension & Explusion Committee.  Angel Leverich moved to approve the election of the Suspension & Expulsion Committee as Robert Avila, Peggy Hall, Tina Maxin, Holly Sink, and Toni Wirkkala.  It was seconded by Shawna Luciano.  There was a unanimous vote to approve the Suspension & Expulsion Committee.

 

B.  Our Charter requires that we have five members from Parent Council to serve on the Truancy Policy Committee.  The following Parent Council members volunteered to serve on the Truancy Policy Committee:  Robert Avila, Peggy Hall, Tessie Machado, Tina Maxin, and Toni Wirkkala.  Shawna Luciano moved to approve the election of the Truancy Policy Committee of Robert Avila, Peggy Hall, Tessie Machado, Tina Maxin, and Toni Wirkkala.  It was seconded by Tina Maxin.  There was a unanimous vote to approve the Truancy Policy Committee.

 

7.  Hearing of the Public

      No comments were made.

 

8.  Information Items

 

      A.  Assessment Report

      No comments were made.

 

      B.  Attendance Report

No comments were made.

        

C.   Cash Flow Report

No comments were made.

 

D.   Conflict of Interest Policy

No comments were made.

 

E.   Conflict of Interest Disclosure Statement

No comments were made.

 

F.    Curriculum Report

No comments were made.

 

G.   Department Goals

No comments were made.

 

H.   Elluminate Results

No comments were made.

 

I.     Graduation Report

      No comments were made.

 

J.    Guidance Department Report

      No comments were made.

 

     

K.  Language Arts Department Report

       No comments were made.

 

L.    Ceres Learning Center Report

       No comments were made.

 

M.   Modesto Learning Center Report

       No comments were made.

 

N.   Math Department Report

       No comments were made.

 

O.   Parent Support Department

       No comments were made.

 

P.   Treasurer’s Report

       No comments were made.

 

Q.   Vendor Report

            Debbie Rushing asked about the vendor report.

            Mrs. Nelson said it is a list of new vendors for the school.

 

9.        Director’s Report

            Mrs. Nelson reviewed her Director’s Report.  We recently hired a new curriculum Director, Shoni Johnson, as Lori Freeman took a position with another school.

 

            Mrs. Nelson went over the WASC Accreditation and the key issues that we need to significantly change within the next three years in order to maintain our charter and accreditation.  They are:

 

  • Improving effective and on-going data collection, analysis and dissemination to all ES, parents and students in order to provide data-driven instruction on an individual basis by the parent-teacher and on a schoolwide basis.
  • Developing, implementing, and monitoring a focused schoolwide Action Plan with benchmarked progress reporting, time for reflection, and adjustments as needed.
  • Attaining AYP and increasing API and CAHSEE passage rates.
  • Training for parent-teachers and ES in order to increase academic rigor and application of state content standards.
  • Instituting relevant and on-going best practices for ES and other CWCS staff, parent-teachers, and the school administration.

 

            The NCLB goal is to have all students proficient by 2014.

 

            We need to work on our 11th and 12th graders to pass the CAHSEE.

 

Mrs. Nelson went over her WASC Accreditation Presentation with the council and how we will address the concerns of the WASC Committee.  Mrs. Nelson also went over the mission of our school.

 

Andrea Adams asked if the WASC visiting committee gave an idea of what “significantly” means as stated in the report.  Mrs. Nelson said they did not and that the term “significantly” was used very loosely and had no statistical data attached to the term.

 

Sue Roscoe asked what Mrs. Nelson sees happening if we don’t meet our goals set by the WASC Committee.  Mrs. Nelson said they could suspend our accreditation, or we could be told we have a year to meet our goals.  Mrs. Nelson said our school is progressing and she believes that our school will have no problem meeting the goals.

 

Sue Roscoe asked where the ideas came from to implement the PLIP and CAHSEE and the use of Study Island.  Mrs. Nelson said the accountability piece of using Study Island and benchmarks were added to our Curriculum Policy.  Study Island was added as a tool to back the student up to see where the holes are and to provide instruction.

 

Shawna Luciano commented at a traditional public school the same curriculum is used for all their students so it is easy to track their progress.  It is good we are going to use Study Island data because it will be consistent since all of our students use so many different curriculum choices.

 

Debbie Rushing never heard the results of her students’ writing prompts once they were turned in to her ES.  At least one other parent agreed with Mrs. Rushing.  Mrs. Nelson said two of each student’s benchmark scores go into their portfolios and the parents should ask their ESes for their students’ scores.

 

Mrs. Nelson said there is no API score for the 2011 school year because an error was made by IEM in submitting our student data.  This is going to be corrected.  We won’t know our official API score until February 2012.

 

10.      Action Items

          A.  Motion to approve the revised WASC Schoolwide Action Plan.

            Tina Maxin moved to approve the revised WASC Schoolwide Action Plan.  Peggy Hall seconded.  There was a unanimous vote to approve the revised WASC Schoolwide Action Plan.

 

            B.  Motion to approve the Bylaws of Connecting Waters Charter School.

            Angel Leverich moved to approve the Bylaws of Connecting Waters Charter School.  Tessie Machado seconded.  There was a unanimous vote to approve the Bylaws of Connecting Waters Charter School

 

         C.  Motion to approve the 2011-2012 Memorandum of Understanding:  No Child Left Behind (NCLB) – Title III Limited English Proficient (LEP) Student Program Consortium with Hickman Charter School.

 

Mrs. Nelson explained the Memorandum of Understanding:  No Child Left Behind (NCLB) – Title III Limited English Proficient (LEP) Student Program Consortium with Hickman Charter School and how it would work. 

 

Chris Henry moved to approve the Memorandum of Understanding:  No Child Left Behind (NCLB) – Title III Limited English Proficient (LEP) Student Program Consortium with Hickman Charter School.  Andrea Adams seconded the motion.  There was a unanimous vote to approve the Memorandum of Understanding:  No Child Left Behind (NCLB) – Title III Limited English Proficient (LEP) Student Program Consortium with Hickman Charter School.

 

         D.  Motion to approve the 2011-2012 Memorandum of Understanding:  No Child Left Behind (NCLB) – Title III Immigrant Education Program with Waterford Unified School District.

 

Mrs. Nelson explained the Memorandum of Understanding:  No Child Left Behind (NCLB) – Title III Immigrant Education Program Consortium with Waterford Unified School District and how it would work. 

 

Debbie Rushing moved to approve the Memorandum of Understanding:  No Child Left Behind (NCLB) – Title III Immigrant Education Program Consortium with Waterford Unified School District.  Angel Leverich seconded the motion.  There was a unanimous vote to approve the Memorandum of Understanding:  No Child Left Behind (NCLB) – Title III Immigrant Education Program Consortium with Waterford Unified School District.

 

11.        Discussion Items

            A. January 31 and June 26 Phone Meeting for Con Apps

 

               B.  Parent Council Committees

               At our February parent trainings only about 10% of the parents attend.  We are looking into holding parent trainings in geographical areas.  Online training was also suggested by one of the parent council members.

               Sue Roscoe said we should have parent training mandatory if we want parents to attend the trainings.

               Angel Leverich suggested summer parent training for new parents to help them choose their curriculum for their students.

               Blake LeBaron suggested having a “Parent Mentor” in your geographic location.  Someone else suggested telling your ES if they have a new family that would like to talk to a parent to give their contact information to that new family.

               Another suggestion was to have the Parent Mentor/Buddy fill out a survey of their areas of knowledge.

               Another suggestion was to have parents review different curriculum and share results.

 

               C.  Science Olympiad

               Robert Avila discussed Science Olympiad.  There will be a meeting at the Modesto Learning Center on Tuesday, October 18th at 4pm for all parents and students interested in learning more about Science Olympiad.  Last year our team medaled in eight events.  Overall the team medaled 10th out of 23 schools.

 

12.       Council Comments

            Blake LeBaron mentioned that khanacademy.com was a good resource for our students.  Another parent council member agreed.

 

            Debbie Rushing suggested having the students get together more often, such as having a party at the Modesto Learning Center by grades.  Debbie is willing to help with the parties.

 

13.       Adjourn

Shawna Luciano motioned to adjourn the meeting.  Debbie Rushing seconded.  The meeting was adjourned at 8:05pm.

 

NEXT REGULAR PARENT COUNCIL MEETING: December 6, 2011.

 

This agenda is posted at Connecting Waters Charter School, 12420 Bentley Street, Waterford, CA 95386.  This agenda was also posted at least 72 hours at the IEM, Inc. Offices, 4535 Missouri Flat Road, Ste. 1A, Placerville, CA, 95667 and at the Waterford Unified School District, 219 N. Reinway Ave., Suite B, Waterford, CA 95386.