Jamestown School
Lawn Avenue School Improvement Team Meeting
October 10, 2002

4:00 meeting held the Library at Lawn Ave. School

Mrs. Kathy Sipala, began the meeting. She made it very clear that she would not be directing the meetings in the future. The chairperson should not be a member of the administration.S.I.T.

20 people were present: 10 parents

2 citizens of the community

8 staff members.

Nametags were made and color-coded. Orange for school personnel, green for parents and pink for community leaders citizens.

The job of the School Improvement Team is to give the whole school community assistance. Individual team members are to look beyond their own teacher, parent or community issues. The S.I.T. members are to become informed, assist in informing others and to blend tasks.

What is our purpose:

Reasons for joining:

Joined because children are here
Thought Lawn was an ignored school
Keeping information going to other people in the community
Provide constructive, positive issues
Excited about being on the ground floor of improving Lawn Avenue School and its environment.

What is the purpose of the SIT?

To identify problems

Identify misconceptions and/or perceptions

To come up with solutions and communicate them

Identify positive changes and keep them

Identify what we need to improve

Assist new teachers

Expect Accountability

Continued support in the raising of Student achievements

Support what's working

Mrs. Sipala collected the data from above and has assembled a purpose statement for the Lawn Avenue School Improvement Team for 2002-2003. It is:

"The purpose of the Lawn Avenue School Improvement Team for 2002/2003 is to review the existing School Improvement Plan in order to determine priorities for the year; to identify problems, develop solutions and communicate those solutions to the school community so that perceptions/misperceptions can be identified and changed if necessary. The School Improvement Team is dedicated to celebrating the positive changes that have already been made and supporting what works, as we continue to identify what needs to be done to be an accountable, high performing and improving school."

SIT has two teams that are evaluating the results of the Salt Survey. Hopefully, the intention of the evaluation will be for the committee chairs to presenting their findings/suggestions and they will come and present these results to the rest of the SIT members.

SALT Data Committee: Suzanne Reynolds, Janet Krauss, Karen Ambriole, and Kathy Almanzor

SALT Assessment committee: Nancy Crawford, Diane Caswell, Julia Held, Sam Pease, Joyce Antoniello

Questions were asked of attendees providing a beginning place for discussions:

What is parental involvement: Answers follow.

Celebrate how we can foster activities and involvement that causes better communication.

Family Partnerships

Asked: Why are so many children going to private schools rather than remaining in Jamestown Public.

SIT does ask why kids are going to private school rather than staying at Jamestown.

School Committee gives questionnaire to teachers who are exiting.

SIT member asked:

Could something be done for 8^th graders and parents planning on sending their children to North Kingstown High School? Joyce mentioned that sending their children to NK is almost a blind task. She believes that an opportunity to visiting and talking to NK would be most helpful in assisting Jamestown parents who are not sure if NK would be best for their child. Should they send them to Private school where they have had the opportunity to visit and ask questions prior to entry?

It was suggested that there be any earlier presentation for Jamestown parents of 8^th grade children. Questions will be asked and hopefully honestly answered by present Jamestown kids attending NK. Also suggested was to send a letter to Jamestown freshman following their year at the High School. Future students and parents, who are looking into going to NK, could ask the students.

Need: Chairperson

Co chairperson

These two members will make agenda with Principal.

Meetings: Thursday at 4 oāclock according to schedule

Next meeting set for November 14^th at 3:15 at Lawn Ave. library. This time is different than the future times (4-5:30) meeting to avoid a conflict with meeting time at Melrose. Cynthia Cherney and Suzanne Reynolds will be asked to attend Lawn Ave. SIT for the next meeting.

Homework: Read: Building an Effective School Team Improvement Team Handbook".