Lawn Ave. SIT notes
September 8, 2005
Meeting was called to order at 4:00
Notes were corrected and accepted.
Welcome two new members: Cynthia Cherney and __________Morris
Suggested meetings:
September 29 suggested joint SIT with Melrose
November 7 Lawn SIT joint meeting with Lawn Faculty
October SIT meeting will determine an agenda for joint meeting with faculty.
• RIDE Statement - Letter from State Dept. of Ed was read. The letter
supports public funds being used to communicate to their communities on
matters concerning public education, at the same time avoid expenditures
of public funds for partisan purposes. In the future, Kathy Sipala, as
Superintendent, will make decisions regarding flyers that are distributed
and will confer with the attorney if needed.
• Lawn Survey Spring 2005 There were eighty-three responses to the
survey. Kathy Sipala will discuss some comments written by parents with
staff. Sam Pease will communicate with others who gathered and
reviewed results and write a cover letter to go with the results. One
suggested change due to the survey is an e-mail suggestion box on the
school website. The goal is to have a link set up for Open House.
• Curriculum Chart teachers present outcomes to parents at Open House
and will insert the information on the curriculum chart. The goal is to
create a chart for The Lawn Ave. School by the first quarter report
card.
• Salt Visits Lark Goodyear and Sarah Baines are scheduled for SALT
visits.
• Revised SIT Plan Kathy Sipala suggested that a goal this year to be developing good school/parent partnerships.
F. School/Parent Partnerships
• Suggestions for improved communication:
Picnics, potlucks, gallery night, progress reports, each grade level have events, Home/School Compact.
Enrollment:
5 th grade 58
6 th grade 56
7 th grade 62
8 th grade 73
Class size is under 20
High School approximately 240 students including 5 new students
The influx of military students is expected to continue. Jamestown Schools does not qualify for impact aide.
Spanish:
World Language and Spanish programs are being reviewed. There is
much dialogue with the high school. Not all 8 th graders are ready
for Spanish, so may not be prepared for high school Spanish. Some
high school students are dropping Spanish. World Language may need
to be enhanced. A question was raised regarding a Pre-Spanish course.
• SIT Role in SC Workshops It is suggested that we look at all topics, ideas, and explore all possibilities. We need to examine how the Jamestown School community may look in years ahead. The community does not have the critical mass of people necessary to support our school community. There will be workshops scheduled with posted topics for reorganization and restructuring.
Better information is recommended for dispersing information about workshops.
A Behavior Code Handbook developed with staff input will be
distributed to students. Students were presented with an overview to
the behavior code at an assembly. The 6 Ps: positive, polite, proud,
productive, prompt, and prepared were also introduced to the students
and will be reinforced in each classroom and throughout the school year.
The Behavior Code will be presented to parents at Open House and
parents and students will have the handbook to read in approximately
three weeks.