Present: Sarah O'Keefe, Jane McLaughlin, Michael Cawley, Gail Heckemeyer, Gail Cooluris, Midori W., Whitney C., Patrick McGrew, Tom McHale, Heidi Loper, Jean Meyer, Jodi J., Rachel P.

Guest: Michael Joyce

1. Approval and review of minutes.
The minutes of the November 19th 2003 meeting were corrected: the total spent was $28,883.00 as listed in the chart provided at today’s meeting.

2. Protocol Statement: Site Council.
Sarah O’Keefe presented a Draft Protocol Statement, guidelines for members of the site council. There was a discussion of the statement which Sarah will revise and present at the next meeting. The discussion brought up the fact that the current bylaws allow for community members (rather than parents) to be included as members. We will revisit this issue at the April meeting.

3. Guest Speaker Michael Joyce: Transition Academy.
Begun in 1995-6, this program supports incoming 10th graders with English 10 and World History in classes with a 20/1 ratio. English 10 is college prep; World History is not. Interactive classes that meet content standards are back-to-back with Gwyneth Bruch and Michael Joyce teaching. Regular student study teams with parents are a requirement. The goal is to have students transition into the regular program and graduate. Students are recommended by junior high teachers. This is not a special education program; students are in for a variety of reasons, including attendance, discipline, and learning problems. Students must remain drug and alcohol free and will not stay in the program if they have trouble in these areas. Mike is working on his master’s degree and has done research on trends: the students in general attend these classes more than their other classes. They may feel more comfortable with the peer group and connected with the teachers. The teachers do not utilize the block periods as such, but break the blocks into the regular period 2, 3 division on block days. Grading is based on participation.

4. Call for Proposals for 2004-05 SIP allocation due March 17, 2004.
Meetings in March, April, and May will likely be scheduled from 3-5.

5. Stipend Request from Michael Cawley.
Step dancing began last year at Emerson and a group of those students are now here. A parent is now working with the group as a volunteer coach; a $500 stipend seems appropriate as the activity helps connect these kids in a positive way. It was moved and seconded that we grant this, and it was approved.

6. School Site Plan: Request for consultant.
Last year’s focus was to get this plan moved forward, and we asked to combine it with the WASC report during the accreditation process. Now the WASC report information must be imported into the School Site Plan template. Fay Hulbert, WASC coordinator, is available as a consultant to help with that process. Sarah requested $50 an hour for up to 6 hours, or up to $300, to fund Fay’s working with Sarah. It was moved and seconded that we approve this request, and it was granted.

7. Informational Items:
Food and Nutrition – district policy Parent Involvement – revised district policy Members read the two policies and did not take issue with any of the wording or policies.

8. Public Comment
Jane McLaughlin suggested that our fall allocation summary be included in the PTA newsletter; she’ll submit something for the April edition.

9. Other
Gail Heckemeyer asked about the replacement for Pamela Mari; Dan Gonzalez will be teacher on special assignment for the end of the year as soon as a replacement math teacher is found. Michael Cawley presented district budget information for next year. There is an anticipated $1,439,048 shortfall. There are district guidelines about budget reductions, generally those that do not directly affect student learning. 84% of the outlay is people –salaries and benefits. Tahir Ahad will be at the high school at 2:45 on Wednesday March 3 to go over the budget change proposals.

The meeting was adjourned at 4:30 p.m.

Minutes recorded by Jean Meyer