The Agenda order was changed to hear our guest speakers: Guest speakers: Jim Hopp and Chuck Foster from the Best Uses of Schools Advisory Task Force, appointed by the school board, came to discuss the task force and its charge: to look at not only Korematsu Elementary but all the school use in Davis. Summary of information presented: Korematsu is scheduled to open with K-1 only in fall 2006 as the 9th elementary in the district. King High will have a permanent building under construction at the current site. Enrollment is declining in DJUSD schools, starting in the elementary grades and working upward. Just 570 students have been starting kindergarten in the past 3 years. Next year: there will be 105 fewer students in the district, according to the demographer, than this year. About $6000 per student comes from the state and this will mean a large financial impact. Opening Korematsu will cost about $560,000 for administration and other staff, not including teachers. Possible options: 9; 8 or 7 elementary school options can be the configuration. There are options including closing one or two schools, possibly one in south Davis, possibly Korematsu, possibly North Davis, Valley Oak, Willett. One or two of these 4 others could be closed. The committee will look at options and report to the board in November. They want input from the community. Other things to consider: DaVinci High needs to move off the DSHS campus and could move to an elementary site; Los Rios could use all or part of an elementary campus. The continued impact of smaller enrollment in elementary schools will move upward through junior high and high schools. UCD’s West Village will be under gradual construction. Patwin and Willett have room for the slow growth expected. Davis’s no-growth policy with high housing prices does not attract young families. Nine and 8 school options will impact other levels as the budget is stretched. Closing schools will mean more money for running other schools. 581 students = “full” elementary school. We have about 7 ½ school’s worth of students at the elementary level. Will the board now consider not opening Korematsu next fall? This is unknown at present.

1. Approval and review of minutes: The minutes of the October 27, 2005, meeting were approved with two additions, under item 4. One, that Kaitlin Louie was encouraged to also speak with Student Government about the air quality issues. And also under item 4, funding financial secretary, the information from Ann Costello should have said that we may use funds to expand time base of existing position but not fund a new position. These changes will be reflected in the official records from October 27th.
2. Informational: School Site Plan Update: we are on time with this process.
3. Review of Proposal Form for SIP Funding: The faculty has the proposal requests and they are due in March. Steve said he was glad to have had the opportunity to address the faculty at C&I about the importance of proposals meeting specific needs as listed in their department’s site plan.
4. Approval of Common Pages: Title V Implementation: the date of funding is listed as 2003-04. Sarah will question whether that is correct or if it should be corrected to reflect this year or the last school year. Dollar amounts are missing on page v. Sarah will ask where those numbers are. She will also ask to what year these common pages apply. Indirect costs have been doubled: Sarah will ask why this has been done. It may be because SIP is now part of the block grant. Gail and Mike will not sign this form for submission until the questions are answered and any corrections made.
5. Other: Sarah shared information from Stephanie Smith, Manager of Categorical Programs at the district office, about changing the API base methodology. If there are questions about the changes, Sarah can take questions to the district. Steve asked what is the business of the committee for the next 3 meetings: it will be the allocation process for SIP funds for next year as the requests for funding are due March 20th.

There was no further business. The meeting was adjourned at 4:00 P.M. Minutes recorded by Jean Meyer

Calendar of 2005-06 Site Council meetings March 23; April 27; May 25 Meetings are in the Large Conference Room unless otherwise announced. Meetings are from 3:00 – 4:30, although during the allocation process meetings run until 5:00 P.M.