Month: October 2013

GALILEO ACADEMY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

 

Leadership Team/Department Heads Meeting

 

 

 

10/29/13

 

 

 

 

Marcus called the meeting to order at 11:20am.

 

 

I.          Testing Calendar

 

–Lisa said this has been updated.  She mentioned the different tests and grades. 

 

 

II.         Hall Walkers

 

–Mat said his department notices them on the 3^rd floor.  Stan mentioned the 1^st floor.  Mr. Emmi said the security aides are supposed to be in the halls with clipboards taking names.  The security aides need to address the first floor.

 

 

III.       Data Talk

 

–Marcus mentioned that there will be some blanks in data as we change the testing for the year.  The district is coming up with some data sets.

 

–Marcus asked the group to choose 3 data sets to work with.  We should look to see if we are making progress from year to year.

 

–Marcus would like to look at suspensions, CAHSEE, EAP, Grades, CST and Attendance.  He asked the group to provide pros and cons of these data points.

 

–Lisa suggested splitting in partners and choosing 3.

 

–Doug said some are academic and some are behavioral and we should decide on a mix of both.

 

–Suspension and attendance are the behavioral ones. 

 

–Lisa said attendance focuses on the positive and there is research showing how much better students do if they attend.  Also, tardies should be factored in here.

 

–Marcus said we reduced our suspensions by 50% last year.  The district is focusing on Factor K—defiance.  He said we had only 1 K last year.

 

–Michelle said that we need to know where we are with attendance.  Truancy letters aren’t going out, phone calls aren’t going home.

 

–David said many of the F’s are attendance issues.

 

–Marcus said with attendance there are other variables—if a student fails the first 6 weeks, are they done?  He mentioned partial credit.  Some students get in a hole and then just stop going to class.

 

–Ethan said some who get in the hole don’t have the ability to get out of the hole.  There is also the issue of sequential classes.

 

 

–CAHSEE

 

–Stan says this is a 7^th or 8^th grade test.  We don’t really affect this.  Marcus said there is a difference in passing in the 10^th grade, rather than just before graduation.  He said that looking at students who go to a 4-year college would be a better measure.

 

–Marcus said we will face our challenges with the ELL students passing.  He mentioned what June Jordon is doing to address this.

 

–Lisa said if students have to keep retaking the test, this is a disruption.

 

–Marcus said we do know that the students take this test seriously.

 

 

Grades—Michelle said with grades the biggest con is there is no real standardization.

 

–David said having a school goal of raising grades could back fire.

 

–Doug agreed with Michelle and David.  He mentioned moving towards some type of standardization.  Stan is against the standardization of testing, but we could look at grades vs. attendance, etc.

 

–Marcus said we could have the discussion about making grades more consistent in each 9^th grade English class, etc.  He mentioned homework and how much that should count for your final grade.  He mentioned engagement strategies. He mentioned talking to students in the halls about why they go to one class and not another—teacher engagement plays a big part.

 

–Ray mentioned standardization and whose standardization are we talking about.

 

–David said we have some students who are really bad test takers.

 

–David mentioned that at the lower grades there could be more standardization and commonality.

 

 

–Jo said this would eliminate students trying to pick the teachers where they think they will do better.

 

–Joseph said standardization would work better in some departments but not others.  In World Languages or VPA, there might be only 1 teacher teaching a particular subject.

 

–Steven Emmi mentioned the difference between a 0 and a 50—both being a grade of F.

 

 

–Doug feels the EAP is important, as the students are about to move on to college. English Early Assessment Program.

 

–Michelle said our scores are lower in the EAP.  To try to improve performance, we want to make the push here.

 

–Doug discussed classes in SFCC where students start below the acceptable level, they may not stick it out to get to the college ready levels of classes.

 

 

–The group will each write down the top 3 they want to focus on and Bettie will tally them.  She will send out an email by the end of the day.  Marcus encouraged everyone to start discussions in your department.

 

 

–Marcus distributed a Data Power To Act document to share with each department.

 

 

IV.        Co-Teaching Update

 

–Lisa passed out a survey on Co-Teaching.  This came from an AP meeting last week.  Lisa explained the responses.

 

–Lisa mentioned having enough time to co-plan.

 

–Gen. Ed teachers are having a harder time with the co-teaching.

 

–Joseph asked if anyone has asked the students how they feel about co-teaching.

 

–A poll of students was mentioned.

 

 

–Lisa said 15 teachers signed up for working with Yusuf Ali after school to train using Prop H hours.  He thanked Kristy Morrison and Yusuf Ali for their participation in a recent presentation.

 

 

V.         Attendance Update

 

–Katie said we are now up and running with the scanning.  We can validate the absences, but not the present dates.  If a teacher does not turn in a strip, the mark defaults to a present.  She asked the group to have teachers turn in attendance early on Friday.

 

–Katie mentioned other problems with attendance records.

 

–Joseph asked for a time line on Friday for turning in attendance.

 

–Jo said now the truancy module does not work due to lack of attendance.

 

–Nancy said we have a print out of a report of 30 or more absences.  We want to use older letters to notify parents.  We will hear later today if we can do this.

 

–Nancy said meetings with students and their parents will begin soon.

 

 

VI.        Homeroom Discussion

 

–Alicia said homeroom doesn’t seem very functional.  She said many students don’t watch G-House TV.  She thought more information could flow through homeroom.  She did not suggest more work for the homeroom teachers.

 

–Ray said Special Ed students go to regular homerooms and his teachers do not get to see their counselees. They would like to modify that in the Spring semester.  He suggested Special Ed homerooms by case managers.

 

–Marcus suggested we table this until next week.

 

 

VII.      After School Supervision/Facilities

 

–Ethan said we are getting many more requests to use the facilities.  Wrestling has the Dance Studio after school and the Cheerleaders are using the Fitness Labs.  Basketball uses all the gyms.

 

–He noticed that many clubs are using facilities without a faculty or adult supervisor.

 

–Galileo web site has a list of sponsors.

 

–Marcus said all groups should be supervised.

 

–Mark said Futurama supervises many of the after school activities.

 

–Michelle said that that we need to supervise students while school is in session.  She mentioned classes that are unattended due to teachers being late, etc.  She mentioned liability, the noise factor, etc.  We need to emphasize that there needs to be a teacher in every classroom.

 

–Unsupervised students should not be in the classrooms.  This includes lunchtime.

 

This includes TAs.

 

 

VIII.     Spec. Ed Students Failing Reg. Ed. Classes

 

–Ray said many of his students are failing these classes.  He said this is frustrating and we need to address this issue.  He gave some examples with Biology.

 

 

IX.        Miscellaneous

 

–David said we should have a discussion about the computer lab before and after school.

 

–Doug mentioned issues with the parking lot and being blocked in and having a hard time being able to leave.

 

–Marcus said he hears about safety issues.

 

–Marcus asked if this discussion should be with this group or the UBC.

 

–Katie said it should be an enforcement issue.

 

–Ray mentioned the handicapped parking spot.  There is one space that should be kept open for wheel chair access from the elevator.

 

–Jessica asked if there is a way to increase our parking.

 

–Nancy suggested on football game days we should not let people park in the lot if there are no legal spaces.

 

–Marcus asked everyone to talk to their departments and let them know that we will start to discuss consequences.

 

 

Meeting adjourned at 12:15pm.

 

 

 

GALILEO ACADEMY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

 

Leadership Team/Department Heads Meeting

 

 

 

10/22/13

 

 

 

 

Marcus called the meeting to order at 11:20am.

 

 

Leadership Team Agenda

 

 

I.          PSAT Concerns

 

–Mat said his department was concerned about double booking of classrooms during the testing.  Some of his teachers were confused as to where to teach their classes.

 

–Mat mentioned we have the CAHSEE coming up.

 

–Stan said some students who were not taking the test had no place to go.  Nancy said it is an issue every year.  Stan said when Vicki was here we had a video going in the auditorium.

 

–Nancy said the problem with using the auditorium is that it is noisy in the cafeteria where the test is being given.

 

–Kathleen would like to have cell phones collected prior to the test.  Katie said that would be a disaster and she does not want to be responsible for 500 phones.

 

–Kathleen said that the students cheat with their cell phones.  She also said that some of the ELL students are passing when they perhaps should not.

 

–Kathleen asked for dividers on the tables.  Nancy suggested checking student IDs.

 

–Marcus and Nancy also suggested that we start the schedule for the day after the PSAT.

 

–Nancy said she tried to look at tables for the testing in the cafeteria and the gym but the district does not have enough tables.

 

 

II.         Counseling/Testing Dates

 

–Michelle said it seems like there is one test after another.  The 10^th graders have the most tests.  In English the teachers feel they cannot get anywhere with curriculum.

 

–She would like to request a testing calendar at the beginning of the school year

 

–She also mentioned that English harbors a lot of the classroom visits as all students take English all 4 years.  She would also like to know what types of presentations the Counseling Office wants to make in the English classes and would also like to have a schedule and advanced notice

 

–Michelle also mentioned field trips that the Counseling Office sponsors.  Her department would like to have these dates as well.

 

–Michelle also said that she thought homerooms were set up to dispense some of the material that is now done in the English classes.

 

 

–Lisa did a testing calendar for the year but she knows she missed some of the tests.  She will put out an updated calendar.

 

–Nancy asked what the group would like as “fair notice.”  Nancy said there was 1- month notice for the college field trip date.

 

–David asked for a single sheet with dates of when curriculum in the classroom will be interrupted.

 

 

–Michelle asked about the length of the presentations and if homeroom could be used.

 

–Jo said the presentations are 30-60 minutes long.  She tried to get Mr. Machtay to put some of the information on video, but it has not been possible so far this year.

 

She also said that students and teachers don’t want to see videos over and over again.  They would like to make homeroom a place to go to get information.

 

–Joe suggested giving a month for a particular presentation and then teachers could sign up for a class time.

 

–Michelle said at times she does not know the purpose of the presentations.  She said when class time is used for these presentations then there is less class time to prepare academically for college.

 

–Another possibility is the auditorium for an hour for all seniors, but maybe that would mean half the seniors would not listen.

 

–Alicia said that everyone wants to make homeroom more useful.  She suggested this be an agenda item for a future meeting.

 

–Doug suggested trimming the information down to shorter blocks.

 

 

III.       Emergency Preparedness

 

–Katie said we would reschedule the lockdown drill.  She asked if anyone had an event they want to mention that they would not want interrupted.

 

–Katie felt the evacuation drill sent well.  She would like some feedback via email.

 

 

IV.        Attendance

 

–IT has been out to Galileo, as well as the head of the Attendance Department.  The scanner is now working.  There are issues of some programs not being compatible.  We can sort of scan the strips here.  It is very slow to scan the strips.  There are inaccuracies.  The truancy letters are not being generated.  Nancy said this was an important tool for the counseling office.

 

–There will be a conversation tomorrow to look at what is our contingency plan.  We need some way of notifying parents of absences.  We have no autodialer.

 

–Katie is concerned that students will learn there is no way to monitor the attendance and they can miss classes without being caught. This is a district wide issue.

 

 

–Kathleen suggested doing something the old fashioned way of taking 10 students and concentrating on them.  Students know they can get away with not attending class.  Kathleen says she has called parents, talked to the counselors, etc., so what is next?  Katie suggested the Counseling Conference.

 

–Jo said when counselors call classes to find out if the students are present, it is because they have no other way of knowing.

 

–Doug suggested telling the parents to call some place at SFUSD—Parent Engagement of Parent Voice to complain about the lack of attendance.

 

–Katie said this problem has to be reported to the state by December 15^th.

 

–Katie suggested that Galileo be a test sight for online attendance.  All of our teachers have access to computers.

 

–Alicia asked if it was OK to notify the counselors in case of truancy.  Nancy said there might be a Google Doc coming shortly.

 

–Joseph thought we should solve the problem here.  We have a lot of technology and smart folks.  We should make a group effort to get the attendance because we care about the students.

 

–David said there is an online system now, but it is partly a union issue.  Katie said the elementary teachers do not all have computers.  The state also needs to approve online reporting.  And there is also an issue of a security code.

 

 

V.         PROP A Funding

 

–Lisa distributed information about the Prop A information.  She will email this to the whole staff.  This funding is for 18 extended hours for a variety of the staff.

 

–Most of it should be site based.  There is some centralized PD, but the district is encouraging schools to have most of this at the school site.

 

–Hours will be turned in at the end of each semester.

 

–Lisa said some of these hours can be used for co-teachers working together.

 

 

VI.        TAs

 

–Nancy distributed an older Google Doc they have used in the past and wanted input from the group.

 

–Protocol is at the top of the page.  She reviewed the document.  She mentioned a previous discussion about doing a “match,” and she discussed those possibilities.

 

–Nancy said we have over 150 less TAs than in past years.

 

–Nancy said that TAs cannot be on the class list—this does not work in Synergy.

 

–Jessica asked if all TAs can be on a Google Doc and Nancy said this has been started.

 

–Jessica also asked what needs to change to make this a better system?  Lisa said there was no process or system, but this will be established for next year.

 

–Jessica asked for a priority list for some very important TAs to be assigned prior to general assignments.

 

–Nancy said the TAs assignment is a huge task.

 

 

Department Heads Agenda

 

 

 

1.         Accommodations for Special Ed Students in Regular Ed Classes

 

–Ray asked if everyone is comfortable with the SAI rooms.

 

–Ray said they are really looking for accommodations for students in the classroom.  He mentioned there are only a few students with anxieties.  Let him know about any problems.

 

–He said some periods there are no students in the SAI rooms.

 

–He said that many of our new teachers in Special Ed this year come from school districts where this is common practice.  Let Ray know if you call a SAI classroom and no one is there.

 

 

II.         Miscellaneous

 

–Kathleen would like to bring up the dress code at a future meeting.

 

–David asked for feedback on the Principal Walk-Through last week.  Marcus said it was positive.  There was some concern about 1 teacher doing too much and the other not doing much.

 

–Lisa said 2 of our co-teachers will go with Lisa to a meeting this week to do a presentation.

 

–Some of the principals commented favorably on the students being engaged with each other.

 

 

Meeting adjourned at 12:15pm.

 

GALILEO ACADEMY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

 

Leadership Team/Department Heads Meeting

 

 

 

10/15/13

 

 

 

Leadership Team Agenda

 

Marcus called the meeting to order at 11:20am.

 

 

I.          PSAT

 

–Nancy told the group it will be tomorrow for all 10^th graders and 74 11^th graders who have signed up to retake it.     

 

–Nancy distributed a list of rooms where students will take the test.  They will be in their homerooms, but it may be in different rooms.

 

–Stan asked if the information could have been sent out earlier.  He mentioned that he just learned he would lose his room tomorrow.  Nancy said she sent it out at the end of Friday.

 

 

II.         TA Assignment Policy

 

–Marcus said the UBC asked the administration for a policy on how the TAs are assigned.  Some TA’s do not attend, some do not want to work, some teachers are not getting TAs, etc.  We need to revamp our TA policy.

 

–Jessica said she was part of a task force several years ago discussing these same issues.  She wondered what happened to this whole process.  She thought it would be helpful if the TA list could be made public.  It could be on a Google Doc.  The Google Doc should be updated with changes.

 

–Doug said we don’t have a policy on how many TAs a teacher can have any one period.  He suggested a Google Doc to find out who has what in the TA assignments.

 

–David said there are legitimate situations where teachers can have more than 2 TAs.

 

–Lisa suggested creating a TA system for assigning TAs at the beginning of the year.  If all the TAs were together at the start of each period, then they could be assigned to teachers.

 

–Marcus felt that we should assign the TAs to teachers and the students could take it or leave it.

 

–David felt this should all be done on the PD days before school starts.

 

–David also said if his TAs are former students of his, it is much more useful and they know the topic, etc.  He felt that teachers should be able to turn down an inappropriate match.

 

–Joseph agreed—he only wants former students of his to be his TAs.  It is important to have a previous relationship between the teacher and the student.  They should be given priority.

 

–Alicia needs TAs that speak Spanish, and her other teachers need TAs with other foreign language skills.

 

–Nancy suggested sending a list of who is a TA each period, then teachers could say who they want.  The question came as to who would make the assignments and how will this be done.

 

–Nancy said this whole process was put on hold at the beginning of the year due to the problems with Synergy.  Priority was getting students in classes.

 

–Jessica thought it could all be done online and it is a Google Doc for everyone to view.

 

–Josephine says this could be a very long process.  She said the students often times drop a class and then they need to have a TA period.  She gave all the student excuses for not going to certain teachers that were suggested by counselors.

 

–Lisa said TAing has a wide variety of expectations and they do get a grade for it.  She felt teachers should have choices, but students should not have choices.

 

–David felt if teachers have 2 TAs per day, they should not have any more.  One per period and no more than 2 total for the day.

 

–Josephine said there is enough for everyone to have 1 per period.

 

–Marcus said he was in a class last week where there were 3 TAs and they were not utilized at all.  They sat on their phones all period.

 

–Nancy said that up to the first 10 days of school, there are about 400 on the TA list.  Now there are 270.  Some may be in a classroom now taking an elective.

 

–Some need more than 2 TAs, like Wellness every period.

 

 

–Next steps—Jessica and Nancy will bring the old policy to the next meeting and Nancy will create a Google Doc.  She asked the group if they would like to institute this next semester and the group agreed.

 

 

III.       Back to School Night Feedback

 

–Michelle like the 10-minute class period, rather than the 15-minute one in the past.  Teachers could give their information and then the bell rang.  Most everyone agreed.

 

–Joseph liked the shorter auditorium program.  He likes the volunteer students.  There should be a volunteer student on every floor with an elevator fob.

 

–Mat asked about the turn out. He sensed fewer parents this time.  Nancy said it was about 300 parents.  We could not use the autodialer, so they notified parents with flyers and phone calls.  She said they also put out a School Loop and announcements on G-House TV.

 

–Mat also suggested announcing the periods when the bells rang.

 

–David asked what we had last year.  Last year we had 400-500 parents.

 

–Nancy said in years far back, there were 900 parents.

 

–Parents involved with School Loop already know what their students are doing.  About 25% of parents are on School Loop.

 

 

 

Department Heads Agenda

 

 

I.          Vending Machines

 

–Joseph said his team of investigators came up with the district policy that vending machines cannot be turned on at all during the school day.

 

–Joseph would like this in the minutes: The SFUSD wellness policy can be found at: www.sfusdfood.org.

 

 

  He read the following:

 

“At all schools, K-12, teachers, staff, parents and students may not sell any food or beverage at all during the school day—this includes bake sales, student stores and classroom food sales.  The only exceptions are the four days per year when high school students are allowed to sell food.”

 

–To continue:  “But even if only healthy foods are sold, there’s another important reason.  The federally subsidized National School Lunch Program provides the ‘lunch-line’ menus at all schools, offering free or reduced-priced lunch to low-income students.  Other students pay full (though reasonable) price for those meals.  If more students buy those lunches, the income allows the quality of the cuisine to be improved for all students.

 

 

‘Competitive food’ sales at lunchtime drain money from the lunch-line operation, which then reduces the quality of those meals and drives more students to the competitive operations in a downward spiral.  When the lunch-line menus drop in quality because kids choose competitive foods instead, those who suffer are the most vulnerable kids—the younger children (since elementary schools don’t have competitive sales) and the lowest income kids, who can’t afford the other foods being sold.”

 

 

–Marcus said he has not heard that policy.

 

–Ethan asked how can we get better cafeteria food.

 

–Some in the group said that the cafeteria food has improved.  Discussion followed.

 

–Lisa said the food is local and it comes every day.

 

–Marcus said this policy has been brought to his attention before and the vending machines are not on the list.

 

–Marcus told of all the buying he likes to show his appreciation to many.  The vending machines will help to pay for these items.  We need the money.

 

–Marcus said the items in our vending machines meet the criteria—the drinks will be changed.  Marcus has asked for an updated list of companies.

 

–Marcus said this addresses the stores around us that sell food to students.

 

–Stan says everything in the machines is off limits for him due to sugar.

 

–Marcus said he and Nurse Kitchell and Jessica looked at the items and everything but the Kerns drinks meets the criteria.

 

–Marcus said the nutrition policy dates back to 2003 and does not cover new items today.

 

 

II.         CPT Check-in

 

–Lisa asked for the agendas and sign-in sheets.

 

–Lisa asked Joseph to share what Lisa has been working on with his department.  His department was grateful to work on their objectives, including language objectives.  His department was not enthusiastic about this in the beginning.  He told them about the common core and that students not only can be creative, but also need to be able to talk about their work.

 

–He mentioned the work they did last week with the ELD department teachers and it was extremely helpful.

 

–Lisa said she and Joseph have talked a lot about this and she said she would set aside 4° on Fridays for these types of discussions.

 

–Michelle asked about communication about part-time teachers, coaches, etc.  For coaches, if there is a game that day, they are excused, otherwise they must be present.

 

–Marcus talked about the part timers and how this fits into their schedules.

 

–David suggested there should be a bare minimum for part time teachers attending meetings.

 

–Marcus said he did not want part time teachers because of this.  He would not like to reduce schedules to part time and any future part time hires will only be based on school need.

 

 

III.       What Can I Do Update

 

–What can we do as classroom teachers/administrators—to continue at the high level? Marcus distributed a few documents.

 

–19 AA students are not Spec. Ed, 7 who are Spec. Ed. in the 9^th grade—26 total.  Marcus is calling them all in for a chat.  Of the 19, 5 of them are proficient in at least 3 areas.  We can look at the students who have the potential, then we can work with them.

 

–Marcus said the Latino list is longer and more challenging. 

 

–Every AA student has been assigned to one of our experts for support.

 

–David asked for this information digitally.

 

–Michelle asked who works with the students who are seniors.  Nancy said Donald Harper works with 11^th and 12^th grade students.

 

 

IV.        Grade Changes for Athletes

 

–Doug asked the group if any other departments have been questioned by adults about athletes’ grades.  It is disconcerting to Doug that this is happening.

 

–David has heard of it, but not in his department.

 

–Alicia said she was approached by the kids.  She said she is willing to work with students on an individual basis.  Two of her teachers were approached by the students.  One teacher was really upset.

 

–Ray said he would have a problem if he was approached and asked to change a grade.

 

–Marcus asked Ethan and Nancy what has been said to coaches about grade changes.

 

–Nancy said that athletes must maintain a 2.0 average to play.  She said 2 years ago there were some problems.  She said new staff members need to know the policy.

 

–Ethan said students can approach teachers, but no coach or other teacher should approach another teacher about a grade change.

 

–Nancy said it would be helpful to know what sport or who the coach is in each case.

 

–Doug said the issue is of changing a grade or implying a grade change.

 

–Ethan will approach all the coaches and remind them not to talk to teachers about grade changes.  The current at risk sports are football and soccer, and most students in this situation are AA or Latinos. 

 

–Doug said it is student/athlete, not athlete/student.

 

–Ethan also said it is a problem when a student has an academic class 6^th period and has to miss it due to a game.

 

–Marcus talked about his experiences in all aspects of this situation.

 

 

V.         Miscellaneous

 

–Marcus said this Thursday is the annual principal visit and he will have visitors.  They will be looking at co-taught classes.  He asked everyone to let their department members know.

 

 

Meeting adjourned at 12:15pm.    

 

GALILEO ACADEMY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Leadership Team/Department Heads Meeting

 

10/8//13

 

Leadership Team Agenda

Marcus called the meeting to order at 11:25am.

I.          ELAC During Open House

–There will be an ELAC table during Open House.  Kathleen asked the group to steer parents of ELAC students to the table so they can hear about the programs.

–Jessica said Wellness will have a table there as well and will talk about Nov. 13 parent workshop and affordable healthcare.

Department Head Agenda

I.          Announcements

–Michelle mentioned that often there are announcements at the beginning of the 4^th period, then at the end of 4^th period and then at the end of 6^th period.  She asked the group how they felt.

–Kathleen said it seems to be a problem.

–David said it does not make sense to have 2 announcement periods.

–Marcus will send out the email to everyone about this problem and we will change the code.

–Kathleen said that folks need to know that we don’t just make random announcements.

–Michelle said all announcements should be made during 4^th period.

–David said for exceptions, the announcements should be cleared by the Main Office.

–Announcements could be made during passing times, lunch, etc.

–Joseph felt the code should not be a secret in case of emergencies.

–Joseph also felt we should have a PA system that functions much better than what we have through the telephone.

II.         Room 206

–Michelle would like to clarify that this room is designated a teacher workspace.  She sees it become like a hang out room for adults, i.e. student teachers who are hanging out there, chatting, etc.  Marcus suggested we move them to the faculty lounge, Room 257.

–Room 206 is still a workroom.

–Joseph said 555 is open during 4^th period for a quiet place and teachers are welcome.

III.       Plagiarism Policy

–Kathleen mentioned that last year we adopted a no tolerance policy.  This year we have many new people on the staff, so we need to revisit it.  Marcus said it will be on the agenda for the faculty meeting tomorrow.

IV.        New Budget Numbers

–Katie distributed new sheets that give possibilities of giving the science department extra funds from the other 8 departments.  She asked the members to review the documents and then perhaps vote on the preferences.

–Pathways come out of the department budgets.

–Science has a much larger consumable budget than the other departments.

–Stan said in the past Biotech Pathway had a separate budget.  Marcus said this will be a discussion item.  Biotech needs $3,000-5,000.  He used to get outside funds, but no longer does.

–The vote indicated each department will give $4,000 to Science.

–Katie asked everyone to review what they have designated to each object code after these revisions.

–Katie talked about summer conferences and how to encumber the funds prior to the end of the school year.  Teachers need to request an advance.

–Doug mentioned using the 18 hours of Prop A funds to pay for hours teachers to

–attend conferences.

–David asked for the process, and Doug said Lisa was going to discuss this at tomorrow’s faculty meeting.

V.         Data Next Steps

–Marcus mentioned the past two Data meetings and distributed some data the group asked for that Jan Link provided.

–The data sheets included CST, CTS End of Course Test, Galileo 3-year enrollment by Ethnicity, District Suspensions, and Galileo Suspensions.

Marcus wants the group to select three data sets and talk about results.

Life Science and EAP will continue this year.  There will be a group of 11^th graders that will do MAPS English or Math.

–The question was asked if these tests will be done electronically.  Katie said the 10^th grade Life Science is being done. 

–Marcus said the superintendent sent out an email about this yesterday.  Marcus will forward it to the group.

–Marcus asked the group if they would like to study the data and work on this at the next meeting.

–Joseph said he agreed with Janet Schulze in that we can’t do nothing—we have to do something.

–David felt we should look at the Galileo Suspension rate.

–Michelle would like to see a conversation that comes from data, but comes from some other content areas.

–Joseph suggested the conversation be about student achievement—grades, attendance, etc. like the measures for BSC or WASC.

–Alicia would like to look at who is college ready among the students who stay here all 4 years, and by race.

–She talked about those who were not college ready, went to CCSF, took a few courses, and some of the courses are sub-level and will prepare students to be college ready.  He discussed a Bump-Up level for city college courses.

–Marcus said we will continue the discussion next week.

VI.        Miscellaneous

–Marc mentioned the Hour of Code.  This is one hour out of the school day and he would like it to be the same hour for the whole school.  Danny Tan would need to do some training.  Marc was asking if there is interest.

–This program has generated a lot of discussion.

Meeting adjourned at 12:15pm.

GALILEO ACADEMY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

 

Leadership Team/Department Heads Meeting

 

 

 

10/1/13

 

 

 

 

Marcus called the meeting to order at 11:25am.

 

 

I.          Summer Workshops

 

–David reminded everyone that if they want to do summer workshops, please ask for the funds up front, otherwise it goes from the following year’s budget.  David said if teachers sign up ahead of time, they can get a check for the workshop ahead of time.  Teachers will get an advance.

 

–Joseph said he thought the technical term was “encumbering the funds.”

 

–David said the funds have to be used by June 30^th.

 

 

II.         Vending Machines

 

–David still feels students are accessing the vending machines during passing periods and do students know the rules.  He felt many of the students do not know the rules.

 

–David also asked about the new vending machine on the first floor by the cafeteria. There is no way to monitor this area.

 

–Marcus said he could not find another place for this machine. He asked if anyone knew of another place.

 

–Stan said that might be competition with the cafeteria.  Marcus said he was not sure there is a policy about the competition with the cafeteria as he sees vending machines in other schools in the cafeteria.

 

–Joseph said part of the nutrition policy is not to have vending machines in competition with the cafeteria.

 

 

III.       Hall Walkers

 

–Mat said one of his teachers expressed concern about the rising amount of hall walkers.  Third floor seems busy after lunch.

 

–Stan said first floor after lunch sees activity.

 

–Doug said the problem is slowing creeping up.

 

 

Department Heads Agenda

 

 

I.          Department Budgets/Stipends

 

–Marcus distributed the Budget Allocations.

 

–Doug talked about the consumables in the departments, like Science needing materials for labs.  Doug suggested that each department help defray the costs of these consumables.  After these funds are distributed, then we develop a formula to divide the funds between the departments.

 

–David said every year he spends between $7,000 – $8,000 for lab expenses.

 

–Stan asked why every pathway has a budget except Biotech, which has none.  Also, Environmental Science does not have a budget as well.  Marcus will talk to Katie about this.

 

–Michelle agreed that Science should get some extra funds for their consumables.  Mat suggested 1%-2% from each department.  Doug felt it should not be a percentage, but an amount off the top before the department distributions are made.

 

–Doug asked if other departments have needs like Science.

 

–Michelle asked if we should cover the entire cost of Science consumables, or half.

 

–Marcus suggested we meet with David and come up with a few alternatives.

 

–Joseph said we should review the needs of the pathways with no budgets—Biotech, Media Arts, etc.

 

 

II.         Department Head Job Descriptions & Responsibilities

 

–Joseph put this on the agenda.  He read it over and is in agreement with everything but the adjective “under served.”  Marcus asked him to define the term.  Joseph said he would prefer “underperforming” students.  He cited ELD screening their students.

 

–Kathleen thought under served replaced “at risk.”  Marcus said it replaced both terms.

 

Under served by who is Joseph’s question.

 

–Marcus said this came up from “under performing” and “at risk.”  “Under served” does put some of the ownership on us.  Is it teachers, is it parents, is it society as a whole?  He felt this challenges us to think is there anything else we can do.

 

–Joseph felt that some of these kids are “over served” in a case he mentioned where 4 adults are trying to get 1 student to come to class, to no avail.

 

–David said we can always do more to help a student, but there should be a balance so that many students do not get the attention.  “What can I do to help all my students”  “What can I do to help this one student that will benefit all my students?”

 

 

–Marcus added that all the efforts may not work. He discussed his time in the district and working with many under served students.  Success is not easy, but we cannot stop.

 

 

III.       CPT Agendas and Sign-ins

 

–Lisa is making Excel spread sheets to keep track of meeting agendas, sign-ins, etc.  She is making a binder for the WASC review.  She showed Michelle’s materials.

 

She showed Mat’s weekly emails—some short, some long.

 

–Lisa will send everyone the Excel spreadsheet.

 

 

IV.        Emergency Sub Plans/Syllabi

 

–Lisa is still collecting these.  Please turn them in.  Once she has them all collected, we will store them in a convenient place to use for substitutes.  There should be 3 days of plans.

 

–Lisa is also collecting syllabi.  Co-teachers should decide what they want to do—blanket department syllabus or one they design.

 

–Alicia asked about cluster meetings within the department.  Lisa would like a sign in and a few lines about the meetings.

 

–Marcus has been trying to attend department meetings.  He found 2 departments last week that were not meeting.  One had a valid reason.  Departments should meet every week.

 

 

V.         General Feedback from Data Meetings & Next Steps

 

–Marcus gave a general over view of the last 2 meetings.

 

–David said last week’s was more useful than the first one.  Both meetings brought up many issues.  He felt that on both weeks the data was vague and brought up more questions.

 

–Michelle agreed and said when they were asked, “What’s your action plan?” This question was hard to answer without having clear data.  It is hard to be in a position to have district personnel ask these questions and have to answer them without the real numbers.

 

–Doug said the interesting thing is that there are variables.  What about our new administration?  What about budget cuts?  The data is raw data and the implication he felt was “It’s what’s going on in the classroom?  Why does it always go back to what’s happening in the classroom?”

 

–Doug also said the data comes from students all across the city.

 

 

–Michelle said the reclassification of our ELL students is a major factor.

 

–Alicia suggested members raise their hands to speak.

 

–Alicia said she did not feel attacked by the district visitors.  She felt it was another piece of information to take in and absorb—utilize it or not utilize it.  She did not feel she was being blamed.

 

 

–Kathleen found it strange she was asked why the passing levels are low.  We want our students to have the skills to succeed.  Kathleen looks mostly at the CELDT for measurement.

 

–Michelle asked if we are continuing to meet in 450?  No.

 

 

–Stan asked who will present this information to the faculty—administration or department heads.  Marcus said the administrators will present this at the faculty meeting next week.

 

–Stan asked why we weren’t given this information at the beginning of the year.  Lisa said she was asked by many in the room not to do this at the beginning of the year.  They had other things to concentrate on.

 

 

Marcus said he would like to look at the data and then discuss what data we want to focus on.

 

–Doug liked the first meeting presenters from the district.  He felt that with the second group, when they were asked to take action, he felt on the defensive.  Marcus said we could look at this to see if there is something we are not doing that we could do.

 

 

–Marcus discussed a document the members completed at the last meeting.  He handed out blank documents that were distributed last week.

 

He completed his and shared what he wrote with the group.

 

–Data Conclusions—Out of 19 African American Juniors who took the EAP English—0 were ready for college.  Out of 12 AA Juniors who took Algebra II EAP, 0 were ready for college.  Out of 3 AA who took Summative Math, 0 were ready for college.

 

–Reasons (within our control)—Students are not identified and motivated enough to continue to perform at a high school level after leaving middle school.

 

–Action (research based or best practice)—Best Practice—Principal identified focal students and meets with them individually; introduce myself to parents and constantly monitor academic progress and identify ways to provide support for four years.

 

–How Do You Know It Happened—Percentage or college ready AA students.

 

–How Do You Know It Made a Difference—Students will be accepted and attend four-year college or university.

 

 

–Josephine talked about the counselors and what they do to support students and the teachers to help them improve.

 

–Josephine thanked Alicia for asking for raising hands to speak.

 

 

Marcus discussed data that he looked at.  He told the group that this can be on many different levels—what can you do to make a difference.

 

 

–He asked everyone to look at the data sets and see what we would like to focus on.

 

 

VI.        Miscellaneous

 

–Kathleen mentioned the tutoring requests she emailed everyone.  They tutor on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday.  None have been returned.

 

 

–Doug mentioned some shenanigans in the parking lot.  Things come over into the cars.  He thinks it is from the bleachers.

 

–Michelle asked Marcus to mention in his Principal’s Weekly Message to have respect for school and people’s property.

 

 

Meeting adjourned at 12:15pm.