MINUTES
SCHOOL SITE COUNCIL MEETING
December 5, 2007
- Call to order at 5:08 pm
- Flag Salute
- A quorum was confirmed.
- Members in attendance were: Parents— Esperanza Angelo, Esther Mejia, Manuel Mejia, Antoinette Paez and Aurora Villon Students— Michelle Luna and Kayla Herrera Classified Staff— Certificated Staff - Charlene Brown and James Halley Administration—Sam Genis, Priscilla Linares ELAC—
- Members who sent regrets: Parents – Teresa Navarro
- Parent Visitors – David Angelo and Anthony Soltero
- Student Visitors – Mayra Gradilla
4. Minutes approved with changes for November 2007
5. Student Reports— Kayla Herrera
a. The canned food drive was very successful. Altogether, students brought in 4,000 pounds of canned food. However, the seniors won.
b. Two new vice-presidents will be brought into the ASB group.
c. Students are preparing for the next activity; the Christmas Tree decorating contest.
d. Ms. Villon asked if there were any performances coming up. The students mentioned the Choraleer performance and the play.
- DAC – Esther Mejia
- Parents completed the Technology Plan survey. The results will be available at the next DAC meeting.
- Joe Soto was elected president of DAC and Esther Mejia was elected vice-president.
- Results of the needs assessment showed 3 areas of focus: The California High School Exit Exam, The Road to College, and “The Need” to develop capable students.
- The next DAC meeting is scheduled for January 16, 2008.
- Special Ed
- Tammy Torres has taken Carol Stella’s place as the representative for Special Education on School Site Council.
- Title 1 – Dawn Lam, the literacy coach will join us at the February meeting to report on Title I
- GATE – No report
- Administration - Sam Genis
- Mr. Genis shared information on a tutorial period and distributed examples of bell schedules from other local high schools. El Rancho is exploring the possibility of building extra time into the schedule to allow for tutoring, review, in depth study and make-up time for students who need it. A group of teachers and one administrator went to visit the tutorial period at California High School and another visit is scheduled at Whittier High School for December 13th.
- Ms. Paez, who works at Santa Fe High School, says their tutorial works well there. Ms. Paez asked if the there has been any talk of revisiting the trimester schedule. Mr. Genis said that would have to be closely researched before any decisions were made regarding trimester.
- Mr. Genis also reported that Project ALPHA has received the Golden Bell Award.
- The Parent Institute (PIQE) celebrated their graduation with over 300 parent graduates. We will work to continue this program and hope to focus in on 9th grade parents. Mr. Genis hopes that the success of the program will spread and El Rancho will have more parent participants next year.
- Separate or Action items
- Ms. Villon asked the school administration to revisit the possibility of adding more benches to the quad for students to sit during lunch. Mr. Genis said that the money for the benches would have to come from the school’s ASB/General fund. Mr. Genis said that he would bring a statement regarding ASB funds to the next meeting.
- Kayla Herrera brought up the fact that all the lunch carts are located too close together and that it is difficult to get lunch in a timely manner.
- Ms. Brown added that the food on these carts is not always that good.
- Mr. Genis responded by saying that the district is currently scheduling visits to other schools to see what other district do about lunch.
- Ms. Villon added that based on a survey El Rancho conducted last year only about 11% of the kids are actually eating the cafeteria food.
- Ms. Mejia asked if it was possible to post a menu of lunch online. Mr. Genis said he would look into that.
- Appointments:
- Mr. Mejia, School Site council alternate, was appointed to complete Mr. Castanon’s term until the end of the year.
- Priscilla Linares was voted as secretary
- Tony Paez was voted as vice-chairman
- Look at the possibility of an El Rancho High School Beautification Day will be tabled for the February 2008 meeting
- Review of the draft of the Parent Compact will be tabled for the February 2008 meeting.
- Public Comment
- Ms. Villon informed SSC about Crossroads. This is a non-profit group with certified counselors that provides gang and drug intervention. Ms. Villon will the Crossroads director to contact Mrs. Linares.
- Agenda—
- The next meeting will be January 10, 2008. This meeting will be devoted to reviewing the School Plan and begin revisions.
- The next regular meeting is scheduled for February 6, 2008
- Literacy Presentation
- School Beautification
- Lunch: vendors
- Parent Compact
- Bylaws
- ASB budget
- Sports funding & appropriate fundraisers
- Meeting adjourned at 7:08 p.m.