09-2009_Minutes

Minutes: September 9, 2009
 * El Cajon Valley High School Site Council**

Meeting was called to order at 6:20p.m. by James Mitchell, Co-President.

Lori Clark, Bassemah Darwish, Paul Dautremont, James Mitchell, Randy Montesanto, Marysue Nydam, Marie Ochi, Yuki Ochi, Susan Oxford, Teri Sprecco, and Natalie Vasquez. Passed by all in attendance. Motion to approve minutes made by Marie Ochi/Second Lori Clark/Motion Passed.
 * __Members in Attendance__:**
 * __Agenda Approval:__**
 * __Minutes Approval:__**

James Mitchell welcomed School Site Council to the first meeting of the year. James Mitchell also reminded the council of the members who will be up for reelection.
 * __New Business:__**
 * Welcome Back:**

Teri Sprecco explained that our Title I allocation has increased. She went on to explain that El Cajon Valley received some stimulus money from A.A.R.A. (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act), an increase in Q.E.I.A. funding (including carryover), and an increase in E.I.A. funding. Teri Sprecco stated that overall our categorical funding has more money. Paul Dautremont added that with this increase in money we will now be able to fund some of Diann Kueny’s technology committee plans. Paul Dautremont further stated that we have to keep in mind that a deficit is projected so we may want to save some of the money for carryover so that we do not lose any positions next year. Bassemah Darwish asked what funding we are permitted to roll over and Teri Sprecco answered that Q.E.I.A. has the most flexibility, and A.A.R.A. wants the money spent. James Mitchell stated that if the district captures the money they find a way to redistribute it as they deem necessary. Teri Sprecco added that most of the categorical funding does have to be spent on students this year, but Q.E.I.A. has some flexibility.
 * Budget update:**

Paul Dautremont explained Categorical Program Monitoring (CPM); he explained that the state of California will be sending teams to verify that schools are using categorical funds correctly and are following Education Codes. He added that in reviewing the Education Codes it was determined that El Cajon Valley and other quarter schools were unintentionally not following some of the Education Codes, and because of this unintentional violation El Cajon Valley has been asked by the district to obtain two different types of waivers. The first waiver is for the Education Code which mandates that students must participate in a minimum of 400 minutes of Physical Education every 10 days. The second waiver pertains to the Education Code dealing with fitness gram testing; the way in which this code was written is that schools are supposed to asses students with a fitness gram in February and March, and this does not does not work for El Cajon Valley because we cannot asses the students who took P.E. during Term I. Paul Dautremont further explained that as a result of this El Cajon Valley had to do a Public Hearing Requirement, present the waiver at School Site Council, and ask the council if there are any objections to the waiver. Following the explanation of the cause of these waivers Paul Dautremont next reviewed El Cajon Valley’s wavier rationale regarding the Fitness Gram being given in other months besides February and March. James Mitchell asked what the repercussions will be if the waiver is not approved and Paul Dautremont answered that we are not sure, but that E.C.V’s waiver is modeled off of another school’s waiver which was approved with some stipulations. Lori Clark asked if we went back to starting school in August will we need to resubmit the application for a waiver asking permission to test in November and Randy Montesanto answered that we will not need to resubmit a waiver because P.E. will have enough time to test. Paul Dautremont further explained that if we are approved for this we will have to begin implementing it immediately. The council did not have any objections or concerns regarding the waiver requests.
 * Physical Education Waivers – Paul Dautremont:**

James Mitchell reviewed some of School Site Council’s accomplishments. The first accomplishment he wished to highlight is School Site Council (S.S.C.) made mygradebook.com available to all teachers who asked for it and that we have distributed 40 of the 80 purchased mygradebook.com licenses; he further added that mygradebook.com trainings have also been offered to teachers as well. Another accomplishment James Mitchell discussed is that through the efforts of School Site Council Elmos/docucams were purchased for the entire school. Randy Montesanto added that the Science Department was very happy about S.S.C.’s help and support in providing access to United Streaming and hiring the Science Tech that was asked for during a previous S.S.C. meeting. Randy Montesanto further stated that S.S.C. also supported getting teachers trained in Advanced Placement classes during the summer. Teri Sprecco shared that through the efforts and support of S.S.C. El Cajon Valley was able to hire another full time Case Manager and 12 college tutors for the tutorial program. Another S.S.C. highlight is that we were also able to pay for tutorial teacher training. Marysue Nydam wrapped up our accomplishment discussion by stating that through the S.S.C. guest speakers she was able to observe that E.C.V. staff has very positive working relationships within their programs.
 * Review of Accomplishments:**

Teri Sprecco explained that we are going to begin recruiting parents for S.S.C. elections and getting the ballots out by sending them home or distributing them during Open House. She also added that following parent recruitment we will work on student recruitment. James Mitchell asked what we should do if we have a lack of staff S.S.C. interest. Paul Dautremont and Teri Sprecco answered that we will just continue to encourage them. Randy Montesanto added that another suggestion in increasing staff interest is sharing the S.S.C. accomplishments. Teri Sprecco and James Mitchell are going to set up a timeline to help with next year’s council elections. Paul Dautremont asked how many openings we have and James Mitchell answered that we have two parent spots, two student spots, and four staff spots open.
 * Elections:**

Teri Sprecco shared that for the last 3 years during the first day of school we have been able to have a table out with coffee, lemonade, and cookies and that this has helped to create a very welcoming environment; she further commented that a new E.C.V. parent walking passed the welcome table stated that she just loves this school already. James Mitchell shared that he has been asked by the yearbook advisor to be on our agenda for next month so that he may ask the council for funding to purchase some camera equipment. Teri Sprecco asked if we should have someone come in and ask for funding if we are not sure that we are able to provide the funding and James Mitchell answered that as of right now the yearbook advisor just wants to come in to provide some information about what the program is doing. Bassemah Darwish asked if we have the capacity to support the program, and Marysue Nydam asked if this would be the best timing for the yearbook advisor to come in since we will have new members. James Mitchell answered that we can preface the yearbook presentation with the fact that a decision regarding the funding of camera equipment will not be made today, and that the yearbook advisor will still be able to come in and provide some information about the program. It was decided that we are going to put Yearbook on our next meeting agenda.
 * Discussion Items from Members:**

Motion to adjourn meeting at 7:18 pm was made by Marie Ochi/Second Lori Clark/Motion passed.

Respectfully Submitted, Natalie Vasquez, Secretary