Community Council Minutes

Community Council Meeting Minutes

November 20, 2023

Approved at January 22, 2024, Community Council Meeting

Attendees

• Members Present

  • Parents - Alicia Willoughby, Marinda Fowler, Michelle Hales, Julie Trickett
  • School Members - Karen Miller, Shawna Blamires

• Members Absent

  • Parents - Kathryn Buxton
  • School Members -

• Guests

  • Parents- Laurel Mock
  • School- Brent Ludlow
  • District -

• Meeting held in the council room at OSE from 4:00 - 5:15 PM on Monday, November 20, 2023.

  • Notes were taken by Marinda Fowler. 

Welcome

Minutes

• Approve last month’s minutes

  • Motion to Approve by Marinda Fowler, seconded by Michelle Hales.

• Discuss Council Positions

  • Marinda Fowler was not able to attend the last meeting but is willing to complete the second of her two-year term. Amend last month’s minutes for Julie Trickett to take over the second year of Lindsay Campbell’s term.
    • Motion to appoint Julie to fill Lindsay’s vacancy by Alicia Willoughby. Seconded by Marinda Fowler. 
  • We have a distinct need for a classroom teacher voice to join the council for next year. For this year Ms. Blamires can accept the charge from the council to take concerns to the guiding council and seek approval and input from teachers. 
  • Ms. Miller will inquire about finding a teacher from the younger grades to add a voice to our council.  That would be to fill Kim Vorwaller’s spot. 
  • Motion for Marinda Fowler to serve as secretary by Julie Trickett. Alicia Willoughby seconded. 
  • Motion for Alicia Willoughby to serve as council chair by Marinda Fowler, seconded by Julie Trickett.
  • Motion for Michelle Hales to serve as co-chair by Alicia Willoughby. Seconded by Marinda Fowler. 
  • Note: The hope is that next year Michelle Hales will serve as Chair with Julie Trickett as her co-chair, in line to take over as chair for the following year if approved by the current council when that time comes. 

• Update Rules of Order and Procedure

  • No longer a need to change or clarify the numbers of Council Members according to our established rules of Order and Procedure.
    • Motion to move the election to the fall for the next four years by Karen Miller. Discussion followed.
    • 2022 OSE Rules of Order and Procedure list verbiage as “Elections will be held in Spring and completed before the last week of school.” Current OSE Order and Procedures listed on the website doesn’t mention anything about elections.
    • Motion to add verbiage to “Elections will be held in the Fall and completed by September 15th.” 
      • Motioned by Alicia, seconded by Michelle. Vote was unanimous in favor of changing the wording. 
    • Mr. Ludlow updated the wording following the approving vote.

• Review EOY 2022-2023 and BOY 2023 Reading and Math Assessment Data 

  • Ms. Blamires presented data information for the BOY testing for reading as compared to last year’s data.
    • This year we are pushing for blue (well above) as a target. 
    • We are seeing Kindergarten coming in higher, third coming in lower (partly due to changes in testing).  3rd-5th graders are the kids most impacted by Covid due to masks and not being in classrooms during their pivotal early education years.
    • Observations from Ms. Blamires
      • We aren’t losing ground against the district numbers, but we’re not gaining any ground either.
      • Starting to recover to pre-Covid testing levels on average across the school.
      • 4th grade coming in below desired standards for the last three years.
      • 2nd/3rd starting slightly higher than the last few years.
      • This year, 4th and 5th grades are starting at their lowest benchmark levels yet.
    • Pathways of Progress Growth measurement reviewed—a more important measurement for teachers because it measures how much progress a student has made throughout the school year based on where they started (students in red levels compared to other students starting with red scores, etc). 
      • The expectation is if the student starts in red at BOY, they will make greater than or well above typical growth by the end of the year.
      • State goal by 2028: All Students will be reading on grade level by third grade. More curriculum quality control coming down from the state level.
      • Data is showing that kindergarteners who end in blue stay in blue. Blue is the new green, blue is true. Green kindergarteners fizzle and get more diverse in colors as they move through the different grade levels. Students in the blue are better able to bounce back from challenges like illness, unexpected trauma, moving, family emergencies, etc.
    • Ms. Blamires handed out printouts of current school data. We ran out of time to review the math. 

• Review Trust LANDS Plan implementation

  • Our plan pays for Chromebooks, programs to support learning, but most importantly we pay for aides. Ms. Miller showed a spreadsheet detailing where aides are allocated and where the funds to pay for them are coming from. There is an open position for an aide that we haven’t had any applicants for.
  • Do we need to look for other intervention resources? Volunteers can be utilized by teachers to do reading and other forms of intervention. 
    • For a lot of teachers coordinating volunteers becomes just one more thing that teachers don’t have time for. Many aren’t able to put in the time it takes to initiate a successful volunteer schedule and train parent or community volunteers.

• Reading Program Update

  • Beanstack and Road to Success program is being implemented school-wide and is seeing a lot of success! 
  • Need to have some way for parents to troubleshoot problems and ask questions. Most students are able to update their at-home reading on their own during school hours.

• Additional Items for Discussion

  • None

• Meeting Adjourned

  • Alicia Willoughby motioned to adjourn the meeting. Julie Trickett seconded.
    • All approved.

• Next Meeting

  • January 22, 2024, 4:00 PM at Orchard Springs Elementary