April 10, 2019 – Minutes

School Community Council—Hillcrest High School

Notes by Suzanne Riches

April 10, 2019

In Attendance:

1. Greg Leavitt
2. Jan Hansen
3. Brant Thomsen
4. Julie Cluff
5. Suzanne Riches
6. Jeremy Wright
7. Jason Dong
8. RJ Graham
9. Zoya Hyder

Meeting Notes:

• Brant opened the meeting.
• Agenda Item: HHS construction and parking.
  • Leavitt reported that things are going as well as possible given construction constraints.
  • Drainage work is now complete.
  • Construction is on schedule for the new building.
• Agenda Item: School funding in light of TSSA House Bill 149
  • This bill was signed by the governor on April 2, 2019.
  • The bill provisions appear below:
    • General Description:
      9          This bill creates the Teacher and Student Success Program.
      10     Highlighted Provisions:
      11          This bill:
      12          ▸creates the Teacher and Student Success Program (program);
      13          ▸     provides for the State Board of Education to distribute funds from the Teacher and
      14     Student Success Account to the boards of local education agencies for the purposes
      15     of the program;
      16          ▸     requires the board of a local education agency to create guidelines for the creation of
      17     school outcome-based program plans;
      18          ▸     provides for the board of a local education agency to use and distribute program
      19     money;
      20          ▸     requires a school to make an outcome-based program plan for the use of program
      21     money;
      22          ▸     provides for oversight of school efforts to improve outcomes according to the
      23     school’s program plan;
      24          ▸     repeals provisions related to school improvement plans;
      25          ▸     replaces references to a school improvement plan with references to the
      26     outcome-based school program plan required under the program;
      27          ▸     repeals provisions related to reading achievement plans; and
      28          ▸     makes technical and conforming changes.
  • Funds from this bill will be available for use in the next school year, 2019-2020.
    • The amount to Hillcrest will be about the same as the trust funds amount.
    • With the short time available, Mr. Leavitt would like to disperse the funds toward the same CSIP goals.
    • The funding will allow two to three more teachers.
    • Leavitt is not sure if another group will administer these funds or if it will fall under SCC.
    • Most of the available money will come to the school in August, though the district will keep some to use for teacher salaries, etc.
    • Leavitt will purchase Read 180 with $50,000-$60,000 of the money. This program is proven to improve reading scores for non-English speakers and other students struggling with reading. It is a one-time purchase.
    • Members of SCC brought up a question about the state Trust Land Fund which has grown very, very large—several billion dollars. Fund protections will expire in 2025. We need to check the actual date. However, we would hope the funds will be used for education, and that new protections will be passed for this money.
  • Agenda Item: Parent Conference Changes
    • Many parents are not participating in the fall and spring conferences. Hillcrest had only 22% attend conferences this year.
    • We are considering new ways of allocating the 16 hours devoted to parent-teacher conferences. Ideas include:
      • 2-3 hours for a freshman orientation in August.
      • Use some of the time for a back-to-school night orientation in August
      • Discussion of a 12-8 PM time in the fall—school would close. Teachers would set up meetings with parents ahead of time, then open time would end the day.
      • Using a few hours in January for orientation and scheduling may also be beneficial.
      • Two to three hours could be used in third quarter.
    • Discussion by council
      • The idea of reaching out to parents of struggling students makes sense and would be beneficial use of time.
      • Starting the conferences at 12:00 PM may be a problem for many parents with work commitments. There may be a big rush after 5:00 PM.
      • Hyder pointed out that much of the time she spends talking to parents involves questions about how the class works, etc. Time for an orientation or something similar to a back-to-school night would allow teachers to talk to all of the parents at once about these things, leaving more conference time for one-on-one meetings with parents of struggling students.
      • Parents also noted that it is good to have two nights for conferences since they must attend different schools for their children. If everything happens on one night, it would be difficult to visit all of the teachers and schools needed.
      • Parents suggested that it would be nice if orientations could be done in short videos that would be accessible online. They could access by teacher and course.
      • Possibly six hours in the fall, plus two hours for orientation would work well.
      • Leavitt suggested the council continue to think about this issue.
    • Agenda Item: Fee Schedules
      • The legislature is pushing school districts to make more fees waivable for low-income students.
      • There is a push for equity in sports programs, performing arts programs, curricular programs as well as CTEC.
      • The council looked at a preliminary fee schedule for Canyons School District programs.
      • Discussion is also centering around a 60/40 split on fundraising fees, with the individual student receiving 60% of any funds raised and the program receiving 40%.
      • A draft version of Canyons School District proposed fees for various programs was circulated.
      • No decision on this issue has yet been reached.
    • Other Agenda Items:
      • PTSA is planning a Digital Citizenship night on April 16th. Julie Cluff invited all SCC members to attend.
    • Meeting was adjourned by Brant.