School Community Council, December 2023
Present: Rebecca Martin, RJ Graham, Eric Murdock, Ari Tavo, Greg Leavitt, Jenny Olsen, Stacey Timmerman
RJ Graham made a motion to approve the minutes; Rebecca Martin seconded. The motion passed with a unanimous vote of those present.
Equity Steering Committee Update
Greg Leavitt gave some background of this committee. After the football incident a couple of years ago, we thought this would be a good idea to form this committee. Everyone on the committee has good intentions, but the group hasn’t made much progress. We still don’t have the surveys, and they won’t be current when they do come in. That combined with the administration changing at the end of the year, Leavitt makes a proposal for some changes.
Leavitt moves that we change the Equity Committee and make it part of the running agenda in the SCC meeting, that includes a discussion of topics about possible equity issues at HHS. At each meeting we can set a time limit of 10-15 minutes and discuss over our meetings, then suggest to administration ways that the SCC would like these equity issues solved. We may only do this 2-3 times a year. Moving forward, discuss equity concerns, may only do 2-3 year.
Additionally, Stacy Kratz & El Foley have agreed to attend a state-wide equity forum that might suggest other issues that need to be addressed. This will help with larger context.
Eric Murdock made a motion to approve the proposal; RJ Graham seconded. The motion passed with a unanimous vote of those present.
Moving forward—we will add equity/equal access to the agenda each month. We discussed whether the term should be “equity, inclusivity and diversity.” It seems that we can start with equity Equal Access and then go from there.
SCC Recruitment
Discussion on the need to broaden the SCC and increase diversity. Leavitt spoke with coaches and they are willing to announce at parent meeting. Could we bring people in this year? Our bylaws don’t limit us, so we could bring in more people. Let’s see how recruitment goes and take it from there.
Stacy Timmerman will send out the SCC for review. The same message can be sent out in a multitude of places.
We discussed SCC presence at Husky Fair – January 31. Stacy Timmerman is happy to be there. Greg Leavitt suggested we make it part of the intro in the auditorium, then be outside with fliers at a table. We will also include a SCC handout for the packet. Eric will get back to Stacy & Becca on the deadline for the fliers.
Update on Community Wellness Fair
There was a great turnout last month. The coat giveaway brought in a lot, and haircuts too.
Hillcrest Free Market/Fundraiser
Ari Tavo spoke with El and Lisa. They craft a personalized letter to each donor and it’s specific. They inform them exactly how the money was spent—i.e. 22 coats, etc. Also, they give a shout-out in the Husky Newsletter for the donors. For the seminary they gave a shout-out on the newsletter and sent donuts and a card. They did the same with the SBOs.
One suggestion was that anytime we send a note home we sign from all the individuals involved—Hillcrest High School Community Council, PTSA, Administration and Free Market all thank you. We can also send our own notes—no harm in thanking them multiple times.
Sixty families applied for holiday assistance—winter clothing, holiday gift bags, fill the fridge, etc. We were able to provide food bags and gift cards (includes food, snacks and meals) for 22 refugee families. This is the most need we have seen over the past few years. There has also been an increase in donations as people are aware of the need. As an FYI, 34% of Hillcrest students are considered low income—that is 789 students. We discussed the data sheet with Hillcrest demographic information from last year. We’d like to cover this once a quarter and include it on the SCC agenda.
Teacher Student Success Plan – TSSP
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nkagpvghiZns5m9kIVIdxDo_rEC3jThQ/view
Teachers have been great about PLC work and have been working hard. Greg presented the goals to teachers again in the fall. Goals:
- increase the number of students who pass at 80% the first time
- increase the number of students who re-take and reach 80%
- decrease number of non-tested students
- maintain but overtime increase rigor
Tier 2 instruction: Prepare students for retakes to meet 80% proficiency. We actually have data now for multiple years so we can use this. Our school-wide averages for first quarter: 9th grade about 70%, then above 70% for 2nd quarter.
- School average retakes—those who score over 80% on retakes. We have increased the numbers quite a bit.
- Pattern—11th graders are lower—why aren’t they doing as many retakes?
- Language Arts 80% or above.
Stacy had a conversation with a teacher when students didn’t get feedback until the assessment. That was the first time the student knew whether or not he was understanding the material. We have seen improvement in the assignments that are not just completion based. Math corrects all assignments together. Some students may not be paying enough attention and may miss that feedback. We are comparing apples to apples—i.e. 1st quarter 9th grade math each year.
- Science: had the biggest increase in the ASPIRE state test. We also see the data that students are doing better on the CFAs. We may see lower numbers based on subjects—i.e. 10th grade is Chemistry which is a very difficult class.
- Social Studies: difficult to compare science to social studies.
- World Language: Number of students not tested improving.
- Arts/PE: elective classes are also doing 3-4 CFAs a quarter. It’s meaningful to their dept. and school-wide
This should be an upward trend. It involves getting more student to retake and increase the scores. Bringing 120 teachers together and agree on standards to test is a big deal, but a school deserves to look at concrete data to determine their progress. We can take TSSP off the agenda and bring it back about March. In February, Mr. Leavitt will be able to show second quarter data. We will see what that data shows. It is interesting to see how retakes can be different in different subjects. English has been focusing more on writing over the years—moving from grammar and literature. This data helps us know that our TSSP plan is working, or that it’s not working, but we can make better decisions.
Land Trust Plan
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1l2CeUoS2VODA2Rb9OC423almuNDI_mWb/view
No discussion on this item.
PTSA Update/Coordination
There is a Spirit Night tonight at Papa Murphy’s. There is also a new banner out front.
Motion to adjourn: Rebecca Martin made a motion to adjourn, seconded by RJ Graham. The motion passed with a unanimous vote of those present.
Next meeting: Wednesday, January 10, 2024
