Hillcrest High School–School Community Council Meeting Notes
Wednesday, February 8, 2023, 5:00 pm
ACR Conference Room (A129)
Attending:
Ari Tavo
Brant Thomsen
Elena Foley
Gregory Leavitt
Jessica Dalton
Rebecca Martin
Stacey Kratz
Stacey Timmerman
Steve Brown
Not attending:
Atiya Nash
Debbie Johnson
John Olsen
R.J. Graham
Approve minutes
Jessica Dalton made a motion to approve the minutes for January 11, 2023; Rebecca Martin seconded the motion, which passed unanimously with no abstention.
Equity Steering Committee
Elena Foley reported that committee members are finalizing questions for a survey that we’ll administer on Canvas. The questions deal with topics such as how satisfied respondents are with the overall campus climate at Hillcrest, whether there is a trusted faculty or staff member in whom they can confide, whether they have the same opportunities for academic success as their peers, whether they feel they belong and are treated with success at Hillcrest, and whether they have access to resources—material items and support services—they may need, among other questions. The last question is about things that would help you feel more of a sense of belonging at Hillcrest. Steve Brown said this last question would be a wonderful place to give survey-takers the chance to offer more than one response so that we can identify key issues that matter to people rather than just having people pick one from a list.
Elena Foley said the committee will finalize the questions in March and then roll them out in April. In addition, she said the CAYSI survey is going out as well, and we hope to get good responses from that that might help us in our equity steering efforts.
PTSA Update/Coordination
Rebecca Martin, PTSA President, said the PTSA treated teachers to a hot chocolate bar today (February 8) as a Valentine’s treat, and the PTSA will feed teachers on March 1 for Parent Teacher Conferences. There is a spirit night at Raising Cane’s on Thursday, Feb. 23, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 4-8 p.m.; please go and tell them you’re there for Hillcrest; we get 15% of the profits.
Grad night is coming up on May 25; we need people to help on the committees. Please let us know if you can serve on a committee or if you know a company or business that might donate prizes.
Southeast Parking Lot Pedestrian Concerns
Brant Thomson said the letter endorsed and signed by the SCC has been sent to the district, but we haven’t heard back from the district yet. Greg Leavitt said we’ll give them a couple of months to digest our requests; it’s a fairly big project.
School Climate and Culture/TSSP
Greg Leavitt said that our plan is built around professional learning communities (PLCs, a group of educators that meets regularly to share expertise and improve student outcomes) and that we need to see how well kids are doing on tests and retakes.
This obviously doesn’t tell you how rigorous the test is (depth of knowledge) or whether it’s teaching to the standard, but it is one measure. Our current requirement is that every teacher is to give three tests and a final and that, on three of those, they need to offer a retake. One thing to celebrate is that we can actually gather this data and that the PLCs are actually working.
We have 681 ninth graders; one thing we’re already noticing is that we need to find a way to encourage these students to actually take the test. We are seeing that a number of them are absent, or choosing not to take the test because they don’t know enough. We want 80% of our students to get 80% or higher on these tests, and that percentage drops each year. One caveat is that we found out after this data was collected that we didn’t collect data on AP kids in 11th grade, which definitely would improve our numbers; ninth graders haven’t figured out about credit and that it’s important, but 11th graders have.
Our data is showing us that, the older kids get, the more willing they are to retake tests. So we’re wanting to raise that awareness, and increase by 5% the number or kids getting over 80% this quarter.
In science, we are finding that a lot of kids are satisfied with Cs and Ds, so while some of them are doing retakes, a lot of them aren’t. The science teachers are frustrated that the kids are satisfied with mediocrity.
Jessica Dalton asked about the Tier 2 or Tier 3 kids, who might be very close to that 80%; can we separate that out and see numbers there? Greg Leavitt said it would it be helpful to see how many of them are close to getting to 80%, but isn’t possible now. However, he also said that teachers are very aware of the names behind every one of these numbers and could start matching that up in how they are approaching students.
Stacey Timmerman said she has spoken to some teachers who are not doing the retakes as much as the school standard says they should and asked Greg Leavitt if most of the teachers are hitting that standard.
Greg Leavitt replied that we want teachers to invite kids to come do retakes, to come get help so they’re ready to do well; we want them saying you need to get in here and take this retake. He said no other high school has this unified of a message, even though there are still some broken pieces and faculty members who are resistant. He said this practice is going to get more and more consistent, because now that he has a data vehicle, he can say, “Why isn’t this changing? What more should we do? Show me some evidence where we’re inviting kids.” This offers us accountability.
Steve Brown said that, when you have this information, you can address the individual pieces that are problems, whatever they may be.
Greg Leavitt agreed. He said some people think diverse schools can’t accomplish the same things as less diverse schools, but they can. We just need to have high expectations with multiple levels of support. He added that he has been at Hillcrest eight years, and it’s taken that long to get 160 teachers on the same page so we can do this. “This Friday will be the first meeting where I can pull my teachers together to talk about common data and common goals that mean something to their everyday work.”
Steve Brown said that the other cool thing with this process is that you get to keep having those collaborative meetings, get together as a team, identify where students are falling behind. “I think the majority of our teachers are going to look at this and say awesome, I can work with this.”
Greg Leavitt said it always hurts students when we play the teacher roulette, where by chance they get the teacher that’s the most supportive, but other kids get the teacher that isn’t as supportive. When a kid walks into any classroom in this school, we want them to know they can count on getting the same chance as any other kid.
Steve Brown asked what the SCC can do to move this along? Greg Leavitt said that, when you encounter a core teacher that says to you, “Well, I don’t really do that,” find a way to say, “Hey, I’m on the SCC, and Mr. Leavitt is telling me just the opposite.”
LAND Trust Plan
Greg Leavitt passed out this year’s and last year’s Land Trust plans with all the funding and the goals included.
He said he’s enjoyed the respect and trust the SCC has given him of continuing down the consistent path of hiring more teachers. He added that, when SCC members sign off on this year’s plan, we are saying we had an opportunity to implement and develop and approve a plan. That’s what this year-long process is about. We want to continue the successful things we’ve been doing, but if you do decide, we can do other things. At the end of the day, we have to decide how best to spend this money to help our students, and I believe the best way to spend this money is to bring more people into the building.
Brant Thomsen asked the SCC if anyone wants to throw things in a new direction? If so, tonight is the time to bring that up. The SCC went over a few things about the plan and voiced general support.
Greg Leavitt said we ought to vote on the plan next month. Essentially, he said, it’s one goal, and it’s really simple and based on student proficiency. Regarding our graduation rate, we want it at 88%, and we were well on our way to achieving that before the pandemic: in 2021, we were at 87%, and our rate went down to 84% because of the pandemic. Our graduation rate is still at 84% because there’s a lot of credit recovery going on, but we’re hopeful it will start to trend back up again.
SCC Roster Changes
Stacey Kratz and Rebecca Martin reported on their task to speak to two people who were listed on this year’s SCC roster but who had not attended most (or any) of the meetings. Both people spoken to said they were fine with being removed from the roster; one had not intended to be on the SCC this year, thought they had reported that to the proper people, and didn’t realize they were still on the roster. The other has had some professional commitments come up that prevent them from attending meetings.
Steve Brown made a motion to remove those two people, Karina Park and Jeremy Wright, from the SCC roster due to their not being able to serve, with the stipulation that we thank them for their past service and welcome them back to the SCC anytime; Rebecca Martin seconded the motion, which passed unanimously with no abstention.
Other items:
Discretionary Budget/Tower Funds:
Greg Leavitt said he usually sends the SCC an email towards the end of the year informing us that he is spending this much money from cell tower funds/discretionary budget, and the SCC approves it. This year, he is bringing that proposal to the meeting. Stacey Kratz made a motion that the SCC approve Greg Leavitt spending up to $100,000 of tower money on student-related programs and $20,000 for principal’s budget to support teachers and staff. Steve Brown seconded the motion.
In discussion, Greg Leavitt said he might wait to allocate the funds until faculty and staff come to him with their needs.
Steve Brown said that, if we put all of those cell tower funds towards extracurriculars and clubs and arts and things that help students, he would never have a problem with that, because he knows the benefit the students get when they have those outlets. Stacey Timmerman agreed that extracurriculars help students feel like they belong at this school. Greg Leavitt said we have a way through SHINE money to help those students who may not be actively involved, as well; we don’t really have a market to support the kids who are active in things; this is non-taxed money so why not use it for our students?
Steve Brown asked how much of the tower funds budget is included in this latest allocation, and Leavitt replied that it’s about one-third of the tower funds. “We give it to athletes, arts, etc.; we give marching band some, football some; GSA gets some; about 35 different student organizations for this school year currently are benefiting from these funds. If the SCC approves releasing the money immediately, we will start spending now until the end of the year.”
The motion passed unanimously with no abstention.
Parent-Teacher conferences
Greg Leavitt said there are a lot of people who still want a hybrid of in-person and online, so we’re tentatively planning for the first day to be 3:30-4:30 p.m. on Zoom and 4:30-7:30 p.m. in person; the second day will be 3:30-5 p.m. on Zoom and 5-7 p.m. in person. Zoom is more appropriate for parents who haven’t gotten back from work yet etc.; but the rest is a great time for parents to come in and visit.
Stacey Kratz made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Stacey Timmerman; the motion passed.
Next meeting: 5 p.m. on Wednesday, March 8, 2023
