SCC September 2023
Attending: Brant Thomsen, Jenny Olsen, Elena Foley, Ari Tavo, R.J. Graham, Steve Brown, Stacey Timmerman, Stacey Kratz, Jessica Dalton, Mont Millerberg, Gregory Leavitt, Debbie Johnson
Minutes: Stacey Timmerman moved to approve the minutes of the previous meeting in the spring; Steve Brown seconded; the minutes were approved unanimously.
Elections
Stacey Kratz nominated SCC vice chair Stacey Timmerman as chair; seconded by Debbie Johnson. There were no other nominations; Stacey Timmerman was elected unanimously with no abstentions.
For vice chair, RJ Graham nominated himself and Jessica Dalton seconded the motion; he was elected unanimously with no abstentions.
Stacey Timmerman nominated Stacey Kratz as secretary; Steve Brown seconded the motion; she was elected unanimously with no abstentions.
These officers will take their positions starting at the October meeting.
Before the SCC moved on to other business, the board took a few moments to honor outgoing chair Brant Thomsen. Brant served as SCC chair for for six years and was an SCC member at Hillcrest for seven years before that. His leadership has been steady and effective, and he has positively affected our entire school community.
Stacey Timmerman, seconded by Stacey Kratz, made a motion to express the appreciation of the SCC and the Hillcrest school community for Brant’s many years of service to and on behalf of the Hillcrest community.
Principal Greg Leavitt told Brant, “It’s gone well, and on behalf of the school, we thank you. In your six years as chair, the SCC has been well run, which takes a lot of pressure off me, so thank you.”
Brant Thomsen said his time leading the SCC has been “a fun ride,” and that he felt privileged to be a part of major efforts like building a new school, as well as helping the school navigate the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fraud Notice/Reminder
The SCC reminded members to be very careful if they get contacted by what seems like school employees about gift cards or anything similar. Fraudsters are using SCC members’ publicly available information to pose as school personnel and approach them.
Steve Brown said that any information that comes from any administrator districtwide will come from their Canyons email; if it comes from any other address (or in a text message), it’s fraudulent.
Stacey Timmerman said that the district has implemented safety precautions online so that you have to click to get information; that makes it more difficult for robo-software to harvest the information.
Equity Steering Committee
Elena Foley said that administrators haven’t received CAYCI results yet, but we should get them soon. The ESC will meet next month to study the future of the committee, our continuing focus, and how it needs to evolve in terms of new members, etc.
Principal Leavitt said that we started this committee in response to some incidents that started with football, and then it got a little bigger, and we decided to really take some time to look into it and see what we can do to help facilitate lasting change. To date, we have more diversity at Hillcrest High School than we’ve ever had. We need to not just celebrate that, but make sure everyone feels welcome at school and has a place here.
PTSA Update/Coordination
PTSA President Rebecca Martin reported that the school has a spirit night from 4-9 p.m. next Wednesday, the 20th, at Zupa’s; tell them you’re from Hillcrest.
Husky heroes nominations are open. We award two students per grade per month. We don’t tell them why they won, so if you know of anyone or if your kids have friends who are great but are struggling right now and could use this kind of a boost, nominate them. New this year, the two seniors who win each month will get a one-month use of a parking spot right by the front doors.
President Martin reported that PTSA membership is down this year and strongly encouraged SCC members to join PTSA. We have 155 members in a population of 2,300 students and all their parents; that’s not very good representation, and it doesn’t reach the many parents we’d love to come help us serve the school.
The PTSA has given out three $150 teacher grants so far this year: one for a speech-language pathology program, one for a field trip, and one for some classroom materials like whiteboards.
We are gearing up several of our PTSA-sponsored programs and clubs, including our student service club, which starts meeting next month and has a lot of exciting things planned.
Southeast Parking Lot Pedestrian Concerns
Principal Leavitt reported that Leon Wilcox, the district’s business administrator, and Ryan Jakeman, who’s over safety in the district, came in August and looked at our pedestrian crossing and the area in the southeast corner of the school lot where we’re hoping to get a path put in. They agree it’s a problem and that the crosswalk needs to be repainted. They looked at the slope of the area where we’d like then to put in a walkway. They are not in a good position, with funding, to really take this project on right now, but they have noted it. They’re going to watch it for a year, but they’re not going to be able to do it this year. It’s something they’re interested in doing in the future, whenever they can.
Stacey Timmerman asked if if would help keep the issue visible if the SCC adds the construction of a path as part of our school safety plan. Principal Leavitt said the SCC could do that for next year’s plan.
Steve Brown said it was important to remember that these kinds of solutions can take a while. He said he and other Midvale Elementary parents spent 4-5 years, at minimum, advocating for changes to increase safety in their shared parking lot with Midvale MS. He said those problems were ultimately addressed, and the parking lot is a lot safer. He said he believes the district will help with this Hillcrest safety issue sooner or later.
Greg Leavitt noted that the district administrators told him that the path the SCC would like installed would have to be built with a couple of switchbacks so that the slope is not too steep, which makes the job more complex and time-consuming. He said they tried several alternative path locations in that area that would make a single path work, but none were viable options. On the positive side, the sign in front of the school is wired for electrical power, so there is power out to that area and the district could put in a light for that crosswalk almost immediately.
Steve Brown said that, if we put the project on our safety plan, we are keeping it visible. The district will keep seeing it, and once there’s funding available, it should be addressed.
Brant Thomsen said he likes the idea of keeping the project on the safety plan.
School Climate and Culture/TSSP
Greg Leavitt presented some information about this subject, including background and current data.
What if:
- We created a school culture in which all students knew our expectation school wide.
- We had a collective group of teachers meet and decide what students should know in that subject.
- We assessed students on what they should know and compared outcomes
- We collaborated on how to improve student academic outcomes based on student assessment data and teacher effectiveness.
- We had a system in which students who needed help could have teachers re-teach them and give them another chance to be assessed.
What if we then collected school wide data to help us set common-sense academic achievement goals:
- Increase number of students who pass the first time at 80% or higher.
- Increase the number of students who reach 80% on retakes of assessments.
- Decrease the number of non-tested students.
- Maintain these high levels, and increase rigor over time.
What if HHS had Collective Efficacy, or were united? This is the perception of teachers in a school that the faculty as a whole can organize and execute the courses of action required to have a positive effect on students.
Principal Leavitt said that we know we’re assessing the right information so our students are promoted with the right scores for the right courses and ready for college and other pursuits.
For our school, our main goals are that our students are passing their common formative assessments (CFAs) and their school functional assessments (SFAs) at 80%. Our school climate goals are to reach 90% attendance, with at least 70% attendance in APP. We are already above that level in APP this year, at 85%. We also just ran our data on attendance, and so far this year we are at 93%.
Principal Leavitt reviewed 2022-23 CFA (Common Formative Assessment) school averages with the SCC. This data will be made available online.
- We have data! We have a target for the coming year, and we chose that target based on this real data about what our kids are doing in our classrooms, day in and day out.
- What we notice about this is the second-quarter data from 11th, tenth and ninth grade is not perfect, but there is an up-trend of data in ninth grade doing better. The 11th-grade data is more stable; that can be good in itself. We’re still trying to really figure out this data. At the end of this year, when I’m reporting to you about our TSSP plan, I can show you last year’s data, this year’s data, and compare them.
- For the school averages for our 2022-23 SFAs (Summative Formative Assessment), tenth grade is the most consistent, but all three grades are more or less stable. Please understand that this is an end-of-unit test and we need our students to be able to say, I at least can get a B on this test. We have some growth to do in this area.
- Regarding our averages for students who were not tested for CFAs in 2022-23: In the fourth quarter, 20% of our students didn’t take the test at all. These are our D and F students. They’re not going to succeed if they don’t at least come to the table and take the tests.
- 2022-23 data regarding the number of retakes that scored 80% or above: In tenth grade alone, we had a lot of kids go above 80% for retakes.
- To show individual variations in this aggregated data, Principal Leavitt showed the average scores for two ninth-grade departments, one that scored above the school average and one that scored below. Addressing those local discrepancies is always more complicated than just “fire this below-average teacher,” because the various subjects we test for are so different, and some of them are harder. He also showed specific data from a third department that is scoring far above the average.
- Principal Leavitt said that the overall takeaway is, if we can eventually get to a point where a majority of our students are scoring 80% or better, they’ll do better on those state and national tests, our state grade will be better, and most important, our kids will know more and be able to do better and be better prepared for their futures.
Steve Brown said that this data is very exciting, because next year we can compare apples to apples. With each year, we will be more able to see the path the students are taking. We can really target where we need to give more support or additional resources to help students start increasing the curve, as well. It’s so exciting to see that potential. Everything in schools takes a while. It takes a while to build a culture and build those programs. Nothing we do should be about seeking an instant fix. It’s looking for a really good tool that can be a source of ongoing fixes and ongoing adjustments, and ongoing achievements.
Greg Leavitt said that most teachers are on board and committed to working towards these goals. He asks those who are still hesitant, why shouldn’t I expect you to have students in your room score 80% on their tests? If you can give me a good reason, I’ll listen, but you probably can’t, because helping students achieve is our job.
He cautioned the SCC not to get over-excited about those attendance figures; they are great now, but we will have to see how the year plays out. He did note that, for the first time in 4-5 years, he is seeing kids hurrying to class, thanks to our revised attendance policies.
He also encouraged the SCC to consider the years of work that have gone into building towards the momentum the school is currently experiencing, especially in terms of how we allocate our state funds. The SCC is in charge of those funds and can choose to spend them in any direction. But it takes time to build momentum and build a direction, and if we switch our spending all over from year to year, we destroy that momentum.
All of the money controlled by the SCC currently goes to people, because our students need the extra help. We forced some struggling students to double math classes last year, but this year we took a different approach. We offered the option to students to take math every day in ninth and tenth grade. That’s more teachers, but hopefully, that will pay dividends down the road. And the students have responded very positively to that change.
Debbie Johnson said that her daughter chose to take double math this year for the second year in a row, and she is having a great experience.
Steve Brown said that, if you truly want to see results, you have to be patient. And sometimes it’s tempting to go the “creative” route and fund different things each year, but on the other hand, he watched Midvale Elementary go from a “turnaround school” that was third worst in the state to having a B grade this last year. But that didn’t happen overnight. It took five years of a very persistent principal just slugging it out and making small adjustments while staying the course. It’s our responsibility to use these funds in the best way we can. We have to be mindful of what programs we’re funding, why we’re funding them, and having data to show us if we’re seeing progression and if we need to make adjustments.
Brant Thomsen said he thinks we’ve seen a lot of progress at Hillcrest over time, thanks to this sustained and targeted effort.
Steve Brown agreed, and said he was very impressed by Hillcrest maintaining a B grade through the pandemic.
Graduation Dress Code Requirements
Brant Thomsen noted that there was a story in the Salt Lake Tribune about Hillcrest having a conflict with a student wanting to wear a decorated mortarboard at this past graduation. Brant asked whether there any plans for the school or district to relax or change the graduation dress code and wondered if the SCC has any recommendations regarding what standards the school should enforce regarding graduation decorations or cap/gown modifications.
Greg Leavitt said that Hillcrest made a mistake in not following the district policy. He said Hillcrest administrators had thought the policy did not include a provision for both gown and cap, but the policy does include language saying that a student may culturally decorate their gown and cap. In this case, quite frankly, we messed up. Dr. Harold “Chuck” Foster, the American Indian specialist of the state Office of Education, came out and talked to me. At the end of the day, we apologized to this family. We take full responsibility for not allowing this girl to walk with that cap.
Steve Brown asked whether we need to adjust the policy regarding graduation dress code requirements. Greg Leavitt said that most of the district’s high school administrators have discussed that if anyone wants to decorate their cap, we’re not going to get in the way. When the district trained us, they didn’t focus on the cap, either, just the gown. So we didn’t focus on the gown. He doesn’t think we need to revisit or revise the district policy, because it has already expanded far beyond the requirements spelled out in state law. One thing Hillcrest does really well at graduation is that we don’t allow students to dress until they actually get there. We see what’s under their gown, make sure they’re dressed appropriately, that their gown is fine, and that kind of thing.
Canyons school board member Mont Millerburg applauded the principals deciding to extend considerable leeway, saying he would rather have graduations be as inclusive as possible while still following policy.
In response to a question, Greg Leavitt sad that, while in general male students wear green caps and gowns and female students wear white, the school allows all students to choose which of the two colors they want to wear, no questions asked.
Mont Millerberg said he felt it would be powerful if the SCC were to write a letter to the policy committee of the district asking them to expand that definition of “cultural” to be as inclusive as possible. Steve Brown noted that Midvale City addressed similar issues during the city’s Harvest Days parade. R.J. Graham said the expansion of the policy would almost inevitably get to the point where someone would want to put a Confederate flag or other symbol that is considered offensive by many people on their cap, saying it is cultural. Greg Leavitt said one way to deal with those types of complications is to have all decorative approaches for caps and gowns be submitted to the school 10 days before graduation, which is a policy he would like to see implemented. Brant Thomsen recommend that new chair Stacey Timmerman put discussing that policy on the agenda for future meetings.
Other items
- Rebecca Martin mentioned Canyoneering Night, at which Superintendent Rick Robins would be speaking, followed by some breakout sessions.
- Brant Thomsen urged SCC members to attend the remaining SCC training sessions if they are able: Sept. 27 at 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Steve Brown said there’s a link on Canyons’ page to help refresh the knowledge of any members who are not able to attend.
- Steve Brown reminded the SCC that, at the next meeting, we should discuss school safety and digital citizenship plans, because they’re due in November.
Next meeting: 11 October, 5 p.m.
R.J. Graham moved to adjourn; Jessica Dalton seconded; meeting adjourned.
