Governing Board Minutes – January 18, 2007

I.  Call to order at 6:09 p.m.  Board members in attendance:  Mr. Hollis, Mrs. Connor, Miss Bair, Ms. Gardner, Valerie Zim, Michelle Headrick, David Van Middlesworth, Jessica Takakjian, Ms. Bamesberger, Ms. Palo, and Miss McLaren.

Introductions were made and Mr. Hollis welcomed everyone in attendance.

II.  Approval of  Minutes:  Minutes of the previous meeting were approved with no changes..

III.  Organizational reports:

STAR:  Winter Camp was great.  Winter enrichment classes have begun.  There is a Dino Fair Sunday at the EcoStation – be sure to tell them that you are from Marquez.   Last week there was a really fun Motown-themed show.

Friends of Marquez:  This year’s auction will be earlier in the year: Friday, March 16 at Casa del Mar in Santa Monica.  The theme is a cruise theme although there will not be any boats involved.  Annual Giving is doing well, although it is somewhat behind where it was last year.  Are working with STAR and teachers to revamp the PE program.

PTA:  Changed the vendor for the Spring Book Fair.  There has been a good response to the Reflections contest.  This year’s Read-a-thon will kick off on Dr. Seuss’  birthday.

III.  Committee Reports:

Facilities:  Mr. Hollis reported that the painters are finished.  The roofing is also completed.  We expect that some of the upper yard trailers will be removed near the end of the month.  The air conditioning installation is being delayed by engineering issues.  The new, totally automatic fire alarm system training is done.  There will be changes in the bell/gong system; announcements will be preceded by a request for attention so that everyone can quiet down to hear the announcement.  The Safe School Inspection has been postponed.

Finance:  No report.

Curriculum Committee:  A “Young Authors’ Day” is being planned by Miss Bair and Mrs. Schwartz which will involve children from different grade levels being led by parent volunteers as they each share a writing sample or two.  Teachers are looking at ways to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday to make it more of an event for the school.

It was suggested that some future business of the Curriculum Committee should be looking at and assessing the various enrichments to determine the best ones to continue with and how they will fit with the laptop program.

Legal:  The committee recommends that the board amend the bylaws to allow for a Special Education Representative to sit as a non-voting member of the board.  Ms. Gardner made a motion to approve this change; Michelle Headrick seconded the motion.  It was passed.

When we renew our charter we will want to have it reflect this change.  The board should also consider adding an additional parent representative to balance the additional teacher/administrative representative.

Personnel Committee:  One or two new aides have been hired.  There is concern about the loss of Julie Wasserman as the 4th-grade Science teacher next year.  There was some discussion as to whether there is any way to keep her as she is highly valued.

Technology:  There is some excitement about our Social Studies series (not the textbooks) being available on-line.  Students could login from home.  The teachers are looking at how to best use this resource for next year.

Kindergarten and 1st-grade teachers were shown an interactive science DVD today at their professional development.   There is a website to supplement the DVD.  The Van Middlesworths have a relationship with the developer and as such the DVDs will be donated to the school.  There is also the possibility of the DVDs being made available for parents to purchase with 40% of the price going to the school.

The 2nd- and 5th-grade teachers are going to Fullerton in February.  The 3rd- and 4th-grade teachers will go in March and the Kindergarten and 1st-grade teachers will go in April.

Standards and Conduct:  Has not had a meeting.  Will initiate student recognition assemblies for good behavior.  There will also be “Treats with the Principal” as part of an reward program.

Safety:  The Safe and Secure Campus grant application was denied.  We can reapply in March.

IV.  New Business:

Valerie Zim Bono will submit a Williams Complaint Form regarding the failure of the district to provide a safe campus (rejecting the grant application).  She will submit it with petition signatures.

The issue of our kindergarten schedule was discussed at length.  Mr. Hollis expressed his desire that this not become a divisive issue in our school community.

A key point was that the most important factor in a successful kindergarten program is the content not the length of the day.

In brief, Marquez parents e-mailed their support for a longer kindergarten day, citing such reasons as increased readiness for 1st grade, more coordinated scheduling, and less need for daycare.  There were some parents who were opposed to a lengthened day.  Area preschool parents were polled.  Fifty percent indicated that they would attend Marquez if the program were half-day.  Over 90% said that they would attend if the day were extended.

Kindergarten teachers are concerned about the loss of a 5-to-1 ratio for teaching and the security issues of having one less adult to assist with corralling kids (runners), among other things.  They also expressed concern about the likelihood of putting together a quality extended day curriculum before September 2007.

If we were to implement a longer kindergarten day, the kindergarteners would not share the yard with older students during recess or lunch.  There was some talk of possibly building a second kindergarten yard in the patio area.

Increased costs would come from additional IA time, set-up costs for new kindergarten classrooms, and additional supplies needed during a longer day.

V.  Meeting was adjourned at 8:20 p.m.  A meeting  to further discuss the kindergarten issue was scheduled for Thursday, February 1 at 6:00 p.m.