School Community Council Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2014
Members Present: Lori DeGraffenreid, Jane Walton, Dennis Toombs, Jennifer
Anderson, Melanie Grossaint, Julie Evans, Noemi Hernandez, Jennifer Peirce,
Misty Morrow, Maile Loo, Amanda Rosas, Rob Lake, Gladys Lucero
Lori DeGraffenreid called the meeting to order at 4:31.
Mrs. DeGraffenreid welcomed the new members to the council. Each person
introduced themselves.
Business Items:
College Application Week
Maile Loo provided an update on College Application Week presently going on at
the school. 125 seniors applied to college on Tuesday. We have about 400
seniors. During the three more days this week, we expect to have helped most of
our seniors apply to at least one college. The counselors are working with the
English department to do this. We had an opening kickoff assembly Monday, a
door decorating contest, and the lieutenant governor will be here Wednesday
from 9-10:30 working with kids. He was invited by the state office because we did
such a great job with CAW last year. Another state officer will be here to survey
the kids. They’ll be tracking the seniors who take the survey to see what they do.
Mrs. Grossaint asked how many of our seniors who graduated last year went to
college. Ms. Loo responded that around 85% went on to college. Misty Morrow
asked about PR for this through the district. Maile said the state office is bringing
their own media people. We discussed utilizing district PR – our district Twitter
and Facebook – to promote the good things we’re doing at Kearns.
Extended learning time
Maile Loo discussed the potential for an extended learning time period each day.
David Dunn, the principal at Granger, did this a few years ago at Murray High.
Twice during the day they have a 20 minute special period where students who
need extra help can get that in a smaller environment. What principals are
concerned about is the students who are proficient in that area would be released
during that 20 minute block to their own extended learning classes or free time.
Giving kids free time is a hard sell in our district, but David Dunn said this is an
essential component of this for the kids to buy into it. We would have to figure
out the bell schedule. Mr. Lake said we would need to train the teachers how to
identify the proficient kids. Mrs. DeGraffenreid said this was similar to 5th period
Friday at Jefferson. Test taking skills might be one of the extra classes for students
who are struggling with that. Ms. Loo mentioned that some of the proficient
students may work as mentors or tutors to the other students. Lori asked what
would the carrot be for those students. Mrs. Walton was concerned about
proficient students and giving them options. Mr. Lake mentioned that some of the
academic clubs could be active during this period to prepare for competitions.
Ms. Loo will be meeting with 4 other principals on the committee the day before
Thanksgiving to create a more concrete plan to present to Community Councils.
SAGE Presentation
Rob Lake showed the average proficiency percentages for each tested subject
area. With the new SAGE test, the bar was raised, so everyone’s proficiency went
down. In order to get a clear picture of our performance, we need to look at our
scores in comparison with everyone else. Last year we were at the bottom in
basically every area. His presentation showed that our school ranked in the
middle of the district’s schools. While the overall scores went down and we have
room to grow, our test scores were better than last year compared to other
schools in the district. However, the district as a whole performed poorly against
the state averages. Mr. Lake mentioned that with this being the first year of the
SAGE test, the test will undergo many improvements.
A discussion about the math common core and how well it prepares students for
advanced math ensued. Mrs. DeGraffenreid asked about the honors track in
math. Mr. Lake said there is work being done to get the honors track in place.
The meeting was adjourned at 5:35.