Northview High School—School Governance Council Meeting
Minutes—May 22, 2014 at 1:00 pm
Meeting Type: Meeting with Public Comment
Members Present:
Ashley Ulrich, Susan Auerbach, Brian Downey, Vicki Templet, Seong Su Kim (non-voting student
representative), Paul Brannon (principal—non-voting), Rebecca Burkley (non-voting student representative),
Grant Hickey, Hyejoo Jeong, Terry Lemons
Not Present:
Jason Weinberger, Jacqueline Royal-Bryant
Guests Present:
Susan Walker; Sonia Nadel, Sol Aboulafia, Rob Anderson (area superintendent)
The following items were on the agenda:
1:00-1:02- Call to Order
1:03-1:05- Approve Agenda/Approve Minutes from April meeting
1:05-1:20- Principal’s Report/Class Rank Update
1:20-1:40- 2014-15 Brainstorming Session
1:40-1:50- Summer Meeting Dates
1:50-2:00- Announcements
Meeting Notes:
The meeting was called to order by Susan Auerbach at 1:03 pm.
Hickey moved to approve the agenda; Downey seconded. Voice vote to approve was unanimous.
Downey moved to approve the minutes; Ulrich seconded. Voice vote to approve was unanimous.
Principal’s Report/ Class Rank
Brannon reviewed the data for the current graduating class. Out of a class of 472 students, 250 have a grade
point average of an A; if we include B’s, it comes to 93% of the graduating class.
Junior Marshalls, the top 24 students of the class, are selected in their junior year as an honor recognizing their
academic achievement. We also have the GA Merit Scholarship, which recognizes the top 5% of juniors. We
also employ the college ranking system of Cum Laude/Magna Cum Laude/Summa Cum Laude system of
recognition.
Brannon proposed that we eliminate class rank, but to continue with the junior marshals, the GA Merit
recognition, the selection of valedictorian and salutatorian, and the college ranking system with some
adjustments : (GET DATA FOR THIS LATER FROM BRANNON). He believes that by eliminating this
official class rank, it can reduce student stress significantly while also still allowing for student recognition for
top academic performance.
Lemons moved to approve the proposal presented by Brannon; Downey seconded. Discussion ensued as
follows:
Burkley and Kim addressed that they liked the proposal because it would allow for recognition with less stress.
Brannon addressed that he sees the potential for this to really improve the stress for students with A averages
who would otherwise rank 90th in their class. It could also impact the “race” to take AP courses just for the
grade advantage. He thanked Burkley and Kim for their input. Lemons mentioned that this also addresses the
parent concerns and requests from the prior parent/open meeting. Templet shared that her son, when applying
to colleges recently, did not list a class rank and it was never requested from any school when he stated that he
“did not know” that rank. Auerbach shared a story about her son’s teammate who, when looking at colleges,
also decided that GPA was a more significant issue than the class rank issue.
Downey stated that because we seem to be in agreement, the other issue will be communicating this to the
community. We will need to formally send out a message about this decision. Walker addressed that it is a
good idea for the council to publicly state that we, as a council, support this decision of the principal’s after the
issue was addressed through this process and that this is connected to the strategic plan.
Hickey asks to withdraw his original proposal; Downey seconded. Voice vote was unanimous. Hickey
proposed that we support the principal’s plan; Lemons seconded. Voice vote was unanimous.
Graduation will be livestreamed tomorrow, done through the BVP students and program. Anderson
recommended we submit that for recognition to the county.
Brainstorming for Future Plans and RFFs
Downey stated that we have grown the partnership with Emory, and he suggested that there may be some ways
to strengthen and extend that in how we have worked with Siemens with engineering.
Ulrich addressed that with the continuous achievement model, some flexibility may be needed in future years
with English classes, particularly to allow EOCT courses to be “untied” from AP courses in English, as well as
to explore creating a “publishing pathway” and higher-level focused elective courses that students would take
if they “max out” the options in that area of the building. Downey echoed that the amount of online courses
taken by students are increasing significantly and that this may spill over into Social Studies as well. Templet,
Auerbach, and Downey addressed that this would tie into the third focus area of our strategic plan.
Hickey addressed the JCA (Johns Creek Advantage), sponsored by a large group of businesses, that is trying to
attract businesses to our community. He wondered if there were some options there for our school in working
with that organization too. Downey suggested that might be a good pairing with our CTE department. Lemons
suggested that the marketing program could be grown with this, too. Ulrich reminded the group of the Thomas
Jefferson HS visit that Dr. Brannon made earlier and that these connections sound very similar, in some ways,
to the innovative ideas happening there. Templet suggested the marketing area could have a Language Arts
area with the writing component.
Templet suggested that we should look at focus area #1 (healthy connections). Ulrich suggested that we look
at our PR of the school—posting our achievements inside and outside the school building. Several council
members agreed that this was something for us to look into so we can better promote the brand of Northview.
Ulrich asked about focus area #2 (student leadership). Downey stated that the school is continuing the Student
Leadership Johns Creek. Templet added that another community leadership panel is being created in the
community with Johns Creek Foundation, as well. Also, the leadership council could be grown here in the
school itself, as it was primarily athletes this past year, so fine arts and clubs could be added.
Summer Meeting Dates (all meetings in the Media Center Conference Room)
June meeting: Thursday, June 26th at 10 am.
July meeting: Thursday, July 31st at 4 pm.
Principal Selection Process (led by Rob Anderson)
Anderson introduced himself as the new Area Superintendent and shared about his background. The process
for selecting a principal follows this timeline:
1. surveys distributed to stakeholders (parents, students, staff)
2. focus group meetings (students, parents, staff)
3. search for candidates who meet the qualities determined based on the surveys and focus groups
4. bringing selected candidates to a panel for interviewing
At any time, the superintendent has the authority to appoint a principal directly rather than continuing with the
selection process, which would be done if a sitting principal was interested in the position and the
superintendent believed that principal was the right fit, because the interview process could compromise that
principal in his current role if not selected. That is not necessarily likely, but is a possibility.
Based on the focus groups, the feedback seems to be very similar, which is great to see.
Downey asked if there was a timeline for this process, and Anderson stated that it was soon. The next board
meetings are June 10th and June 17th, so the goal is to have someone on board by July 1, though that is not
guaranteed.
Announcements
The council thanked Kim and Burkley for their work on the SGC.
Walker asked us to complete the council assessment. Re-elections will occur at the July meeting, and Brannon
will need to appoint (or reappoint) a community and a school member for the council.
Downey made a motion to adjourn the meeting; Hickey seconded. A voice vote to approve was unanimous.
Meeting adjourned at 2:05pm.