Helms Elem. SDMC Meeting Minutes
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Helms Conference Room
Meeting Start Time: 3:50 PM
Roll Call: Tim Beally (HISD Renovation Rep), D. Del Pilar, E. Coates, G. Coates, M.
Rangel, L. Meador, J. Martinez, E. Shaw, C. Cola, T. Williams, Stephanie Wong (parent
rep, replacing Claudia De Leon).
1. Update on Renovations:
Mr. Beally gave the following update:
 The project is currently out for bids. There was a conference at Helms on
11/15 for potential contractors, and bids are expected to be received in
early December. The HISD board will approve the contractor/bid in their
February, 2012 board meeting, a contract will be signed in March, and
work is scheduled to begin in the Spring. Completion is expected in Fall,
2012.
 There are no major changes to the scope of work at this time, mostly
mechanical and electrical work.
 Murals on the walls are an outstanding issue, as interior paint is included
in the bid. SDMC will need to articulate a process for deciding which, if
any, murals will be painted over.
 Lighting is also an issue; it will be improved by the renovations, but
painting the alcoves in the ceiling will increase the light level but cover
the murals. The ceiling will NOT be replaced, so the alcoves will remain
intact. Visible benefits may not be maximized if we don’t paint the
ceilings.
 Outside Air Units will be installed outdoors next to existing AC units,
rather than on the roof. This will simplify bids/construction due to
structural issues. The six Units will be paired, creating three groups of
fenced in equipment.
 Paint Color & Color Schemes have been selected for all materials, but they
will be confirmed w/ Ms. Del Pilar and the SIO. The standards are broad;
Tim wants Helms to be comfortable w/ the final choices, where were
decided by Ms. Campos but have not been finalized. Deadline is the end
of the school year. SDMC will re-visit this issue and define the decisionmaking process for cosmetic changes like color schemes, murals, etc. Tim
suggested it might help to focus on different areas when considering
these choices.
 Helms staff working during the summer while renovations have closed
our building will be based out of either Love or Field Elementary.
2. Update on Branding:
Letterhead and envelopes w/ new brand have been approved. Business cards
are next.
3. Teacher Grants from PTA:
Attached are the grants awarded to teachers this year by the PTA,
demonstrating how the PTA supports teachers/students in the classroom.
4. Emergency Plan Document








We need to add the SIO to all emergency contact/notification lists.
All outstanding updates will be sent to Elena by Friday, 11/25, 4:00
PM.
Some of the information we are adding is contained in the Red Binder
(Fire Drill locations, evacuation map, etc.), and will be forwarded to
Elena.
We will try to format the document to allow for each emergency to
have its own tab for quick reference.
There were some clarifications about the yellow rosters. The Yellow
Folder is what teachers carry outside in an emergency to be able to
check their rosters - they don’t need to carry the Red Folder also.
Only place the Yellow Folder outside your classroom when a Shelter
in Place is required. Each Dual Language classroom should have two
rosters, one for the Spanish-language class, and one for the Englishlanguage class, to ensure that the teacher can consult a roster at all
times to account for any students in their classroom.
We agreed to leave the daily security protocol out of the Emergency
Plan document, per Ms. Shaw’s suggestion.
Classroom doors can remain either locked or unlocked during the
school day at the discretion of each teacher. Our property is fenced in
and gates are closed/locked throughout the day.
All changes/additions will be circulated electronically before the
December SDMC meeting. At that meeting, we will make any final
edits to the document, and approve it as amended in the meeting.
5. Grading


We have Kinder, 2nd and 5th grade policies but not the other grade
levels. We will wait until we have them for all grades before
implementing changes, to preserve continuity.
Every grading period is another opportunity to use the HISD policy,
which is available to SDMC. We need to have a continuum so that as
students go from one grade to the next there’s continuity. The HISD





grading policy is available from Ms. Guerra, who sent electronic copies
of other schools’ policies with the minutes of the last SDMC meeting.
There are no requirements for numbers of grades; we have to
customize for projects and other classroom activities. Ms. Del Pilar
will forward Helms’s Kinder, 2nd and 5th grade policies on Nov. 18th for
committee review.
Question for the Committee: What do we do with students who fail
tests? Usually re-teach and re-assess; but do we keep the original
grade and add the new grade, or average the grades up to a certain
value? We need a common practice across upper and lower grades,
rather than at grade level. Suggested groupings: PK/K, 1 &2, 3-5.
Berry Elementary has a good example for arranging for staff
development, and Helms needs a way to meet and plan for faculty
around issues like this one. Ms. Del Pilar will issue a new policy that
Grade-level chairs will collect suggestions from all teachers in their
grade and bring to the staff development meeting for intra-grade
alignment.
All grade-level plans are to be turned in by 11/22 @ 4:00 PM. They
will be condensed from 7 levels to 3 school-wide levels as noted
above.
Grading policies will be finalized in the December SDMC meeting.
6. Budget Update




Ms. Del Pilar reviewed the activity funds for Helms. They are
deposited into an Activity Funds account, and then sent to Helms
General Funds (HISD Treasury); Helms writes checks out of the
General Funds accounts.
Activity funds are broken out to different budget lines. Funds are
received from different entities and deposited in the appropriate
budget (eg. After School Program, 3rd Grade, 5th Grade, General
Revenue, etc.). General Revenue funds are used for students and
instruction for the entire student body whereas the other budget lines
are exclusive for the specific entity. Grade level budget lines are used
to deposit grade specific fund raiser monies and are used to pay for
grade level projects such as field trips.
In Activity funds there is a Principal’s discretionary budget. This
budget is funded by taking 20% of the current year’s deposits into the
General Revenue Account. The 20% for 2011-2012 for August –
November has already been deposited. The principal’s discretionary
budget had a negative balance of about $400 in August and even with
the deposit is still negative. The General Revenue Account has a
balance of $3,500 at this time.
SDMC approved the $200 expenditure for scenery for the Winter
Program.
7. In Memory Of… Donation
A $3,000 donation was made to the Activity Fund for Technology, which will
be deposited on 11/18. It is a gift named for a Helms student from 1932, by
an anonymous donor. The gift underwrites the purchase of inexpensive
technology for use by students, consisting of 14 iTouch and 3-4 Flip Cameras.
These items will be used by upper grade classes whose teachers have
developed lesson plans integrating the technology. Other teachers who seek
to use these items will also have opportunities to do so.
8. New Business



May Teacher Assistants leave at 3:30 PM when they work as
substitutes? Yes, as long as they have completed 8 hours on the clock.
We would like suggestion boxes at school to process input from
teachers, staff, and families. They will be placed in the Teacher’s
workroom, at the Greeting Desk in the entry hall, in the Cafeteria, and
with the PTA boxes outside the main office. Stephanie will design
suggestion cards allowing people to categorize their comments,
Tamara will supervise sorting the cards to make sure they are routed
to the right people w/in the school, and Ms. Sosa will design/create
the four suggestion boxes.
Cafeteria Tables: 2 types, rectangular and round; parents are
concerned that we need to adjust the lunch schedule but we have
limited space and cannot afford new tables. There is a representative
from the table company coming next week and we will seek his/her
advice about how to maximize the space. SDMC members are
encouraged to take the lunch schedule home, write questions, and
bring them back to the next SDMC meeting for discussion.
ACTION ITEMS:






Add the SIO to all emergency contact/notification lists in the
Emergency Plan Document.
Ms. Del Pilar will forward an electronic copy of Helms’s Kinder, 2nd
and 5th grade policies on Nov. 18th for committee review.
All grade-level grading policy plans are to be turned in by 11/22 @
4:00 PM.
All outstanding updates to the Emergency Plan Document are due to
Elena by Friday, 11/25, 4:00 PM.
Elena to send draft of Emergency Plan Document to SDMC for review
prior to December meeting.
Stephanie to design suggestion cards for suggestion boxes.


Ms. Sosa to design/place 4 suggestion boxes as noted above in New
Business.
SDMC committee encouraged to brainstorm questions/ideas for lunch
schedule/seating.