SIT minutes
Taken by Rachel F. Seidman, Parent member of SIT
4/18/15, 5:30 p.m.
Present: Tom Brown, Mary Hamilton, Melissa Zemon, James Barrett, LaVerne
Mattocks, Peter Cho, Leah Abrams, Katherine Prakken, Rachel Seidman, Nathalie
Gaut, Mark Rhodes, Christine Laatz, John Hite, Kendra H. Chamblee,
1. Public Comments
None.
2. SGA Report—Leah
Boro Blowout—positive feedback from the faculty.
Election—waiting for additional ballots from French Exchange program (all
other ballots have been counted).
Other plans: Helping CIC with senior bulletin board, planning for teacher
appreciation
Ms. Mattocks—impressed by how extremely organized Boro Blowout was,
students demonstrated leadership, very proud of the work the students did.
Other comments:
 Only complaint was lack of food trucks, but that was
impossible due to legal constraints.
 Suggestion: picnic at the beginning of the year, to let kids see
teachers as “real people.” Perhaps on weeknight or weekend.
 Carrboro, East, and Chapel Hill student body presidents met
together and created a petition, to request infrequent food day
permit for vendors to come in for special events.
 It’s now in the SIT guidelines, that student government can
officially be members of the SIT.
3. Mural Project Update—John Hite & Leah
Report on muralists who were here from Dominican Republic for a week.
Grateful to SIT for approval and guidance. D wing represents the present &
issues we are dealing with now; students as deciders of their own future. E
wing is about the future as imagined possible. Peace, hope, plenty. The
process was amazing for staff and parents who saw students building bridges
to each other and to the artists. Thanks to K. Prakken who donated paint,
along with Fitch Lumber. Next step: tie in to water project in DR. Need
$15,000. Have raised $2,000. Online site where donations are taken. Plans:
unveiling with a silent auction; cards of murals and the school for sale;
fundraisers through restaurants; collecting in classrooms & traffic circle;
yard sale. “Prizes” for when certain marks are met. Shave heads, die hair
purple, etc. Other ideas discussed for fundraising.
4. Approval of Minutes from previous meeting
Motion passed and Approved unanimously
5. Principal’s Report
Master schedule: looking at it differently. Focus on planning, time spent up
front allows teacher more adaptability in the classroom. How do we do that
even better? Depts and PLCs looking at that. Hope to have a schedule within
a month.
Vacancies: focus on being efficient to insure we get good quality candidates
and be thoughtful during interviews—pushing to later in the year to give
more time.
8 online tests coming up. Testing will begin week of Memorial Day. AP
testing begins May 4.
Mural project was great opportunity, got good press, did a lot for the school
& students, building sense of community.
Prom coming up; grade level assemblies happening. Focus on good decision
making. More reported violations of honor code recently. Dress code,
cafeteria behavior. One reason is to give students access to/get to know
administrators. 20 minutes each.
Q: what is adult presence at the Prom?
A: faculty sign up, sponsors, administration
There are always enough faculty, plus 2 police, to watch every exit.
Breathalizers are available if needed.
Q: How do we deal with non-Carrboro students?
A: Long process to get in, have to get a permit that takes a lot of paperwork,
You have to be under 21 (nobody of drinking age).
Q: When is senior week?
A: Week of May 18th (before testing starts), senior assembly is that Friday,
May 22.
6. Follow-Up Communication Gaps on Website
Requests to put things up have gone up, Kendra Chamblee is the middleperson to give stuff to. Noted that calendar is not up to date.
7. Follow-Up: Prep course for ACT during day?
No final decisions. Ms. Mattocks met with students who spearheaded. They
will meet again next week. They have other students at UNC interested in
participating. 95% of juniors took the ACT at school.
Curriculum management team determines what becomes a course, at the
request of a teacher. A faculty would have to design the course, submit it to
principal, who then would submit it to the team, who would then submit to
the board.
Suggestion: Ask Mary Rogers how to design it?
Ask staff to design the class?
Too late to offer anything new for next year; proposals due in Fall for the
following year.
Could it be incorporated into Study for Success class?
Could it be offered during Smart Lunch?
Agreed that it was worth sending out a note to faculty to see if there is
interest to develop class, and to continuing to work with the UNC students
for next year.
8. Follow-Up: Look at SIT bylaws to see if we can add appointed member
A: If there is a vacancy it can be filled by appointment, but can’t added to the
permanent roster without election. SIT election was raised at the African
American support group.
9. Follow-Up: SIT elections
PTA puts out the election notice, through the e-News, and Ms. Mattocks will
mention on a Sunday night announcement. Discussion of how to make the
invitation/recruitment more appealing to wide variety of people. Website, enewsletter, etc. R Seidman will look into Culbreth’s description to use here.
Individual on SIT should recruit directly to people through personal
outreach. Carrboro Facebook.
10. Suggestion Box Topics--none
11. Adjourned