• idgeline High School; School Community Council Minutes
    Tuesday, March 14, 2017 at 7:00 A.M.; Conference Room

    Members Present: Kerri Williams (Chair/parent), Crystal Howe (Vice Chair/parent), Michelle Palmer (Secretary/parent), Robert Henke (principal), Michelle Israelsen (parent), Joshua Nelson (parent), Kay Sweeten (parent), Bonnie Odd (teacher), Emma Smith (teacher), Jerry Skidmore (teacher), Tara Johnson (counselor/non-voting member), Brittany Foster (assist. principal, non-voting member)
    Members Absent: David Swenson (assist. principal, non-voting member)
    Visitors: Marcie Lyons, Diane Theurer, Jeff Nielsen
    Meeting Conducted by: Kerri Williams

    Agenda Item #1: Approve minutes from February meeting
    Discussion: Michelle Palmer made a motion to approve the minutes from the February meeting with one minor change. The vote was unanimous to approve the minutes with the change.

    Agenda Item #2: Standards Based Grading discussion/report on conference
    Discussion: Mr. Henke reported some of the things that he has learned about standards based grading from the Professional Learning Community conference and from a book that he is reading “Grading From The Inside Out.” Some of the things that he shared with the SCC:
    1. Each standard that should be learned can be graded 1-4 and then a cumulative grade would be given at the end of each trimester.
    2. Grades can be based on a rubric, so the students know what is expected of them.
    3. Grades should be based on what students know.
    4. The next step for our school is to improve grading.
    5. Some teachers will use standards based grading next year. Some are already using it (all Math 2 teachers, all Math 3 teachers)
    6. Ridgeline will be working toward consistency in grading.
    7. Assessment can be done in many ways: discussion, writing, tests, oral reports, etc.

    Agenda Item #3: School Trust Land Plan for next year, measurable
    Discussion: Mr. Henke showed the draft version of the School Improvement Plan for 2017-2018 school year, using the Trust Land money, which is $151,000. The plan needs to be sent to Cache County School District by April 7th. The schoolwide PLC team and Mr. Henke drafted the plan at the request of the School Community Council. Mr. Henke showed the council the current SAGE test scores. Because Ridgeline is a new school, we don’t have many test scores to use as data yet and some of the tests have changed from current years, specifically the CTE tests. Tara Johnson suggested that some money in the plan be reserved for the cost of packets for students who need to make up credit for classes. The council members were given copies of the plan to review and will meet next week to vote on the plan.

    Agenda Item #4: Students Accessing VPNs at school
    Discussion: Joshua Nelson has concerns about students who are using Virtual Private Networks at school to access websites that may not be appropriate. Brittany Foster is aware of this problem at the school. Many students know how to get around the filters on the school network that are in place for the safety of the students at Ridgeline. Bonnie Odd contacted the district technology departments about VPNs and received a response from Tim Smith, Chief Information Officer of Cache County Schools, which she shared with the council. He is aware of this problem in our district and says that it is a problem in the entire state. The problem is with apps on students cell phones. The only way to effectively stop it requires the purchase of a $112,000 device and additional software which the district is in the process of purchasing and deploying this spring. He suggests that the best thing to do is have supervision at home and school. If a student is caught using a VPN it is a violation of the district AUP and should be disciplined. This discussion was tabled due to lack of time and will be further reviewed and discussed at our next regular meeting.

    Agenda Item #5: Report on city response to speed limit concern: Nibley, Providence, Millville
    Discussion: Crystal Howe reported that Providence City passed a resolution to support moving the 45 mph speed limit sign on the highway more to the north to give more time for cars to slow to 45 mph before the traffic light by the high school. Nibley City and Millville City have been contacted and resolutions are in the works. Crystal will take these resolutions to Mr. Barlow, a member of the UDOT board. This should be enough to make the change. If for some reason this doesn’t work, a member of the council can contact Curt Webb for further assistance.

    Agenda Item #6: How many new members for next year? When to hold SCC elections—spring or fall
    Discussion: This discussion was tabled due to lack of time. We will discuss this at our next regular meeting.

     

    Next Meeting: Thursday, March 23 at 7:00am in the Conference Room (this is a special meeting to vote on the School Improvement Plan and have the SCC members sign their approval)
    Next Regular Meeting: Tuesday, April 11, 2017at 7:00am in the Conference Room

    Minutes Prepared By: Michelle Palmer