• Heritage Elementary School
    School Community Council
    Minutes
    Wednesday, January 11, 2023

     

    In attendance: Andrea Linton, Kendal Welker, Maria Jones, Sara Anderson, Melisa

    Richardson, Ali Olsen


    I. Welcome to Heritage Community Council


    II. Review minutes from last month


    III. Approve Last Meetings Minutes

    A. Motion to approve Ali Olsen 2nd Melisa Richardson

     

    IV. School LAND Trust funds spent to date

    A. Budget: $79,737.59
    a. Amount Used: $79,737.59
    b. Amount Left: $27,679.41
    c. Percent Remaining: 25.77% - The remaining funds will go to
    paraprofessionals. We must not have more than 10% remaining.

     

    V. Estimated distribution for 2023-2024 = $104,723
    A. Trust Land Funds have not been allocated yet for the 2023-2024 school year, but
    we will base our discussion on last year’s budget ($104,723.00).


    VI. Ideas for how money should be spent

    a. Reading paraprofessionals for our reading program (TIER II)
    i. Provide aide support to reading program
    ii. Cost $42,000.00
    iii. This cost would be for the whole year for all of the aides. If
    there are more students, we will hire another aide, and the
    district may help. The professionals work with grades K - 4
    (4th grade began this year). They help students in reading
    groups.

    b. AMITY aides
    i. Provide Classroom Support to Teachers/Students.
    ii. Cost $5,333.33 x 3 = $16,000
    iii. They sometimes step in as a substitute because they are
    familiar with the class, and the aides can help if the substitute
    doesn't speak Spanish. We have three AMITY aides this year.
    Ms. Olsen and Ms. Jones say they are doing an incredible job
    this year. DLI does not get aides other than AMITY aides, so
    they help equal out the aides. In the past, Ms. Jones received
    aide help once a week, which was not the best because the
    weekly schedule had to change. She says we need more than
    three aides, but she doesn’t think this is possible. Switching
    classes can be difficult for AMITY aides because they have to
    learn how each classroom operates, so Ms. Jones decided not
    to have aides this year to make it easier on them. The AMITY
    aides are there for the whole school day, so it is like having a
    second teacher in class. They speak Spanish, so they can give
    extra help with the language, which is especially helpful in the
    lower grades. Sometimes they also help with classroom
    management.
    c. Aide support
    i. In classrooms
    ii. 168 days x 5 hours a day @ $13.09/hr
    iii. Total cost: $11,000 (1 full-time or 2 part-time)
    iv. These are not reading aides or AMITY aides. These aides
    would help with math and behavioral problems.

    d. Computers to put on a 4-year rotation
    i. Buy computers: We are on a 4-year rotation (year 1 of 4).
    ii. Cost $1,000.00 per Computer x 10
    iii. Total Cost $10,000.00
    iv. Do we value aide support more than new computers? Ms. Olsen
    wondered if we should use this money for an aide instead. The
    district buys Dell computers, and they have a limited battery life. Ms.
    Jones has had to change her battery twice in five years, which is

    difficult. Without a laptop, she can’t do her job. A comment was made
    that a computer should be standard equipment and not something
    that comes from Trust Land Funds. Trust Land Funds should be extra
    money, not money that is required for a teacher to do their job.
    Teachers can also use these computers to work from home. The
    general thought was that it was important to allocate these funds
    this year because the teacher’s computers are outdated, but we
    should keep this question in mind.
    e. Chromebooks for School
    i. Buy for school
    ii. Cost $360.00 x 60 computers
    iii. Total cost $21,600.00
    iv. With this purchase, each class will have its own set. The
    specifications are set on these Chromebooks because the
    district buys them in bulk.

    f. Software for Reading Inventory/Reading Counts
    i. $2,900.00
    ii. This purchase would be for one more year, and we can look for
    another system for the next year if we would like.

    g. Matching grant for library (JMW)
    i. $1200.00
    ii. This grant allows us to add titles to the library.

     

    VII. Other items of business

    A. A new school safety manual is in the works. We need to make some changes
    because we are basing the manual on documents that are for high school
    students. We need to obtain pictures of a second meeting location if
    students need to leave the school for any reason. The teachers do not have a
    copy yet, but the master copy is almost complete.
    B. The camera is working up front, and we will get two more security cameras:
    one for the bus area and another for the front parking lot. We currently
    have at least nine cameras throughout the school. The front door camera is
    always recording.

    C. All teachers received copies of the PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions
    and Support) document. This is a new behavioral system, and everything is
    phrased positively by focusing on what kids can do instead of what they
    shouldn’t do.
    D. We would like to know the amount of students each aide helps and how this
    help is distributed. Mindy Larsen is the coordinator, so maybe we could ask
    if she could come in and let us know these numbers. We would like to know if
    they keep data on where aides go, what their services are, and which aides
    help improve reading scores. This information will help us decide which
    decision will make the biggest impact.

     

    VIII. Thanks for attending

    A. Motion to Close Sara Anderson 2nd Melisa Richardson