[PC News] May 3 Parent Council meeting, April Minutes, Meal Prices,
Last Day of School
Shelley Payne
shp33 at alumni.virginia.edu
Wed Apr 27 14:38:12 EDT 2005
Parent Council News
April 27, 2005
http://avenue.org/parentcouncil <http://avenue.org/parentcouncil>
____________________________________________________________________________
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Topics in This Issue:
1. Final Parent Council Meeting of the School Year
2. 2005-2006 Parent Council Reps
3. Student Meal Prices Increased for Next School Year
4. Albemarle County Schools to End Academic Year June 13
5. April 12th Parent Council Meeting Minutes
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Final Parent Council Meeting of the School Year
The Parent Council’s final meeting of the school year is next Tuesday, May
3rd. For this meeting only, we’ll have an earlier than usual start time –
6:30pm, instead of 7:00 – so that we can enjoy the dinner that will be
graciously catered by CATEC. In addition to the election of officers for
next year, this meeting will offer a time for reflection & envisioning –
reflecting on the programs held at Parent Council meetings this year and
beginning to envision what topical areas we should focus on when we
reconvene starting in September. So spend a bit of time before next Tuesday
thinking back on the meetings that you attended so that you can offer your
perspective on those programs
and also do some self-brainstorming on what
you’d like to see in 2005-06, and come prepared with ideas!
2005-2006 Parent Council Reps
If you know for certain that you will *not* be returning as your school’s
Parent Council rep in the fall, please begin thinking about who your
successor possibly could/should be – and feel free to invite that person to
next week’s meeting so that she/he is exposed to the Parent Council.
(Remember that each school can have 2 reps to the PC – their regular rep and
an alternate.)
Student Meal Prices Increased for Next School Year
Albemarle County Public Schools raised student meal prices for the 2005-06
school year in response to escalating food and labor costs. For the first
time in six years, student meal costs will increase 25 cents next school
year.
“We know that students who eat a nutritious breakfast and lunch do better in
school,” said Gordon Walker, School Board President. “We want to offer
students quality meals at affordable prices and this cost increase will help
us preserve the current level of services for families while bringing more
financial stability to the program.”
The average food cost of a typical elementary school lunch has increased 28
percent since 1999 while labor costs have increased 38 percent. In past
years, the Child Nutrition Department dipped into its reserves and made
efficiencies to absorb the increased costs instead of raising meal prices.
Next school year, the 25 cent increase in student meal prices will bring the
cost of an elementary breakfast to $1 while an elementary lunch will cost
$1.75, and middle and high school lunches $2 each. The School Board approved
the price change during its April 14, 2005 meeting.
“Our prices need to keep better pace with our costs. It’s common for a food
service department to raise prices every two to four years to meet
increasing food and labor costs. We were fortunate to hold off a price
increase for so long and now our attention will turn to informing families
of the change so they have time to prepare,” Walker said.
Albemarle County Public Schools continue to offer free or reduced price
meals to families that qualify. To participate, families must submit a Free
and Reduced Price Meal Application. Applications are distributed to families
annually in each student’s first day of school packet. Families also can
call the Child Nutrition Program at (434) 296-0566 to request an application
be mailed or download an application from the Child Nutrition Program
portion of the Albemarle County Public Schools website at
www.k12albemarle.org <http://www.k12albemarle.org/> .
Albemarle County Schools to End Academic Year June 13
The last day of school for students in Albemarle County Public Schools will
be June 13, 2005. Students will attend classes for a full day on June 13 and
will be dismissed at their regular times.
School closings due to inclement weather during the winter months pushed the
last day of the 2004-05 school year from June 6 to June 14. June 14 marks
the date for the dual primary and many Albemarle County schools are used as
voting locations on that date. This conflict, coupled with verification that
Albemarle County schools will surpass legal requirements for teaching hours
this school year, prompted the School Board to end the school year for
students on June 13. Teachers, however, can work at their schools on June
14.
The Virginia Board of Education has indicated that the length of every
school division’s academic year must be at least 180 teaching days or 990
teaching hours. Currently Albemarle County elementary schools have 1,035
clock hours scheduled, and its middle and high schools have 1,110 clock
hours scheduled, making the division compliant with state requirements.
Albemarle County Public Schools Parent Council Meeting Minutes, April 12,
2005
Members present: Shelley Payne; Burley; Chip Deale, Crozet; Joe Abbate,
Henley; Craig Wilson, Hollymead; Brenda Dierolf, Jack Jouett; Dan Dunsmore,
Meriwether-Lewis; Teresa Hashisaki; Murray Elementary; M. Marano, Murray
High; Stacy Walker, Sutherland.
Guests present: Miriam Rushfinn, The Parent Center; Shaele Wood and Jim
Richardson, United Way – Thomas Jefferson Area.
Staff present: Dr. Kevin Castner, Superintendent; Steele Howen, Executive
Director of Administrative Services; Christy Sinatra, School Board Deputy
Clerk.
1. Welcome and Old Business – Chip Deale
a. The meeting was called to order at 7:14 p.m.
b. The March 8, 2005 meeting Minutes were approved as presented.
c. United Way – Thomas Jefferson Area Day of Caring presentation by Shaele
Wood, Volunteer Center Director, and Jim Richardson, Day of Caring
Chairperson.
1. Day of Caring will be Wed., September 21, 2005.
2. Albemarle County Public Schools contact will be June Smith. She can
be reached at 296-5820. Registration for schools will begin early and be
completed before the school year ends in June.
3. Albemarle County has pledged 100 percent school participation for
2005. Mr. Richardson said the event is a way for schools to stretch budgets
to get things done while serving as an event that models good character for
students. Schools can sign-up for as many projects as they can handle
effectively. It was suggested that each school have a parent serve as the
contact for the volunteer team that will work at the site.
4. The Day of Caring differs from Make a Difference Day. Day of Caring
brings people from businesses and the community into schools. Make a
Difference Day takes school students into the community to volunteer.
5. Principals are aware of the Day of Caring and heard a similar
presentation at a recent meeting. June Smith will follow-up with Principals.
6. Ideas for projects typically come from within the school. Parents
and teachers need to make sure the plans have the Principal’s agreement.
There is a list of past projects on the Day of Caring website at
www.dayofcaring.info <http://www.dayofcaring.info/> .
7. This year there will be the capacity to do small scale construction
projects like bookcases or small structures. These types of projects will
require an evaluation in advance for planning purposes. United Way
encourages the agency or school to seek donations or pay for the materials
needed themselves.
2. New Business – Chip Deale
a. Parent Council Officer Nominating Committee
i.
Volunteers are being sought to serve on this committee to nominate
individuals for Parent Council offices for next school year. The work could
be accomplished over one meeting, either over the phone or during a lunch
meeting.
ii. The
slate of officers will need to be presented at the May meeting.
iii. Those
interested in serving on the Committee should contact Mr. Deale at
chip.deale at cfainstitute.org <mailto:chip.deale at cfainstitute.org>
b. Review of School Board Fund-raising Policy Changes
i. Steele
Howen said the revised Policy KJB was distributed earlier over the Parent
Council listserv. Changes to the policy are minimal but the administration
wanted to review changes with Parent Council before taking to the School
Board for final approval.
ii. Changes
were made so the policy mirrors actual practice in schools while providing
sound financial oversight. Major changes were made in two areas: requiring
written permission of the school Principal for fund-raisers and
clarification of the reporting process for contributions.
iii. No
additional changes to the policy were suggested by Parent Council members.
3. Superintendent’s Report – Dr. Kevin Castner
a. Student Meal Cost Increase
i. On
Thursday, the School Board will approve a 25-cent cost increase in student
meals for the 2005-06 school year. The last increase was in 1999. Most
school divisions raise more frequently.
ii. The
increase is needed to maintain the current food services program in response
to wage and food cost increases.
iii. The
Board has asked the Child Nutrition Department to find a way to better
market healthier foods and promote best practices in terms of the types of
food served. Because the department is self-sustaining, it operates on a
tight margin and although we won’t be able to do a whole lot, there are some
improvements that can be made.
iv. There is
a proposal for a traveling Child Nutrition manager in the budget to enable a
staff person to go from site to site to review food quality and other
issues. We believe improvements start with people and hope the Board will
support the position in the budget process.
The following were questions asked by Parent Council members:
Q1: Wage and food costs are up. Are the student meal price increases being
proposed above and beyond the percentage of the increase in costs to the
Division?
A: Dr. Castner said no because we’ve also had some efficiencies that have
helped us cut labor costs. Some efficiencies were in technology and have
helped us recover some costs and that’s why you won’t see a dollar-to-dollar
comparison in the cost increase. We may need to expect to raise the price
every three years or so.
Q2: Is there a prospect of contracting out?
A. Dr. Castner said that from what we’ve seen, we don’t see that as having
more pluses than minuses. If we contract it out we would have no control
over the people who are employed and their wages would probably go down. Our
salaries for our food service staff are above market and we also offer
benefits for some, and if you compared them you’d be surprised.
Q3: Are there elements of food services that are under contract?
A. Dr. Castner said no, other than the subsidy we get from the federal
government but I’m not the expert on this and don’t want to be the final
word. Steele said that by keeping our program in-house, we have more control
over employees which also includes background checks so we can ensure those
people coming in our buildings and working around children are OK.
b. School Division Budget
i. At the
Board of Supervisors Public Hearing on April 6 we had about 15 speakers
including Parent Council members and teachers. It’s a meeting that’s usually
uneventful but with the fact that we had 15 speakers, we held serve, so to
speak.
ii. There’
s a philosophical bent that every time property taxes go up you should be
giving money back and not doing more for infrastructure. The 2 cents that
they propose giving back versus the 4 to 6 cents that certain parts of the
public were after was a fair debate that had to occur and things happened
for the long run in the best way. We were somewhat surprised at some of the
speakers that talked about the reduction in the rates as some had houses
that go beyond $1 million, and for so many to cry poor mouth, to him, was
quite disingenuous. It would be far more progressive for there to be a break
for people who are not so financially secure and he’s all for that. It does
get into a delicacy when you’re talking about public funds and we think it
came out OK.
iii. Based on
the Board of Supervisors actions so far, we will, most importantly, be able
to fund 99 percent of our budget proposal. The $1 million in cuts we will
need to make from our funding request will not have impacts on sites and we
will not step back from the salary increase.
iv. In the
budget, the one thing that will have a big impact on Parent Council will be
the Executive Director for Community Engagement position and that person
will take on Steele’s role. Dr. Castner said he will ask the Board this week
if we can start advertising the position because we will have to backfill a
Principal for a school and we don’t want to look for a Principal in July
v. An
example of how this position will help parents came up in a recent meeting
with the new education foundation. Dr. Castner asked if the Charlottesville
and Albemarle Parent Councils can do some kind of parent training or forum
and while they liked the idea, they don’t have anyone to make it happen.
Lisa Moorefield from Parent Council is on that Board and people with ideas
should talk with her. The forum could be funded by the foundation and focus
on topics parents find useful
vi. While
the budget for next year includes significant salary increases, we will not
have teacher or administrator raises in the future like we’ve had for the
past two years because we’ve tried to reach a target. It’s put us in a much
better position for recruitment and retention.
c. Proposed Cale and Albemarle High expansions
i.
Tonight there are meetings at Cale and Albemarle High to talk about campus
and enrollment expansions. The expansions are recommendations that came from
the Long-Range Planning Committee and decisions on these recommendations
will impact the Redistricting Committee’s next phase of work.
ii. The
proposal is to expand Cale to 650 students. Dr. Castner said he did go on
record that he thought it could go to 700 and still maintain an excellent
program. The average elementary school in Virginia is not something we’re
used to; it’s bigger than what we have. The increase at Cale has advantages
such as infrastructure and cost savings from not building a Southern
elementary campus.
iii. At the
same time, there’s a similar discussion over at Albemarle High about
expanding to 1850. This would eliminate the trailers and give the school the
flexibility to deal with growth and deal with the delicate issue in the
community over whether kids should have to go 15 miles to Western or 5 miles
to Albemarle. Albemarle is about 1700 right now. We think over the period of
growth that we’d be comfortable at 1850.
iv. The
Board wanted the information shared with the school communities before
making a final decision. There will be public hearings and the committee
will be looking at this again. Right now there are two timelines – one with
a public hearing this spring and one with the public hearing in the fall.
None of this can be done until the Board makes a decision.
d. Redistricting
i. The
Board is accepting the small changes the committee recommended in Phase I.
The committee will begin work on a second phase and bring recommendations
forward later.
e. Summer Staff Development
i. We’re
going to have 200 teachers this summer working on our curriculum in how to
help students really apply knowledge and work beyond multiple choice. We
need to get more people involved. In our schools any child that looks like
they are not passing SOLs is getting some very individualized, nurturing
help in schools. At the same time we have gone from 500 to 2000 kids who are
taking advanced coursework in schools that includes not just AP but dual
enrollment at the community college. It’s an opportunity for more kids to
get involved in more rigorous work. Dr. Castner said he wants people to know
that while we’re working with kids who are struggling, we’re working with
others, too. There’s a pretty good balance.
Parent Council members asked the following questions:
Q1: Are we OK with a 74-cent tax rate?
A. Dr. Castner said the Board of Supervisors vote on April 6 was not a
binding vote. We’re going to make some follow-up phone calls before April
20th but we should be able to handle it at the Board level. If Ken Boyd or
David Wyant are your representatives, you may want to talk with them and
share your point of view on their votes to reduce the tax rate and the
impacts it would have on schools.
Q2: There are 200 people in staff development this summer. Will that involve
them learning how to teach for 90 minutes?
A. Dr. Castner said we’re providing some individual staff development for
Henley and Jouett and are working with Principals. Mrs. Howen said we have
some excellent teachers in the Division who will help train teachers for
90-minute periods. Dr. Castner said we can’t take for granted there won’t be
a need for support but we have a lot of good in place and experience in this
area.
Q3: When will the Board vote on the school size issue?
A. Dr. Castner said the Board will give direction on Thursday. There are two
issues – approval of the small redistricting (Phase I recommendations) and
then direction to the Redistricting Committee for phase 2. It could occur on
Thursday. The Board will be asking what’s happening at the school meetings
tonight.
Q4: The Cale community seems reluctant to have an extra 50 enrolled. Would
they rather be redistricted into another school?
A. Dr. Castner said he’s a little biased in this now. We don’t know where we
’d find the $14 million right now (to build a new school) but the fact is
they have a right to be heard. We used the number 700 originally but I didn’
t realize the footprint was for 650 and there was reaction to that
difference. With Henley, when we went from 600 to 900 we added a lot of
flexibility we’re thankful for and there was no reaction for that. A parent
commented that school size may have different reactions at the elementary
level for kids are younger. Another parent said that maybe the concern is
that there are no models for that size here. Dr. Castner said there are
models of schools of that size across the state.
Q5: Spanish and the longer day – are they tied together?
A. Dr. Castner said they help each other. We are adding 15 minutes. The
Spanish is something we are integrating into the program. The reason we did
the extension of the day wasn’t for the Spanish, it was for our students to
have comparable instruction time to others in Virginia. We’re not hiring
separate teachers for Spanish, we’re having our teachers learn to do this
with their kids.
Q6: At Hollymead, there’s some nutrition curriculum that’s supposed to be
rolled out this fall, maybe as part of P.E. We heard it’s been around for a
long time and wasn’t done.
A: Dr. Castner said he will need to do some homework to respond. If it’s
something we’re supposed to do that’s related to the SOL framework it’s
different than if it’s an add-on. If it’s an add-on, I need to know where it
’s coming from and report back. For Spanish we have a structured,
Division-wide program.
4. Program Presentation and Group Dialogue – Miriam Rushfinn, The Parent
Center
a. Ms. Rushfinn said the focus of the Parent Center in general is how to
further engage families and parents. Whether it’s elementary, middle or high
school, everyone has a different orientation and that’s why it’s very
important that you tailor to your own school community.
b. The group identified challenges or barriers that their organizations are
encountering:
i. How to
connect with families that are completely disengaged with schools no matter
what you do?
ii. How do
you get more people involved?
iii. How to
get teachers involved?
iv.
Diversity (gender, socioeconomic, ethnic) -- how do you define?
v. Parent
perception about need for involvement, especially middle and high school
vi.
Confusion about how to be involved, especially at middle school
c. Ms. Rushfinn said one of the key challenges nationwide that’s supported
by research is that we don’t define parent and family involvement in the
same way. Without a definition, it’s hard to know what we want and how to
get them involved.
d. The group identified definitions for involvement:
i. It can
be getting to know teachers and finding out how my child is doing in school
ii. It can
be wanting to be involved in children’s lives, be as much of a positive
impact as can
iii. It can
be taking a true interest
e. Ms. Rushfinn said two common ways it’s defined is by volunteering at
school or going to school events. Some of the things the group said are not
commonly thought of as involvement.
i.
Research shows what’s most effective is when there’s a family and school
connection. It’s a two-way street. Who are key people involved in it – it’s
teachers being welcoming.
ii. It’s
not an event, it’s an ongoing relationship. The events are strategies to get
the goal.
iii. It’s
something that benefits both teachers and families that increases student
achievement. When we talk about it like that, they see it is mutually
beneficial and ongoing.
iv. It’s the
role of the school system to clearly define what we mean by family and
community involvement.
v.
Research says that if a family has limited time, you get better results if
you spend that time with your children at home. Lots of teachers would
agree.
f. Ms. Rushfinn provided handouts and highlighted the following points:
i.
Clarify your PTA/PTO focus in the beginning.
ii. Conduct
simple surveys at the end of events. Ask people who come what they thought
of the event. What was our goal for the event and did it work?
iii. Consider
the PTO the school host/hostess. The qualities you associate with good
friendships apply to PTOs. Start where people are at, not where you are at.
Don’t tell them “come to me so I can meet you.” Go to them where they are
comfortable. Do it in a personal, informal way. You take the first steps.
You have to engage them in a personal manner.
iv. Build
community on a classroom basis. When we have events we have parents as
passive, accepting information from school. It doesn’t build connections. If
you connect, you’re more likely to come next time. Connect parents in their
classrooms. Connect them early and keep doing that and it’s more likely they
’ll be involved. Need school buy-in for this.
v. Know
where the Principal’s perspective is. Everyone has a slightly different
focus.
g. Ms. Rushfinn provided specific ideas about what PTOs can do:
i. Varied
communications
ii.
Welcoming and friendly environments
iii.
Providing resources for parents in the entry way (information sheets on how
to be involved with your kids, resource sheets, etc.)
iv. Put
system in place to help other parents with problems and follow-up with them
v. If you
want to do things differently, you have to be different.
vi. Use The
Parent Center Best Practices worksheet.
vii. Use The
Parent Center Assessment Worksheet as an awareness-raising, discussion tool.
viii. Get people
together to think creatively about how to reach out on a small scale and a
large scale in their neighborhoods, community. They will do things
differently and people will come.
h. Dr. Castner suggested this type of workshop be conducted for PTO leaders
at the start of the school year. It also might be a good idea to videotape
and distribute it to PTOs to adapt to their specific sites and use as
starting point for roundtable discussions.
5. Good and Welfare
a. Mr. Wilson of Hollymead said that others have probably read in the paper
about the increasing rate of child obesity in the county and state. He said
there is a saying that a war is fought on a soldier’s stomach and the same
can be said for children; if they have better food in their bodies they will
be more attentive and learn. You will see more coming from Hollymead on this
topic.
b. Mr. Deale said Parent Council will do a reflection and planning session
at its last meeting in May. He asked that members look back on the past year
to reflect and start thinking about what we’d like Parent Council to do next
year and about who will be involved from your school. The May 3 meeting will
include a dinner.
6. The meeting was adjourned at 9:08 p.m.
____________________________________________________________________________
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