Byrd HSA Meeting Minutes from November 17, 2009 Submitted by Janeen Blando, Byrd HSA Recording Secretary
Meeting called to order at 7:02 p.m. There were 23 people in attendance.
Minutes from previous meeting:
Approved - Kara Stansel made the first motion and Stephanie Mastrocola seconded.
Superintendent Update
Dr. Verducci invited everyone to attend the next board meeting. His goal upon taking this new position is not to come in and change things that already work well, but to see what can be done better. He is in the process of putting into place a long-term strategic plan. This plan is going to try to integrate functions across the board looking from K – 12 and for three to five years out. This will be a roadmap for us to know where we are going.
Dr. Verducci has had 40-50 informal "coffee chats" since starting in Glen Rock to try and get his arms around things in our district. Some of the coming challenges are:
Developing the budget and getting it passed. We have to try and balance how we spend our money to get what we need and want and in these tough times it will be a challenge. There may be some shifting of resources around in the K-5 grades to give these grades more in the basic skills areas. This is good business to fix the problems when the kids are young – it is more cost effective to spend the money in earlier grades, will cost less to fix the problems earlier rather than later. Dr Verducci indicated he likes the distinct personalities of the four elementary schools, however, we have to ensure that everyone is getting the same quality of experience to bring with them to 6th grade.
We have a great new director of guidance – Larry Wolff, who really seems to understand that there are other critical issues besides college applications. More time will be spent at the January Federated meeting going through a plan to get the budget passed. Trenton is running amok and it is unconscionable what is expected to be paid for by our community with no funding from the state. An overview of the plan we need to put in place to get it passed.
- Hiring of a Central School Principal. This will be worked on soon using a collaborative effort.
Filling the position of Director of Special Services. This will prove harder since the pool of candidates is more specialized and thereby smaller.
Ensuring good communication with the parents and district via the "Superintendent" section of the district website. Plans on giving a rolling "big picture" approach to be shared on the website, which will allow for an input of ideas fro m the community into a coherent package.
Dr. Verducci concluded by expressing his appreciation for the warm welcome Glen Rock has given him. He then asked if anyone had questions.
Ø First question – Roni Greer asked about the H1N1 status. Dr. Verducci indicated we are still waiting for information on the vaccines.
Ø Second question – Chris Ayers questioned the plan going forward for improving the test scores - asking whether the focus would be on improving the lower scores, not only making the higher scores higher. Dr. Verducci responded that the plan was to move the entire curve up, improving every child’s score simultaneously. He indicated that the plan was to track students throughout their years and comparing the 3rd graders to the 4th graders, (not 3rd graders to the 3rd graders year over year) and to try to match the teaching to the children’s learning style. He stressed it wasn’t only about the school district, but about the individual children within the district that was important.
Ø Third question - Sandy Jorgensen asked about the new Genesis system, and whether the idea was to have daily access to a student’s grades. Dr. Verducci responded that that was in fact the plan, however the system, which was $75,000, was not yet fully implemented. All the other J districts do allow this access to grades. The full implementation of this system is a high priority at this time.
Ø Fourth question – Kara Stansel asked if there is a cap in the class size above elementary school level, as her daughter has several large classes. Dr. Verducci responded that sometimes it depends on the demand for the class and what can be fit into the schedule. He cited Latin as an example – there is a high demand for that class, and there is only one teacher, so there are only so many classes he can teach in a day. It would be a shame to deny a child access to Latin because the class was large, so that class has 30 kids in it.
Ø Fifth question – Mona Milbrodt asked if the long-term strategic plan will be posted on the website. Dr. Verducci indicated that his plan would be posted after it is presented and discussed at the December 14 board meeting. He indicated that he is committed to seeing this plan through and is here for the long-term, saying he would be happy to retire from this district.
Board of Ed Update
Gene Calderon gave us an update.
The BOE met with the Borough Council to try to move towards the two entities sharing some services. The two were not seeing eye to eye, so this meeting was to try to bring them together. The issue is to truly save money, not just shift the money from one hand to the other. The school is inflexible in certain respects, as we must follow as Trenton dictates and we don’t get much state aid. The new council is getting set up after the elections, so once they get organized they could move forward further. Gene also stressed that the Board is concerned with passing the budget, as we don’t really have any room for cuts in it.
Dr. Regan presented our 5 year plan at the teacher convention in AC, and we are ahead of the state. Patricia commented that we do need to get more involved in passing the budget – the big push will be in January. LICE – the district will be staying with our current policy.
Correspondence
The school received a thank you from Felician School, saying that the teachers and the students enjoyed the candy we donated after Halloween.
Treasurer’s Report Reports a cash balance of $23,025.
Income is leveling off, and expenses are coming in.
Membership is only $100 under budget.
Gift wrap ended down from expected and from last year.
Byrd web site is currently under budget; advertising is low.
Dr. Weber’s Report Visitation day went well. Almost all the students were "visited." It was nice to go back to a normal day in the afternoon.
Report cards are out on Friday, they are computerized this time, which seemed to make it smoother passing between specials, etc.
We had a lockdown drill last Friday, which was less than stellar. We will be having another in December (these are unannounced.
We are going into the Cookie Snatchers unit. All units will be doing a play.
The sing-a-long is going to be Mon., Dec. 21, the class parties on Tues., Dec. 22 at 2:45.
The author visit for 4-5 is coming up, as is one for 3-5 in February. Bruce Van Patter coming December 17 for all grades and will be doing a writing workshop.
Committee Reports
Gift wrap – "It's
over." Innisbrook was not customer service oriented. Will look at other vendors for next year. Nominating committee has been filled. Byrd Explorer will not happen, at least in the fall, possibly in the spring. Healthy tasting tomatoes were sampled, and well received, several “no thank-you”s, but no “ewww, yuck”s. They were cut open to show they look like the chambers of the heart. Social – Wendy in the process of getting permits. They need people willing to solicit donations. Also, anyone with connections for wine, beer, food. There will be a meeting in the LC after drop off on Friday.
New Business
First motion to adjourn made by Gina Siebold, seconded by Maria Van Duffelen.
Meeting adjourned at 8:40 p.m.
Byrd HSA Meeting Minutes from October 20, 2009
Submitted by Janeen Blando, Byrd HSA Recording Secretary
Meeting called to order at 8:55 a.m. There were 17 people in attendance.
Minutes from previous meeting:
Approved - Anita Byrd Powell made the first motion and Wendy Lindley seconded.
Correspondence
The HSA received several thank yous for the classroom grants. Some included what the grants were used for, ranging from supplies, to books, and other classroom items (Mrs. Lota bought a rolling cart).
Board of Ed Update
Treasurer’s Report
Reports a cash balance of $20,739.
Coupon books did very well and surpassed their budgeted income by $450!
Gift Wrap on the other hand is down from last year by $2,000…last year at this time we
had a $5,200 dollar profit and as of today, we are only at $3,200.
Dr. Weber’s Report Author Nancy Krulik did a wonderful job. She had six 4th graders (selected by
Ms. Mallach) doing a reading theater. Krulik came to us from Bookends, which is
sending nice authors and we have a few more coming up: On November 17, we will have Brian Stokes Mitchell (a Broadway singer) to
perform songs from his CD which is in the book, "Lights on Broadway." The book
has amazing facts about Broadway and really cool illustrations. (editor's note: visit
was cancelled due to low pre-event sales of the book.
On November 19, Julie Hahnke will be coming for the 4th and 5th grades to talk
about her book, "The Gray Ghost." She will also be at the Middle School that day.
On December 17, Bruce Van Patter will be here for all grades; K-2 and 3-5, and
then will do writers' workshop in three of the classrooms.
Other items to note:
October 27 - Ridgewood Rotary will be giving dictionaries to the 3rd grade students- Halloween parade is coming up, information is posted on the website.
Parent visitation – only 9-11:30 on November 4
There will be an Interdisciplinary day (Day of the Dead) on Tuesday, November 3 New outside lights for the front, windows will be replaced in January through March