Advisory Council

Please scroll to bottom for Minutes of Advisory Council Meetings.

If you would like to share information or ideas with the Advisory Council, please use our Contact Form and select the Advisory Council as the category.

Or, you may call individual members:

High School:
Julie Torres, 462-0727
Carol DaPonte, 416-5126, 462-6034

Middle School:
Dawn Nedin, 462-8345
Jennifer McKee, 416-5706

Hagan:

Jennifer Kaufman, 462-1807
Pat Cordner, 463-2601, 575-3000 ext. 2516

Nassau:
Thomas Keith, 462-5524, 505-5545
Michele Messick, 541-3134

MINUTES
March 2, 2010

New Business

Kevin explained the budget scenario for next year. Given a roll-over budget (no increases or cuts in school activities for 2010-11), the budget to budget increase would be approximately 6.61% and the tax levy increase would be 6.17% after applying a significant level of fund balance to offset the Governor’s proposed state aid cuts. He also shared information about the preliminary budgets of other districts in the county (without identifying them) and noted that 6.17% is, at this point, the lowest of the tax levy increases. Finally, he shared some graphs that demonstrated that personnel-related costs makes up 78% of the budget and that of that percentage, 74% are teachers. Kevin emphasized the fact that budget figures will be adjusted over the next few weeks as updated cost data is received and while changes are likely, they are not expected to be significant.

Ralph then explained the importance of passing the budget this year. He explained that the contingency budget for this year would require a cut of approximately $2.4 million to our programs. He asked the group if they thought the community would support the roll-over budget and, if not, what kind of tax levy increase we should aim for. The consensus was that we should make cuts to lower the tax levy increase to under 5%. To achieve a tax level under 5%, the budget would have to be reduced by approximately $325,000.

We then discussed a variety of possible cuts, including:

Librarian services
Curriculum coordinators
Administration
Transportation costs
Clerical staff
Greeters and other monitors
Secondary teaching staff
Itinerant nurse
AIS services
TAG

Ralph and Kevin will attend the Hagan PTA meeting on March 15^th and the Nassau PTA meeting on March 18^th to get additional feedback from the community. Lois will do the same at the District PTA meeting on March 16^th. All events will be advertised and all residents, with or without children, will be asked to attend one of these meetings in advance of the March 23^rd board meeting when the first draft of the budget will be presented.

Pat Cordner talked about the importance of marketing the budget and suggested that the presentation be given to a small “test group” before doing it large scale. She also suggested arranging babysitting services during board meetings.

Both Ralph and Mike talked about the importance of the parents in garnering support for the budget.

Ongoing Agenda Items

Concerns from PTA Meetings
Updates from District Office
Lois reported that we have used all our snow days and that Nassau is one over and will have to be in session on May 28^th.
Open Agenda

Next Meeting Date

April 6^th at 6:30 in District Office; Paul Fanuele will attend to discuss the Flex program at the high school.

ADVISORY COUNCIL
MINUTES

February 2, 2010

Old Business
- Report Cards—Lois shared the survey results; Jill will chair a committee to review the comments made and make some changes that will make the report cards more user-friendly while keeping the same basic information. Anyone who would like to participate on the committee should contact her at jill.berkowicz@spackenkillschools.org or at 463-7800.
- ELL—Lois explained that we did increase services at Nassau to meet the required student needs. It was a more senior staff member who was assigned the new students. Jill and Barbara continue to monitor the situation to make sure students are receiving the necessary services.
New Business
- Summer Enrichment—Pat Cordner expressed an interest on behalf of parents to have a full-day summer enrichment program and for program offerings to be announced earlier in the spring. Jill explained some concerns about a full-day program: lunch, nurse, transportation, and preparation of the building for September. She will look into some of the legalities of running a full-day program and Lois will report back.
- Foreign Language in the Elementary Schools—Pat Cordner said that she knows of districts that have foreign language in the elementary schools and would like to see it here, or at least have the afterschool program expanded and continued. Jill said she is unaware of schools locally that have such a program and asked Pat to give her the names of districts so that she can investigate how they schedule it. Jill also shared information about a district in Rockland county that instituted such a program in order to raise their proficiency scores in the middle school. Our passing rate is already 100%. Jill will re-establish the afterschool program and offer longer and advanced sessions.
- Substitute Teachers—Pat Cordner expressed her disapproval of parents substituting in the same building as their children and provided several good reasons. Jill and I will meet with the person who coordinates the substitutes and with the building principals to put an end to the practice.
- Science Fair/School Projects—Pat Cordner made a good case against accepting projects at the elementary school that have clearly been done by the parents rather than the children. Either parents should be told that students have to re-do the project themselves, or projects should be done in class. As it is now, there is an inequity in the process that causes a great deal of stress for students and their families. Lois and Jill will meet with the principals to develop a plan to address this issue.
- District/School Logos—Jennifer Kaufman said that the issue of getting rid of the hawk as a mascot at Hagan was questioned at the last PTA meeting. She asked what the thinking was behind that. Lois explained some talk about having one common mascot district wide. Parents did not feel that the Spartan is an appropriate mascot for small children and thought there were better ways of strengthening community ties. Lois will get back to the group.
Ongoing Agenda Items
- Concerns from PTA Meetings
  see above
- Updates from District Office
  none
- Open Agenda
  Julie shared that the PTA is working on the school photo situation and expects to have a resolution soon.
Next Meeting Date

March 2nd at 6:30 in District Office; Kevin Geoghan, Ralph Chiumento, and Mike McCall will attend to discuss the budget.

Agenda Items for Next Meeting

Budget

Agenda Items for April Meeting

Flex program

Common elementary events

December 1, 2009
6:30 pm

Old Business
- Report Cards—Lois shared the survey results; apparently some parents are mailing the survey in, so Lois will update the results in a couple of weeks and email them to everyone.
- Feedback Letters from Parents—Lois shared the feedback received from parents and explained that she sent a generic letter to everyone who responded thanking them for their input and letting them know that the building principals would be calling to discuss their comments. Blank feedback forms will be left on office counters in each building as reminders that parents can fill them out at any time.
- Update on Grade Level Schools Committee—Lois shared the letter that is being mailed home to families this week advertising the committee’s public meetings on December 10 and 17. One member expressed concern that there were only two opportunities. Lois explained that parents have had many months of opportunities to voice opinions, both at meetings (those held last year as well as those scheduled for this month) and through written feedback. If someone cannot attend one of these sessions, he/she can always contact the parent representatives on the committee or send a written correspondence.
- Contracts—Lois asked if there were any questions or comments about the contracts that were mailed. There were not.
New Business
Ongoing Agenda Items
- Concerns from PTA Meetings
  none
- Updates from District Office
  none
- Open Agenda
--Concerns were raised about teachers at the same grade level, in the same building, having significantly different expectations regarding workload and homework. Parents felt that students were not all getting the same education. Lois explained the work we are beginning in mapping curriculum and said she will monitor the situation.
--A member voiced a concern about the number of days teachers have been pulled out for professional development. Lois explained that she has already spoken with the administrators about avoiding the scheduling of too many trainings at the same time.
--A member also asked about the possibility of adding more ELL staff at Nassau. Lois said she would look into it.
--A question was raised about the value of the Flex program at the HS for higher achieving students. Some suggestions were made as to how to make the program more useful. One was to offer different versions according to ability; another was to offer different strands (similar to a magnet school concept) where students could select the strand they would be most interested in. Lois will talk with Paul.

Next Meeting Date

January 5^th at 6:30 in District Office

Agenda Items for Next Meeting

Summer Enrichment
Foreign language in the elementary schools
Substitute teachers
Science Fair

ADVISORY COUNCIL
MINUTES
October 6, 2009
6:30 pm
Present: Pat Cordner, Carol DaPonte, Jennifer Kaufman, Tom Keith, Jennifer McKee, Michele Messick, Dawn Nedin, Julie Torres, Lois Powell

Guest: Jill Berkowicz
- Old Business
  
  Report Cards—Jill explained the technical difficulty in printing just the information that the parents would like to see while still collecting the full range of information that we want as administrators for instruction and assessment purposes. After much discussion, Jill will contact the company to see if they can write a program to allow us to do what we want to do with the data. If this cannot happen, she will pursue a way to separate the report card from the data we wish to have.
- Feedback on Probationary Teachers—Lois shared a letter written by all the administrators that will be sent to parents once annually to seek feedback about any topic of interest to parents. The committee liked the expanded nature of the request.
- Update on Grade Level Schools Committee—Lois shared information about the work the committee was doing on the matrix. A parent asked if the committee would be coming back to the buildings for feedback before presenting a recommendation to the Board. The committee has discussed this.
- Strategic Plan—Lois asked for feedback on the strategic plan. A few people commented that they liked it. Lois talked about her plan to talk with other groups in the community about it (such as police, fire, local colleges, etc.) and asked for ideas about whom to include. She also stated that she plans to attend building site based meetings in November and to speak to student leaders about the plan.
- Budget Process—Lois shared the schedule for the presentations at upcoming board meetings and reassured the group that we are still in good financial health and do not expect to have to make any serious cuts for next year.
New Business
- Safety Alert Letters—we discussed how safety alerts should be communicated to parents. The group felt that we should send the letters home stapled shut so that students are less likely to read them before giving them to their parents. We also discussed the possibility of not sending anything home and just leaving a phone message to check the website.
- Teacher Observation/Evaluation—Lois shared the new documents and said she would explain and answer questions at the next meeting, after people have had a chance to review them.
- Teacher Professional Development—Pat had asked for information about teachers’ opportunities for professional development and the process by which they get paid for credits. Lois shared that information. This led to a discussion about administrators’ getting paid for doctoral work while teachers do not. Pat said that while the details of negotiations must be kept confidential during the process, she feels that when a contract is coming due for negotiations the Board should seek feedback from the community about issues in the contracts that are of concern to them, particularly in tough economic times.
Ongoing Agenda Items
- Concerns from PTA Meetings
  none
- Updates from District Office
  Health bus will be at the HS on October 29^th; the community is welcome.
- Open Agenda
none

Next Meeting Date

November 3^rd at 6:30 in District Office

ADVISORY COUNCIL

MINUTES

October 6, 2009

6:30 pm

Present: Pat Cordner, Carol DaPonte, Jennifer Kaufman, Tom Keith, Jennifer McKee, Michele Messick, Dawn Nedin, Julie Torres, Lois Powell

Guest: Jill Berkowicz

Old Business
- Report Cards—Jill explained the technical difficulty in printing just the information that the parents would like to see while still collecting the full range of information that we want as administrators for instruction and assessment purposes. After much discussion, Jill will contact the company to see if they can write a program to allow us to do what we want to do with the data. If this cannot happen, she will pursue a way to separate the report card from the data we wish to have.
- Feedback on Probationary Teachers—Lois shared a letter written by all the administrators that will be sent to parents once annually to seek feedback about any topic of interest to parents. The committee liked the expanded nature of the request.
- Update on Grade Level Schools Committee—Lois shared information about the work the committee was doing on the matrix. A parent asked if the committee would be coming back to the buildings for feedback before presenting a recommendation to the Board. The committee has discussed this.
- Strategic Plan—Lois asked for feedback on the strategic plan. A few people commented that they liked it. Lois talked about her plan to talk with other groups in the community about it (such as police, fire, local colleges, etc.) and asked for ideas about whom to include. She also stated that she plans to attend building site based meetings in November and to speak to student leaders about the plan.
- Budget Process—Lois shared the schedule for the presentations at upcoming board meetings and reassured the group that we are still in good financial health and do not expect to have to make any serious cuts for next year.
New Business
- Safety Alert Letters—we discussed how safety alerts should be communicated to parents. The group felt that we should send the letters home stapled shut so that students are less likely to read them before giving them to their parents. We also discussed the possibility of not sending anything home and just leaving a phone message to check the website.
- Teacher Observation/Evaluation—Lois shared the new documents and said she would explain and answer questions at the next meeting, after people have had a chance to review them.
- Teacher Professional Development—Pat had asked for information about teachers’ opportunities for professional development and the process by which they get paid for credits. Lois shared that information. This led to a discussion about administrators’ getting paid for doctoral work while teachers do not. Pat said that while the details of negotiations must be kept confidential during the process, she feels that when a contract is coming due for negotiations the Board should seek feedback from the community about issues in the contracts that are of concern to them, particularly in tough economic times.

Ongoing Agenda Items

Concerns from PTA Meetings
none
Updates from District Office
Health bus will be at the HS on October 29^th; the community is welcome.
Open Agenda

none

Next Meeting Date: November 3^rd at 6:30 in District Office

ADVISORY COUNCIL

Minutes

August 25, 2009

Present: Pat Cordner, Jennifer Kaufman, Michele Messick, Dawn Nedin, Lois Powell

Absent: Carol DaPonte, Jennifer McKee, Tom Keith, Julie Torres

Old Business

Feedback on Probationary Teachers—Lois will develop a draft of a feedback form for review by the group at the next meeting.
Report Cards—Parents reported on feedback about report cards:
--kindergarten parents seem content with report cards as they are;
--parents in other grades feel the report cards are too long;
--parents would like to see overall grade, effort, and comments;
--parents would like to know about work habits and behavior as well as effort;
--in grade 5, handwriting is found in two places on the report card;
--too many subcategories:
--some parents do not understand the meaning of comments under the specials
areas, such as understanding musical styles and concepts and appreciation of art
concepts;
--problem with how to grade newly introduced areas;
--perhaps indication should be made as to “at, below, or above grade level,” and “effort average, below average, or above average.
Lois will bring this feedback to the principals and Jill Berkowicz.
Update on Grade Level Schools—The committee met on August 18^th; minutes are available on the district website. At the last meeting, Lori Mulford, Director of Pupil Personnel Services attended to discuss the implications for special education. The positive of a grade level approach is the opportunity for special education teachers to “specialize” at particular developmental level. The negatives include the additional transition and the increased staffing needs (an additional 2.5 teachers). At the next meeting we will discuss transportation and begin to complete a matrix that will assist us in evaluating the information we have received thus far.

New Business

Swine Flu—Lois handed out information from the Dutchess County Department of Health and the Center for Disease Control about Swine Flu. She explained that the Health Department is meeting with the county superintendents on Friday, September 4^th, and that she will be sending a letter home to all parents the first week of school regarding proactive measure the district will be taking and how parents can help prevent an outbreak. Pat shared some steps that Marist is taking in this regard.

Ongoing Agenda Items

Concerns from PTA Meetings
None at this time.
Updates from District Office
None at this time.
Open Agenda
--A concern was raised about number of practice tests given over the holiday
break at Hagan.
--A member requested that we look at the correlation, if any, between scores on
state tests and the students who are in TAG and Continental Math.

Next Meeting Date
Tuesday, October 6, 6:30 at District Office

Agenda Items for Next Meeting
Please feel free to submit items.

The meeting adjourned at 7:45.

ADVISORY COUNCIL

Minutes

April 14, 2009

Present: Pat Cordner, Carol DaPonte, Jennifer Kaufman, Tom Keith, Michele Messick, Dawn Nedin, Julie Torres, Lois Colletta

Absent: Jennifer McKee

We began with introductions. Lois then explained her intent in forming the committee: to provide a vehicle to improve communication between the district administration and the community.

Others shared that their expectations for the group were generally the same. Some thoughts expressed in this regard follow:
                        --communication needs to be more proactive;
                        --there is a need to get more parents involved (including parents from
                           other cultures);
                        --focus groups on specific topics may be another way to get more
                           involvement   and improved communication;
                        --site-based teams may be another good vehicle to open lines of
                           communication;
                        --we need peace and harmony between the two elementary
                           schools/neighborhood (perhaps this group can serve as role models for
                           that);
                        --parents need more information on BoardDocs regarding discussions to
                           be held at Board meetings;
                        --parents need more information about events occurring at other schools
                           that they may want to participate in, as appropriate.

The group agreed to allow their contact information to be put on the website so that community members can contact them easily. Lois will take care of this. Lois will also put this information and an explanation about the committee in the next issue of the Dialogue.

We also discussed some ground rules for the functioning of the committee. Members agreed upon the following: confidentiality, accuracy of information, focus on the factual, no judgments, open-minded, and objective.

We agreed that Lois would keep minutes of the meeting. After sending them to the group for consensus, minutes will be available on the website and will be forwarded to the Board and the PTA co-chairs at each building.

We also agreed that agenda items would be decided upon in advance of the meetings.

While the committee recognizes that it is not charged with the responsibility of discussing grade level schools, we did address a few questions/concerns. We talked about the teachers’ union’s stance that teachers cannot participate on the committee. Someone asked whether we can survey teachers. Lois will speak with the STA president.

The group would like to see the grade level schools committee reach out to the larger community via forums such as those held by the high school project committee. They also expressed the opinion that principals should serve as resources and not “voting” members of the committee and that Board members should not serve on the committee since the committee is charged with making a recommendation to the whole Board when their work is complete. Lois expects that a recommendation will be made to the Board no later than December, 2009, even if the recommendation is to allow more time for study.

The meeting adjourned at 7:20.

The next meeting will be held in the Todd Library at 6:15 on Tuesday, May 12^th.

ADVISORY COUNCIL
Minutes
May 12, 2009

Present: Pat Cordner, Carol DaPonte, Jennifer Kaufman, Tom Keith, Jennifer McKee, Michele Messick, Dawn Nedin, Julie Torres, Lois Colletta

Guest: Jill Berkowicz

Procedural Matters

Summer meetings
We will hold summer meetings if needed.

Membership terms
We discussed length of membership. We are considering a one-year commitment, but will re-evaluate next winter.

Old Business

Field Trip Funding
We discussed the concept of asking for “donations” and the fact that many people are not making the donations. It was suggested that we try changing the wording of the letter to read something such as, “The donation covers the expenses associated with your child participating in the trip.” If the changed wording does not improve the situation, we will revisit the issue. We also discussed whether the PTA could pay for field trips. There was a difference of opinion on this. The National website indicates that they can, while the Taconic representative says otherwise.

New Business

District Communication Opportunities and State of the District
Jennifer suggested putting up thank-you banners when projects are complete (ex., tennis courts, track, etc.) and giving progress reports on status of projects in the Dialogue. Also, when booster clubs donate something, such as bleachers, place a thank you banner up then as well so that the community knows where the funding came from. We agreed that these were good ideas.
Feedback on Teacher Performance
Jennifer asked if there was some way that parents could provide input on probationary teachers before tenure decisions are made. Lois said she would look into the matter and report back at the next meeting.
Report Cards
While Jennifer initiated the conversation, all parents agreed that the new elementary report cards were not meeting their needs. Concerns expressed included the following:
--too much information
--kids are not motivated to do well with these report cards
--takes teachers too long to complete
--waste of paper because of length
Jill explained that the new report cards serve two purposes. One is communication to the parents; the other is to focus the teachers on the specific skills and content they need to address. Parents would like the following information: overall grade in major areas, level of effort the child is putting into the work, and suggestions for parents as to how to help their children address their weaknesses. Jill will work on a new format for the report that goes home to parents and we will bring the draft to the Council for feedback. Jill also talked about teacher webpages being another way to address improved feedback. This is something that is in the works. Parents responded enthusiastically to this.
Identifying and Changing Negative Perceptions of District
Jennifer noted that comments about the public to newspapers should always be framed in a positive light. We agreed.
Teacher Professional Development
Pat asked about how professional development for Superintendents’ Conference Days is planned and what kind of professional development is provided. Jill explained that there is a committee comprised of teachers from each building that sets the professional goals for two-three years. Professional development is then build around these goals. During the last couple of years, the focus has been Balanced Literacy (K-8) and thinking maps (K-12). She explained that for next year, the first conference day will be about how to use the new student management system. The second day will be about character education for the elementary teachers (thanks to a grant written by a district resident) and school safety for the secondary teachers. Jill indicated that teachers are surveyed periodically about their professional development needs and that they complete anonymous evaluations of most professional development opportunities. She also explained that we are trying to provide more professional development online. Our staff are developing courses and we are exchanging courses with Arlington. Pat indicated that local colleges may be good resources for professional development as well.
Curriculum Coordinators
Pat asked for clarification about their roles and how their work interfaces with that of the Director of Curriculum. Jill explained the work of curriculum coordinators is to hold meetings with the staff in their department/grade level, advise principals on curriculum matters, and organize textbook selection committees. At the secondary level, they also advise principals about scheduling of courses. The elementary positions have been a little more difficult since the two coordinators are responsible for multiple grade levels and multiple subjects. Jill went on to explain that principals oversee and guide the work of the curriculum coordinators at the building level, while Jill oversees and guides the work from a district perspective. Pat suggested utilizing secondary subject specialists to assist the elementary coordinators. Jill thought that was a good idea and will give it some thought regarding how it can be put into practice. Pat also suggested utilizing the talents of parents in the community, such as the Hagan parent who is a Vassar science professor.
Mission of Grade Level Schools Committee
Pat asked what the mission of the committee is. Lois explained that while budgetary issues drove the formation of the committee and the investigation of the change, the Board and administration want the recommendation to be made based on what is best for kids. Lois explained that the committee has met twice so far and has identified information that they need for helping them to make their decision. They are also seeking feedback from the community about information they should be looking for. Jennifer suggested finding out why Poughkeepsie and Newburgh moved away from a grade level model. Pat stated that we should look into why the test scores at the two schools are different and the level of parental involvement at each building.

Ongoing Agenda Items

Concerns from PTA Meetings
None at this time.
Open Agenda

Phone system:
Julie asked if we could use our phone calling system more frequently, for events such as Rachel’s Challenge and concerts. We discussed the possibility of “overuse,” but decided that we could certainly start slow and see what kind of reaction we get. Lois asked that if anyone is aware of an event that should be advertised, please let her know.

Substitute teachers:
Concerns were raised about parents subbing in their own child’s building and problems associated with that. Lois will address this with the building principals. We talked about the need for substitutes to be better aware of school procedures, particularly security procedures such as lockdowns. Dawn asked about allowing substitutes to participate in certain professional development opportunities, such as superintendent’s conference days, without pay. Lois indicated that would be fine. The District will address the other issues by providing substitute orientations periodically throughout the year. We also discussed encouraging more teacher education students from Marist to substitute for us.

Next Meeting Date
We looked at two Mondays in June, the 15^th and the 22^nd. Lois will check the district calendar to see which will not conflict with other events.
Agenda Items for Next Meeting
Please feel free to submit items.

The meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.

Minutes

June 22, 2009

Present: Jennifer Kaufman, Tom Keith, Michele Messick, Dawn Nedin, Julie Torres, Lois Colletta

Absent: Pat Cordner, Carol DaPonte, Jennifer McKee

Guest: Kevin Geoghan

Old Business

Feedback on Probationary Teachers—Lois will develop a draft of a feedback form for review by the group at the next meeting.
Report Cards—When printing the report cards, we can suppress information that the parents do not wish to have. Lois distributed blank report cards and asked that Council members get feedback from other parents and bring back information about what they would like to see on K-2 report cards and 3-5 report cards.
Update on Grade Level Schools—The committee met on June 2^nd and will meet again June 30^th. At the last meeting, they heard from parents and a retired administrator from the Arlington district. At the next meeting, we will discuss facilities issues from the perspective of whether such a change is actually feasible without a large investment.
Use of School Messenger—Lois explained that principals have received complaints when they have tried to use the system for non-emergency calls. They also get a barrage of phone calls each time a message goes out from people who want to know what it was about. We will let parents know in September that we’d like to use the system for more than emergencies and ask that they adjust their preferences accordingly.

Substitute Training—Dawn reported that several subs she spoke with are not interested in participating in professional development.

New Business
Kevin presented the Strategic Plan that the administrators have been working on. The plan is still in draft form and will continue to be reviewed and revised, at least through the fall. The expectation is that the plan will take us ten-twenty years into the future, with more specific, shorter-term, building and district goals developed more frequently as well. Feedback from the community is encouraged, particularly in telling us if our vision for the Spackenkill graduate is the right one.

Ongoing Agenda Items

Concerns from PTA Meetings
None at this time.
Updates from District Office
Lois explained that the administration and Board have decided to handle the budget process differently this year. A board member will attend each building’s PTA meeting in September or October to get feedback about budgetary issues and the programs/services that parents value. We will have discussions about the various programs/services identified in last year’s tiers throughout the fall so that come January, when the Board has more information about the financial picture, they can make informed decisions about what to keep, what to add, and what to cut.
Open Agenda
Next Meeting Date
Tuesday, August 18^th, 6:15 at District Office
Agenda Items for Next Meeting
Please feel free to submit items.

The meeting adjourned at 7:45.

District Information

Advisory Council

MINUTES March 2, 2010

MINUTES

MINUTES
March 2, 2010