April 2013 Meeting

See the April Agenda
See the April Minutes

This meeting included discussions around enrollment projections and staffing for next school year, our school's dual language proposal, and a legislative update on how schools might be impacted by pending legislation. We spent the last 45 minutes of our meeting reviewing the first goal of our Campus Improvement Plan and brainstorming how we could better support our students towards reaching the T-2-4 goal. We had a great conversation and some very good ideas about how to improve our focus on the "T" in the T-2-4.

March 2013 Meeting

See the March Agenda
See the March Minutes

The March meeting included follow up discussions from previous meetings as well as looking ahead to the end of the school year and next year's CIT membership. We discussed the implications for electives in the new 7-period schedule as well as how we would implement the double-blocked ELA classes. We also updated members on our Dual Language Proposal. We discussed CIT membership for next year, named Marga Simpson to replace outgoing teacher Valarie Nappier, and came up with ideas for identifying some parents for next year's committee. Finally, we looked at the April and May school calendars and then reviewed the Final Exam Schedule. Several good suggestions were made to improve the execution of the Final Exam Schedule.

February 2013 Meeting

See the February Agenda
See the February Minutes

This meeting had several objectives. The first was to update members on the 7-period schedule for the 2013-2014 school year as well as discuss the need for professional development for ELA teachers to support them in transitioning to longer instructional periods with students. The second objective was to review campus STAAR results from the last school year (which just arrived from TEA!). The third and most important objective was to have a discussion about the Dual Language program in SBISD and how Spring Oaks could begin a one-way dual language program for incoming 6th graders in the upcoming school year. A dual language proposal to senior staff was discussed. 

January 2013 Meeting

See the January Agenda
See the January Minutes

Although we discussed other agenda items, the bulk of this meeting was spent considering a new schedule for the 2013-2014 school year that would give students more time in their Language Arts classes. Since reading and writing provide the foundation for learning in any academic subject area, committee members agreed that our students need more time during the day to develop a strong foundation in these areas. Our student performance on standardized tests has demonstrated the need and our CIT was willing to take action even if it meant adding some time to the school day.

Addendum to December 2012 Meeting

Due to some unexpected charges and expenses, we need to make the following amendments to our Title 1 accounts:

The following account will be decreased:

• Supplies     $1,225

The following accounts will be increased:

• Consultant (professional development)       $ 875
• Books (for ESL students)                          $ 350

Similarly, we need to make the following amendments to our Title 1 SIP accounts: 

The following account will be decreased:

• Supplies     $ 929

The following accounts will be increased:

• Books (for professional development)       $ 929

Please vote to approve or disapprove this amendment by posting your vote in the comment section. Thanks!

December 2012 Meeting

See the December Agenda

See the December Minutes

At this meeting, we had a thoughtful discussion about our students' performance on the first 9-weeks CBA. We agreed that we would look at data from our students' second 9-weeks CBA at our January meeting. We also spent quite a bit of time familiarizing ourselves with the It's Your Game curriculum from the UT Prevention Research Center. Here is a synopsis from their website:

It’s Your Game…Keep it Real (IYG) is a classroom- and computer-based program for middle school youth. The curriculum is grounded in theory and was developed to prevent teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including HIV. IYG emphasizes abstinence but also teaches students how to protect themselves from pregnancy and STDs using medically accurate information.

CIT Members viewed a sampling of the lessons in the curriculum. We discussed the need for our students, especially our 7th and 8th graders, to be informed about their bodies and the decisions which they will face as they mature. Many are already facing such decisions. We also considered that parents deal with teaching their children about these things in different ways. So we want to ensure parents have a way to opt-out of their children participating in these lessons.

November 2012 Meeting

See the November Agenda

See the November Minutes

The November meeting was a busy one with lots of items for members to discuss. Because SOMS is in the first year of AYP sanctions, we discussed how 10% of our campus Title 1 budget has to be re-purposed for professional development in the areas of improving reading and math. We discussed a plan for accomplishing that.

We looked at STAAR data from the spring of 2012 to gauge where our student performance needs to improve. We also had a discussion about the campus yearbook and how we found a way to take away the risk of losing money each year. One of our members brought up a Teen Parenting Assembly that had been seen at another campus, and that might be informative and useful for our students.

The committee then spent the remainder of its time looking at possible schedules for the 2013-2014 school year. The idea was to increase the amount of time provided to ELA and math. 55 minute, 65 minute, and 85 minute classes were discussed. Among the concerns expressed was raising class size too much in order to accommodate more time in ELA and math. The committee felt that the campus needs to continue looking at scheduling possibilities if it will help students perform better in reading and math.