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.

September 2012 Meeting

See the September Agenda

See the September Minutes

This was our first CIT meeting of the school year. So we introduced all members, welcomed new members and welcomed back returning members. We discussed the guidelines, purposes and expectations of the CIT and types of decision making. We also set the meeting schedule for the year.

We established some positive group norms to guide our interactions with each other:

1. Actively listen and participate (vote, participate in conversations, show up on time).
2. Respect all opinions and ideas.
3. Stay on topic.
4. Identify action items and responsibilities prior to the end of the meeting.

Members reviewed the 2012-2013 campus improvement plan (CIP), making minor changes as necessary.

Members reviewed the Title I budget for the school year.

We had a discussion about the yearbook and that the school continues to lose money each year. It was decided to try a different vendor from which parents can buy directly (removing SOMS as a purchaser and guaranteer of number of yearbooks sold) and that also offers better prices and more personalization options.

One member brought up the idea of looking into a School-Age Parent Program. The committee asked the member to get more information so we can look into bringing the program to SOMS 7th and 8th graders.

May 2012 Meeting

Agenda
For this meeting, we will review this year's Campus Improvement Plan as well as look at teacher survey results and student survey results. We will have a discussion around areas of campus strengths and weaknesses and how we can move forward to improve our school. Note that this is our last meeting of the school year and will likely last longer than usual.

Minutes
Fabulous CIT Members, I just want to thank you for doing such a great job this year listening, sharing your input and feedback, and guiding the school in important ways. Special thanks to Lori Anderson (parent), Michael Morphey (parent), and Edith Lewis (teacher), who finish their two years of service on the CIT. Continuing next year will be Valarie Nappier (teacher) and Bruce Goodner (district representative). We will name new members to our committe some time this summer.

April 2012 Meeting

Agenda

CIT Members, we will have our April meeting via our blog. Please read over the agenda (click on the word Agenda above). There are basically two things we need to discuss. Both are listed in the agenda and have links that should take you to source documents. You can make your comments by clicking on "comments" below. If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them by responding to your comments. Or, you can call or email me if that's better for you. If possible, I'd like to have your comments and votes by Thursday, April 19th.

1. For the first agenda item, I have submitted a proposed Title 1 budget for the 2012-2013 school year. As you know the budget can be amended by the CIT at any time until mid-spring of 2013, so this is just a starting place. We must approve and submit the budget this month. Please vote for approval or not. 
2. For the second agenda item, I am forwarding a proposed new PDAS (Professional Development and Appraisal System) domain. Please take a look and comment. It is a draft from a district-wide committee studying how to add a "21st Century Learning" domain to the teacher appraisal system. It basically sets forth some standards that would have to be met starting in the 2013-2014 school year in Spring Branch. The goal is to update our appraisal system to incorporate our district's new instructional focus. The district wants to move toward a more student-centered approach in instruction, including allowing students choices, opportunities to colaborate with other students, and allowing students to use technology regularly to access information in their learning.

March 2012 Meeting

Agenda

Minutes

February 2012 Meeting

Agenda

Minutes

$25K Contest

Could one of our parents nominate a teacher at SOMS to give us a chance at this drawing?

http://www.worthavegroup.com/giveaway/

Addendum B to January 2012 Meeting

At this week's meetings, our leadership team and department chairs decided they want to utilize the ICU program as our main focus to ensure student learning as opposed to creating after-school STAAR test interventions. Since we will not need all of our stipend money, we would like to use this money to purchase classroom technology. Therefore, we will need to make the following amendment to our Title1 budget:

The following account will be decreased:

• Stipends                           $2,000

The following account will be increased:

• Technology Hardware       $2,000

Please vote to approve or disapprove this amendment. You can do this is by posting a comment that has your vote. Thanks!

Addendum A to January 2012 Meeting

I forgot to add one important item to January's CIT Meeting Agenda. We need to make a Title 1 budget amendment because January is our last opportunity to make changes to our Title 1 budget. That means we must have the right amount of money in each budget category from which we want to spend over the remainder of the school year.

The following accounts will be decreased:

• Miscellaneous Expenses     $5,000
• Substitutes                           $2,000
• Professional Conference     $1,500

The following accounts will be increased:

• Paraprofessional Payroll     $  900
• to cover overtime hours for paraprofessional staff for parental involvement
• Instructional Supplies          $3,512
• to cover copy machine overeage for instructional copies
• Maintenance                       $1,588
• data drops needed for student computers in core classes
• Technology Hardware         $2,500
• to add some money for technology purchases

For those of you who are wondering about the data drops discussed at our November meeting, the district did not approve of us purchasing wireless adapters for these computers because they cannot make software updates automatically through wireless adapters. If we want these student computers to connect to the internet we are required to purchase data drops.

Please vote to approve or disapprove this amendment. You can do this is by posting a comment that has your vote. Thanks!

January 2012 Meeting

Agenda

Minutes

December 2011 Meeting

Agenda

Minutes and Discussion
Preliminary Projected Enrollment and Staffing for 2012-2013
We received our projected enrollment for next school year. We are projected to have 866 students next year. Realize it is only the first stage of projections and subject to change. This would be the largest enrollment we've had since about 2004. Our current enrollment is 830, which is about 55 students more than we were expecting this year. We are staffed right now for 775 students. So if our projections hold, and our district's staffing ratios (teachers per student) don't change, we should be adding 3 additional teaching units for the 2012-2013 school year. That's a good thing, and would allow us to consider a few new ideas for scheduling next year. Again, please realize these projections are tentative and preliminary.

Potential Schedule Changes for 2012-2013
The preliminary projections discussed above certainly should inform our ongoing discussion about potential bell schedules for next year. I'm thinking our choices fall into three categories:

1. Keep current 6-period schedule but look at tweaking PAW. We would need to better utilize PAW, especially for ICU purposes. Some have suggested moving it to mornings for announcements and lifeguarding (when ICU lifeguards come around and remind students what they owe in terms of missing assignments). Others have suggested moving it to midday where it would be connected to lunches. The advantage of keeping PAW each day is that we might be able to use it better for ICU.
2. Keep current 6-period schedule and try to find a way to add a few minutes to each class period. This would likely involve cutting back PAW to only once or twice per week. We might be able to get 58 or 59 minutes per period. We could also choose to go with the schedule discussed at the November meeting, which would allow one longer class period each week.
3. Go back to the 5-period alternating block schedule we had from 2008 to 2011. The advantage of this schedule would be the longer 65-minute periods. Of course, with 866 kids, we would have larger class sizes than in option 1 or 2. We would also likely have to go back to certain courses meeting every other day - such as Social Studies and Fine Arts.  

Title 1 Budget Amendment
We need to move $500 from Title 1 technology hardware to another account that would allow us to repair a few broken items. One teacher's laptop has a broken screen, and a couple of teachers have broken devices that are not too costly to repair. You will need to vote for or against this budget amendment.

Powerpoint on Literacy

Looking at scheduling options for next year

Here is the basic schedule we discussed at our meeting. I did not include PAW classes here, although we would likely want PAW at least on Wednesdays and Thursdays. I think we could get close to 60 minutes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Would like to hear your comments.

M	T	W	Th	F
1	1	1	4	1
2	2			2
3	3	2	5	3
4	4			4
5	5	3	6	5
6	6			6

November 2011 Meeting

Agenda

Minutes