Educational Excellence School Advisory Council

6611 Country Club Middle School

Verified EESAC Meeting Minutes for:    08/31/2010  04:55 PM

Please contact the school for a formatted hard copy of these minutes.

Recording Secretary:    Mr. Guillermo Ramos

Location of meeting:    Country Club Middle School, Room 102

Was a quorum established?    Yes

Was the meeting advertised?    Yes,  08/23/2010

Attendance:

Members Present:

Nidia Mercado
Melissa Martin
Erika Leon
Mark Field
Gina Covone
Guillermo Ramos
Jose Fernandez
Viviana Lebena
Barbara Vinas
Jessica Fernandez
Daniela Orta
Viviana Arias
Dr. Jose Uz
Rolando Lobato
Gustavo Gil
Linda Belkin
Anne Knight

Members Absent (Excused):

No one had an excused absence.

Members Absent (Unexcused):

No one had an unexcused absence.

Others Present:

No one else was present.

Topics Covered:

EESAC Minutes – August 31, 2010 – Country Club Middle School


The first EESAC Meeting of the 2010-2011 school year commenced on Tuesday, August 31, 2010 at 4:54 pm by EESAC Chair Ms. Linda Belkin. Introductions by all present at the meeting was held. Mr. Ramos then read the minutes from the last meeting. Ms. Covone then made a motion to approve the minutes and Mr. Uz second the motion and the minutes were approved. The 2010-2011 School Improvement Plan was distributed to all present members for review. As it is a task of the EESAC to monitor progress of the School Improvement Plan goals and strategies throughout the year, each curricular department outlined their plan and recommendations for the school year, based on the SIP document. Ms. Vinas, the school’s reading coach, presented the varied FCAT reading strategies that will be used during the school year and the emphasis on targeting the weakest strands of our students, which is Words and Phrases and Reference and Research, based on last year’s FCAT results. Furthermore, she presented how a pull-out tutoring reading program will be started and reading will also be focused in Science and Social Studies classes. Finally, Ms. Vinas added that the new Response to Intervention (RTI) model will also be additional support to improve reading and that all teachers will be completing professional development throughout the school year on how to integrate the RTI Model with their classes and students. Ms. Spicer presented the Science aspect of the School Improvement Plan. Some of the goals of the Science department is improving the student’s strategies in scientific thinking, have ongoing rotating schedules within the Science department involving dry and wet labs, virtual labs, formative evaluations and utilizing gizmos. Furthermore, the Science department is integrating higher order thinking skills and probing in their lessons and activities, students will be challenged to design their own labs and a Science field trip to Cape Canaveral is in the planning stages. The Mathematics department, led by Ms. Fernandez, presented their goals and strategies as outlined in the School Improvement Plan. Amongst some of the key ideas in Mathematics involve continuous grade level planning meetings, designing cooperative learning activities and utilizing the Smart Board, Vport, Gizmos, Journey and using varied classroom manipulatives in lessons. Finally, Ms. Belkin presented the strategies involved to improve writing as outlined in the School Improvement Plan. A major emphasis this year will be placed on how to read and understand the writing prompts correctly. Also, there will be writing practice and concentration in different modes and styles and a pre-test baseline will be administered and scored holistically. All sixth, seventh and eighth grades will be pre and post tested to achieve positive results and writing will be stressed across the school’s curriculum. Ms. Lebena, the school’s assistant principal, concluded the meeting by reminding all members that the School Improvement Plan review for the 2010-2001 school year will now be sent to the North Region office for corrections and then be rectified one final time before final approval when the EESAC meets again the following month. The next EESAC meeting will be held on September 28, 2010 at 5:00 p.m. Ms. Covone then made a motion to adjourn the meeting and Mrs. Leon second the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 5:25 pm.