Verified EESAC Meeting Minutes

Approval of minutes: Mrs. Robledo called the meeting to order at 8:20 a.m. The minutes from February 13, 2007, were reviewed and approved.

Principal’s message: Mrs. Gonzalez began the message by asking for the Educational Excellence School Advisory Council to vote on the waiver to allow block scheduling next year. The faculty voted on February 22 to continue with the present schedule. Council members then approved the motion unanimously. Next, Mrs. Gonzalez discussed the recently completed testing. Students took the FCAT and it was a smooth process. Mrs. Gonzalez thanked Ms. Castillo for her outstanding job. According to state guidelines, at least 95 percent of students need to be tested. For the Sunshine State Standards portion, 100 percent of Carver students were tested. One sixth-grader and one eighth-grader missed the NRT, while the seventh grade again had perfect attendance. The PTSA was thanked for a great job with snacks during the test. “Friends of Carver” was “absolutely beautiful” and raised about $21,000 to be split between Carver Elementary and Carver Middle. The Renaissance Faire takes place on March 15. Mrs. Gonzalez said she is very excited about it and expects it to be even better than last year. She thanked Ms. Senior as chairperson of the event for her numerous hours of planning. The Book Fair will take place March 19-23. The District Initiative of parent-conference night is March 28. A Connect-Ed message will go out to all parents, and teachers may request conferences, in which cases parents will be contacted. Two parent-teacher sessions are scheduled for next school year. Mrs. Corzo has returned and will be here for professional development on brain research on March 16. Letters for admission for incoming sixth-graders will go out soon, but the school is waiting for the district to hold its random selection lottery. Carver elementary students took placement tests to determine whether they qualify for the IS or IE program. Sunset students also will take the placement test so we can assess their academic needs. Coral Way students no longer get in automatically and must go through the lottery because Coral Way has switched to a K-8 program. Eighth-grader Grethel Miro spoke out that she is among the last group from Coral Way. Mrs. Gonzalez said she has been able to put Coral Way students into the IS program if they meet our criteria but doesn’t have this flexibility with the IE program. She added that the constraint of class size amendment affects admission numbers.

Open Forum: Mrs. Robledo explained that because of the contract negotiations, two parent-teacher conference sessions will be held March 28. “This year is going to be heavy for us,” she said. Next year the conferences will be spread over two days. The eighth-grade banquet is set for May 25, and the eighth-grade field trip to Busch Gardens is set for May 29. Mrs. Gonzalez explained that improper behavior can prevent students from attending the banquet and field trip. “This is a privilege and we are not going to have one or two or three children ruin it,” said Mrs. Gonzalez. Advanced Placement (AP) practice exams will take place in all three languages on March 27. Mrs. Stroleny explained the AP course audit is taking place. Mrs. Robledo (Spanish), Mrs. Winston (French), and Mrs. Moghani (German) prepared syllabi that have been reviewed by the District and will now be reviewed by the College Board, which administers the tests nationally. At the District level, the Spanish syllabus was approved immediately, and the French and German will be approved pending minor adjustments. “We are submitting a very high quality product,” said Mrs. Stroleny. “They require a very detailed college level syllabus.” Mr. Sands informed the Council about the Mock Supreme Court, which takes place on March 13 and 14 for his seventh-grade Civics classes. Students examine cases from the state of Florida and fulfill all roles in the court proceedings. Mr. Sands has been doing this activity for 17 years.

Adjournment: Mrs. Robledo adjourned the meeting at 8:55 a.m.