Verified EESAC Meeting Minutes

Ingrid Robledo, chairman, called the EESAC meeting to order at 8:15am. The previous minutes were reviewed and revised minutes were approved by consensus.
Mrs. Robledo welcomed and introduced the elected council members-parents representatives- for next school year: Mrs. Alicia Martínez, Cecilia Prahl, Sandra Avila, Ada de Varona and Mr. Frank Stringfellow. She reminded them of the importance of their role as part of The Educational Excellence School Advisory Council (EESAC) which is the sole body responsible for final decision making at the school relating to the implementation of the components of the School Performance Excellence Plan.
She stated that EESAC's function is to bring together all stakeholders and involve them in an authentic role in decisions which affect instruction and the delivery of programs therefore she explained that teachers from each department were invited to this meeting to discuss the results of the preliminary meeting of the School Performance Excellence Plan SPEP Committee.
Mrs. Szmulewicz chair of the math department and SPEP Committee began by saying that the SPEP committee decided to do the plan according to interdisciplinary fields using the following themes: 1) Economic Awareness, 2) Global Citizenship and 3) Data Collection & Critical Thinking Skills. All three themes will be incorporated in all three objectives.

Objective #1, writing, was addressed by Mrs. Janice Byrd, chairperson of the Language Arts Department. Mrs. Byrd stated that this year the focus will be on persuasive writing. Ms. Gonzalez added that other areas of Language Arts would not be neglected and will still be mentioned in the strategies. Mr. Cabrera went on to say that the objectives can always be changed and that the strategies are the most important part of the SPEP. Mrs. Robledo expressed that these themes will motivate students and mentioned that the current event activities that she uses in her Humanities classes bring into play a combination of narrative, descriptive and persuasive skills, as well as, promoting Global Citizens who understand the wealth of knowledge to be learned from other cultures and experiences, while at the same time remembering a fundamental concept; we are all the same. She said that Global Citizens not only recognize the diversity and value of distant places, they also appreciate the cultures and experiences to be found in their backyards. The Social Studies, math and Science departments will also focus persuasive writing skills. Ms. Byrd stated that all grade levels will take an FCAT pre-test and 8th graders will grade it.
Mrs. Moghani, chair of the German Department, explained the Objective #2, related to Oral Proficiency, that was determined by the Spanish, French and German Departments and said that students will be provided with rubrics to train them in the strengthening of verbal skills at all grade levels and all languages. Ms. Byrd said that the Language Arts department will also use rubrics scoring for Public Speaking assignments. The Science department will use them as well. Mr. Hans suggested that we put more emphasis on the theme of elections (since next year will be an election year) to fortify oral proficiency and writing objectives while incorporating the Global Citizenship theme. Mr. Sands mentioned that every year GWC has mock elections and mock trial activities through the Social Studies department. Mrs. Moghani said the German department will also emphasize oral presentations, and administer pre and post tests hoping for a 20% improvement in oral proficiency skills. The French and Spanish may vary.
Objective #3, Science, was addressed by Ms. Driggs in representation of Mrs. Soto. She stated that the Science department will administer pre and post tests evaluating Data Collection and Critical Thinking skills. She also stated that Science teachers will use persuasive writing skills on environmental issues.
Ms. Gonzalez asked for the EESAC monies to be used for the acquisition of software and incorporated technology in the three objectives. Alicia Martinez added that a lot of the software the school has is obsolete after the Windows 2000 upgrade. Ms. Cecilia Prahl mentioned that she would like to see students using more Power Point presentations in Social Studies and Science. Mrs. Robledo and Mrs. Moghani said that Power Point Presentations are being used by many teachers in all departments.
Ms. Gonzalez stated that last year’s EESAC funds were used for school classroom libraries and asked the EESAC council to consider using next year’s funds for software that would support the three new themes of the new plan. Mr. Hans said that he might be able to get some free software for the school and asked if he could get a wish list in order to start working on it. Mrs. Gonzalez said she would get from teachers a list of the software needed.

Mr. Cabrera congratulated the SPEP committee and stated that this was a great start and that we are way ahead of the game. He went on to say that the teachers came up with all of their ideas completely on their own with no administrative intervention. Mrs. Robledo added that involving teachers was a very positive step in instilling teacher ownership of the plan.
Mrs. Szmulewicz announced that SPEP committee would be meeting Wednesday of the following week to develop strategies and invited parents to attend. The SPEP meetings take place in room 5 at 8:15 am.
Mrs. Robledo, as usual, opened the floor for any good news and Mrs. Gonzalez proudly announced that GWC was first place in the district in Florida Writes test.
Mr. Sands declared that GWC won first place in the county in the Geography Bee.
Ms. Gramling stated that two Carver teams competed in the State Odyssey of the Mind and one of the teams placed 5th out of 19 teams.
Mrs. Robledo showed appreciation to all teachers, parents, students and administration for this very productive meeting, thanked all members for their attendance and adjourned the meeting at 9:05 am.