Verified EESAC Meeting Minutes

Approval of minutes: Mrs. Stroleny called the meeting to order at 8:17 a.m. She conducted the meeting in the absence of Mrs. Robledo and Mrs. Gonzalez. The minutes from March 7, 2006, were reviewed and approved.

Principal’s message: Mrs. Stroleny gave the principal’s message. FCAT is over and now the Renaissance Faire is the major school project. Ms. Senior is chairing the committee for the Faire, which will be held on April 20, an early-release day. Students will conduct all of the activities with the help of faculty sponsors and the PTSA. The Faire will be in three geographic locations and students will rotate through by grade level. It will consist of games of skill and chance, a market area, and shows (some performances in the auditorium). It also will feature costume, poetry and recitation contests, live artists, an insult wall, and Spanish theatre. Mrs. Stroleny described the Faire as “a thousand people very much engaged.” All participants are encouraged to come in costume. Each homeroom will create a flag and will move through the Faire as a group. Mandatory lunch will still take place but there will be no regularly scheduled classes, as students will stay in homeroom all day. Mrs. Grief shared information about costumes and said she has already received her costume. She suggested that participants find costumes by beginning with a Google search and the key words “costumes,” followed by “buy costumes” and “Renaissance.” Additionally, the PTSA will be instrumental in selling food.
German, French, and Spanish students competed in language competitions on April 1, 2006, and all won first place, competing mostly against high schools. “We won lots of ribbons,” said Mrs. Stroleny. Miss Londono said she competed in the Spanish drama competition and her group took first place. At the county competition, the SECME team’s mousetrap and bridge teams both won first place, and the brain bowl team took second. Other activities in April include visits from Sunset Elementary fifth-graders on April 25 and Carver Elementary on April 27; visitors will have a buddy and spend the day here. The orientation program for IE students is April 4, and Sunset registration is on April 6. Dade County Assistant Principal of the Year will be selected on April 25, and Mr. Fisher is up for the honor after being selected the Region 4 Assistant Principal of the Year. April 27 is take-your-son/daughter-to-work day. After the Renaissance Faire, we will have the Advanced Placement practice exams for foreign languages. In past years, Carver has posted very high passing rates: Spanish in the high 90’s (percent), French low 90’s, and German high 80’s. Our language students are enrolled in AP courses, which receive extra two extra points on their GPA if they do well (A or B grade). The actual AP tests will follow the practice sessions shortly. Mrs. Izquierdo has returned from maternity leave and has taken most of Mr. Redmond’s classes to relieve the load from Ms. Senior, Mrs. Byrd, and Mr. Hudson. “We are very happy to have a veteran teacher coming in,” said Mrs. Stroleny. Mrs. Robledo left an information sheet for each member on UTD’s Education Summit. The dates for interim grades have been left the same as before, not moved up.

Open Forum: Mrs. Daniels spoke about the track teams. Twenty students qualified for track and field county finals on April 5 at University of Miami. Every member of the girls’ team qualified and there was some representation of the boys. Mrs. Daniels comments that team members have been especially well behaved at track meets.

Adjournment: Mrs. Stroleny adjourned the meeting at 8:41 a.m.