Verified EESAC Meeting Minutes

The EESAC meeting was called to order at 8:15am by Ingrid Robledo, chairman. The minutes from last meeting were reviewed and approved by consensus. Board roster for 2002-2003 was reviewed, Cheli Fernandez was added as alternate teacher and clerical changes were made. Mrs. Robledo said that EESAC was not in compliance because we were missing an alternate parent, which would be appointed to comply with the category of parent of sixth grade student.

Previously approved bylaws were reviewed. Ms. Gonzalez asked that change be made to reflect that the principal must be present in order for any vote to take place. She explained that she is sometimes aware of information, changes or restrictions which we are not aware of which may affect certain decisions. Jill Shockett made a motion that bylaws section VII , last sentence, be changed to: “A quorum, including the principal, must be present before a vote may be taken.” Luisa Utset-Ward seconded the motion and all were in favor. Warren Scippio questioned whether community members must be present for voting to take place. Mrs. Robledo agreed that it was important for community members to be included on board but suggested that it was not necessary for them to be present in order to conduct business or vote.

Section V regarding excused absences was reviewed and discussed. Georgia Link suggested changes be made to clarify member responsibilities regarding contacting alternate. She suggested we look at previous minutes for wording. Louise Gramling moved that change be made in Section V, A, #2 to read: “2. Advise chairperson or principal that they will not be present at upcoming meeting and ensure that alternate will be present.” Numbers 2,3,4 will be changed to 3,4,5 accordingly. Georgia Link seconded the motion and it was approved by consensus.

Mrs. Robledo invited Mr. Cabrera, Assistant Principal of Curriculum to open the floor for review of SPEP by announcing that G.W. Carver Middle School was the highest scoring school in Dade County and the 3rd highest in the entire state. He began be reviewing last year’s results and pointed out that gains were made in every area. He further explained how difficult it is for children who are already at such high levels to achieve positive gains and commended our teachers for a job well done.

The SPEP executive summary was reviewed and new objectives were discussed. Ms. Gonzalez explained that this year the academic objectives were statistically driven and based on hard facts and data using last year’s results.

Mr. Cabrera began review of measurable objectives, which were based on previous FCAT and AP scores. He explained that “F” schools are told exactly what to do, whereas, “A” schools were basically allowed to write their own plan. He stated that one of our major goals is to increase scores of the 17% of 7th graders who scored less than “3” on reading comprehension. Ms. Gonzalez said that these students will be required to take an FCAT preparation class in lieu of an elective. This is an open enrollment class which students can be moved in and out of according to teacher recommendations. She stated that it was G.W. Carver’s responsibility to prepare our students to be eligible for magnet high schools and that students must pass FCAT in order to graduate.

Mr. Robert Hans requested that the EESAC committee be given a copy of last year’s SPEP in order to compare it with the current plan. Ms. Gonzalez agreed and asked that this comparison be included in the next meeting’s agenda.

Mr. Cabrera discussed Objective #1 regarding reading comprehension and language arts and strategies being used like Vertical Teaming and 30 minutes of required reading in homerooms. Ms. Gonzalez asked if EESAC funds be used to support this strategy by purchasing bookcases and books in order to create classroom libraries. Mrs. Robledo explained that the setting up of a reading project like the one our school was preparing helps students conduct reading challenges and encourages students to take the lead in organizing reading during Homeroom. Mr. Sands said that homeroom reading liaisons were now being designated. A motion was made by Mr. Sands to utilize EESAC funds to do classroom libraries. The motion was seconded and agreed by consensus.

Objective #2, regarding science was discussed. Ms. Gonzalez stated that year before last, 7th grade took pilot test of Science Sunshine State Standards and last year the test was also administered. Although the scores were very good, no growth was shown therefore new strategies will be implemented to improve in this area.

Objective #3, reflects strategies to improve AP test scores in the German Program closer to those achieved by students in the Spanish and French programs. German students test equally in FCAT and SRI tests. Ms. Stroleny explained that we need to target German program for AP test score improvement because most of the test is grammatical and German grammar is very difficult.

Mr. Cabrera stated that he was very pleased with the way this year’s plan was going and commended Ms. Stroleny, Ms. Senior, Ms. Goldstein, Ms. Soto, Mr. Sands, Mr. Hudson, Ms. Gramling and the others involved in the SPEP for all their hard work.

The next meeting was set for Tuesday, September 24.

Meeting was adjourned meeting at 9:55am.