MAC Member Training Presentation

Marshall Advisory Council
15 September 2022
Minutes

Attendance
Dr. Kris Bock, Christine Hakizimana, Erin Dugan, Nevada Sprung, Mariela Tellez, Katherine
Pierret, Kristen Schilling, Sam Furrer, Kayla Walker, Nijiama Smalls, Kate Rossi, Amanda
Foster, Karen Stamp, Jill Yezzi, Becky Tinsley, Zooba Khawaja, Mr. Dugger

Welcome
Mrs. Hakizimana greeted the group and opened the meeting at 8:06am. She thanked everyone for attending and suggested that everyone introduce themselves, state their relationship to the school and share their favorite children's book.

Mrs. Hakizimana began by reviewing the purpose of the council for the group. MAC is a collection of parents and staff representatives as well as PTO members. The purpose of the council is to bring suggestions and concerns from the community as well as review best practices from other schools in the county and review the budget for the school. As a council, we discuss these items together and make suggestions to Dr. Bock and Mr. Dugger and staff members as well. Information discussed at the meetings is on the website for parents and community members to access. We meet the 3rd Thursday of the month. We typically meet on zoom in the evening at 7pm, but today Mrs. Hakizmana wanted to give the council members a chance to meet in person to get the year started. Kristen Schilling is the Secretary this year, she was a fill in secretary last year as well. Members serve a 2 year term. The Vice chair position is currently vacant and open to any current members. Mrs. Hakizimana sent the bylaws the council members ahead of time via email. Members can serve consecutive terms if nobody else runs. This year we would like to increase awareness of the council so that we have more community involvement and do not have to have people serving consecutive terms. As a council, we gather feedback from the parents and community and assist in the schools overall
decision-making process. We review the continuous improvement plan for the year. Dr. Bock do you adjust the goals annually? Dr. Bock’s response was "yes". We also discuss the budget, assessment of the school climate, learning gaps, etc. Last year Mrs. Robinson presented data of the students progress in Math while Mrs. Tinsley reported on the students progress in reading to the council.

Attendance: As mentioned earlier, the meetings are set for the 3rd Thursday of the month. Mrs. Hakizimana stated that she missed getting an announcement into the newsletter, because she missed the deadline, but is aware of the deadline now and will make sure that it makes the newsletter in the future. If the school is closed for weather, we will not meet. Minutes can be approved via email or at the next meeting.

Format: We may have a SACI update. Mrs. Hakizimana asked if Mrs. Pierret would mind sharing that SACI is and why their representation on the council is so important. Mrs. Pierret stated that every school in the county has a representative on SACI (Superintendents Advisory Council on Instruction). Mrs. Pierret has been in this role for the last 4-5 yrs. The first meeting starts next month. They have not yet determined their agenda otherwise, she would share that with us today. At the SACI meetings, they discuss the budget,
curriculum, communication at a county level rather than just at school level. The SACI representative then reports back to the PAC (Principal's Advisory Council) for that school. The purpose of the SACI representative is to share ideas as well as receive ideas from other schools. We have received and many ideas and other schools have incorporated ideas that we have shared. MAC has been used as an example at a county level of how to run a PAC.

Mr. Dugger wanted to add that he urges everyone to communicate with the SACI representative. They can then share these concerns with the county, by bringing them to the SACI meetings. This dynamic has a big impact on the county. Changes have been made in the county because of the council.

Mrs. Hakizimana pointed out that Kate Rossi is the alternate for the SACI Representative and will take over this role at the end of the year as well as attend meetings with Mrs. Peirret as she is able and if Mrs. Pierret is unable to attend.

Typically, at each meeting we will have an agenda item to share and discuss and Principals time followed by time to open the floor to members of the community.

We do have to review the Continuous Improvement Plan and budget 2x's throughout the year. Council members are free to add items to the agenda, and as they represent the parents/students of your grade level, concerns from them as well. Only current and active members can vote on these issues. Conflicts of interest should be brought up prior to the voting process.

The calendar was presented with proposed ideas to discuss throughout the year.

List of members is presented.

Alternate members presented.

Mrs. Hakizimana asked if there are any questions or thoughts from members? No members responded. She stated that members are free to send ideas for the agenda or thoughts of what you would like covered at the meetings.

Principal's time
Dr. Bock stated that the return to school this year has been very successful. Dr. Bock stated that last year went well, but that it was different and had challenges coming back after a virtual year. She stated that the principals at Benton and Colgan have said the same thing. Dr. Bock asked if any of the council members have HS students. She stated that new procedures have been put into place to accommodate difficulties that presented last year. Dr. Bock shared that at Colgan they have started a new hall pass procedure to minimize students wasting time in the halls unnecessarily and at Benton, a more restrictive cell phone program is being implemented.
Dr. Bock shared that we have some wonderful new staff. She asked that parents please follow Marshall on social media. She stated that teachers are posting some really wonderful photos already and sharing some highlights.

Updates-We do send out a Friday 10am newsletter that comes out through School Messenger. The idea for the newsletter has come from this group. The playground has been a big focus over the last 2 yrs. Unfortunately, the equipment is extremely costly. Several years ago, the students started saying that they wanted some new and different things. Then, we shut down. We were able to purchase some shades to cover the playground area to keep it from getting too hot. We looked at a lot of equipment-even a small see-saw is thousands of dollars and this is a piece of equipment that only a few students would be able to use at a time. We did purchase and install an adaptive swing. You may have noticed that we now have a greenhouse that is currently sitting empty. We have a group headed by Mrs. Miller and Mrs. Cole that also has some master gardeners on it. If anyone is interested in joining this group they are welcome. The group has reached out to some Eagle scouts who are going to build some planter boxes for the students to maintain.

Designations:
Marshall Elementary School is a No place for Hate, School of Excellence, fully accredited school. We are currently working on becoming a purple star school as well. 
SOL data from last year-see slide
Pass rates for the 2021-22 school year in the 80's for all subject matter.

Dr. Bock continued with information regarding the Continuous Improvement Plan, the plan involves a team of people, decision making and monitoring, with a focus on reading and math this year. Students shared in the most recent survey that one of the biggest obstacles to learning was disruptions in the classroom due to some behaviors. Absenteeism is another area of focus. We are trying to engage families to come back into the schools. We have a fall festival and read-a-thon coming up. These events will be discussed more in the electronic newsletter. These events require a lot of donations from the community. If anyone knows of anyone that would like to donate or would like to work soliciting donations, the event coordinator would greatly appreciate the help. Last year, the students worked to reach a goal and as a reward were able to watch Dr. Bock and Mr. Dugger get slimed. Last year, the goal was $5,000 and the school ended up raising close to $30,000 to purchase all of the items that we previously discussed. The survey did show that families feel that they can communicate with teachers and receive a prompt response in return and Dr. Bock is very pleased and grateful for the staff doing such a good job with this overall.

Marshall diversity population diagram was shared via the ppt.
A class size diagram for the school was shared with averages for each grade. The class sizes are a little higher right now. The teacher shortage is real, not at Marshall, but at the county and nationwide. The superintendent raised the class size cap at this time, which isn't ideal, but the thought is that it is best to have a qualified teacher with a lightly higher class size for our students.

Diagram of new staff members. Last year we had some staff retire and added some new positions. We want to make sure that we have the staff to support the 702 students that we have this year. Since Dr. Bock has been at Marshall, the population has varied from 704-550 students. We do have the space and staff for the students at this time. You can see from the diagram that Mrs. Zezzo and Mrs. Carl are back after having to be overstaffed previously. We now have an autism program as well. We are looking forward to this school year so that we can give the students everything that they need socially, emotionally, and academically.

Mrs. Hakizimana adjourned the meeting at 8:45am.