S.A.C. Co-chair Kay Postma called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. and introduced the guests attending the S.A.C. meeting: Mr. Jim Munoz, LCPA High School guidance counselor; Mr. Bruce Evans, Manager of Instructional Technology; Mr. John Sitzer, Computer Technician at LCPA High School and Ms. Linda Lollis, Executive Director for Instruction.

Mr. Munoz distributed information about college planning and information resources. Mr. Munoz stressed the following points:
-Colleges are looking for students who are well prepared, students that have pursued the Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate programs in high school.
-Working very hard to make good grades is rewarded with scholarship money.
-ACT scores can also help in receiving scholarship money. Most schools on the west and east coast offer the SAT while schools in the middle states offer the ACT. Both tests can be taken; there is a chart available that translates ACT scores to an SAT level. If the SAT is taken more than once the scores are averaged together. If the ACT is taken more than once the highest score from each section is used. On-line registration is available for both tests.
-Mr. Munoz recommends that students take advantage of the practice tests. The PSAT will be offered on October 18th to 10th and 11th grade students.

Principals Report
Mr. Harold Hawkins-High School
Mr. Hawkins reported that the third guidance counselor hired for this school year has decided not to return to work after recently getting married. LCPA is in the process of recruiting a third counselor.

The tuck pointing on the exterior of the building was completed last week; further renovation to the building will not occur until next spring.

The first wave of the SAT 9 test was completed this week.

Highlights from the LCPA Academic Achievement Committee included discussion of the major points about the continued availability of the 3:30 p.m. buses to transport students after tutoring programs are dismissed. The district is recommending elimination of the 3:30 p.m. route as a cost-cutting measure. As an alternative, Dr. Hines is requesting funding to provide after-school buses for transporting students to centralized drop points at an elementary school located near the student's home for the schools that request this bus service. Mr. Hawkins received $450 in donations from committee members to go toward the purchase ($700 cost) of a computer program called ACT Prep so that high school students can practice the ACT test. Mr. Hawkins is encouraging all seniors to take the ACT three times as research has shown that students improve their scores when this test is taken multiple times.

Mr. Hawkins reported that the gym floor has not yet been repaired. Mr. Hawkins will continue to pursue the Maintenance Department to keep this job on their list of scheduled work. A parent inquired about why students had to share lockers. Mr. Hawkins explained that although there are some lockers that are defective, there are enough lockers for each student to have one. Initially the High School was told that all defective lockers would be repaired over the summer; recently Mr. Hawkins learned that this will not happen this year. Mr. Hawkins asked the parent to have the student see him to solve the locker problem.

The High School does not yet have a Spanish 4 teacher; it is difficult to identify the right candidate. As soon as it's possible to implement, study groups will be formed to work on areas where the substitute is deficient. A job-sharing arrangement will begin in a week for the Art Teacher position. An art teacher will teach the art classes and a photographer will teach the photojournalism classes as well as supervise the yearbook.

Spirit week starts October 9, with Homecoming on Friday, October 13.

The High School enrollment is 529, which is below last year's enrollment at this time of 550. Mid-year enrollment last year was 530. The building capacity was officially lowered last year to 567 (down from 650) to comply with the district high school ratio of 15 students to 1 teacher.

Ms. Corey Scholes-Middle School
Ms. Scholes reported that the Middle School has had significant problems with getting a new roof on the building. After arrangements had been make for the roofers to work at night instead of during the day, the roofing company did not securely tarp the roof and over the weekend of September 23 & 24 the third floor roof collapsed from all of the rain. On the heels of that clean-up one of the tarpits caught fire and caused a substantial amount of smoke damage. Ms. Scholes reported that the district staff has been very supportive as well as staff from the High School in the attempts to clean up (twice) from these mishaps. The just completed computer lab sustained the most serious damage. All of the new computers are in the process of being thoroughly checked over to assess exactly how much damage was done. The architects have been on-site to re-assess the renovation plans to make sure that everything will be in place so that the major remodeling can begin next spring.

Another repercussion from the water and fire damage is that LCPA Middle School will have to re-assess what the Title 1 funds will be used for this school year. The original plan was to fund the computer lab and teacher. Ms. Scholes will meet soon with Ms. Cunningham from the Title 1 program to go over the federal guidelines to see what other needs the school has that will qualify. Title 1 funds are applied for on a yearly basis.

District Technology Plan-Mr. Bruce Evans
Mr. Evans explained that the position of Manager of Instructional Technology was created by the District as part of the overall District Technology Plan. The instructional management piece of the District Technology Plan has three parts:

1) Curriculum Management System:
a) Aligns core curriculum with MAP and other standard assessment items.
b) Instructional delivery of diagnostic and prescriptive software.
c) Assessment (helps the teachers build assessments of students to aid in the instructional delivery.) The goal is to have this part in place by last fall to help the teachers. It can be programmed (it has edit privileges) to align with the IB program.

2) Curriculum Development:
Is now in place for grades 2, 5, 8 and 12 and shows what computer skills students should be able to do. The Technology Department is now in the process of breaking the information down by grade level, K-12.

3) Business Education Curriculum for grades 6-12 that will help teach business and computer skills so students will be ready to work, right after graduation.

Mr. Evans also explained that a Professional Development piece will also be implemented so that when the Curriculum Management Program is in place the teachers will have the opportunity to learn how to use it. Another training center is in the drawing plans to be located at the Southwest High School building where computer skills classes would be offered to teachers.

Some of the software for the Curriculum Management Program has not yet been purchased; the Technology Department is now in the process of reviewing different packages. The pilot for the Curriculum Management Program will be introduced to middle and high schools in the late fall and rolled out to the rest of the district over the next two years.

Several questions asked were about the technical and hardware aspects of this plan. Mr. Evans suggested that perhaps Mr. Dennis Peterson could present information about the equipment rollout for this plan at a future S.A.C. meeting.

LCPA Technology-John Sitzer
John reported that a big part of making LCPA technologically up-to-date is the cabling and that not much money has been allocated to fund the installation of cabling. John is hoping to partner with computer students from UMKC for cabling installation. Dave West from the District Technology Department was trying to organize a "Net Day". This is a volunteer effort by parents and teachers to run the cabling under the direction of qualified computer people. So far nothing has been organized. The school is very willing to accept donations of time and material from parents. At the Middle School, Mr. Eddington is planning an inservice for teachers on how to create an e-mail process to communicate with parents.

Mr. Hawkins reminded parents this is exactly why there is a need to push the District to finish the Technology Plan. The Technology Plan has been approved but the equipment not yet purchased because the Board has been unable to make a decision about the vendor. Locally Social Security has donated computer equipment but software still needs to be purchased. All parents were urged to contact Board members to stress the need to make a decision soon about an equipment vendor for the computers.

S.A.C. Officers
Jackie Hall has resigned as S.A.C. co-chair because of time commitments with other projects. Christina Bomah-Swaray accepted the nomination for the S.A.C. co-chair position. All S.A.C. members present voted in favor of Ms. Bomah-Swaray for the S.A.C. co-chair position. Thank you, Ms. Bomah-Swaray.

After School Buses
Ms. Postma will be on the agenda to address the Board at the October 17 meeting about the 3:30 p.m. bus availability. Apparently the Board is waiting on a recommendation from the District to vote on. Parents need to contact the District ASAP to voice concern about that bus route and it's possible elimination.

School Police Officer Recommendation-Linda Lollis
Ms. Lollis explained that she works with all secondary schools in her position as Executive Director for Instruction and realizes that not all schools have the same needs depending on their location and student population. LCPA is not experiencing the problems that some of the other high schools are. Schools with problems include North East, South East and Central because of its location and problems occurring outside of the school. LCPA, Van Horn and Independence are not having problems. In some secondary schools the security officers are termed "toy cops". Ms. Lollis reported that in her travels around the city she has learned that Ruskin High School has 4 armed police officers and that Overland Park just passed a bill to add additional police officers to schools, which already have 2 on-site. Ms. Lollis further explained that every district in the metro area has armed police officers and they are not experiencing the problems that the KCMSD is, yet we are the only district that is worried about the image we may project.

The issue is the safety of the students and the District wants to be proactive rather than reactive. If students are acting out police officers can issue tickets are make arrests. It is certainly a topic where everyone has mixed feelings; the School Board has mixed feelings too but the goal is to have safer schools. Ms. Lollis explained that the school police officers would be certified Reserve Police Officers and employees of the KCMSD. This topic will again be addressed by the School Board at a future meeting.

Old Business-Kay Postma
Ms. Postma reported that the S.A.V. (Staff Appreciation Volunteers) pass the hat effort at the September meeting netted $466. Two events are planned for the teachers, a buffet dinner during the Parent/Teacher conferences on November 9 and homemade cookie packages in December. Please contact Bobbie Radford (363-2266) or Regina Craddolph (523-7508) if you would like to help with these projects.

The S.A.C. meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m.

The next S.A.C. meeting is Thursday, November 2 at 6:30 p.m. at the High School and will feature a panel discussion regarding "The School District of KCMO 2000 and Beyond" with Superintendent Demps, Associate Superintendent for Instruction Shannon, KCMSD Board President Ragsdale, Mayor Barnes and Congresswoman McCarthy. Executive Director for Instruction Lollis will be the Moderator.

Respectfully submitted,

Elizabeth Mayer
S.A.C. Secretary