San Mateo High School
School Leadership Team
Minutes
May 7, 2007
Rich Mozzini, Til Tribuzi, Cynthia Rapaido, Ron Beall, Martin Ortega, Nate Johnson (recorder), Diane Termini, Michelle Casale, Sally Seebode, Miguel Appleman, Sara Catalli, Cece Cronin, Behrooz Shahvini, Steve Asp
To
learn more about the true Bearcat, click on the picture
Summary of Actions
1. Jane McCabe, Patsy Fergusson, and Elizabeth Yapp presented on the early stages of developing the Media and Design Arts Pathway.
2. To make the process clearer, Rich spoke about scheduling and the process of the board. The freshmen class seems bigger than at first predicted (about 380 students). The course request numbers came out, and Rich then used his famed “Italian Abacus” to determine how many sections of the various courses will be needed. He then converted the number of sections to teachers. He still needs names to fit the sections. He will also give us the list of students enrolled in AP-level classes so that we can verify who might need some counseling and information. Ron said that counselors have met with problem cases of students to advise them about which classes to take.
The next steps include the chairs going back to the department, in person or using the blue request forms, to determine who is teaching what. The district’s numbers and projections will be factored in. Once chairs put the names of teachers to sections then they will look at extra sections. Then Rich, Ron, and April will attempt to maximize the number of students getting what they want by adjusting what classes are placed in what period.
Rich passed out the folder of section numbers and teacher course-requests to each department chair. He requested that chairs talk with their departments and get back to him.
3. Rich made a couple of suggestions for next year. He suggested that the SLT body will need to organize the professional development plan.
In terms of testing, Rich suggested that we look at the Capuchino model of giving state and federal tests, if our test scores go down. At Cap, they format the testing so that students take the various tests in the very subject classrooms of the test they are taking. Whether we make it our not, we need to look at the intervention strategies. How much are we using:
§ Homework center
§ Ana Marie Ramos
§ Counseling department
§ Title I funding with Pat Kurtz
4. Sally spoke about several issues that concern her and others about school climate:
Click on the link below to see her handout:
Cleanliness – classes, halls, graffiti
Student behavior – respect, loitering
Resources – white paper, classroom supplies
Communication – hard to locate administrators,
follow up on passes to dean, nurse, counselor
She is concerned that the changes that have occurred this year should be addressed. We should reverse the direction we are heading and unify the policies of the school. We need consistency and a shift
Chairs chimed in. Most supported the list of problems and chimed in with gripes of their own.
§ Joyce suggested teachers working in the halls as lunch duty.
§ Michelle was appalled by the trash.
§ Steve suggested that we haven’t come together to take ownership of the rules.
§ Cece suggested that the no-eating-in-the-building rule was not taken seriously.
§ Diane wondered how we get the students out.
§ Joyce said that students need more options out of the building.
§ Sara agreed with Steve: if we don’t model, we can’t expect to see the behavior in students. Also, Sara suggested that students know that they can get away with more stuff.
§ Rich offered that Peninsula High is not accepting as many students now, and that we are getting students straight out of jail now where they used to go straight to Pen.
§ Ron suggested that the higher expectations are creating a hopeless academic situation for the straight-F students; the woefully under-prepared students need alternative options. We all need to get into enforcing the rules uniformly.
§ Martin responded that any response be institutional; individual responses by teachers will inevitably fall through.
§ Behrooz said that we have a lot of repeat offenders and we are not offering them much.
§ Till offered that we need more staffing.
§ Cynthia said that everyone has to step up. Everyone needs to contribute and take responsibility. We need to be visible. We need to have more conversations.
§ Nate played the devil’s advocate and suggested that it’s not that bad. We should try to realize that this year is a down year.
§ Sally tried to synthesize the comments to bring it to the next step. What will coming together look like?
§ Rich offered that we look at this list again at the start of the year and pick one thing to start with next year.
§ Ron says pick your battles. Get everybody on the same page on a couple of basics for the beginning of the year. And bring students who are the repeat offenders.
§ Martin said to take it back to the departments now.
§ Miguel says we need to deal with the real problems.