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Posted in Meeting Minutes.

November 2018 Community Council Minutes

November 14, 2018

Attending:  Kadee Frew, Cindy Pendleton, Dave Gerstheimer, Ashley Droscher, Nicole Westmoreland, Heather Cragun

Jana Frost, 4th grade teacher from Green Acres presented info about Project Lead The Way (PLTW).  She is district specialist for the program.

  • PLTW teaches problem solving and critical thinking skills by using STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math)
  • To implement PLTW program at the elementary level, the community should be involved.  
  • $10,000 to start up the program.  These initial costs would be divided over a 2 year time period  - More info will be gathered about specific amounts that are due each year.  
  • The bulk of the costs are for Training - 2 teachers  would go to extensive training and come back to help teach the other teachers at the school at a 2 day training.
  • The other costs in the $10,000 go toward the $750 annual program fee and the purchasing the kits for student use.  
  • The program costs about $1200/year for each year after to pay for the annual fee and the consumable materials.  
  • There are 4 modules - each 10 hours long - teachers would choose 2 of the modules to do during the year.    She recommends starting the year with 1 module, then doing another module in May after testing is done.
  • Highly engaging activities for kids with  open ended solutions as long as problems are solved within the parameters given.  
  • Community Council would need to help provide some of the funds with TrustLand money

Discussion was had about how to fund the program.  

  • Nicole volunteered to talk with businesses like ATK, AutoLiv and Hill AFB to see if they would donate
  • There is a possibility of $4000 left over in our TrustLand budget for technology that could be used for PLTW if we amend our budget.  Dave will get an itemized list of where Trustland money is going, instead of the lump sum amount the district printouts for us.
  • Most money from TrustLands is going toward salaries for Aides to help at school.
  • We will follow up with Jana about how much money is due each year for the first 2 years.

Mr. G. reported that our SAGE scores dropped last year owing to the fact that we dedicated a lot of time on the new math program instead of as much on Language Arts.  Changes are being made for this year.

Mr. G  reported that teachers have been developing Essential Learning Targets (ELTs)  for English Language Arts. These will guide the teachers in their planning and assessing.  

Next Meeting:  Jan 9 3:30 pm