La Jolla High School

Site Governance Meeting Minutes

September 12, 2006

Members present: Claire Summer, Kerry Dill, Michael Palm, Dana Shelburne, Emma Zink, Lynn Dull, Linda Dowley, Tony Farwell, Pam Zuckerman, Jamie Ginsberg, Michael Briggs, and Liz Lindenfeld. Guests present: Lori Emerson, Madelyn Bennett and Bee Mittermiller.

1. Election of Officers – After introductions, Ms. Lindenfeld discussed the necessity to elect officers of the Site Governance Committee for the school year 2006-2007. During the discussion, it was pointed out that the faculty of La Jolla High School had not voted in new members to the committee yet. Mr. Shelburne indicated that the new member representatives would be voted on at the upcoming faculty meeting scheduled for September 25, 2006. On motion made, seconded and passed, the election of officers was deferred until the next meeting of the Site Governance Committee.

2. Meeting Schedule – Ms. Lindenfeld explained that scheduling meetings of the Site Governance Committee can be difficult. After discussion, it was agreed that meetings would be held on the fourth Monday of the month, except for when a school holiday interfered and the meeting would be held on the following day, generally. Ms. Dill generously volunteered to host the meetings of the Site Governance Committee in her classroom, Room 304.

3. Minutes – Copies of the Minutes from the last meeting of the Site Governance Committee on June 13, 2006, were made available. On motion made, seconded and passed, the minutes were approved as submitted. Approved minutes will be posted to the school website.

4. Principal’s Evaluation – Ms. Dill indicated that she had not met with Mr. Shelburne to share the compiled results of the 2005-2006 Principal’s evaluation. She explained that evaluation input came from (1) staff and faculty (approximately 40 surveys were returned after being distributed to all staff and faculty), (2) students (approximately 220 students) and (3) parents and Foundation Board (approximately 50 responses). There was a discussion regarding the sample size and composition. It was agreed that the Principal’s Evaluation results would be shared with the members of the Site Governance Committee at the end of the next meeting before being provided to Mr. Shelburne.

5. GATE Report – Ms. Ginsberg reported that a meeting is scheduled with Vice Principal Greco in order to submit this year’s GATE Report no later than November 1, 2006, which is the SDUSD’s deadline. Last year’s GATE Report was not filed, and the reasons were briefly discussed. La Jolla is not the only school that is out of compliance; while there are currently no ramifications, there doubtless will be if the report is not filed for a second year. She explained that the new GATE team leader is Jewel Weien. Ms. Ginsberg also described the new school district task force on the Seminar Program, a triennial event. She explained that the SDUSD allocates Seminar program funds to schools with a maximum of two CPUs (i.e., full time equivalent teachers in order to reduce Seminar class sizes). The reason for the cap is that the School Board wants to encourage the offering of Seminar Programs throughout SDUSD. The limit impacts the more populous Seminar program population at La Jolla High School, and one possible consideration of the task force is to change the limit. Ms. Ginsberg stated that the Seminar Program task force has invited participation by one administrator, one teacher and one parent from each Seminar school. She explained that a SDUSD meeting will be held on Saturday, September 16, 2006, at 2:00 p.m., and that parents of Seminar Program students are invited to attend and offer comments and recommendations for possible changes in the program. Since invitations had not been received, it was requested that an e-blast notify parents regarding the meeting.

6. Financial Report – Mr. Shelburne explained that the school’s budget will likely be better than previously established because of the possibility of a one-time lump-sum distribution to schools from the SDUSD, which might be as large as $56 per student. He said that any expenditure from the receipt of such funds would be presented to and reviewed by the Site Governance Committee. Mr. Shelburne announced that Ms. Connie Schwerling was hired as finance clerk for La Jolla High School.

7. Textbook Check-in Procedure – Ms. Dowley raised an issue explaining that the process of returning textbooks was resulting in errors, and students were receiving invoices for “missing” textbooks that had been returned. During the discussion, it was revealed that there are times when the computer system does not make a record of a textbook despite being scanned. Every year, the issuance of many refund checks is required because of such errors and parents making payment for “missing” textbooks that are found in the school’s inventory. A subcommittee headed by Ms. Dowley and Mr. Farwell will investigate the situation, make recommendations and develop a plan to remedy the problem.

8. Staff Update – Mr. Shelburne described some of the terrific new teachers who have joined the faculty at La Jolla High School, including Ms. Courtney Irwin (Foreign Language department), Mr. Jack Lawrence (History/Political Science/Government/Economics) and Ms. Hillary Cargo (English). He explained that in some situations a representative from the Site Governance Committee was not called in to participate in interviews because of short schedules. In response to a question about extra staffing in the Counseling Center, Mr. Shelburne answered that Mr. Northrop and Ms. Shaler are currently working on a part-time basis and that Ms. Zimmer is serving as an intern.

By motion made, seconded and passed, the meeting was extended for an additional 15 minutes.

9. Campus Vandalism – Mr. Shelburne discussed the incident of campus vandalism near the end of the last semester. He explained the process for trying to identify the perpetrators, and the frustration of dealing with sources that would cooperate only on an anonymous basis. The identified perpetrators all denied involvement in the vandalism. During the discussion, Mr. Farwell described the improvements that are being finalized for the 27 security cameras on campus, including increased storage of digital images and motion-activated lightning for nighttime recording.

10. Memorial for Deceased Teacher Tim Rush – Mr. Shelburne stated that he is working with Mr. Rush’s mother on a memorial for to honor the very respected and beloved teacher who died earlier in 2006. He said that a memorial bench or a tree is being considered.

By motion made, seconded and passed, the meeting was extended until 4:00 p.m., with a decision to table the remaining agenda items until the next meeting and entertain roundtable topics.

Announcements:

Mrs. Zink discussed an instance of a student’s inappropriate behavior while taking a CST examination last spring, and the student’s recent request for a letter of recommendation. When the teacher indicated that the student’s inappropriate behavior would be included in the letter of recommendation, the student’s parents vociferously objected, and threatened to have the Superintendent intervene. Ms. Ginsberg suggested that a subcommittee be formed to discuss and communicate regarding the topic. Ms. Lindenfeld noted that the subject area was included in an agenda item that was tabled until the next meeting, and that the subject would be more fully discussed at that time.

Ms. Bennett raised the subject of the application of the La Jolla High School universal tardy policy whereby she explained that after 3 tardies the student would receive a “U” in citizenship and further discipline would be ineffective. During the discussion, it was explained that the penalties for tardies are progressive, and that 3 tardies might result in the lowering of the citizenship grade, but there is an intermediate step between “E” and “U.” Mr. Shelburne declared that the policy should be uniformly followed by all of the faculty members. It was suggested that the universal tardy policy be displayed in the next issue of the PTA Newsletter, and Ms. Mittermiller agreed to try to have that done.

Ms. Lindenfeld noted that at the assembly for senior students earlier in the day, students were told that all students that intended to apply for early decision/admission at any college or university must see their counselors this week. Then, it was learned that the counselors would be unavailable all day on Wednesday, which might make the requirement to visit with a counselor by week’s end difficult. Mr. Shelburne expressed confidence that Ms. Behnke would manage the process appropriately.

Mr. Farwell informed the meeting that the Foundation of La Jolla High School was making banners commemorating league and C.I.F. championships won by La Jolla High School teams to be displayed in the gymnasium.

Ms. Summer praised the back-to-school procedures and the fact that necessary student schedule changes this year were processed without undue disruption.

It was agreed that the next Site Governance Committee meeting would be held on Tuesday, October 3, 2006, at 2:30 p.m. in Room 304.

The meeting was adjourned at 3:50 p.m.

Minutes submitted by Michael Briggs.