Date: December 13, 2016 Location: Room 207
Time: 4:05-5:480 pm
Certified Representatives: 
Eva Lange
Lisa Mooney
Stephen Long
Michael Halfmann
Student Representatives:

Camila Ibarra
Giselle Enriquez (Abby Pennix sub)

Parent Representatives:
Maria Saavedra (absent)
Sunshine Turner
Craig Courville (absent)
Nelson Brown

Classified Representatives:
Lori Emrich
Community Representative:
Darryl Day

Administration Representatives:
Bobby Estrella
Patricia Hurley

Call to the Audience: No call to the audience

Action Items:
1. November 15 meeting minutes approved by Mr. Brown, 2nd by Mrs. Emrich

Discussion Items:
1. Faculty Items
• Mitigate loss of books by re-instating teacher form for students un-enrolling – Mr. Estrella was unaware that the form was no longer being used. He stated that he will investigate and the form will be re-instated. The final signature will be from Finance – Mrs. Emrich. While this will not solve the problem of lost books, it can mitigate it. Fines from property not returned will follow a TUSD student until graduation, but nothing can be done for students who leave the district to re-coop lost items.
• Undesignated tax credit spending review and suggestions – current balance is $27,005. We are unable to upgrade our water fountains as our current system is not compatible. Sahuaro is asking for tax credit contributions through our website and ParentLink. When money is donated between January 1-April 15, it can be used for this school year or be carried over to next school year. Mrs. Emrich has made two requests, both on behalf on Fine Arts. This will be voted on during the subsequent SC meeting as an action item.
• A hand-held mike. The current microphone has two channels and is sometimes taken over by outside entities. It is finicky about when it works. Estimated cost (depending upon quality) is $200-$450.
• A new HD projector to be used during concerts/performances, any meetings in auditorium. Estimated cost (depending upon quality) is $275-$700.
• Request: designating a certain dollar amount for athletic fees for sports scholarships for students who cannot afford the fee. Approximately $5,000.Action item for next meeting.
• All votes will be taken in January.
• Leveling of CTE classes – discussion of how it affects CTE – Patty Olstad brought up several concerns about best utilizing CTE funding and clarification of the current model used to fill seats in CTE courses. The dilemma is that SHS does not receive CTE funds for freshmen (who generally take 2-3 electives this first year), but they can be a valuable asset if they continue with the program. We lose many as sophomores because they generally take Driver’s Ed/Health and don’t have much room for electives. Sports Med/Auto/Culinary have the most program completers. Auto is a four-year program. Spanish/French are “electives”, but are required for the college-bound student. We are making headway in leveling classes earlier so that we don’t overcrowd classes that require each student to have computer access, which is frustrating in the beginning when trying to get students on track and alleviate students dropping a course out of their own frustration. For example, we began this year with 1950 students. We currently have 1788 students. Our projection for next year is 1850 (last year it was 1650). With this projection, we can have a more accurate FTE count, allowing for the 3-4% attrition rate seen in the first 40 days.
• Emergency button in classrooms
• Use this when a life is in danger (and tell a specific person to call 9-1-1).
• Use it when in doubt.
• Use it if there is a fight but make sure someone is next to the speaker to give information. In case of a fight, staff should take action by comfort level. If you are comfortable with separating students, then interfere. If you are not, you can stay as a witness and ask a student to push the button. It can be difficult for the responder to hear, so speak loudly, especially if your room is noisy. All office staff are trained on how to respond to emergency button. It beeps very loudly throughout the front office, especially by the round table in front of Paula’s desk.
• AZ Merit – must be school-wide effort to see improvements
• Currently, admin (and the school’s) main focus is the accreditation process from now until February 7. Big chunk of staff are working on this. There will be an internal review in January (10 parents, 40 students, 5 community members). That said, Eva brought up that we agreed last year to work on the school culture of not taking standardized tests seriously enough. Every teacher, in every subject, should be teaching how to write an essay and do a practice with students. Eva showed SC a web site: www.commonlit.org
All teachers should check this website out and use it as a resource to teach reading and writing standards. The AZ merit gives students two writing samples (can be non-fiction excerpt paired with a poem for example) and students must answers questions and write an essay using examples from both texts to back up their thesis statement. This resource is free. Once you choose a grade level and filter by theme or genre or standard, you can choose the option to pair it with another text. The website will provide 2-3 texts that can pair with the original one, as well as an essay type question. Check it out!
• School maintenance issues – Mrs. Hurley has been pounding people at the district level. She meets with a district person one per month on all work orders that are pending. Before this, she assesses the work order locally with Robert. As a result Chemistry hoods are now working. She has a chart on all the bathrooms (are they mopped, lights, plumbing, vandalism, pest control, etc.) For lighting issues, we must go through TUSD Electrical dept., as we may also need parts (and this may take time to acquire). Mrs. Hurley is working on all open work orders (but if they are very old, you may need to re-submit). Sahuaro turns 50 this year, and things are antiquated. Best way to submit work orders is to fill out the form available in the front office, 2nd best way is to email Mrs.Hurley directly.
2. Principal report
• Sahuaro will be closed over break. No one is here to answer phones. Please take home anything that is alive.
• GRADES: Grades are due by 9am on Friday. Once you are done, email Patty Gallegos. She will print your grades and you must sign them for verification. All of this should be done by 9am please. Mr. Estrella wished to re-iterate his appreciation to all teachers for getting this done early out of respect for the office staff, who appreciates not staying here until seven pm the day before Christmas.
• We will be needing help for the accreditation process. Some may be asked to be interviewed by advanced ed.
3. Parent report – welcome to Sunshine Turner, new SC parent. She was a TUSD principal, her daughter (Destinee Turner) is a senior, and she has an incoming freshman. Welcome!
4. Student Council report
• The Toy Drive ends on Friday. There is a committee working on trash pickup. The kiosks are being utilized by NHS for “Tips for Finals”
5. Community report
• Mr. Day always leaves us with some words of wisdom and forbearance. He encourages us all to take our much needed break as we have a great deal of work ahead of us with the accreditation process.
Announcements: The next meeting of the Sahuaro Site Council will be January 24, 2017.