SANTA MONICA HIGH SCHOOL PTSA
FINAL MINUTES OF ASSOCIATION MEETING May 11, 2004
Cafeteria
Simon Hanna, representing ASB, announced there would be an AIDS Awareness event this coming weekend. He was asking for contributions which could be brought to B204, before or after school. If any students would like to donate 10 inches of hair for cancer patients, they should go to the activities office. “Goodbye Charlie” is a funny play that will be presented by the Theater Department. On May 29 there will be a fundraiser performance and the tickets for that performance will be $25.
Cheri Orgel noted there will not be any performance of the play on March 16. She reminded us that contacts are listed on the back of the agenda. The start time of the Prom is 8:00 PM.
Barry Snell, Co-Chair of AAPSSSG reported that the last meeting will be their first weekend retreat when they will prepare a 5-year plan to support the children of their community and all of the campus. June 3rd will be the night the “Rites of Passage” is being held. At the beginning of the school year, Sept. 25, the group will hold a barbecue. The goal for the coming year is “How the group can support the small school design and how to get their students more involved.”
There is no SOL/BAC report.
Janine Avner reported that Site Governance has voted to approve the use of security cameras. There was a unanimous vote for exterior cameras and a majority of the vote supported the use of one or more interior cameras.
Debbie Mulvaney, Ed Foundation, invited all to the “Celebration for the Arts”, being held this coming weekend 11 AM - 5PM. There will be displays and performances by students. This is part of a $15 million endowment fundraiser. Pier wristbands will be available for $12 for the weekend. Many volunteers are needed. Please contact Debbie if you want to help.
Chris Thornton provided the Treasurer’s Report. The balance is $ 82,709.77 for the period 02/01-04/30/04. There will be disbursements to the teachers. The expenses are explained by category on the budget report. Cheri Orgel announced that the Audit Report was prepared by Amy Van Pelt. The financial records were audited 02/23/04 and the report finds the Treasurer’s Books in order.
Through the generosity of the community, the fundraising goals were exceeded. The Executive Board recommended the following expenses:
- $1,966 overage for the Course Catalog
- $18,900 for Irrigation, Campus Maintenance and Bathroom upgrades
- $3,500 for legislation for signature gathering for the charter amendment. We were successful in collecting the necessary number of signatures.
- $3,000 to keep the library open until 5PM for the beginning of the next school year.
Louise Jaffe thanked everyone who collected signatures and/or signed the Excellent Public Schools petition for a Charter Amendment. All those who helped with this have made a difference. She reported that the City Manager and the District Superintendent have met and negotiated terms for an agreement that would increase City funding to the Schools through a contractual agreement. Community for Excellent Public Schools (CEPS) has agreed to not submit their signatures if the negotiated agreement is approved by both the Board of Education and the City Council. The terms of the agreement were unanimously endorsed by the Board of Education. The City Council is meeting tonight to vote on this topic and if four of the council members do not vote to support the funding agreement, CEPS will proceed with submitting signatures to qualify the charter amendment for the November ballot. Louise then excused herself to go to the City Council meeting for those deliberations.
Inese Verzemnieks spoke for the Grad Night Committee. Mailers requesting volunteers were sent to the homes of parents of seniors, but more help is needed. On May 28, construction will start on the “boat” which will be located on the tennis courts. On Grad Night, seniors will be treated to games, karaoke, a disk jockey with a dance floor, sumo wrestling and music. She encourages all seniors to attend because it is a great way to exit high school and to begin the rest of their lives safely. Grad Night, occurring for the last 14 years, is a fantastic event. Seniors can win prizes which are often donations from the community. We need prizes and stuff for the goodie bags. Inese urges all to volunteer, especially to help with clean-up, because the tennis courts must be ready for city use by Monday. Everything must be put away over the weekend following graduation.
Karen Dickerson is asking for volunteers to help with registration, Aug. 24-27. She pointed out that by doing this we can set an example to our children about volunteering.
Judi Bloom needs help next year with Campus Beautification.
We are collecting graphing calculators that are no longer needed and can be used by students who need them. Please contact the chair of the math department or bring the calculators to the Administration Building. There is lots of interviewing taking place for the Athletic Director and open House Principal positions and PTSA representatives are participating in these interview panels.
We are now starting the night’s program about Standardized Testing, with Carol Jago, chairman of the English Department.
Carol Jago: The state needs to control the standardized testing it administers. The testing needs to be simplified so that the same tests can have multiple uses. We have standards based assessments, which are used to make sure the curriculums are aligned to the standards. This is to make sure every child gets what they deserve, to learn the standard according to the demands of the state. The tests must be examined to make sure they match the standards; there is much integrity to meet. When the scores come to the home they don’t tell all. As parents, we should look for mismatch results. If a student is getting A’s and B’s, but the tests indicate the student is performing below grade level, we should ask if the student is taking the testing seriously. If the test results are high and the student is getting low grades, we should ask if the student is doing the assigned homework and participating in class. If we have a child in high school, we are part of the landscape. The testing is not perfect, but it is providing a picture of how to make the curriculums better.
Linda Kaminski, SMMUSD Chief Academic Officer, spoke about the new SAT’s. These tests are changing by adding a third section on writing. The SAT’s were originated at the end of WW I and the WW II tests were used as a basis for the SAT. The tests were started on the East Coast, given to boys in private schools to determine which students would do well as freshmen in college. Although the tests were meant for the colleges to decide who to accept, most students take them to go on to college and are now a requirement to go to college. In the current format, they are not a good indicator, beyond the first year of college, of who will complete the four years of college and have a successful career. The SAT II tests are optional and involve writing, but provide the best information on who will do well in college. In 1995, the norm of the tests was re-centered, because minority students were unfairly discriminated. The chancellor of all of the UC system decided not to use the test results as admission criteria, which created fear that other colleges would do the same. The exams publishers, revised the ideas about adding the writing section.
The current version of Verbal and Math tests has a top score of 1600. Although, the verbal section has analogies, these are not really similar to questions used in every day life. These have been dropped in the new testing format. There will be short reading passages. In the math section, there will no longer be quantitative comparison questions, but they will be keeping the Algebra I and Geometry and adding Algebra II. The section on writing will include multiple choice grammar and usage. Students will be required to write an essay and this will be the most useful section to determine how students will do in college. The top score for the math, plus the verbal, plus the writing will be 2400. In Fall, 2004, seniors will take the old version of the SAT and Juniors will take the new version of the PSAT/NMSQT. In Spring, 2005, Seniors can take the new SAT and Juniors must take the new version. The same amount of time will be allowed for the writing section. Students will be asked to identify sentence errors and to improve sentences in the multiple choice section. Books will be written to help students learn to think about how to answer these questions. Students will learn to improve paragraphs, by revising them to make them better. Strong writing programs will help students learn how to make these revisions.
For the essay, students will receive writing prompts which are not pre-ordained to one writing style. The score will be on a scale of 1-6 and there will be two readers for each essay, resulting in a possible score of 12. If there is a large disagreement in the two scores, there will be a third reader. Students will be given two quotes and then given instructions about what to write. They can use personal experiences. The scorers will look at what the student is thinking and how they can apply the thinking to writing. There is much work being done with the teachers to help the students prepare and practice for the new section.
Parent questions included, do the SAT Prep courses provide an advantage and are students not in an ESL class at a disadvantage. Even a perfect essay score may include some mistakes. This section will be a test of thinking and reasoning and help students learn to write. Current Juniors will now take the old SAT and if they change their mind about the type of college they want to attend, they can take the new SAT next Spring. The ACT’s are closely linked to courses the students have taken and are mostly used by colleges in the Midwest and the South. The SAT’s are becoming more like the ACT’s.
Joyce Smith, invited all to the next PTSA meeting which will be held at 7PM on June 8th. Students who have already graduated and current seniors will discuss how their college choices were made. Although this meeting will be of special interest to juniors, students of all grades are welcome.
Ms Kaminski and Ms. Donna Muncey, of Ed Services, continued with a discussion about the Advanced Placement Program, which are college level courses in a high school setting. These courses are more rigorous and can be used for college credit. There is an increase in the number of students taking the AP classes and an increase in their performance level. If students receive a score of 4 or 5 the course may be accepted by a college for credit. We have 65 sections covering 18 different AP courses. There are almost twice the number of students taking AP classes this year than in 2001. Most students are taking 1 or 2 courses. 3% are African American students (out of 11% of the school population) and 16% are Latino students (out of the 32% of the student population) taking AP classes. We will continue to work to increase participation in these courses.
The AVID program provides support to students, whose parents were not college students. 62 of the students in AVID took AP classes, and received similar grades to other students. At Samohi, the scores in descending order were 3,4,2,5,1, with a large number scoring a 5. Students must be able to write well to do well on the exams, but these courses really prepare them for college. There is an essay section on the Biology AP exam. There are many more female students taking these tests but the males are scoring better. AVID students are scoring lower, but this provides a challenge for them to do better. A parent asked if we have seen an impact from the house redesign, on the AP results. It is too early to tell because the scores we have available are from last spring, which was prior to redesign. We will be able to see an impact in results in the next three years. Seniors and Juniors who are taking these exams are not necessarily taking their AP classes in their own house. A parent asked if students in California are at a disadvantage and the response is that they are not at a disadvantage and actually score higher than students on the East Coast. We should start preparing our students the summer prior to taking the AP course.
Janine Avner, of Site Governance, presented the results of the High Places Survey. She is a volunteer who has been working on the survey for 2002-2003. The survey reports what the school community wants. It answers how and why students are performing at the rate they are. For the 2001-2002 survey, the achievement gap was noted and that there was not good communication. This was before redesign. The number of responses has dropped from prior years, but this may mean there is less dissatisfaction.
Dr. Ilene Straus, reported on the Athletic Department survey taken at the January meeting. Surveys were returned by 125 parents. Dave Tillipman has participated in the Committee for the Selection of the Athletic Director as a PTSA representative. Of the 950 athletes at Samohi only 125 parents responded to the survey. Some of the comments from the survey were that the team tryouts were not always publicized, that the selections for the teams were not always fair and that they like the inter-squad competition. Parents and students did not know what was needed to make the different teams. The complaints included, that some coaches humiliated students in front of other team members, that students who were in club teams had a better chance of being selected, and that students did not always see the trainer. The new A.D. will have to define the areas better, make sure that practices always end on time and that students have an opportunity to see the trainer. The coaches need improvements specifically in communicating with the parents. All this information will help in choosing the A.D. There were more negative comments than positive comments about the coaches and there have been problems with the walk-on coaches. The Administration will work on the problems with the coaches. The new A.D. must mediate with teachers requiring different types of practice and set goals and be involved with fundraising. We could not afford the athletic program without fundraising. At this time there are two candidates; one is from within the district. Dr. Kelly added that one area of concern is students that miss their 5th period class if they are on a team that must travel for a game. Many students/parents ask for a less stressful class for the 5th period, in the event that a student must miss a class on a competition day. The school cannot always accommodate this request. If a student must miss a class for a competition, they must be their own advocate and contact their teacher, preferably the day before the competition.
Dr. Kelly advised that during the next three weeks students will be taking the CAHSEE. Current 10th graders must pass this exam. The results will be mailed from the district offices. If these students do not pass, they may enroll in summer school to prepare to re-take the test. There is a proposal to take a look at the school calendar and to create two unequal semesters, so that first semester exams may be given prior to the winter break. There is not a lot of instructional time provided in May. In January, after the disruption in classes, we must make that month of classes quality instructional time. But at this time, changing the calendar is only under discussion. If a student missed any part of the test, they can make-up that part. The application for summer school is on the Samohi website and will be on Samohi Pals. Obligations, which are books and other items owed to the school must be cleared by year-end. This is especially important for seniors. Registration for the next school year will be held Aug. 24-27, Tuesday thru Friday. Wendy Wax Gellis, currently an advisor will be a House Principal next year. Another new House Principal is Craig Lewis, from Perris, CA. There is still one House Principal position that is open. There are also many candidates for the two open advisor positions. We are in the second round of interviews for the Athletic Director. The teacher leader position in “H” House is open, three teachers were hired and there are still other teachers in a lay-off situation. Of the 16.7 positions that were cut, the administration is hoping that 10 of these staff members will be back. The class size reduction for 9th grade students will not exist any longer. There will be 3500 students on the campus next year, which is the largest student population the school has ever had.
The Battle of the Bands will be held on Memorial Day Weekend. There are many things going on at the school and parents are encouraged to check the website. We are in good shape, but there is much work to do during these last weeks of school. We will be very busy.
Cheri Orgel thanked all attendees for staying until the end of the meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:10 PM.
Respectfully submitted by,
Helene Phipps
Co-Recording Secretary