Plainview-Old Bethpage Middle School Site Based/Shared Decision Making Committee Minutes – December 2, 2013

Present J. McNamara - Principal R. Talento, P. Romanelli - Assistant Principals A. Kurtis, S. Nager, V. Ahlsen - Teachers R. Rosato - Aide A. Agostino - Clerical K. Rea, E. Friedman - Parent M. Barber, J. Birns – Students

Facilitator: Vicki Ahlsen Minutes: Aimee Agostino

Vicki Ahlsen called the meeting to order and asked everyone to review the minutes from the December 2, 2013 meeting. The minutes were approved.

Old Business 1. Parent/Teacher Conferences – On line registration began in early November. It really went well. Over 500 parents have registered. 2. Zero/Ninth Period – We will spend the whole meeting on discussing this situation, so we will hold off on this until the next meeting. 3. Courtyard – Ester Tolen, artist in residence, will be coming back to us with ideas for the courtyard and all art classes will be working on another mosaic. There will be more information at the next meeting on courtyard updates. 4. Recycling – Mrs. Kurtis looked into recycling programs. One is called Grow N.Y.C. We are still looking into recycling cans and bottles. MAP Leadership students attended Lift up Long Island Conference for Kids. Students are focusing on the long term aspects of plastic water bottles in schools. Students suggested foldable water bottles that they can purchase. Students had long-term ideas for future leadership groups, possibly gifting foldable bottles to incoming fifth graders. Bottles have built- in name tags. MAP Leadership will be doing a presentation to PTA and will be following up on this. We also talked about the possibility of getting a recycling machine to shred plastic.

New Business 1. Technology Committee Our first Technology Committee meeting was held and the goals for the year were discussed. We are looking at what the building needs. Adding some possible grant writing , looking into professional development.

Bring Your Own Device – High School is completely wireless and is adopting a BYOD policy. We talked about the possible issues and exploring the possibility of having this policy in Middle School. We asked our student team members their opinion about this policy. They said: a. It may be distracting to students b. Saves paper c. Students accessing Social Media in class d. Easier to take notes

2. Beautification Committee Mtg. The committee is exploring the Physical Education display case and ceiling work in the cafeteria.

3. Instructional Committee Mtg. – Infinite Campus grading policies were discussed.

Meeting was adjourned at 3:43 PM