Minutes from March 18 PSC Meeting

Mrs. Freisinger gave an overview SAIL (Students Accelerated In Learning) program. All 2nd graders are all tested and students can be in SAIL in 3-5 grades. There are 3 units of study over the course of the year. SAIL students are invited to COMET enrichment classes at the Science Museum for a week. Kids in grades 1-2 are not formally identified but they are pulled out for some sessions of enrichment and there are several unique units each year. Students can qualify after 2nd grade. Staff keeps looking at test scores. All new students are tested.

Young Scholars It was found that the population in the gifted classes didn’t match the general population. So this program was founded for under-represented students. The goal is for the program to raise students’ expectations for themselves and help them achieve. Hopefully, they will move into SAIL, and then the high potential program in middle school, and onto AVID, and AP classes. Goal is to increase graduation rate and see students go onto post-secondary education. Mrs. Freisinger goes into classes and observes students. She scores them and the then decides with staff input which kids to invite. It’s good to have a team because different teachers will observe different things. Students will see her once a week for an hour. Students need to qualify each year. There is also a summer camp. It is a free weeklong day camp. The Office of Education Equity funds the program.

Principals report Conferences were at over a 90% attendance rate. The staff and students are now looking ahead at Spring Break. MCA testing begins right after break on April 8. The staff has several plans in place to get students ready and excited. Carnival is coming up in May.

Treasurer’s report With Labels for Education credits, we were able to buy visa gift cards. We need to decide where we want to use them in the school – they are good for a year. Teachers can use them to buy needed supplies. Teachers’ classroom budgets were reduced a bit this year. Field trips: Teachers know where they are at in terms of budget. We were able to do some Bravo performances also and we had a visit from author, Douglas Woods. Ms. Rappe was able to get a Target Grant to fund her field trip to the Bakken Museum. Also, we had a generous anonymous donor make a contribution to the overall field trip fund for that specific purpose. Cash donations are up for the Carnival this year. Jess would like to have a special meeting to talk about budget priorities for the 2015-2016 school year. PSC will also look into the AmazonSmile program.

Turn off the Screen Week is coming up. Let Jenny N. know if you are interested in helping out. Some of the typical activities that happen after school are art & crafts; a talent show; sports day and roller skating at Saints North. Students will need signed permission slips to stay after school for events.

The Book Fair did very well! We had the highest sales since we went to a two book fairs a year schedule. The All for Books coin drive earned many books for the book rookery. The class that collected the most change got to choose books for the Rookery. Scholastic also does a matching donation of books for another place in need. Jenny R. had so many credits that she could refill the birthday books cart and she won’t require the extra money out of the PSC budget next year. I Love to Read Month was a great success as well. Ms. Peters had some great feedback from staff and students. The BINGO game was very popular and 2 kids from each grade were drawn from completed cards and given coupons toward book purchases. Students also loved the themed fun days such as “Bring a beach towel to school day” - kids could use them to sit or lay on during silent reading.

Carnival volunteers Jenny N. plans to touch base with NHS kids and ROTC kids from North again. We can’t have inflatables this year so we are trying a photo booth and dunk tank. The dunk tank will feature school staff and most of the dunk tank spots are already filled! Kids can earn extra chances to dunk their teacher – or even principal – by selling raffle tickets for the cash raffle. On May 21, we will hear for Ann Denton regarding the MN Math and Reading Core. Richardson was awarded this again for next year.

Teacher Appreciation Week is May 4-8.