AVCHS: School Site Governance Council

Culture Culture Culture

2009-07-09T08:34:00.000-07:00

(RE)DEFINING ANIMO VENICE PLANNING MEETING: 7-2-2009

Issue:

Animo Venice needs to establish a new culture based on – student achievement, community service, giving back to the school.

Agenda:

1) Warm Up: The Ideal Animo Venice Student

2) Chalk Talk

a. Current School Culture (Positives/Negatives) vs Ideal School Culture

b. Other schools

c. What can we do?

3) Action Plan: first day, first week, first month, first semester, whole year/ongoing.

4) Homework: rewrite the mission statement so that the students can verbalize/understand it and adopt it as their own. Current Mission State:

The mission of Ánimo Venice Charter High School is to prepare students for college, leadership, and life through innovative instruction, a rigorous curriculum, and the use of technology. At Ánimo Venice, we are committed to the education, and social and economic success of students who historically are unlikely to attend and excel at an institution of higher learning. We aim to achieve our mission by creating a student-centered environment that unifies the efforts of family, community, and school to foster life-long learning, cross-cultural competency, social responsibility, and academic excellence.

5) Plan next meeting

MINUTES

Participants: Richard, John, Stepan, Tom, Bob, Alyce, Paul, Carr

1) What does the ideal Animo Venice students look like? What does the ideal student think, feel, and do?

Each person was asked to brainstorm a few words that would describe his/her ideal AV student. As shown below, the list is long and varied. It’d be difficult for students to know exactly what we want them to become (the same problem with the ESLRs). Ideally, we should be able to distill this list to 3 essential words that students can easily memorize and internalize. The more focused and clear we are, the better. What words would you choose from or add to this list?

Always trying harder

Professional

Creative

Future/Forward Looking

Challenge/Questioning

Respect

Tenacity

Philanthropic/Thinks of others

Positive

Proud

Confident

Attitude

Integrity

Fun

Energetic

Safe/Comfortable

2) What do we think about the current school culture, positives and negatives? How did it get to its current state? What should it be?

Guiding questions:

a. Do you want the school culture to interlock with the academic mission of the school ( I have no idea if you all even talk about 90/90/90 anymore)

b. if the answer to that is yes then what are the priorities of the school? What things have been prioritized? Have other things super ceded grades?

c. What has been the consistency at the school as it pertains to policies set forth?

The bulk of the meeting was stuck at this question because it goes to the core of who we are, what we haven’t become, and what we’d like to be. It was evident that everyone has been mulling over these questions for a while, and that everyone is ready to do something about the situation. However, we weren’t able to nail down what the AV school culture should be, which is necessary before creating an action plan. In particular, we had a somewhat heated discussion about the 90/90/90 goal and its impact on the school and students. Most people agreed that it should still be the stated goal of the school, however some questioned whether it should be the focus/mission for the students. The difficulty of the discussion resulted from 1) trying to define an abstract concept like school culture; 2) the various definitions and interpretations that people have about different terms such as “school culture”; and 3) some ideological differences between the participants.

During the discussion, Carr offered a framework for building a school’s culture:

Vision à Culture à Priorities à Consistency

He felt that AV always had difficulty being consistent with its message and policies. Exceptions were made and policies were changed inconsistently, both of which are typical occurrences for a new school but in the end might have undermined the formation of a strong school culture for AV. For me personally, I’ve come to believe that the school vision for the students was never well developed in the first place or there was a mismatch between the vision we imagined and the student population we served. We put the school together in 3 months, from when we first started recruiting kids to when we opened the doors on the first day. I doubt any of us understood the student population well—the diversity of ethnicities, class, abilities, and where the kids come from. We talked about how to get kids into college, but we didn’t discuss how we would give the students a meaningful reason for getting into college. It was pretty much assumed that they wouldn’t like their home school and they wanted to go to college.

The group also felt that the students did have a sense of belonging and in general felt safe and comfortable at the school. However, in my opinion, the sense of belonging is between the students and some adults, but not to the school and its mission or purpose. Thus, the kids are most influenced by their peers and not the school.

From Kaitie and John’s emailed notes:

Positives:

· In general, we have a pretty decent school culture. We also have many events (sports, pep rallies, dances) and traditions/culminating events (dodgeball, science fair, film festival, arts festival) that help make our school feel more “real.”

· Safe and Civil (in principle)

Negatives:

· Some things we can’t control, i.e. teenagers hate many things including high school.

· It’s important that the adults stay positive-- If WE aren't positive, there is no way the kids can be.

· Making it too difficult for many kids to stay in sports (2 "F" rule, for example)

· culminating events that only happen at end of year

· no activities coordinator or monitor: who will organize or create a focus for all these somewhat random events that happen at our school?

· no cultural planning or vision for the school. College prep: what does that look like? Connect after school enrichment with college prep.

· no successful credit recovery program; how did APEX happen?

· Safe and Civil in practice; how to make it sustainable?

· lack of consistent input from students

· are we thinking of the whole student or just their academic potential?

· no clubs per se

3) How have other schools established their school cultures and what do they look like? How much of what they do can be translated to our setting?

From Dave and John’s emailed notes:

· KIPP and ICEF have their school cultures deeply interwoven into their academics and rules and regulations…they are interlocked…on the front end it reveals a very rigid environment but on the back end there is buy in and the kids do enjoy being there.

· any successful Green Dot school cultures? someone needs to look for models. Large schools have many more resources, fundraising avenues, students to run the show, etc

4) Action Plan/Calendar-- How do we use the move and all of the great things we plan to do next year (new electives, athletics, community/service learning, interventions, SSR, advisory, Safe & Civil, mentor programs, etc) to shift the school culture to the way we want it?

BEFORE SCHOOL YEAR

Activity/Event	Message/Theme?	Type?*	Align w/ school vision?
Hire activities coordinator
Define role of advisory
Plan service learning/community service program
Develop credit recovery program
Reconcile Safe & Civil with School Culture group
Create visual map of all events/projects and spread the love out so there is something fun and celebratory each month
Reform office hours: by appointment only; mentors/TAs
Implement new detention policy: lunch detentions

FIRST DAY

Activity/Event	Message/Theme?	Type?*	Align w/ school vision?

FIRST WEEK

Activity/Event	Message/Theme?	Type?*	Align w/ school vision?
New school assembly		Ceremony
Whole School Beach Run	Health	Ritual	Yes

FIRST MONTH

Activity/Event	Message/Theme?	Type? *	Align w/ school vision?
ASB elections		Ceremony
Club week		Ritual
Pep Rally: 3-point shooting contest, emphasize academic success/excellence, organized by ASB		Ceremony, Play
Students of the Month luncheon		Ceremony, Play

FIRST QUARTER

Activity/Event	Message/Theme?	Type? *	Align w/ school vision?
GPA reward fieldtrip to the beach		Play
Advisory GPA contests		Play
SSR Teacher Read-Off competition		Play
Reformed Back to School Night: fishbowl dialog between current and alumni parents; school culture/team building activities with parents		Ritual

FIRST SEMESTER

Activity/Event	Message/Theme?	Type? *	Align w/ school vision?
Hire Champions to bring rock wall/ropes courses and do team-building		Play

SECOND SEMESTER:

Activity/Event	Message/Theme?	Type? *	Align w/ school vision?
Annual event: camping, dodgeball tournament, bonfire		Rituals, Play

END OF YEAR

Activity/Event	Message/Theme?	Type? *	Align w/ school vision?
Annual event: bonfire

ONGOING

Activity/Event	Message/Theme?	Type? *	Align w/ school vision?
Service learning/community service program with parental involvement
Interdisciplinary projects with authentic assessments through Community Service Initiative
Identify and place students in credit recovery program
Student facilities maintenance crews
Student of the Month Luncheons (monthly)
College trips
PE Class: split by gender, get male role models involved in workshops; specific health/sex education for girls
Professional Focus (majors): arts, business/technology, health/ sports, and science/engineering. Create enrichment programs that follow these interests; create a pathway from the classroom to the enrichment program to college; Have students plan beyond college towards future professions and personal goals.
Lunch detentions
ASB responsible for promoting school culture: School-wide meetings, focus on promoting academic excellence
Student/peer disciplinary council

From Reframing Organizations (Bolman and Deal, 1997):

Symbols embody and express an organization’s culture—the interwoven pattern of beliefs, values, practices, and artifacts that define for members who they are and how they are to do things. Culture is both a product and a process. As a product, it embodies accumulated wisdom from those who came before us. As a process, it is continually renewed and re-created as newcomers learn the old ways and eventually become teachers themselves. (217)

Culture: What is it, and is its role in organizations? Both questions are hotly contested. Some people argue that organizations have cultures; others insist that organizations are cultures. Schein offers a more formal definition: “a pattern of shared basic assumptions that a group learned as it solved its problems of external adaptation and integration that has worked well enough to be considered valid and therefore to be taught to new members as the correct way to perceive, think, and feel in relation to those problems.” Deal and Kennedy define culture more succinctly as “the way we do things around here.” (231)

How do these quotes apply to Animo Venice from the students’ perspective?

Symbolic perspectives question traditional views that building a team mainly means finding the right people and designing an appropriate structure. The essence of high performance is spirit. If we were to banish play, ritual, ceremony, and myth, we would destroy teamwork, not enhance it. There are many signs that late-twentieth-century organizations are at a critical juncture because of a crisis of meaning and faith. Managers wonder how to build team spirit when turnover is high, resources are tight, and people worry about losing their jobs. Such questions are important, but by themselves, they limit managerial imagination and divert attention from deeper issues of faith and purpose. Managers are inescapably accountable for budgets and bottom lines. They have to respond to individual needs, legal requirements, and economic pressures. But they can serve a deeper and more durable function when they recognize that team building at its heart is a spiritual undertaking. It is both a search for the spirit within and the creation of a community of believers united by shared faith and shared culture. Peak performance emerges as a team discovers its soul. (262)

Again, read the above quote from the students’ perspective, thinking of the student body as players in the team and the teachers/admin as the “captains.” What do we need to do before we can become a “high performance” team?

*Events can be classified according to certain organizational symbols: Ritual/Ceremony, Humor/Play, Stories/Fairy Tales, Myths. Events that fall into these types can influence the school culture. See below for definitions.

Ritual and ceremony lift spirits and reinforce values. Ritual and ceremony are expressive occasions. As parentheses in an ordinary workday, they enclose and define special forms of behavior. What occurs on the surface is not nearly so important as the deeper meanings that are communicated beneath visible behavior. (258) The distinction between ritual and ceremony is subtle. Ceremonies are grander, more elaborate, less frequent occasions. Rituals are simpler day-to-day patterns. Expressive events provide order and meaning and bind an organization or society together. When properly conducted and attuned to valued myths, rituals fire the imagination and deepen the faith. (229)

Humor and play reduce tension and encourage creativity. Groups often focus single-mindedly on the task at hand, shunning anything not directly work-related. Seriousness replaces godliness as a cardinal virtue. Effective teams balance seriousness with play and humor. Surgical teams, cockpit crews, and many other groups have learned that joking and playful banter are an essential source of invention and team spirit. Humor releases tension and helps resolve issues that arise from day-to-day routines as well as from sudden emergencies. (256)

Stories and fairy tales carry history and values and reinforce group identity. In high performing organizations and groups, stories keep traditions alive and provide examples to guide everyday behavior. (255) Stories are a key medium for communicating corporate myths. They establish and perpetuate tradition. They are recalled and embellished in formal meetings and informal coffee breaks. They convey the value and identity of the organization to insiders and outsiders, thereby building confidence and support. One school administrator responded to criticisms of a new reading program by recounting stories of several children whose ability to read had increased dramatically. The stories spread through the community, and test scores became almost irrelevant because the stories built so much confidence and support. (222)

Myths, operating at deep reaches of consciousness, provide the story behind the story. All organizations rely on myths or sagas of varying strength and intensity. One of the distinctive characteristics of elite institutions—such as Harvard, the US Marines, or McKinsey & Company—is the presence of strong myths and sagas, widely shared and regularly invoked. Myths support claims of distinctiveness, transforming a place of work into a revered institution and an all-encompassing way of life. A shared myth fosters internal cohesion and a sense of direction while helping maintain confidence and the support of external constituencies. (220-221)

June 4th Meeting Minutes

2009-06-05T10:14:00.000-07:00

School Site Governace Meeting Agenda
Thursday, June 4th
Animo Venice Auditorium

Objective:
1. Review existing committees and goals
2. Create plans and roles for completing unfinished business before summer

• Introductions, review objectives
o Reviewed minutes
o Ramos reviewed objectives for the day, packet of proposals and protocol for passing them

• Next Meeting Date: Thursday, August 20th
o Ramos requested that members consult schedules to determine next meeting date. Request for members to contact Ramos about availability by EOY.

• Public Comments (10 min)
o Revolution Foods (15 min)
 Staff presented the philosophy and nature of Revolution Foods. Presentation included description of food ingredients and sources of ingredients. Discussion of pros and cons of current lunches. Students and staff voiced opinions and gave recommendations for change.
 Discussion of price of Revolution Foods in context of $900,000 budget cut.
 Discussion of ways to subsidize the cost and whether or not it is worth it.
 Decision to vote at the end of the meeting

o Roman asked about whether or not new school will be ready in time for the beginning of the school year

• Committee Reports— (3 min each)
 Fundraising
 End of Year Ceremony-June 6th
 Better Attendance
 Community Partnerships
 Recruitment
 Hype

• Policies to be voted on— (10 min)
 Detention Committee
• Review of detention proposal, discussion of legality of teachers supervising detention during lunch, discussion of possible mandatory office hours in place of lunch detention, logistical issue of retrieving students and adequacy of two detention periods a week, possible system of merits and demerits
• possibility of choosing a dean with a period of adjunct duties to coordinate this and possibly implement a system of merits and demerits
• issue of the integrity of detention, does detention matter now? Why is detention given?
• Karlo motioned to pass lunch detention proposal with the understanding that amendments need to be make and consistency needs to be established. Additionally, a merit/demerit system needs to be implemented. (More than just the time of detention needs to be changed).
• Proposal was approved unanimously
 Service Learning Committee
• Report, Discussion, Motion/Vote
• Many parents have connections to non-profits (Karen), many non-profits are looking for volunteers
• How does this factor into the 40 community service hours?
• Currently, are seniors getting their 40 hours?
• Brainstorming around different community organizations studens can get involved with
• Possible option of asking organizations to provide information about “job description” and “mission”
• Ramos moved to accept proposal, seconded and approved unanimously

New Business— (20 min)
• Spanish Placement
 Do we have an adequate measurement of placing student into Spanish classes?
• Problems with student placement. Students are placed incorrectly or do not complete assessment
• Lorrain reported her concerns and explained the current placement process. Explained the difference between native and nonnative speakers. Native students read, write and speak the language. Nonnative speakers have ONE of those three skills (read, write or speak). Use of parent survey and Spanish interview.
• Question of whether or not students should be tested on language before it is taught
• Should Spanish diagnostic be given at the beginning and end of the year so that we are measuring validity of test and amount of growth each year.
• If students are misplaced, advisors have the option of requesting that a student be retested
• Question of logic of course sequencing for Spanish, is it logical to assume so many students will take AP Spanish Language (yes, it is not a difficult test).
• Possibility of Spanish elective

 Voted to reinstate Revolution Foods contingent upon raising $6,ooo

• Club Establishment Process
• Vote to table this discussion
• Karlo will coordinate with other club leaders and report back to the committee
 Can we codify how to establish a club here at Animo Venice?
 What is the process for establishing official clubs?
 Who is involved in the process? When can it take place?
 How many students are needed? How do they raise / get money?
 What is their connection to ASB?
 Is there a stipend / release time for advisors?
• Master Schedule
 How can we be more transparent about changes regarding committee objectives?
• Suggestion that changes to master schedule are communicated to all constituents (students, staff, etc). Decision to post changes on bulletin.

• Adjournment

Proposal for Recruitment

2009-06-03T14:37:00.000-07:00

Recruitment Committee

Summation of Current Concerns:
It is clear that to provide all the services that we need for our students, we need to be budgeted at a minimum of 560 students for the next school year. Currently, our enrollment at grades 9-12 is 400 students with 170 incoming freshmen. However, we are anticipating the departure of some of our students due to the move so we need to actively recruit students to fill in available slots at grades 10-12.

Date of Last Meeting: Saturday, May 9th, 2009 NEXT MTG: TBD

Proposal:

A. Parent Outreach
Parents will reach out to their local communities in the West LA, Inglewood, and Fairfax areas.
B. Private School Outreach
Karen Lauterbach suggested reaching out to private schools in the area including St. Monica’s and St. Bernand’s. Animo Venice can be an opportunity for parents who may no longer be able to afford private schools in these economic times.
C. Venice High Outreach
Mr. Chang will figure out who to speak with at Venice High that can advocate for Animo Venice to students who need an alternative setting to a large high school.
D. Local Churches / Community Groups Outreach
Coach Henrie will reach out to such organizations through flyers and letters to promote Animo Venice.
E. Farmers Market Outreach
Mr. Silbiger will research local farmers markets where we can hand out flyers.

Update / Next Steps:

A. Information sessions
Two information sessions have been scheduled for Thursday, 6/4 @ 6pm and Saturday, 6/6 @ 10am. We will be targeting 10th – 12th graders.
B. Creation of Recruitment Flyers
A color flyer has been created by students.
C. Student ‘Viral’ Marketing
Students have promoted information sessions through Facebook, Myspace, AIM, E-mail
D. Outreach
Coach Henrie has reached out to local churches and community groups. Patty Millan has reached out to directors of organizations such as MDR Work Source, Boys&Girls Club, Inside-Out Art Program, Vera Davis Center
E. Parent hours
In the communication envelope and bulletin, there was mention about student recruitments. Parents will receive 10 hours of service for every student that enrolls at Animo Venice and 2 hours of service for every person that shows up to the information session.

Any and all suggestions, questions, or comments on this proposal can be directed to Mr. Chang at tchang@animo.org

School Site Governace Meeting Agenda

2009-05-28T10:25:00.000-07:00

Thursday, June 4th
Animo Venice Auditorium

Objective:
1. Review existing committees and goals
2. Create plans and roles for completing unfinished business before summer

• Introductions, review objectives

• Next Meeting Date: Thursday, August 20th

• Public Comments (10 min)
o Revolution Foods (15 min)

• Committee Reports— (3 min each)
 Fundraising
 End of Year Ceremony-June 6th
 Better Attendance
 Community Partnerships
 Recruitment
 Hype

• Policies to be voted on— (10 min)
 Detention Committee
 Service Learning Committee
• Report, Discussion, Motion/Vote

New Business— (20 min)
• Spanish Placement
 Do we have an adequate measurement of placing student into Spanish classes?
• Club Establishment Process
 Can we codify how to establish a club here at Animo Venice?
 What is the process for establishing official clubs?
 Who is involved in the process? When can it take place?
 How many students are needed? How do they raise / get money?
 What is their connection to ASB?
 Is there a stipend / release time for advisors?
• Master Schedule
 How can we be more transparent about changes regarding committee objectives?

• Committees Collaboration Time (10 min)
• Share Out (5 min)
• Agenda for next meeting
• Adjournment

Proposed Change to Community Service Policy

2009-05-28T10:24:00.000-07:00

Summation of Current Concerns:

The mission of Animo Venice Charter High School is that we prepare students for college, leadership and life.

Students feel that AV curriculum needs to do more to prepare them for “leadership” and “life” since classes and projects often do not have enough real-world application.

Many students are not fulfilling their community service requirement of 40 hours before they graduate, because they don’t know where/how to engage in community service.

Date of Last Meeting: 5/8/09

Proposal:

Animo Venice will offer a community service elective in which students will research, advertise and enact community service opportunities (Ms. Erickson has expressed interest in teaching this class).

Students in the class will come up with a menu of community service options and presentations of these options for the student body
Teachers will purposefully connect their curriculum to these community service opportunities

Set an expectation that teachers make at lease two connections between their curriculum and community service opportunities next year.
Take time over the summer to brainstorm community service options so teachers have time to incorporate into curriculum.

Time will be given in PD over the summer and throughout the year to plan a service learning project in each grade level and to connect community service options to curriculum

Set an expectation that there be a service learning project in each grade level

Develop a “Pathway to Leadership” in which we vertical team service learning in 9^th through 12^th grade

Plan an all-day community service field trip for ninth graders
In 10^th grade, students have input in their community service field trip
In 11^th grade students are given more autonomy and, in 12^th grade, students enact their own service learning (waging a “resistance” to a social injustice).

Benefits:

We will move purposefully toward our mission. Students will be empowered to go out into their communities to serve and to lead. Students will connect their learning to the “real world”. Students will have the opportunity to explore career interests. Students will fulfill their community service requirement and be more likely to graduate.

Possible Concerns:

Apportioning responsibility:

Logistics of summer brainstorm session
Coordinating of elective and community service field trips

Time for grade level meetings to coordinate service learning projects and curriculum

introduction of grade level meetings?

Setting expectations for staff (who and how?)

Other Questions:

Any and all suggestions, questions, or comments on this proposal can be directed to Alyce Prentice or Karlo Silbiger (aprentice@animo.org, ksilbiger@animo.org).

Proposal for Fundraising Committee

2009-05-28T10:21:00.000-07:00

Fundraising Committee

Summation of Current Concerns:

Currently, our school’s budget has been slashed due to deficits in state funding. Our school’s ADA is being cut $200. All together our budget has been cut by almost $300,000. The principal and the budget committee had to be creative in cutting money from different line items in the school’s budget. Our committee hopes to fill in the deficits as well as create new line items in the budget that will directly benefit student achievement or student quality of life.

Date of Last Meeting: Saturday, May 9^th, 2009 NEXT MTG: Friday, June 5^th

Proposal:

A. Yard sale: we originally talked about doing the yard sale the first weekend in Sept – but that’s actually Labor Day Weekend and school starts on the 8^th right after that weekend. If we want to do the sale a week before school starts, it needs to be the last weekend in August; August 29^th and 30^th.

Since this is going to be a rather ambitious undertaking, before the end of the school year, I’d like to get flyers out to all the families to give them information when & where and to ask for donations and assistance to run the yard sale – attached is a sample flyer, let’s review and finalize what we’d like to do.

In order to collect and organize donations, I think we need to get started 1 or 2 weekends before the actual date of the sale –I don’t think we want to be doing that the day of the sale as it’ll take too long to set up. I will make some calls to the Salvation Army to get information on remaining un-sold items.

We’ll need to find out when would be the soonest we’d be allowed to start bringing donations over to the new location (on California)

B. Spaghetti Feed & Raffle: attached are samples of raffle tickets I get from our basketball club; basically consists of 2 or 3 perforated parts with sequential numbers on both parts of the tickets and a description of the drawing and prize. Planned date will be the 1^st weekend in October; October 3^rd (Saturday).

I will make some calls about party rentals for tables and chairs. This is another activity that I think we need to get flyers out early to families so we can get donations ahead of time – if we wait for school to start, with all the other things happening at that time, I don’t think we’ll have time to get notices out and to collect the donations.

C. Movie night: first showing is planned for Halloween, this year Halloween falls on a Saturday. This event will help bring in community members to our school. We can also create a concessions stand to raise more funds during the event.

D. Sports Concessions: to be further discussed after the new school year starts so we know which families will have team members to help run the concession stands. We will need to form a solid group of parents to consistently help with this. We also need strong communication between the athletic director and parents running the concessions.

Adapted from Susie Schwanke

Benefits:

This committee will help alleviate some of the cuts that were made due to the state cuts in school funding. This committee will organize and mobilize volunteers to help make each event successful.

These proposed events will not only bring in funding but will also help the school build relationships with the community.

Possible Concerns:

The sheer breath and scope of these events will be challenging. Logistically, many of these events need to come together during the summer. This will pose problems because as a committee, we will not meet regularly. Most of our communication will come via email.

Any and all suggestions, questions, or comments on this proposal can be directed to Ms. Ramos jramos@animo.org or SUSIE SCHWANKE skootterpie@aol.com.

Proposed Change to Detention Policy Detention Committee

2009-05-28T10:17:00.000-07:00

Summation of Current Concerns: After polling both teachers and students, both groups express general dissatisfaction with the current detention system. Teachers and students agree that detention is not an effective deterrent to misbehavior, detention is not tracked nor implemented effectively, and there is concern from both parties about the efficacy of detention minutes doubling until Saturday detention is prescribed.

Proposal: The Committee would like to suggest that Animo Venice considers moving to a lunch period detention system. The detention list would be run on Tuesdays and Thursdays, student offenders would be retrieved during the announcements portion of 2^nd period on those days, given a small lunch, and moved into a classroom to serve detention during lunch. All detentions will be the full lunch period.

Benefits: The Committee feels that this system would solve many problems. The security guard or dean would be responsible for retrieving the students, escorting them to the detention room, and monitoring for the duration of detention. This will ensure that all students serve their detention in a timely manner, detention policies will be consistent as the same person will always be monitoring, and serving detention during lunch is perceived as a harsher punishment by students. This will also allow students to have the afternoons free for office hour and practice attendance.

Possible Concerns: Teachers will be responsible for being present in the detention room, as the room will move from class to class on a rotating basis, which requires teachers to be willing to give up approximately one lunch every three months. Also, as the security guard will be monitoring detention on Tuesdays and Thursdays, teachers will need to be willing to assist with lunch supervision on these days. Students may attempt to circumvent the retrieval process by finding ways to leave class early on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so all teachers will need to be diligent about maintaining the integrity of their classroom bathroom policies and the like, especially on those days.

Other Questions: The Committee is still debating what activities students should be participating in while in detention. Options include a written reflection or various discipline-related readings. We will need to decide as a staff to commit to what student offenses are detention worthy and implement with consistency, and communicate this clearly to students. We also discussed the possibility of changing the discipline reaction to free dress and dress code offenses, including the possibility of tee shirts reading “TODAY I CHOSE NOT TO DRESS FOR SUCCESS. TOMORROW I WILL MAKE A BETTER CHOICE.” for students who are taking advantage of free dress days.

Any and all suggestions, questions, or comments on this proposal can be directed to Sara Sheffer, ssheffer@animo.org.

AVCHS School Site Governance Council-What is it?

2009-04-17T11:42:00.000-07:00

Purpose

The GC shall approve a school plan addressing the following focus areas before August 15thfor the ensuing year. The GC will subsequently review the plan and applicable data, and if necessary, modify the plan to reflect changing needs and/or priorities throughout the year:

A. Curriculum
B. School calender
C. Master Schedule
D. Programs
E. Revisit WASC action plan
F. Other activities and objectives as established by the council.

Furthermore, the GC will review the school budget to assure spending in accordance with the goals of the plan. The GC will approve the school budget for the ensuing fiscal year before the principal submits it for Green Dot Public Schools Board approval.

Meeting the contractual obligation with Asociacion de Maestros Unidos, the GC will constitute both the school site calendar committee and the stipend committee, taking these items up in a manner and time consistent with the contract.

Welcome to the Animo Venice Charter High School Governance Council

2009-03-25T00:00:00.001-07:00