Atkins Academic and Technology High School
School Improvement Team Minutes
September12, 2011
| Members Present | ||
| Chad Booth | Laquisha Henry-Linder | Sonya Rexrode |
| Tonja Canady | Terry Howerton | Stephanie Magruder |
| Joe Childers | Araunah James | Vicki Tamer |
| George Eckart | Nicole Kurtz | Lindsay Upson |
| Monta Ervin | Patricia Martin | Natalie Young |
| Sandra Hemphill | Brad Phillis |
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| School Improvement Plan
Sonya Rexrode outlined the parts to the Title I plan. She went over the following components of the plan:
Title I School-wide Compliance Review and Plan
Learning team meetings Professional development Teacher retention Parental involvement Formative assessments Remediation/scaffolding strategies Program coordination
Priority Goals
Goal 1 – Increase proficiency in Algebra I, English I, and Biology by 10% Goal 2 - Develop a positive culture in the building Goal 3 - Increase use of technology by students in the classroom as well as instruction by teachers.
School Data and Summary Analysis
Teacher Empowerment Achievement Parent involvement Student involvement
The team voted to accept the plan and signed off on the signature sheet indicating their vote.
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| Daily Schedule
Joe Childers asked for suggestions on how to schedule pep rallies and other special events during the school day. The consensus was to shave times from as many classes as possible and make an announcement to change classes.
If the schedule is to be modified for only one grade level, then rotate the period affected so that the class does not consistently miss class time from the same class period.
The team approved this plan.
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| Varsity Letters
Joe Childers recommended that students be awarded varsity letters for varsity athletics, marching band, and participation on competition teams sponsored by NCASA. If other competition clubs wish to be approved for varsity letters, action by the SIT would be required.
The team approved this plan with one abstention.
A committee chaired by Vicki Tamer will be formed to look into the possibility of awarding points for joining non-competition clubs. The acquisition of a certain number points might also make a student eligible for a varsity letter. The other committee members are Brad Phillis, Patricia Martin, George Eckart, and Nicole Kurtz.
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| Club Sponsorships
Joe Childers discussed with the SIT ideas for requiring all licensed staff to work with after-school clubs. It was discussed that teachers will be most effective if they are working with clubs in which they are interested. Childers is to seek from staff the names of staff members who need additional adult supervision with their clubs and then see if he can fill this need with staff members who are not involved with after-school events.
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| Tracking Service Club Hours
Brad Phillis recommended that the school track service club hours throughout the school. He offered to develop a proposal for the SIT to review at the next meeting. No action was made on his recommendation at this meeting.
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| Pep Rallies
Laquisha Henry-Linder discussed her ideas for pep rallies and teacher/student games. She volunteered to lead a committee for the planning of pep rallies. She will chair a committee to work on a quarterly proposal for pep rallies and activities. Other committee members are Stephanie Magruder, Brad Phillis, and Araunah James. They will report at the next SIT meeting.
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| Community/Alumni Involvement
Laquisha Henry-Linder asked that The SIT look at ways to involve the community and alumni in the school.
Brad Phillis recommended looking for ways to get students into the community in a voluntary capacity to present a good image for the school much like the Atkins ROTC, which parked cars at the recent air show.
Lindsay Upson recommended trying to get help in starting an Atkins Alumni Association for students who graduated from the new Atkins.
Natalie Young suggested getting the Chronicle to cover events at Atkins. She also suggested looking for ways to build a connection from past to the future. She suggested we look for ways to show we have strong academics and students of a high character.
Lindsay Upson suggested spreading the word of positive happenings both inside the school and outside the school. Parents and teachers should help with this. The more parents are in the know, the more they can promote Atkins in a positive way.
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Atkins Academic and Technology High School
School Improvement Team Minutes
October10, 2011
| Members Present | ||
| Seth Anderson | Terry Howerton | Kenya Redd |
| Chad Booth | Araunah James | Sonya Rexrode |
| Tonja Canady | Nicole Kurtz | Vicki Tamer |
| Joe Childers | Cipriano Laga | Lindsay Upson |
| George Eckart | Stephanie Magruder | Natalie Young |
| Monta Ervin | Patricia Martin |
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| Sandra Hemphill | Brad Phillis |
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| Others Present | ||
| Cipriano Laga |
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| Approval of Minutes
Vicki Tamer made the motion to approve the minutes. Sonya Rexrode seconded the motion. The minutes were approved unanimously.
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| Old Business
Awarding of points for joining non-competition clubs: Vicki Tamer is working on a plan for awarding points for joining non-competition clubs. Brad Phillis has done preliminary work on the plan and will present the final plan at the November meeting.
Involvement in extracurricular events: Joe Childers talked with all licensed staff members about involvement in extracurricular events.
Tracking service hours of students: Brad Phillis is working on a plan to track service hours per grade level through the student government association. Each grade level would put in a public service project. Mr. Phillis would approve or reject each project and then submit the number of hours proposed. At the end of the year, the class with the most points would win some sort of award. This will begin in November. The final plan will be presented at November meeting.
Plan for pep rallies: Laquisha Henry-Linder was absent from the October meeting. She will present a plan for quarterly pep rallies at the November meeting.
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| New Business
Behavior plan: Araunah James presented the behavior plan for the school. Vicki Tamer recommended that it be approved. Sonya Rexrode seconded the motion. The plan was approved unanimously.
Wellness committee: Patricia Martin reported that the school is to come up with a program to promote being healthy in school. This might include programs for staff members during the school week. Ms. Martin was looking for a committee to form to gather ideas for the wellness plan. Araunah James and Stephanie Magruder agreed to be on the committee. Ms. Martin agreed to chair the committee. Sandra Hemphill agreed to be a consultant to the committee.
Attendance plan: Joe Childers led the discussion about attendance. Barriers to attendance included students holding extra jobs or being available to interpret for their families. The team determined that more data was needed on why students weren’t coming to school. This would include a historical report of attendance this year looking for patterns of poor attendance.
Brad Phillis asked if there was a community person to ask why students aren’t coming to school. Sandra Hemphill said she might know some parent volunteers who could help making calls in Spanish. It was determined that if a child had missed more than five days at this point, then the school needed to determine the reason for the absences.
Monta Ervin will report on this at the November meeting.
Hospitality: Vicki Tamer led the discussion about whether the school should have a hospitality committee where everyone contributes. She said she would send out information electronically to poll the staff and report at the November meeting.
Kindles and Nooks: Nicole Kurtz will lead a discussion about the use of these devices at the November meeting.
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AtkinsAcademic and Technology High School
| Members Present | ||
| Seth Anderson | Sandra Hemphill | Brad Phillis |
| Chad Booth | Laquisha Henry-Linder | Kenya Redd |
| Tonja Canady | Terry Howerton | Vicki Tamer |
| Joe Childers | Araunah James | Natalie Young |
| George Eckart | Nicole Kurtz |
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| Monta Ervin | Stephanie Magruder |
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| Approval of Minutes Terry Howerton made motion to approve. Stephanie Magruder seconded. The minutes were approved unanimously.
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| Old Business
Awarding of points for joining non-competition clubs: Vicki Tamer. Tamer proposed students to earn 300 points to be eligible for a letter as follows: 75 point clubs for HOSA, Key Club, National Honor Society, Go Green Go Kart Club; 50 points for Yearbook, Friends of Rachel, and Student Government Association; 25 points for Anime, Rubik’s Cube, Book Club, Drama Club, Art Club, CSI Club. Points are cumulative through the years beginning this year. A student can earn extra points for being a club officer – 25 points for president and 10 points for other offices. Vicki Tamer will track points on a spreadsheet.
All competitive clubs can earn letters.
Letterman banquet and/or awards ceremony: Joe Childers also added that he would like to see a letterman banquet at end of year for all students who earned letter. Araunah James made the motion to hold one. This was seconded by Brad Phillis. It was approved unanimously. ______________________________________________________________________
Tracking service hours: Brad Phillis will begin tracking service hours by grade level. He asked when to start this. Seth Anderson suggested to begin second semester. By consensus, it was decided that this will begin second semester. ______________________________________________________________________
Plan for pep rallies: Laquisha Henry-Linder made a proposal for pep rallies to establish school culture and enhance school spirit. She proposed to hold pep rallies monthly with the pep rally being held at the end of the day with other periods rotating.
Joe Childers recommended that we recognize honor roll, academic competitions, athletic teams, etc. at these monthly pep rallies.
Brad Phillis also suggested that everyone sing the Alma Mater at all assemblies.
Araunah James asked if once a month was too often for pep rallies.
Vicki Tamer made the motion to hold pep rallies once a month recognizing groups as outlined above and singing Alma Mater. Brad Phillis seconded the motion. Twelve people voted in favor of the motion. Three voted against the motion. Motion passed. _____________________________________________________________________
Wellness Committee: Stephanie Magruder presented information. She pointed out that a healthy bulletin board is now in the mail room. She noted that a healthy dessert contest would take place on November 18. It would include home made desserts with the objective being to make the healthiest and best-tasting dessert.
Attendance Plan: Monta Ervin presented the attendance plan with attendance by ethnicity. She pointed out that assumptions that certain groups might have higher absenteeism were not necessarily true.
Terry Howerton asked if this data would help kids bring notes in. Kenya Redd said that in the attendance office they only take three parent notes from a student and then it has to be a doctor’s note.
We will offer a reward for good attendance and will keep making sure that we are not telling kids that they will automatically fail if they miss too many days.
There was a discussion about pros and cons of failing students with excessive absences. No consensus was reached. Kenya Redd recommended that all teachers need to be “on the same page” with this.
Brad Phillis summed it up by saying that it is a discretionary policy but not a mandatory policy. The point is not having excessive unexcused absences.
Terry Howerton, Kenya Redd, Laquisha Henry-Linder, and Brad Phillis will work on wording about attendance for the student handbook. _______________________________________________________________________
Hospitality: Vicki Tamer presented information that had been used in past years for hospitality. She asked that everyone look over this information so that they could vote at the next meeting.
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| New Business
Paying for No-SMOD Days: Joe Childers reported that various groups in the school would like to have monthly no-SMOD days with students paying to not wear SMOD as a fundraiser for the respective groups. Vicki Tamer said she would like to see no-SMOD days but is against having students pay for no-SMOD days. Terry Howerton pointed out that it would be difficult to determine who had paid for the right to not wear SMOD. Brad Phillis also said he would like to see no_SMOD days but was not in favor of students paying for these.
Vicki Tamer made the motion that kids not pay in any way. Brad Phillis seconded. Seven people voted in favor. Four voted against. Motion passed.
School Spirit Days / Business Professional Days: Joe Childers said that he would like to see the no-SMOD days be designated School Spirit Days where students could wear jeans along with some sort of Atkins shirt (or else a SMOD shirt). For every School Spirit Day (once a month), there would also be a Business Professional Day once a month where kids dressed up as in the business world.
This idea was tabled until guidelines can be developed for what students will wear. Vicki Tamer and Laquisha Henry-Linder will work on these guidelines.
Teacher of the Year: Joe Childers said it was time to select the teacher of the year. He asked if we wanted to select a teacher who was eligible to compete at the county level or if every teacher was to be eligible to be elected at the school level. Monta Ervin made the motion that we select a teacher eligible to compete at the county level. Nicole Kurtz seconded. Fifteen in favor. One opposed. Motion passed.
Kindles and Nooks: Nicole Kurtz addressed this issue. She said Chad Booth was opposed to it. Stephanie Magruder pointed out that she had outside service for her i-Pad and that students could bring in outside things that had internet access if we allowed this. Brad Phillis said that even with Kindles and Nooks, it was hard enough to keep students focused in class. He said that he wanted administrators to be specific about expectations if we allowed these. Stephanie Magruder said it needed to be consistent for all classes.
Brad Phillis moved to not permit them at Atkins, stating that they should be confiscated as other electronic devices are confiscated. Vicki Tamer seconded. Five voted for and six voted against. Motion failed.
Terry Howerton made a motion to table the discussion. Vicki Tamer seconded. Eleven in favor. One against. Motion passed.
Friends of Rachel Activities: Rebecca Edwards, sponsor of Friends of Rachel, would like to have the club begin a paper chain to have a visible reminder of acts of kindness taking place in the school. There could be a competition among grade levels with each grade level having a different color paper for the chain. Vicki Tamer made a motion to approve. Araunah James seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
Clarification of SMOD: Joe Childers recommended that grommets be allowed for SMOD pants and shorts. However he recommended that black denim that looked faded or gray not be acceptable. He also pointed out that the current policy did not permit jeggings or skin-tight pants or leggings.
Joe Childers made the motion to allow grommets and black denim or denim-like fabric as long as it was not faded. Monta Ervin seconded. Twelve in favor. One opposed. Motion passed.
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Atkins Academic and Technology High School
School Improvement Team Minutes
December12, 2011
| Members | ||
| Seth Anderson | Laquisha Henry-Linder | Brad Phillis |
| Chad Booth | Terry Howerton | Kenya Redd |
| Tonja Canady | Araunah James | Sonya Rexrode |
| Joe Childers | Nicole Kurtz | Vicki Tamer |
| Monta Ervin | Stephanie Magruder | Natalie Young |
| Others Present | ||
| Cipriano Laga |
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| SIT Agenda
Approval of Minutes – Ms. Henry-Linder opened the meeting. Ms. Tamer made the motion that the minutes be approved. Ms. Rexrode seconded. Minutes were approved unanimously.
Old Business Date for First Pep Rally – Mr. Childers asked when the first pep rally would be scheduled. The date was set for Monday, December 19. The decision was made to shorten all periods, going to 1,2,4, and then regular 3rd and then pep rally. Ms. Henry-Linder agreed to send out an e-mail to the staff by December 13. Dress code will allow nice jeans without holes paired with Atkins t-shirts or SMOD tops.
Name and Procedure for Interclass Service Project – Brad Phillis asks if there are preferences for the name of the interclass service award? A suggestion was made to have the original Atkins Alumni Association name the award. Natalie Young would talk to representatives from the Alumni Association. This would be discussed again at January meeting. At this point Ms. Tamer voted to table the discussion. Ms. Magruder seconded. The motion failed.
Ms. Tamer moved to ask the oldest Alumni Group from the old Atkins High School to give us a name of a person worthy of this distinguished honor to be reported by Mr. Phillis. Mr. Howerton seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
Attendance Statement for Student Handbook – Mr. Howerton, Ms. Henry-Linder, and Mr. Phillis are in charge of this. The discussion turned into a philosophical discussion of absences. Ms. Redd moved to table discussion until she prints the district policy on absences so that the policy may be studied at the January SIT meeting. Ms. Tamer seconded the motion. There was one abstention. Everyone else voted in favor. The motion passed.
Hospitality – Ms. Tamer led the discussion. Annual dues will be $20. She recommended that Mary Fowler be in response of administering the fund. Ms. Magruder asked if non-participants would receive flowers, etc. Ms. Tamer said she would like for it to be for everyone. Mr. Childers moved that monies not spent in a fiscal year roll over to the next year. Non-paying members would still be recognized when appropriate. The fund would be used for sickness, death, birth, marriage, retirement, or staff entertainment, with annual dues of $20. Ms. Tamer seconded the motion. There was one abstention. All others were in favor. The motion passed.
Ms. Tamer then moved that the hospitality committee contain at least three paying members of the SIT team, the financial secretary, and the receptionist. Ms. Magruder seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
Guidelines for Clothing for Business Professional Days – Ms. Tamer and Ms. Henry-Linder asked that this be tabled until January meeting.
New Business
SIT Team procedures for Non-Members Presenting or Addressing SIT – Ms. Tamer led the discussion. Mr. Phillis made the motion to give an outside person three minutes uninterrupted time to present and then field questions. Ms. Redd seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.
Mr. Childers made the motion that an issue presented by a non-SIT member be tabled at that meeting and put back on the agenda when proposed by a SIT member. Ms. Ervin seconded the motion. There were abstentions. All others voted in favor. The motion passed.
Time Line for Putting Items on Agenda – Ms. Tamer led the discussion. She moved to put items on the agenda by Thursday noon prior to the SIT meeting. Ms. Ervin seconded. There was one person opposed. All others were in favor. Motion passed.
Amending the Agenda – Ms. Henry-Linder asked for a motion to amend the agenda. Mr. James seconded. This motion passed unanimously.
Gym-Jam Sponsored by Yearbook Staff – Ms. Henry-Linder led the discussion. Ms. Kurtz pointed out that the yearbook staff really needs equipment, and that proceeds would go to the yearbook staff.
Ms. Redd motioned to have the Gym Jam in large gym with someone monitoring concessions in cafeteria with an adjusted schedule shortening all periods and going to 1,2,4, and then regular 3rd prior to the Gym Jam. Those not paying to go to Gym Jam would be kept in a study hall by department, with each department organizing a study hall for students not attending. Mr. Howerton seconded the motion. One person opposed the motion. One person abstained. Everyone else approved. Motion passed.
The next SIT meeting will be held on January 9, 2012. |
3605 Old Greensboro Road
Winston-Salem, NC 27101
Phone: (336) 703-6754 | Fax: (336) 748-3565
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