Bennion Elementary
Community Council Meeting
May 14, 2008
Minutes recorded by: Carrie Clark

Council Members Present:
Walter Layton, Craig Ferrin, Sandra Funk, Kristy Madsen, Carrie Clark.

Visitors in attendance:
None present.

AGENDA ITEMS:
Testing Update:
• Mr. Layton discussed the status of the CRT Tests. 2nd Grade was still pen and paper this year, however all other grades were taking the test on the computers. 2nd grade may join the 1st grade next year and not need to take CRT since their scores don’t count towards the AYP scores and are just an extra expense.
• The teachers worked amazingly well with scheduling the computer labs to accommodate all classes and special interest groups – resource and ESL students.
• On Monday the staff discussed possibilities for next year’s CRT test schedules since they have been through it once and will have the ability for a fine-tuning with the schedule next year.
ACTION TAKEN:
• Planning for 2008-2009 CRTs will take place next year.

“Imagine It” Text books:
• Mr. Layton informed us that the Granite School District is adopting an upgrade to the reading curriculum used this year. It is called “Imagine It.”
• The Granite School District will take our budget from the 9340 textbooks for the next 5 years and apply it to the 3.5 million dollar District cost to purchase this program.
• Our teachers have opted to not adopt this program for the 2008-2009 school year due to the fact they are still learning and receiving development with their new math program.
ACTION TAKEN:
• We will look at the 2009-2010 for possible implementation of Imagine It.

New Teachers:
• Retiring teachers are Mrs. Gatton, Mrs. Andreason, Mrs. Hammer.
• Mrs. Kashishian is moving to N.Y.
• Mrs. Osness has accepted a District Math position.
• Mrs. Coleman is on leave for her son.
• Mrs. Amber Palmer will take Mrs. Hammer’s class. New teachers have been hired to replace the other openings.
ACTION TAKEN:
• Along with the new teachers our school will receive 5 Student Teachers from the U of U as well has 2 Student Teachers from Westminster who will be doing a methods course while here on campus. Mr. Layton will assign mentors for each Student Teacher.
• Due to Mrs. Osness’s recent job promotion, Mr. Layton will post the job Friday and will begin interviews in the coming week.

Budget Breakdown:
• Mr. Layton provided a complete budget of the school and reviewed this in detail with the council.
ACTION TAKEN:
• Mr. Layton extended the open invitation for any questions, at any time, in regards to the school’s use of funds.

Trustlands Accepted:
• Granite School District accepted our Trust lands submission and it will be implemented next year.
ACTION TAKEN:
• Mr. Layton will need to review our plan against testing results with the District at the beginning of next year to determine if changes need to be made to our plan.

Calendar:
• A notice was sent to parents in regards to the recent survey for our 2008-2009 calendar as well as 2009-2010 changes.
• There will be no Wednesday Collaboration meetings.
• There will be 12 Collaboration hours taken (paid time) during the year for our teachers to meet in the Dibels room and have time to discuss individual progress plans for students’ continual improvement in reading.
• There will be an additional 10 minutes added to the early out day (i.e. 12:40 vs. 12:50 p.m.) to give teachers a little more time for planning. We still meet the required 990 hours of instruction.
ACTION TAKEN:
• Reminders of the 10 minutes early out day schedule will be given again to parents at the beginning of the 2008-2009 year.

Enhanced Sound System:

BENNION ELEMENTARY
COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
MEETING HELD MARCH 12, 2008
Minutes recorded by Kristy Madsen

MEMBERS PRESENT:
Walter Layton, Anne Merrick, Craig Ferrin, Sandra Funk, Kristy Madsen

SCHOOL SECURITY:
Bennion Elementary is working toward initiating a “swipe card” security policy. All people employed by the school will be issued a “swipe card”. This will take some time to put into place.
Effective immediately is the enforcement of the check in – check out policy. All visitors and parents of school children are required to check in at the front office before going further into the school. A visitor badge will be issued to all visitors of the school. Doors will be locked during school hours. This will make visitors enter through the front office doors. A suggestion was made to hang additional signs on all locked doors instructing visitors to check in at the front office. The sign should be bright and simply stated. The current signs are small and lengthy. Many people do not notice them.
Once the weather warms an emergency exit drill will be scheduled. All children will evacuate the building and regroup at the LDS cultural hall. This is where the children should relocate in the event of an actual emergency. Granite Police will be notified prior to the drill. They will be present to help children cross the streets safely.
A bullying assembly was held for grades 3-6, to make children aware of the consequences of being a bully, or watching someone bully someone else. Children who are victims of bullying were encouraged to tell a teacher, or school staff member. The staff is also being trained on how to deal with the rising problem. Another similar assembly will be held for the children in grades K-2.

DISTRICT SURVEYS:
The school district has asked that Bennion Elementary parents complete a survey. The survey was distributed to all families in the March 13th Thursday Envelope.
Mr. Layton showed the survey to the community council at the meeting prior to going out in the envelope. The survey consists of the following:
1. Changing elementary schools to a “quarters” schedule. This would make the elementary schools align better with the secondary schools. The other option is to leave the schedule as it currently is…elementary in trimesters and secondary schools in quarters.
2. Eliminate Wednesday early-out collaboration days and have them be scheduled on 6 Fridays during teacher planning time. The down fall to this is that the time must be made up somewhere. Meaning, school would have to have an earlier start time on certain days to make up the time. The other option is to leave the Wednesday early-out collaboration days as they currently are. Most families have adjusted well to the current schedule. The council members asked that Mr.Layton draft a letter to parents explaining what the changes would mean. That letter was also sent in the Thursday envelope with the survey.
3. The last was a survey of Traditional Calendar Preferences. The calendar gives 4 options of how the school will be scheduled for the 2009-2010 school year. The choices are clearly explained.

SCHOOL LAND TRUST
The council reviewed the current school land trust plan, and also signed an approval for the 2008-2009 School Plan. Mr. Layton will email a final copy to all council members.
Craig Ferrin made a suggestion to add some funding for the gifted and talented students.
Mr. Layton will check into any groups that may be able to do drama productions with the gifted and talented kids.

NEXT MEETING: The next meeting will be help on April 9, 2008 at 3:15 PM in the library.

Bennion Elementary
Community Council Meeting
January 9, 2008
Minutes recorded by: Carrie Clark
Council Members Present:
Walter Layton, Craig Ferrin, Sandra Funk, Anne Merrick, Kristy Madsen, Holly Gibson, Carrie Clark.
Visitors in attendance:
None present.
AGENDA ITEMS:
School/Student Achievement Plan (SSAP:
• Mr. Layton provided copies of the final submittal of our SSAP plan showing the revisions discussed in previous meetings.
ACTION TAKEN:
• Each committee member will review and become familiar with its contents in preparation for the upcoming Board meeting next month. Craig Ferrin will not be able to attend. Holly Gibson, Kristy Madsen and Carrie Clark have offered to attend.

Collaboration Time - handout:
• Mr. Layton attended a review meeting of the new teacher collaboration program. There are still a few parents that are unclear as to why these collaboration periods are so vital to the success of their student’s education.
• The 2008-2009 school calendar is already set and cannot be altered. The review committee will discuss possible changes to the collaboration schedule for the 2009-2010 school year in an effort to aid in scheduling difficulties of students and their families. There are many dynamics involved, such as transportation and food services, when calendar changes are made and it’s not a ‘simple fix’ by any means.
• Mrs. Funk and Mrs. Merrick were asked if they felt these collaboration hours were giving them the results they hoped for. The general feedback was that there is too much paperwork, which takes away from the collaboration time the teachers are given. The collaboration opportunity itself is well worth the effort in order to improve education process in our school.
ACTION TAKEN:
• Mr. Layton will draft another letter to go out in next week’s Thursday envelope trying to help the parents realize the benefit their student receives in his/her education due to these collaboration periods.
• Mr. Layton will evaluate the paperwork load each teacher/grade level is under and see if any of that can be reduced according to how well the teachers are teaming together.
DIBELS:
• School wide testing will take place Jan. 14-18th and 22nd-24th.
ACTION TAKEN:
• Students will be tested and scored.
• Data entered and Dibel wall will be ranked accordingly.