LES Community Council Minutes 4-8-21

LES Community Council Meeting Minutes 4-8-21

Attending:  Beth Peisner, Bekkah Petree, Austin Moore (teacher), Stacie Ekker (teacher), Andrea Peterson, Loryn Morgan, Tacey Wood, Ashlee Jackson (teacher), Principal Cherie Blackburn, Superintendent Randy Shelley

Welcome:  Cherie Blackburn

Cherie started by thanking parents for all of their help and telling them about the new link for Community Council information.  She then asked everyone to review the minutes from February. 

Beth made a motion to approve February’s. minutes.  Tacey seconded the motion.

Cherie stated that she had finished the final report but she can’t print it out yet.  She stated that the 2019-2020 year was just finalized and we had $40,000 carry over.  The 2020-2021 plan won’t be closed out yet.  Since one of our goals was based on our RISE scores, we have no baseline data from last year.  She also stated that we did follow through with our last year action steps.

Beth stated that she feels that we did follow through by hiring Makell and Ashton, and that it is just circumstantial that there’s a reason for the turnover.  She asked if we can possibly provide a more stable person as opposed to trying to keep 6 different aides (try coming at it from a different angle).

Bekkah asked if we could have a full-time paraprofessional position.  Superintendent said that if we were going to do that, we should just hire a teacher.  Ashlee stated that paraprofessionals are great, but we need to find some who will be committed and stay with us.

Superintendent stated that we will have BTS money, so we should start advertising soon for a teacher for this.  Beth asked if the money is already spent or if we need to come up with more.  Superintendent suggested that we wait until Tyler gets the budget figured out before we do anything.  He stated they would like to get the TSSA funds back into the schools for teachers, but it may take a couple of years, and that our declining numbers don’t help. 

Beth then suggested we could bring in artists or go on field trips.  Tacey suggested we wait until Tyler has the budget updated to see what we can come up with.

Cherie asked if we are okay with our current goals based on the needs assessment.  Everyone agreed that they were. The action steps would include:

         *BTS funding art/reading

         *Paraprofessionals

         *Textbooks

         *Technology devices (Andrea said we buy for the 1st grade class and rotate them through, and that 5th grade gets new to take to WMS with them).

With this year’s plan, we will have $22,139 left.  Cherie says we haven’t spent much for supplies so they bought science books from the state, as well as Study Island Science.

Andrea suggested we could use the extra money for iPads as opposed to waiting for next year.  It would cost $18,000 for all of them.  This would be $40,000 in technology.  Andrea said we need to consider that if we wait until July, the iPads may not be here in time for school to start.  She was going to check with Apple about the availability.  Superintendent suggested that we could just spend a portion such as $10,000 of it now and then order the rest later.   

Beth suggested we get art night supplies now, unless we need to order the iPads so they can be here in time. 

Beth also suggested sending out a questionnaire to parents to see if they have any concerns or ideas since many of them don’t want to be involved with community council.  She also suggested getting information about community council or volunteering out for new parents so they don’t feel like they are not welcome.

Bekkah suggested emailing or reminding all parents to see if they have any concerns, or if they will attend a meeting.   

Cherie asked if anyone else had any more questions.  Andrea said she will look into iPads.  Superintendent said he and Tyler will look at the budget.

Beth made a motion to close the meeting.  Bekkah seconded the motion.