Apollo High School

School Based Council Meeting
September 21, 2004 - 4:00 p.m. - Conference Room

The regular meeting of the school based council was called to order by Tom Purcell, principal. Members present: Tom Purcell, Tim Taylor, James Morgan, Melissa Morris, Curt Newcom, Scott Kuegel, Sue Krampe and Jim Gilles. Guests were Stan Scott, Rachel Rosales and KWC student, Josh Abell.

A motion was made by Melissa Curt Newcom to open today’s meeting James Morgan seconded the motion and there was consensus.

A motion was made by Scott Kuegel to approve the agenda for today’s meeting. Since this is a called meeting there can be no changes. Tim Taylor seconded the motion and there was consensus.

A motion was made by Tim Taylor to approve minutes of the previous meeting. James Morgan seconded the motion and there was consensus.

Personnel Update - The following staff positions have been filled:

• Science Teacher – Lora Wellman
• STLP Sponsor – Aaron Yeiser
• Boys Asst. Track Coach – Holly Johnson
• Boys Asst. Cross Country Coach – open – will not be filled this season

Budget – Apollo has spent about 49.7% of the S.E.E.K. budget for this school year, $25,000 comes off of the top of the budget for copier expenses.

Freshman Academy Report –

Freshman academy staff will formulate a letter to send home to students who have missed three or more days and seem to have attendance problems.

During the first nine weeks, contact has been made from Mr. Taylor’s office to Freshman Academy parents as students have failed to complete homework etc. The second nine weeks Mr. Taylor plans to visit classrooms and have students call their parents if students are not prepared for the classroom. The third nine weeks Academy teachers will call parents when students are not prepared and by the fourth nine weeks, no contact will be made. The plan is that by that time of year the students will be in the habit of bringing completed work to class.

Teachers are calling parents of students with low averages (below a C) and completing the parent contact sheet. Jerry Crabtree is contact parents of students with zeros.

The Freshman Academy teachers have discussed final exam days. They discussed spreading exams over four days instead of two, giving two exams per day, with the possibility of reviewing and then taking the exam on the same day.

Freshman academy teachers would prefer to stay with the 9 th grade students during CATS testing.

A representative from GRECC will visit the Freshman Academy on October 12, 2004. GRECC is where our No Child Left Behind/Smaller Learning Communities grant came from. Earlier review by GRECC showed that Apollo is doing a great job of implementing the concepts of NCLB/SLC. Our Freshman Academy teachers have been asked to do presentations at other schools.

International Baccalaureate – Rachel Rosales reported to the council that this 2005 graduating class will be the first group of seniors to graduate as IB diploma candidates. We have six full diploma candidates in this senior class. Twenty-one of the thirty five students who began pursuing IB as freshmen will receive a certificate in at least one subject area. There are roughly forty students taking exams in at least one subject this year.

Thirteen juniors are currently pursuing the full diploma. It is difficult to determine how many junior students are working on certificates, because the students do not have to make that decision until the beginning of their senior year.

Next school year, we will have two students in the pre-IB courses (honors) who are transferring to AHS to be part of IB.

Apollo currently has sixteen teachers and administrators who are trained in IB.

Recently, Bosse H.S. from Evansville, IN visited Apollo to see what goes on in an IB school. Bosse is in the process of entering the IB program. They felt confident going forward with the program after visiting Apollo.

In January 2005, a group of our IB students will be traveling to Washington, D.C. to see the Presidential Inauguration and attend a junior Inaugural Ball.

Laptop Report – Mr. Scott reported that Apollo has distributed laptops out to the original fifty-one pilot program students who are now sophomores. When the pilot program was first rolled out, then superintendent, Stu Silberman, promised this group of students that they would have their laptops all four years they were in high school.

Because Apollo was not certain of the laptop situation for this school year until well after the scheduling window was closed for the year and because the sophomore year students are offered the chance to take more electives, the current laptop students were not scheduled into common classes as they were last year. They are not able to experience the same type of electronic instruction. Students, however, are able to use their laptops for reports, internet access and creating movies and presentations. Mr. Kuegel expressed concern about not being able to issue computers to an entire classroom and use them in the manner that the pilot students were able to use them last year. He has a child in the laptop program and stated that the difference in how she uses the computer compared to last year has definitely been disappointing.

Mr. Scott went on to explain that when every student in a classroom has a laptop, it requires the teacher to change the way he/she teaches. It is a forward moving, evolving process that has a major positive impact with students and learning.

Mr. Scott said that with the roll out of laptops to the teachers and projectors in the classrooms, teachers have attended professional training courses and are embracing technology as a teaching tool. Our school is looking forward to helping our students experience the digital classroom.

Obviously, a laptop for every student is the answer to moving forward. Mr. Scott encouraged teachers, staff, students and parents to let the superintendent and school board members know what a positive impact the laptops have made on those who have had the privilege of receiving them and that Apollo is definitely ready to move forward with the digital classroom.

Mr. Scott also explained that Apollo has developed an “e-Team” which is a group of teachers who can assist other teachers with technology. The members of the “e-Team” have volunteered to give up some of their planning to be a part of this program. The “e-Team” members are available according to the following schedule:

Blue 1 – Matthews                White 1- Ekbundit

Blue 2 – Barrett                    White 2 – M. Gray

Blue 3 – L. Young                 White 3 - Clark

Blue 4 – Yeiser                      White 4 – Purdy

Curriculum – The curriculum committee submitted the following items for a first reading:

Since item I. is not a change, there is no action to be taken for that item.

Mr. Morgan moved that item # II be accepted as a first reading for the House Bill 113, allowing ROTC class to count for the freshman P.E. credit. Items III and IV be referred back to the curriculum committee to be resubmitted to the SBMD council along with written rationale so that the staff and the council can review more fully the recommendation. This would need to be ready for the October SBDM meeting. Mrs. Morris seconded the motion and there was consensus.

Mr. Newcom moved to extend the time of the council meeting beyond the 5:30 p.m. limit in order to address the remaining items on the agenda. Mr. Morgan seconded the motion and there was consensus.

Summer School Issues/Credit Recovery – Mr. Kuegel moved that we refer the summer school topic to the October council meeting, Mrs. Morris seconded the motion and there was consensus.

Second Chance Policy - Mrs. Morris presented the second chance policy with these revisions.

The revised policy would read:

Apollo High School
Second Chance SBDM Policy
(Revised October 2004)

The Second Chance Program is a program which is operated with Extended School Services funds.

Teachers will refer a student to the Second Chance program at the end of each semester when the student meets all of the following criteria:

If a student is willing and meets the criteria – a teacher MUST provide the service or refer the student to the ESS coordinator for service. Teachers may require a student to re-take the final exam to fulfill the academic requirements for Second Chance.

Mr. Taylor moved that the council accept the revised policy for a first reading. Mr. Morgan seconded the motion and there was consensus.

Our next meeting will be Tuesday, October 19, 2004 at 4:00 p.m. in the conference room.

There being no further business a motion was made by Mr. Kuegel to adjourn at 6:00 p.m. Mr. Morgan seconded the motion and there was consensus.

Respectfully submitted,

Becki Burton

Future Meeting Dates:

• February 17, 2005
• November 18, 2004 March 16, 2005
• December 16, 2004 April 20, 2005
• January 20, 2005 May 11, 2005