Montair Site Council Minutes

February 2, 2006 Meeting

Matt began the meeting by reviewing January's schoolwide book club book, a biography entitled The Story of Ruby Bridge. Teachers read the book with their students around the Martin Luther King holiday. It served as an introduction to the Civil Rights Movement and a focus on the values of courage and compassion.

The PTA sponsored a Family Reading Night on February 1 st as part of their parent education series. There was a good turn out – approximately 40-50 parents and a similar number of students. Teachers Norma Jean Bunker and Sheila Borland read two picture books and shared useful information on reading comprehension strategies and the importance of choosing books at an appropriate reading level.  

The site council discussed school safety plans.

Following the thefts on campus, several new procedures are now in place:

• The office staff will require all volunteers to present letters of introduction with phone numbers to verify their identity. Additionally, we will take a photocopy of photo ID to keep in the office.
• The office is purchasing lanyards to use with ID for all staff and school volunteers. Staff members will wear these lanyards on a daily basis and volunteers will be asked to check in and out at the office to receive and return lanyards.
• The gate to the bridge on Linda Mesa will be locked between 8:30 and 2:30 each day. Late workers and tardy students will need to be dropped off at the front of the school. Early workers will now be picked up at the front of the school. Additional gates will be installed to the park entrance on Esther Lane and to the park on Quinterra Lane. These gates will also be locked during school hours. Signage will be posted to remind visitors to sing in at the office.
• Matt has recommended to the District that they develop an alert system in conjunction with the County Office of Education.  
• The District has formed a task force to review procedures for volunteers on campus and we will keep the school community and SSC updated on the results of their discussions.
• Maureen Appleby will pursue opportunities to work with an organization called KidPower to teach our students stranger danger awareness and appropriate self-defense strategies. Matt will explore bringing an expert on Internet Safety to Montair for a parent education workshop.

Judy Brennan offered to contact St. Joan's to see how they conduct background checks for their volunteers.

Montair students and staff will participate in a schoolwide emergency drill on April 20 th . Assistant principal, Liz Block is working with a team of staff, parents, and community volunteers to coordinate this drill.  

Several suggestions came up during this discussion including:

• The need to contact fire dept/police to assess school entrances for emergency
• Never call 911 from cell phone
• Put police, fire # etc. in cell phone
• Establish a process to coordinate parent pick-up of students during an emergency
• Consider weather conditions – use the PTA tarps for shelter if necessary

Matt, Liz, and SDC teacher Mary Liddle provided an update on Special Programs at Montair. Our Special Day Class Program has expanded to four classes (five including the County class); these classes span all grade levels preschool through 5 th grade. The Special Programs team has implemented many innovative programs including a reverse mainstreaming program in our Special Day classes. This spring we will be sponsoring a Disabilities Awareness Week at Montair.

The SSC discussed how we might provide training for general education parents about our SDC program. Suggestions included information provided as part of Open House and Back-to-School Night activities, at registration, and in the Wednesday folders.  

The next SSC meeting will be held on March 2 nd .