MINUTES
The meeting was called to order at 3:35p.m. by Chairperson
Lisa Karahalios. The November minutes were approved as
written and the agenda was confirmed.
Administration Report/Calendar
Ms. Dellepiane reported on student attendance and the
“Count Me In” program. October 2004 attendance
went up .29% yielding a $1,813 award. The money will be
received in January. December 2004 attendance went down,
and November 2004’s count was not complete. Ms.
Dellepiane suggested that this money might be used to
replace some shortages in the student store because of
loss of revenue there.
Ms. Dellepiane reported that there was a $37,000 deficit
in Student Body Funds caused mostly from the elimination
of soda sales and the lack of interest in the new snacks
that are being recommended by the District. Leadership
and the Student Body President have presented this information
to School Board member Julie Korenstein. She will put
Verdugo High on the next agenda of the School Board meeting.
Student Jocelyn Morales commented that Leadership has
suggestions of good revenue-making snacks that are not
currently being offered.
Ms. Dellepiane reported that the new red and black mesh
tables had arrived to expand seating capacity, and the
old tables were being removed.
The committee was reminded that sschool was out for three
weeks and would start again Monday, January 10, 2005.
Faculty Update
Lisa Karahalios urged the committee to send letters to
Roy Romer and Julie Koren-stein to give teachers pay raises
and get smaller class sizes. Parent Will Kernkamp asked
where he could get information regarding the LAUSD’s
administration budget.
Old Business
The date on the agenda for Spring Back-to-School Night
was corrected to Thursday, February 17, 2005. Lisa Karahalios
had consulted with the faculty to establish this date.
Parent Will Kernkamp pointed out that he had thought we
were going to conduct a vote about whether there should
be parent conferences at Back-to-School Night. There was
some difference of opinion over whether the subject would
continue to be discussed versus being voted on. Discussion
on this day included privacy issues and the possibility
of having student led conferences that had been successful
in the past. There could be some time, possibly 1/2 hour
before the start of Back-to-School Night, to conduct a
special conference. The subject will be discussed further.
Mr. Speer was not in attendance at this meeting to give
his report on the “Relationship between Attendance
and Grades”. His report will be rescheduled.
Copies of the Policy Bulletin for Categorical Meetings
were distributed.
New Business
Parents on the School Site Council were invited to a Holiday
breakfast on Friday, December 17, 2004 at 7:30a.m. in
the school cafeteria. The breakfast was to include faculty,
parents, and community members.
Categorical Programs
Recommendations from Committees:
(1) The school would like to hire two Teacher Assistants
for Algebra. The cost would be $7,500 for each and the
T.A.’s would be on staff from January 2005 through
the end of the school year. This proposal was unanimously
approved by a hand vote.
(2) Faculty members Will Reinhart and Darren McCrary asked
that the amount of $15,000 be approved for funding of
Project “Close-up”. This program has been
at Verdugo since 1977 and is essentially an intensive
one week civics lesson for students in Washington, D.C.
The money would be used to pay 1/2 of lthe tuition forstudents
participating in this program ($1,500 each student). The
program is open to students from grades 9-12 with a “C”
or above grade average. It ws discussed that it might
be great to have students’ testimonials about their
past experiences in this program. This proposal was unanimously
approved by a hand vote.
Budget Adjustments:
The Council was asked to approve a $5,000 transfer of
money from the “instructional material” category
to the “office supplies” category of the school
CSR Budget. The need was deemed necessary and was unanimously
approved by a hand vote.
The next School Site Council meeting will be Tuesday,
February 8th at 3:30 in room 157.
Minutes prepared by Alice Debbaudt.
