RHSPG MEETING MINUTES, 10/02/2006
Prepared and submitted by Pegi Shea

Welcome and introductions

Pegi Shea explained that The Parent Group (PG) has a new coordination team this year. As volunteers "flooded in" last spring for the team, a great opportunity presented itself. As it turns out, among the coordinators, they have children at every level in the school district, and the children are involved in a wide range of activities at RHS from sports to band to book club. The PG is taking advantage of these communication channels to improve the flow of information among all parents of school children, to combine forces on issues such as budget awareness, and to increase parent involvement. Because most of the new coordinators have younger children, it will also provide continuity and build up shared experience.

Examples of specific efforts include reaching out to parents in band and booster clubs to get on our list serve; keeping parents of future students informed about RHS and vice-versa; planning a voter registration drive; having two meetings off site at the Senior Center. Since three of the PG coordinators have 8th graders in VCMS, the 9th grade transition issue is very important, and they plan on working more closely with Kim Marinan, Director of Guidance.

The new Coordination Team is:

Pegi Shea - She and her husband Tom and have lived in Rockville since 1990. They have a daughter, Deirdre, who's a junior, and an 8th grader, Tommy, at VCMS. Like most parents present, she is involved in town on several fronts. She's on the Christian Service Squad at St. Bernard's, she's coached rec softball and soccer for years, and was active in Northeast School PTO. For work, she is an author as well as a college level writing teacher. She had her own public relations company for 13 years, so her primary role in the PG is facilitating the communications. Chair of the PG, she'll be representing it in the VCMS PTO.

Contact her at pegideitzshea@aol.com; 872-3513

Cindy Madden has two children Elizabeth (a junior) and Victoria (an eighth grader). She was president of Northeast PTO for three years -and really moved those meetings along! Pegi said she's always admired Cindy's organizational skills -which is why she "volunteered" her as co-chair of the team. Cindy, a "Band Parent," is a member of the Vernon Junior Women's Club, and the First Congregational Church of Vernon. She has worked in special education for 9 years. She currently works at Center Road school, and will be our liaison to Center Road. Contact her at cindymadden@msn.com

Sandra O'Gara, a lifetime resident of Rockville, is a graduate of RHS. She and her husband Bob have three children: Kaitlyn, a sophomore, Brian a freshman, and Sean, a 5th grader at Skinner Road School. She is involved with boys and girls soccer and basketball booster clubs, along with Project Graduation. She is active in the First Congregational Church of Vernon and works at Heritage Capital Advisors in Glastonbury. A former PTO officer at Skinner Road School, she continues to volunteer there and will be the liaison to Skinner. Sandra manages our website. Contact her through www.rhsparents.com, or email her directly at rsogara@comcast.net

Sue and Bill Buller have children in every school level: Annie is a sophomore, Sarah is an eighth grader and Alex is a 3rd grader at Northeast. They are locked into the school district for a lonnngg time to come. Bill is Cubmaster to Cub Scout Pak 870, a member of St. Bernards, and Council 4122 of the Knights of Columbus. Pegi said he will wear the feather hat and cape at a future meeting. He works for CBS Radio as a senior account executive. He is our liaison to Northeast School, and he'll be running our Parents Helping Parents support meetings, and trying to get more fathers involved in general. Contact him at radiobuller@comcast.net

If you haven't yet seen Ann Morency in action at a sporting event, just get yourself indicted for some scandal. Ann is an attorney with the Public Defenders office in Rockville. She and her husband Tom have twin daughters, Lauren and Katelyn, who are sophomores. Because of them, Ann is involved with the softball and volleyball booster clubs, and Project Graduation. Outside of RHS, she volunteers with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the Walk to Cure Diabetes. Ann will be liaison to Lake Street School, and will attend Superintendents meetings on her lunch hour. Contact her at ammorency@sbcglobal.net

The RHSPG does have a liaison to Maple Street School, but we're not making her do any work. Annette Pezzetti has an RHS graduate who's in college now, a son who's a junior here, and a fifth grader at Maple Street. A 17-year member of Maple Street PTO, she recently bristled when someone called her a "fixture" there. "I'm not a toilet," she replied. pezct@juno.com

Brian Levesque introduced the new housemaster of House B, Eric Baim. Baim has most recently been vice principal in Killingly and has worked in Central Connecticut schools in Bristol and Southington. Brian thanked him for paying to have ten pies thrown into Brian's face at recent Homecoming festivities. Eric's email address at school is Eric.Baim@vernonct.org His direct phone line at school is 870-6068. Eric welcomed parents to contact him, and he has set a goal to get back to everyone who calls or emails.

Others Brian also welcomed to the meeting were Kim Marinan, Guidance Director, Peggy Jackle, the Board of Education's representative to RHS, and Kathy Rebai, Chair of the Board of Education who said she is attending as a parent (Leila, a sophomore). Brian also pointed out that Beth Waggoner is the new head of Project Graduation.

B. Principal's Report on Building Construction & School Improvement

Construction:

Brian Levesque said that, even though it looks like not much has been done, many developments are continuing behind the scenes. He brought and displayed the architect's rendering of new auditorium, entrance, offices, etc. Major renovation will take place during summer of 2007. He met with the Building Committee recently to decide the timetable. Brian estimated work on the auditorium will begin in May or June. They can do construction on auditorium while school is in session, because it's away from classrooms. Some wings will be open during the summer and will be separated by a barrier during the asbestos abatement. Unlike VCMS which was left with bare concrete floors, the tile replacement will immediately follow asbestos clean-up. He will keep us updated.

Brian said the school is taking advantage of having the workers on site, by lining up student internships for construction and architectural work, and setting up mentoring and job shadowing.

Brian opened up the floor to questions:

Maureen Donahue: will auditorium be done by mid-August in time for band camp?

BL: "Probably not. We'll have to figure out where to put band camp and athletic teams. But those activities will still go on as planned."

Mary Carlson: Where to find updates on construction?

***FOLLOW UP The building improvements and plans can be seen by going to:

http://www.vernonschools.com/whatsnew.htm

Jeff Carlson: Why are there slow downs, less money?

BL-Should contact the permanent Building Committee making decisions.

Jeff Carlson said the decision making process should be open, more transparent.

***FOLLOW UP: you can email Brendan McKibbin of the Building Committee at BMcKibbin@comcast.net or telephone George Apel at 875-7239

School Improvement:

Brian said the high school got off to a great start, in part due to some policy changes over the summer:

1. Discipline is controlled more by privileges and rewards, less by punishment. It's a more positive approach to discipline. Privileges are earned by good behavior, regular attendance and academics. These standards are evaluated at the end of each quarter. The privileges for seniors have been expanded. They now can leave the campus during any free block. At this time, about 60% of seniors have full privileges. Juniors have first or last block release. Sophomores, juniors and seniors can also choose to attend study hall in the cafeteria, where food and drinks are available. Regular class study halls will continue. Both kinds of study periods are monitored by teachers.

2. Improved organization. Each student received an agenda book, and must always have it with them. Inside, there are hall passes that must be signed by teachers. That enforcement alone has decreased traffic in hallways during class time.

3. New attendance policy is tied to credits. Course credit will be withheld if there are 7 absences (excused or unexcused) per half-year course; 13 absences in a full year course. Absences can be made up with working detentions on Tuesdays or Thursdays, or Saturday school. Suspension from school will not be used as a punishment for cutting. Hall monitors will usher kids to class. Eric Baim said, "It's a change in culture. The kids need to be in class where they belong."

It was asked if parents will find out about lost credits in time for the student to make up the missed classes. Eric said the list of absentees is gone over every other week, and letters to parents will be generated.

Brian said there are several kinds of absences -unexcused, excused (with parental note), excused with doctor's note for serious illness or hospitalization.

Absences with doctor's note is not counted against credit accumulation. It used to be that any absence was counted against credits.

Eric said that, in terms of compliance, by this time last year, 15/students had Saturday school; This year so far at the same time, only 4. And there have been no fights yet this year.

CAPT RESULTS

Brian said, "We are very happy, proud of the mandatory test results. We have made "Adequate Yearly Improvement" the last two years, so we're off the "list" [of inadequate schools]. But that doesn't mean we can rest on our laurels. We'll be looking to improve every year, or we could end up back on the list." He handed out charts of the CAPT data, which will be on the RHS Parents website soon. RHS scored #1 in Science, Reading and Writing, and #3 in Math in our "DRG" (District Reference Group -14 towns with similar income statistics). RHS students scored above the state average in all categories as well. All Vernon schools, include Talcottville (special ed) made AYP. These statistics reflect students bused in from other districts.

C. 9th Grade transition results and plans

Brian Levesque handed out data regarding the Small Learning Community pilot.

(This report will also be up on the RHSPG website soon.) For the school year, 2005-06, the failure rates and attendances of the 102 SLC students (all taking college prep courses) were comparable to a control group made up of 127 students taking college and general courses. Brian said the real indicator of progress of SLC students will be the 10th grade CAPT results from tests coming up next spring.

Last school year, the pilot program had 50 incoming 8th graders spend a day at the RHS. This year, it will be expanded to include all 8th graders. It will be similar to the way 5th graders spend a day at VCMS.

D. Discussion: After Budget, what's left?

Brian said RHS took significant cuts in the number of para-professionals (aids), programs, field trip funding, and we lost freshman sports. The Academic Learning Center, which had been threatened last spring, will be able to remain open several hours a day and after school. RHS did get a new social studies position/teacher, which will help decrease class size. Brian asked for help this upcoming budget season to get people out to vote.

E. New policies

The breathalyzer was first used at the Homecoming Dance, and there were no positive results for alcohol. The breathalyzer can be used at any event, and when there is reasonable suspicion of substance abuse.

The drug sniffing dogs will be used shortly inside the school. The dogs are only allowed to sniff objects such as bags, lockers and cars; they are not allowed to sniff people. The students have been apprised of these new policies.

G. Announcements and Calls for Ideas

The "Parents Helping Parents" meeting, "Just for Fathers" will be held November 16 at the Vernon Youth Services hall downtown (next to Union Congregational Church), at 7:30. Stay tuned for more details about speakers and issues.

The PG is planning voter registration and voter awareness campaigns. Suggestions are welcome. We have discussed a registration event with both Republican and Democratic parties present, passing out literature, making education information more available to the public, increasing the number of polling places, increasing voter turnout with transportation. If you have ideas to share and/or want to be on this ad hoc committee, please email or call Pegi Shea.

F. Q & A/ ISSUES:

Bathrooms?

RHS has now up to 6 working student bathrooms, including a set near the cafeteria. The bathrooms will continue to be repaired. Bathrooms will be unlocked for all sporting events in gym.

Bands at dances?

Brian said, "I'm all for it...We did have 600 people at Homecoming, and that was with a DJ. Last year we had a battle of the bands, but it had low attendance.

If kids interested, they should approach Student Council, who usually makes those kinds of arrangements. It was asked if the auditorium was available for outside groups? Yes, at a cost, but there is no cost for student groups.

Security, vis a vis recent school shootings?

Brian said, "We do have heightened awareness with security staff. I've talked with the superintendent about locking doors, increasing security force, increased visibility by administration. We do hope kids come forward with any information they might have."

Suggestions included: Moving Security desk closer to entrance, stop every one coming through the door, improve student awareness.

Safety

There was a serious accident at the "sports circle" after school recently. Officer Pagle leaves before the end of school day, so we should station someone at circle at dismissal. Brian and Eric said they would and they hope that their presence deters people. "We see the kids [driving unsafely on the grounds], we know the kids, and we've taken away parking permits," Brian said. The construction plans will improve traffic flow and make it safer." Suggestions included taking down license plate numbers, instituting more severe consequences, putting up cones, saw horses.

Miscellaneous:

Improve communications with class advisors and parents so we know of class news, fund raisers, events, etc.

Make Open House sooner in the school year to avoid scheduling conflicts.

Underage Drinking: Brian reminded parents that new state law punishes house parties, where parents condone/provide alcohol for minors.

H. Coming up!

The next RHSPG meeting will be held November 6, at the Senior Center, 7pm.

It features: Introductions of 12 new faculty members
Student Group Profile - Band: Festival results, competitions
 Lively Q&A!
Light refreshments will be provided!

PARENTS HELPING PARENTS 11/16 "Especially for Fathers".