Minutes from 12/16/2016 Meeting

Update from Jen and Jack:

• New testing dates Jan 7, 28, Feb 4, 11, March 4, 18
• Working on Math path for this year's 5th graders
• working on Science path for this year's 8th graders
• Transportation
• Strategic Planning
• EAP/AAP PD
• Testing Eligibility criteria

Update from Austina about the Miami Date HiCap Research.

• They do universal testing and have a good representation across demographics. 

Laurie:

• Need to get on counselor's radar. 
• need to cluster hicap in homerooms. 

Bonnie:

• What resources do we have to help kids make friends? 
• Encourage proactive playdates. 
• Can kids move to another EAP/AAP School?

Minutes for the 10/18/2016 Meeting

Meeting of the HiCap Parent Advisory Council  - Minutes taken by Angie H-P

Jakub:

• Financial update - we have money in the district's account and need to fill out the district's reimbursement form, get the expense approved by the board then submit to district for reimbursement.
• After money in district's account is used, forms will be submitted to our treasurer to reimburse from our own account
• Account was set up yesterday with President, Treasurer and Secretary as signers.
• All expenses must be approved by majority vote of the board before reimbursement

Laurie

• I move to add an Amendment to the Bylaws as follows: "Email voting will be allowed. Vote will pass if more than 50% of council vote by email in favor." (at this time 50% of the board is 8 or more members)
• Jakub seconded motion. Motion passed Unanimously.

Discussion ensued about Quorum and in person voting. Board agreed that: "A Quorum will be 8 or more members of the Board of Directors. For in-person voting, a majority vote of those present constitutes a passing vote."

Austina:  Will we approve each expenditure or will we vote on a budget for some items like copies that we will use without getting individual approval?

Angie H:

• I move that a $200 budget be approved for copies. After the $200 is reached, the board must vote on new copy expenditures.
• Angie Y seconded the motion. Motion passed Unanimously.

Jakub:

• I move to approve all pending expenses.
• Laurie seconded the motion. Motion passed Unanimously.
• Those with pending expenses should email the description and amount to Jakub.

Jakub:

• I move to Amend the Bylaws as follows: All financial expenditures require a vote of the Board for approval.
• Helen seconded. Motion passed Unanimously.

Austina: Please attend the October 24th HiCap info night. The more board members who attend the better. Adjourned

EAP AAP Feeder Patterns

The District recently released information on EAP and AAP feeder patterns. District info page can be found here. In order to make this information easier to understand, we have created a graphic, which can be found below. Scroll to the bottom to see the colorful easy-to-read graphic. EAP feeder pattern

• Bear Creek will service EAP students from Bear Creek, Canyon Creek**, Fernwood and Kokanee

• Shelton View will service EAP students from Shelton View, Arrowhead, Canyon Creek**, Crystal Springs, Frank Love, Kenmore, Lockwood, Maywood Hills and Westhill

• Sunrise will service EAP students from Sunrise, Cottage Lake, East Ridge, Hollywood Hill, Moorlands, Wellington, Woodin and Woodmoor

Canyon Creek** is a “swing school” with EAP placement based on capacity, siblings potentially in attendance, student address and parent choice. AAP feeder pattern

As of now, Canyon Park, Leota and Northshore feeder patterns are based on geographic location. Students are placed at the closest junior high (soon to be middle school) to their home address. Following the consideration of geographic location, capacity is also considered.

**********************************

In order to make this easier to see, the HiCap Parent Council has created a graphic feeder pattern for EAP and AAP Schools.

 

Minutes for the 9/26/2016 Meeting

Items to discuss

• Coverage at Jr. High info nights
• Will JH counselors be coming into elementary to register kids before info nights?
• Transportation
• How to get info about Talk nights into hands of teachers, parents and students
• Changes to testing?

Update on Meeting on 9-16 with HiCap Admins Update on NSD HiCap info night

•  HiCap Parent council rep to talk at end of night and all will be there after for questions
• Wear nametags with which school you represent
• NSD will bring flyers

Update on neighboring district programs - changes to LWSD Update on HiCap in Classroom

• based on data collected program hasn't started yet this year
• Plan to parents by November conferences but teachers should be starting earlier
• Parents frustrated since they do not know who to contact in District for questions

Canyon Park Status

• No Set curriculum between AAP Schools
• Clubs are parent dependent
• Curriculum night - unclear what AAP strategies are being used

6th Grade Middle School Next year

• Elective Wheel
• AAP for Core classes in AAP Schools
• "Challenge for All" for all others

info nights

• Jr. High Representatives will be at their schools
  • gather questions from parents
• Feeder Patterns? Need chart from District...asked and waiting on answer
• Transportation?
• Difference between AAP and Challenge
• 6th grade math and the Math Path
• AAP info night at Canyon Park...are other schools having one?

Panel for AAP parents and students "What's AAP really like?" - October 12th Do we do a panel for Challenge "What's challenge really like?"

• Motion to do panel
• Take a vote: Yes = 6, No=3, Abstain = 2
• Motion carried

Alternative suggestion for Challenge flyer instead of panel

• quotes from parents and students who've taken Challenge classes
• New motion for flyer instead of panel
• Take a vote: passed unanimously
• Angie Y will head up flyer creation

We will offer the colorful math path graphic to District HiCap Admins

• Admins declined our graphic and will use ones they have created instead

Reps at 7th grade info nights will talk about AAP and hand out Challenge flyer Reps for 6th grade info night will talk about AAP since there is no Challenge for 6th grade Talk series

• Dyslexia
• Vision processing
• Sensory Processing

Transportation

• Canyon Park - transportation is better
• Canyon park -> Canyon Creek
• kids who need transport now have it at CP

   

Application and Testing for HiCap Services in the 2017/2018 School year

Information from the NSD HiCap Website. Click here to go directly to the NSD website.  

Application Period for 2017-18 Placement Begins Oct. 3
Applications/nominations are submitted online. Links to the forms will become available here on Oct. 3. Deadline for submission of nominations/applications is 4:00 p.m. on November 4, 2016. Late submissions will not be accepted.  

Nomination/Application process for students currently in: Kindergarten and grades 8 through 11: Parents, or anyone with knowledge, of a student may nominate him/her for highly capable consideration. Please note that, at the kindergarten level, only NSD-enrolled students will be tested. Grades 1 through 7: Parents of students may apply for highly capable testing. Elementary HiCap Application Checklist Secondary HiCap Application Checklist Testing Information Appeals Process

Minutes from 8/31/2016 Meeting

Austina: 

• Has everyone read the bylaws? 
• Anyone have any comments?  
• Discussion about bylaws 

 Jakub: 

• Move to approve the bylaws 
• Patrick: I second  
• Austina: All in favor say Aye All say Aye and bylaws are approved unanimously  
• Lisa will file the paperwork  

Konstantin:

• newsletter communication is hard for some parents
• We should have one topic per email with that in the subject line
• A table of contents for email is better but not really good enough
• We need more facebook communication as well. Short topics in sequence

Austina: 

• Agreed, but is more email better? 
• I only send email after asking for review. 
• More people should use mail chimp  

Konstantin: 

• send your ideas to the group then someone can volunteer to craft and send the individual topic emails  

Austina: 

• for upcoming emails the September deadline for new student testing needs to go out ASAP. 
• Another email with other event reminders can go out after school starts…maybe second day  

Angie Y: 

• for all upcoming open houses, ice cream socials and back to school fairs, we need to have an EAP/AAP table at each one to answer questions, get people on the mailing list and remind them about upcoming events. 
• You can also update your class contact/carpool lists there as well.

Summer Park Dates Announced

Every summer the HiCap Parents Council arranges park dates for new and returning EAP and AAP students. This is a chance to see old friends and get to know new classmates before the school year starts. Here are the dates for this summer, with contact email addresses in case you would like to volunteer to help with organizing!  

EAP, all schools: July 30, 2 - 4pm, Blythe Park in Bothell, bplottner@yahoo.com  

Bear Creek, all school: August 30, 4pm, Rotary Park by Woodinville High School, jakub@oleksyfamily.com  

Shelton View EAP: August 27, 3:30 - 6pm, Cedar Grove Park in Bothell, bplottner@yahoo.com  

Sunrise EAP: July 24, 2-4pm, kavitsinghk@gmail.com  

AAP, all schools: August 12, 4:30-6:30pm, Miners County Park in Bothell, austinad@hotmail.com

What is AAP Really Like?

The event What is AAP Really Like? is tomorrow, March 16th, from 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM at the Main Administration Building (3330 Monte Villa Parkway, Bothell).

This talk is intended for families who have been offered placement into the AAP program for 2016-2017. The talk will include a panel of students and their parents from the various AAP and Junior High HiCap programs to share their experiences and help answer questions.

Board Game Day a Success!

The HiCap Parents Council Game Day drew almost 100 people to the Brightwater Center for an afternoon of playing and sharing board games. From Exploding Kittens to Sorry to Carcassonne, the play was continuous and involved people of all ages. Some families played their own games, some played those shared by others. Some families stuck together, others spread across the room playing different games. A carton of dixie cups off to the side lured many to try their hand at structure building.

Many thanks to the volunteers who pulled the event together, the Northwest Gifted Child Association for co-hosting, and Snapdoodle Toys, Toys that Teach, and the Imagine Children's Museum for donating door prizes. If you have any feedback on the event or ideas for future events please contact the HiCap Parents Council!

Save Our Challenge Event

Save Our Challenge will be hosting a brainstorming session at  
7pm on Tuesday February 9^th at the Community Room at McMenimans in Bothell (18607 Bothell Way NE).

We invite you and anyone interested in making our successful Challenge Program even better in our middle schools to attend this community input opportunity. At this meeting we will be brainstorming ideas about various program models that could be used when Northshore transitions from a Jr. High configuration to Middle school. We will collect all input and synthesize it into a proposal to be delivered to the school board as an addition or alternative to the recommendation soon to be proposed by the Middle School Grade Reconfiguration Task Force. We hope to solicit and then propose ideas that are in the best interests of ALL of the district’s children even if they haven’t been considered yet by the District. Please join us on Tuesday to be a part of the solution!

Save Our Challenge saveourchallenge@gmail.com http://saveourchallenge.blogspot.com

Upcoming Talk - Helping your child Thrive

Helping Your Child Thrive: 10 Tips For Raising A Well-Rounded Adult

• What should parents do to help their children thrive? 
• What are the most important things kids should be learning to find their path? 
• What skills will they need to develop to become capable adults? 

Join parent educator, Myla Rugge, for a lively, interesting discussion about what parents can do to help their children develop life-skills that will serve them now and in the future.

January 20, 2016 – 7:00pm Northshore School District Administrative Center, Boardroom 3330 Monte Villa Parkway, Bothell, WA 98021-8972

Myla Rugge is a parent educator who specializes in the transition to parenthood, as well as parent development. Her knowledge of parenting practices combined with her experience in higher education gives her a unique perspective when talking with parents about raising kids. Prior to becoming a mom, she worked with students in the Office of Admissions at the University Of Washington, School of Medicine, as well as an Academic Adviser in the University of Washington Undergraduate Advising Office.