Wednesday, December 20, 2017

Minutes from 12/14/2017 Meeting

Private school students and new to Northshore
  • Winter eligibility screening for services in neighborhood schools
  • Multiple opportunities to sign up to screen/test
  • March/April/May, once per week screening for new families
  • August, 5 days of assessments to choose from for new families
  • Accommodations field will be added to the private school application
Gaining insight through testing for things like
  • Assure students that 48 questions in 30 minutes. They aren’t expected to finish but don’t want kids to feel bad about not finishing
  • What does the kid see after 30 minutes?
  • Is it better to skip a question or just guess?
  • Test is by grade, scoring is by age
  • Accommodations like untimed tests can be accommodated
No appeals process for screening, will have multiple years to retest Currently enrolled HiCap kids will take the screener/test but this will not impact current eligibility

1st grade letter: Current 1st grade holistic students will rescreen but these kids will go directly to assessment where other 1st graders are not guaranteed assessment after screening 2-8 parent letter – single subject, all take Torrence and will all take ITBS in not qualified area.

Cannot lose designation in currently qualified area

All letters will go out in alternative language is designated in the system as different home language. Need ethnic groups to welcome incoming students to connect them to a community.

Torrence is one format for all but scored by age Makeups for screener will be available Kindergarten screener will not be WAKids in future  

SEMAC: definition of hicap, house bill, low income demographics presented, demographics of hicap program.

Group agreed that something needs to be done. K-8 needs it because we haven’t done our due diligence. Big pilot test, but it’s what it needed and was agreed to.  

HIcap info night = feb 5th. Communications will send out info. Translated and videotaped, Bothell high 6:30-7:30   Website addition:
  • Documentation from HiCap department will be published. Parents may use these docs to advocate for their kids at the building level.
  • Tenmarks letter
  • Parents letter about screening/assessment
  • Printable format
  K enrollment for 18-19
  • Flyer in every k enrollment packet
  • Not using WAKids for screener, but not advertised. Has to go through SEMAC
  • Probably use Naglieri
  • New tools will be culturally and linguistically appropriate, no need to adjust thresholds
  New to northshore can qualify for full time hicap program for same year Previously qualified students in other schools may qualify them for NSD program   Proctor notes:
  • how do you tell kids they may not finish and it’s ok and at the same time assure anxiety kids they have plenty of time
  • need to be able to tell if there are kids who finished ¾ but got it all right versus kid who finished all but got 75%?
  • Need to pick out the currently enrolled kids and look at their scores
  Article in Seattle times: Jen feels she was misrepresented. Would not say “loosened” standards, would say Removing roadblocks, etc.   K results of hicap testing this year: higher percentage of ELL and Black students qualified for program than in the past   Teacher selection for hicap teachers:
  • parents on hiring panel
  • Adding creativity as a criterion will change how teachers teach and how kids fare in existing classrooms
  • How do you grow potential in kids who haven’t been high achieving?
  • Super looking at diversifying entire district to include more teachers of color
  • Teachers need background in Hicap or at least have some training
  • Inviting HR and admin (dave and heather) to our meeting to tell them issues like
    • Teacher teaches all 6th grade gen ed and one 7th
    • All 7th grade AAP not allowed robotics. Etc.
    • Exec function: teachers have own websites, have parent view sites, etc. hard to find assignments.
  Jen putting together a team of staff to discuss recommendation for resources and PD teachers need. Also partnership with Dr. Ford to work on program models and resources.
  • More diverse classrooms are similar to what teachers usually do
  • Growing program while it’s in service…will get the Cadillac eventually all the way through
  Jen leaves
  • Question about science. Sunrise has specialist still?
  • Woodmore has issue with 3,4,5 grade. Kids not getting science. Sent to gen ed teacher and teacher sends them back. New principal coming in, hopeful this new leadership will help issues

Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Minutes from 8/30/2017 Meeting

  • Discussion with Transportation department about this year's transportation for EAP/AAP students.
    • Some is neighborhood then straight to school
    • Others have neighborhood buses to neighborhood school then a transfer to EAP/AAP school
    • email transportation@nsd.org to alert them to any safety issues or if you have not received transportation email yet
  • Discussion with HiCap Staff about the growth of program this year
    • Regular winter testing, data sweep, analysis of past testing data and appeals resulted in hundreds of new kids offered spots in hicap program for this year.
    • for last minute offers, students will receive services in home school with AAP/EAP guaranteed spot for next year.
  • HiCap Meetings for this year:
    • Tuesday’s morning 10am-12 for Admin meetings, August 30, Oct 3, dec 5, jan 9, march 6, may 8, june 5
    • Wednesday evenings 7-9 work for – not 2nd Wednesday, Sept 20/27, nov 14/15/16, feb 7/6, april 4/18, June 20/12
  • HiCap Satisfaction data: top level data comparison from last time – results are much the same as 2 years ago with full program having positive feedback and in-school services having not as positive feedback, looking at the long answer questions
  • Timbercrest principal:
    • No commitment for clustering
    • No commitment for science and social studies hicap services
    • Ask teacher directly first then escalate to the principal then Jen
  • Not yet identified and in school reps: identify yourself on facebook NSD hicap list, and lists of non-eap/aap schools and feel free to invent what your population needs. More kids now, so may be easier to find needs we can fill
  • Diversity group could work on Spanish translations for flyers
  • Walk to math ideas in elementary
  • Outreach for communication of testing dates should be upped
  • May have universal screening – cogat screener – this year. Would recommend grades 1 and 5

Friday, July 7, 2017

Welcome to the newly elected 2017/2018 HiCap Parents Council

2017-18 HiCap Council elected representatives (2 year term):  
  Continuing HiCap Council Elected Representatives:

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Minutes from 6/21/2017 Meeting

6/21/17 – exiting, continuing and new board members
  • Intros
  • Nonprofit info
    • Advocate for community rather than self
    • Fiduciary responsibility
    • May not advocate for political campaigns
  • What did we do?
    • Class lists
    • Attend PTA meetings
    • Attend events
    • Send email to class parents or to teachers to send info to all parents
    • Get to know the principal and front office staff. Useful to get tables at events
    • HiCap people can sit on interview process for HiCap Schools
  • Mia will look into amazon smile for donations to the council
  • Group Norms
    • Do not deal with personal kid issues in district meetings
    • Do not lose your temper in district meetings
    • Do not schedule a meeting with admins just to vent
    • Do not bad mouth admins to the public
    • Be aware that all info given at district meetings is not always ready to be communicated to public.
  • District people
    • Jen Benson – Director of Interventions
    • Becky Anderson – Jen’s boss
    • Jack Huber – Director of Assessment – leaving
    • Vicky Coury – Exec assistant to Jan and Jack
  • Elect officers
    • President: Austina DeBonte
    • VP: Lauri Ferriola
    • Secretary: Angie Hancock
    • Treasurer: Kristy De Gris – Jakub to get info to Kristy
    • Toni motion to elect the slate, Angie Y seconds, Unanimous
  • Committee Heads
    • Diversity Committee: Helen Tudor, Toni, Angie Y, Mia
      • Work toward a representative population in our district in HiCap
      • Work toward universal testing during school hours
        • K, 1, 2, 5 suspected for next year
      • Multi language testing
      • Data Sweep
    • Webmaster: Angie Hancock - if other person is interested in this, spot is up for grabs
      • Add a timeline doc to help parents know when things happen
      • Events
      • Minutes
      • Other relevant docs
      • Get video of dyslexia laura rogan for website
    • Speaker Organizer: ??? open positions
  • Care Day: Northshore Middle School, 10am-3pm Thursday 29th – we have a table, Austina will be there, looking for Spanish speakers. Hand out flyers, etc.
    • Angie H motion, Helen second to spend money on photo copies for this event, Angie Y will help with graphics for the flyer and look at logo, Unanimous (probably $50)
  • Name tags: about $3 each person – Toni will look into this
  • Satisfaction Survey: Same as 2 years ago with 2 questions added. Austina will make it live soon
    • District willing to partner with us. Do we want to?
    • Disclosure statement about how we will use data
    • District will send out to their mailing list for hicap kids
    • Questions about testing could be sent to everyone…will they do that?
  • Paper lists of attendees at Open houses to EAP people
  • Austina will send committee members list to elected reps
  • Summer events
    • EAP Events – EAP reps to organize
    • Individual schools can organize - Menchie’s Night  (bonnie did this)
    • AAP Events – AAP reps to organize
  • Facebook page and website
  • Mailchimp intro
    • signed up several members, check junk folder for invites
  • Get mailing list updated from Jakub – bod@hcparents.com to add new people

Friday, June 2, 2017

Open Houses, Parent preview Nighte, EAP/AAP Panels

EAP and AAP Placement letters will be going out to parents and students in the next couple of weeks. Look for those in your mail. However, for students who will attend Middle School next year, your letter may not arrive before parent preview nights happen at the Middle School in which your child may be placed. We suggest you attend the parent info night for your likely Middle School just in case your child is offered placement there.

Parent Preview nights and student visit days will be on the following days:
Leota MS:
Parents of 5th graders: May 3rd, 6:30-7:30 pm
Parents of 6th graders: May 10th, 6:30-7:30 pm 
5th grade students: June 1st, 9:30-10:30 am 
6th grade students: June 2nd, 9:30-10:30 am
 
Canyon Park MS:
Parents of 5th graders: June 5th, 6:30-8:00 pm
Parents of 6th graders: June 6th, 6:30-8:00 pm
Both 5th and 6th grade students from SV: June 5th, 9:40am – 11:20am
Both 5th and 6th grade students from BC: June 6th, 9:40am – 11:20am

Northshore MS:
Parents of 5th graders: May 24th at 7:00 pm
Parents of 6th graders: May 17th at 7:00 pm
Both 5th and 6th grade AAP students: May 23rd, 9:45-11:15am
 
EAP Open House day for all EAP schools (Bear Creek, Sunrise, Lockwood) will be held at the EAP school on a date TBD. Contact the school for time and other details for these open houses.    

The Parent and Student Panels "What's EAP/AAP Really Like?" will be held in the Leota Jr. High Theater
AAP parent & student panel - Monday May 15, 7pm Leota Jr. High Theater
EAP parent panel - Wednesday May 17, 7pm Leota Jr. High Theater

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Minutes from 5/16/2017 Meeting

  • Discussed HiCap issues with Jen, Jack and Becky
  • As just HiCap Council we continued meeting:
    • Should we get nametags?
    • Discussion and approval of new bylaws
      • Change number on council to "At least 12"
      • In-school representatives will try to gather a committee comprised of members from each school in their group
      • Under TERM - take out second sentence about even/odd years
      • Add note about confirming ongoing reps are eligible and interested in continuing each year or put office up for election
    • Stacy moved, Angie Y seconded, Unanimous vote to enact the new bylaws.

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Minutes from 5/11/2017 Meeting

Discussion of Structure of the HiCap Parent Council
  • Maybe a Council -> Board-> Exec Board?
    • Not all school reps go to district meeting
    • not all reps are exec board
    • not all reps report to their PTA?
  • Could we have committees at each school?
    • not all committee members are elected
    • committee members help elected reps fulfill duties of board memeber
    • Maybe anyone interested at a school is on the committee
    • Could have committees for
      • Each EAP School
      • Each AAP School
      • Each High school
      • In-School
      • Unidentified
    • Maybe all in this model meet together occasionally or each committee meets separately and board member reports back
    • Committee meets to designate duties
  • Discussion of duties of elected representatives.
    • Duties will be
    • Job requirements (To be performed by elected rep or designated committee member)
      • Be a PTA member of the school you represent and go to PTA meetings to deliver HiCap info to PTA
      • Gather feedback from your constituents and PTA to report back to Council
      • Manage class mailing lists for schools you represent
      • Keep your constituents informed of HiCap related info
      • Attend back-to-school events, registration nights, parent nights for the school you represent
      • Have name, picture and email on website
      • Attend monthly hicap council meetings - alternating daytime/evening
      HiCap Council Extra Opportunities
      • Help District at HiCap Info night
      • Help with HiCap testing days
      • Help coordinate at least one event per year for the HiCap Council
        • Parent panel events
        • Schedule and organize summer park days
        • Coordinate special talks for the community
        • Organize board game days
      • Attend School Board meetings and speak on behalf of the Council as needed
      • Become an Executive board member
      • Help maintain the website
      • Send out mailings as needed to our mailing list
      • Post relevant info and answer questions on NSD HiCap Discuss or other FB pages
  • Discussion of re-write of Vision and mission statement
    • New Vision will be
      • The vision of HiCap Council is that all Northshore School District (NSD) Highly Capable students reach their full potential through programs that distinguish NSD as an exemplary district for highly capable education.
    • New Mission will be
      • The mission of the HiCap Council is:To advocate for the needs and unique challenges of both identified and non-identified highly capable studentsTo educate families, educators, and community members about highly capable students, their needs, and the programs available to them, To build a strong community of families that represent the diverse population of our district, To collaborate effectively with families, educators, and community members, partnering closely together to enhance quality of education in the Northshore School District, and To provide resources that support highly capable student learning.
  • Discussion of structure
    • new Structure will be
      • one parent representative from each EAP school;
      • one parent representative from each AAP school;
      • one parent representative from each High School;
      • one parent representative from HiCap in a neighborhood elementary school;
      • one parent representative from HiCap in a neighborhood middle school;
      • one parent representative from not-yet-identified students.
  • Angie Y moved, Bonnie seconded, All present Voted unanimously to approve new minutes
  • Angie H will rewrite bylaws with this new Vision, Mission, and structure to bring to tuesday's meeting for approval

Monday, April 17, 2017

Minutes from 4/17/2017 Meeting

  • ADHD talk: need videographer
    • suggest JH drama department
  • SV EAP teacher issue discussion
  • Lockwood PTA
    • figuring out transportation
    • welcoming to SV kids and paretns
  • Schedule May 17th open house @ eap schools
    • expect letters around may 8th
    • Leota parent info night may 3, may 10
      • kids won't have placement letters yet
      • send audee email
  • Suggestions for acceptance letters
    • kids name
    • Bold acceptance date
    • info about parent panels
    • more info on how decision is made
  • Kindergarten
    • kids who tested in fall still have no results or alternate work
    • flyers to K parents @ registration and open houses
    • what happens when parents check the box on reg forms?
  • transportation - holding pattern
  • 4th EAP school? don't know yet
  • Sat may 20th in edmonds  - NWGC neuroscience talk
  • HS Science for 9th grade AAP kids
    • 9th grade -take chemistry instead of Bio
    • 10th AP bio, AP chem, AP Physics
    • Ingelmoor=9th - IB Bio//Chem
  • Elections
    • Do we want a position for each HS?
    • Do we want volunteer non elected positions?
    • should we have more in-school reps?
    • should we have some open meetings?
    • can we have quarterly public meetings?
    • should our representatives report to schools?
  • Jen should send newsletter to all In-school kids
  • should we give a teacher award?
  • should we restructure?
    • lets meet May 11th to discuss restructuring
  • Approved March Meeting minutes unanimously

Friday, March 17, 2017

Minutes from 3/17/2017 Meeting

  • Will we have a meeting between now and May? Work on Schedule
    • April 20th 7pm Meeting
  • Diversity Committee report
    • Should we engage Natural Leaders program to get underrepresented groups in HiCap?
      • Angie Y to contact them and invite to meeting
    • Need Spanish and other language notices to invite kids to be in sweep
  • Need approval for meeting minutes from last 2 meetings
    • minutes approved unanimously
  • Discussion about Policy Governance proposed by School Board/Super
    • wary about model, will do more research
    • will have meeting with SB president and super to get questions answered
  • Hiring of HiCap Teachers: Need to get hicap trained teachers
    • should council offer services to principals to sit in on interviews for EAP/AAP teachers?
    • HiCap teachers are encouraged to get hicap training
    • offer training but don't have to. Opt in
    • most AAP/EAP teachers take whitworth training

Friday, January 20, 2017

Minutes from 1/20/2017 Meeting

1/20/2017

Update from Jen and Jack

Austina:
  • The Canyon Park AAP rep resigned and we now have an opening in the Council for a Canyon Park AAP rep. 
  • How should we fill this opening? 
  • Can we have a new election? 
  • can we appoint a person to fill until this year's elections? 
Helen:
  • moved to appoint Bonnie as Canyon Park rep. 
  • Laurie: Second 
  • Unanimous vote. 
  • Bonnie is now the Canyon Park rep. 
Bonnie:
  • update on Game day. 
    • Looking at Sunday in February or march. 
    • 150 people for 3-4 hours. 
    • Considering Zulu or Mox