Minutes from 1/20/26 Meeting

 HiCap Parents Council Meeting Notes

January 20, 2026

District office + Zoom

Attendees:

• Online: Kathy Goodwin, Hong Zhu, Indhu Sivaramakrishnan, Liana Stein, Nikhat

• In-Person: Allen Tsao, Jen Carr, Amity Butler, Angie Hancock, Ashley Watts, Mairead Okon, Sean Qu, Edna Carmina Fuentes Zavala

Action Items:

• Ashley?: send Amity a QR Code to include on slides for upcoming Zoom/Webinars for newly HiCap qualified parents

• Amity: will send email out to parents any HiCap designation and any high school HiCap students

• Ashley (?): send email about event to the HiCap mailing list

• All reps: let families and contacts know about the upcoming event with Dr. Irish

• Ashley/Mairead: add dates to newsletter from Amity as a save-the-date

Discussion Topic: 

• Davidson Institute - Ability Grouping for Gifted Students

• Profile: Paradise Valley, AZ

• What is going well in the HiCap elementary inclusive model? 

• More services at home school, which doesn’t require to transport to another school

• More adaptable reading groups as students progress

• In earlier years, ESL students could qualify in math, but not reading but could not get services or transportation without being dual qualified.

• What could use improvement in the elementary inclusive model?

• Supporting kids to find peers 

• High School - harder to get support

• Includes extra time on 504, but not enough support

Amity’s Updates

• Mini bond and levy presentation, and Q&A

• How is the amount to be asked determined?

• Digital programs and subscriptions are expensive and recurring

• There are requirements to get bids for all major expenditures

• Reasons to vote for the bonds and levies even if people don’t have students in the district

• Adds and preserves property values

• Adds back to the community with various opportunities

• These are all renewals

• Security updates are part of the bonds and levies

• Upcoming Events

• Webinar for 5th grade to 6th grade math transition if Algebra is their next class

• Likely will be the same slide deck

• 5:30-6:30pm February 3rd

• Webinar

• Virtual College Night

• February 12th

• Sessions on various topics from different colleges

• Newly qualified students going into 6th grade

• 5th graders who could be skipping Pre-Algebra 1

• 5:30-6:30pm February 25th

• Newly qualified 1st grade students

• 5:30-6:30pm March 3rd

• For newly qualified 2nd-4th graders, Amity will create a video for parents to see

• Letters are also sent by parents

• Action Item: Send Amity a QR Code to include on slides for newly qualified

• Middle school task force work and implementation plan

• Para support can be provided in a more integrated middle school class

• Para’s are generally assigned based on number of students in class needing support

• General Ed para would not get any push of those into HiCap only classes

• No more self-contained classes for social studies and science in 6th grade. This change will roll forward to 7th and 8th in future years

• Middle school teachers asked about meeting the needs of HiCap students in new model

Council Business

• Thanks to everyone who helped get the word out about this month’s parent night with Emily Kircher-Morris, and to all who attended!

• Committee plans - Advocacy

• Ashley will meet with Dr. Irish TOMORROW at 2pm 

• Ask if the focus will just be HiCap

• Pre-planning for What Matters Most event with Dr. Irish 2/2

• NSD District will Provide a Zoom Link

• Action Item: Amity will send email out to parents any HiCap designation and any high school HiCap students

• Action Item: Ashley send email about event to our own mailing list

• Treasurer update - Jen

• Renewed AIM insurance

• Got $80 more in Benevity and $50 fundraiser

• Committee plans - Communication, items for Jan newsletter

• What Matters Most event with Dr. Irish, Feb 2 on zoom!

• February 2nd at 6pm on Zoom

• Action Item: All reps, let all families and contacts know about the upcoming event with Dr. Irish

• Action Item: Add dates to newsletter from Amity as a save-the-date

• Committee plans - Events

• Discuss date for potential board info nights for parent tips on high school and middle school registration

• Amity emailed dates to Ashley for middle school registration

Our next meeting is February 3 from 10:00-12:00.

Minutes from 12/2/25 Meeting

HiCap Parents Council Meeting Notes

December 2, 2025

District office + Zoom

Attendees:

• Zoom: Nikhat, Edna Fuentes, Indhu Sivaramakrishnan, Kathy Goodwin, Liana Stein, Sean Qu

• In Person: Allen Tsao, Jen Carr, Amity Butler, Angie Hancock, Ashley Watts

Action Items:

• Action Item: Ashley to set an email reminder on the 2nd about upcoming talk with Emily Kircher and Dr. Irish’s talk

• Action Item: Ashley to let GEAC know that they can invite members of their community

• Action Item: All reps to fill out the doodle poll for the Dr. Irish talk https://doodle.com/group-poll/participate/er7O76La

Notes

• Family Engagement Taskforce - Austina suggested to have a rep apply for it. 5:30-7:30pm. Apply if interested

• Discussion Topic: NACG family tip sheet - Talking With Your Child About GIftedness

• Will share it in the newsletter 

Amity Updates

• Parent Talk with Emily Kircher 

• Link to Survey Responses

NSD Interest Form for Neurodiversity Talk (Responses)

• Will try to have a Zoom or at least a video recording of the parent session

• If anyone wants to do the survey still, here’s the link.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfeDbmQl6jLAjIeboXMipitGNRh4vFZzrYpR8qjz61DLbiqfA/viewform?usp=header

• Lake Washington GEAC has asked if we are willing to open the event up to their community.

• Action Item: Ashley to let GEAC know that they can invite members of their community

• Math trajectory conversation - implications for high school students and a list of FAQs for parents to share along with website locations for further information to share with those who need more information as parents receive their new designations

• NSD website has info for transition

https://www.nsd.org/schools/academics/subject-areas/mathematics/6th-grade-math-placement

 

• General Math Discussion

• Lots of moving pieces and discussions on math pathways in terms of the new Algebra 1 curriculum and elementary math too

• Date of Levy Bond Presentation

• Amity can do one here if the HiCap Council comes

Council Business

• Budget

• $80 deposit

• $2248.75 is the balance

• Dr. Irish has reached out for some dates and evenings for a chat with HiCap

• Doing one with Special Ed

• After January seems like the 

• Ashley sent out a doodle poll to pick the best dates

https://doodle.com/group-poll/participate/er7O76La

• Action Item: Ashley to set an email reminder on the 2nd about upcoming talk with Emily Kircher and Dr. Irish’s talk

• Include in the December newsletter with links to Emily Kircher’s resources and about her

• Levy & Bond Presentation

• The vote is in February

• An overview with Amity would have to be on January 20th to be useful for the January newsletter

• Ask for a short version from Amity

• Survey Results

• ELA shows stronger dissatisfaction with the Integrated Model

• What advocacy goals should we aim for?

• Push for grading at higher ELA standards (CBA?)

• iReady Data to see if the EAP vs Integrated classes

• What to do about schools that don’t have enough HiCap qualified kids

December Newsletter Contents

• NACG family tip sheet

• Links to Emily Kircher’s resources (book, podcast)

Minutes from 11/4/25 Meeting

 

Attendees:

• In Person: Ashley, Jen, Allen, Angie, Terri, Edna

• Online: Elizabeth, Liana, Kathy, Laura, Hong, Nikat

Action Items:

• Put together a list of things parents can ask at elementary teacher conferences for newsletter

• Action Item: Amity will visit with Sara (Maywood Teacher) and Sonia on concerns with the rift between gen Ed and HiCap kids

• Action Item: Amity will ask teachers to send out info (if they have it) for when screening is happening ahead of time.

• Action Item: Allen to look into accessing the family iReady report and see how it works

Discussion Topic: Preparing for parent teacher conferences

• Davidson Institute - Parenting Tips on Educational Advocacy

• NAGC TIP sheet - Classroom Advocacy

What info can we give to parents in NSD to help them prepare for parent teacher conferences?

• No conferences with math teachers, but always reach out if you have concerns and set up times outside of conference times

• Ask about writing skills. 

• What can “we” do to help them with writing. 

• What have you found works in the classroom.

General Discussion

Concern - Maywood Hills math. With only 10 hicap math kids split between 2 of the 3 2nd grade classes, hicap kids are getting math from a certified teacher only half time and are being taught by someone else the other 3 days (recess teacher/cert staff)

• During math time, the 10 math kids get together in a single class.

• This teacher has to split her time between the hicap and gen ed parents

• Gen ed parents are complaining because their students don't get a full teacher the whole time. So concerns they're blaming the hicap kids

• Background Information

• Maywood lost a 0.5 instructor during the start of the school year. A recess teacher was used instead. Teacher teaches content, recess teacher supervises kids during practice while teacher teaches the other group.

• Principal blaming HiCap program for the issues too (i.e. quoted as saying if there were concerns, then to ask the district to not offer HiCap services at Maywood)

• Why are there so few math HiCap students in Maywood?

• Less HiCap students at Maywood compared to previous years due to the new math test (previous IOWA test was easy to memorize answers and prep)

• Action Item: Amity will visit with Sara (Maywood Teacher) and Sonia on concerns with the rift between gen Ed and HiCap kids

Parent feedback - can 1st and 5th grader teachers be asked to give parents a heads up on their class’s screener date?

• Can always ask teachers to do that.

• Action Item: Amity will ask teachers to send info

Parent feedback - this is the first year that 4th grade (with more compacted math curriculum) is doing walk-to math. We are hearing that students are struggling, maybe more than before, esp with the loss of a few minutes of math time as they transition.

• Not the first year for all schools. A couple of elementary schools started 4th grade walk to math last year.

• Struggling depends on a lot of factors including allotted math time, transition times, etc.

Question - what happens to kids who qualify in math in 5, 6, or 7th grade? Are they placed in a more accelerated class due to qualification? Or not since that would mean missing curriculum?

• It's always parent/student decision

• Qualifying in 5th grade going into 6th = have the option skip PreAlgebra 1, but not skip PreAlgebra 2

• Can also offer a summer school if they want to

• Qualifying in 6th or 7th grade = get the designation but cannot skip PreAlgebra 2

• Qualifying in 5th grade is the last year to accelerate math

Question - lots of chatter in person and on social media about different math methods (building thinking classrooms, edgenuity, “new” curriculum, learning online). Review different math methods?

• Savaas (new Algebra 1 curriculum). District hoping to purchase Geometry + Algebra 2/Trig this year

• It is a far more challenging curriculum compared to the previous curriculum

• Previous curriculum is very old

• Needs to be shifts for students prior to Algebra 1. Will affect any new K-5 curriculum builds towards the new baseline.

• Edgenuity: Not a good option for all students

• Building Thinking Classrooms: depends on how it's implemented. Can work for some but not everyone.

Question - BSD is switching to full time walk-to Edgenuity for 5th grade. Are we concerned that NSD may go this route esp with budget concerns?

• No. This will not happen.

Council Business

Budget Updates

• $2248.75 is our balance

• Have a surplus now so consider putting on more talks

• 
  

Committee plans - Nov newsletter

• Tips for parents on preparing for conferences

• Including instructions for accessing IReady reports if parents want to beforehand

• Action Item: Allen to look into accessing the families iReady report and see if it works

• ELA guidance? (note to NSD- many parents wish they could have a conference with their kid’s math teacher too). 

• This is logistically difficult and a bargaining decision due to the extra time teachers would have to allocate for conferences.

Committee plans - brainstorm events for the school year

• Check in on prep for Jan parent ed evening with Emily Kircher Morris

• Talk by council members like we did at McMenamin’s last year?

• Parent ed talk by Austina?

• The reluctant writer talk by Austina (Elizabeth sent over email). Recording available for $25

• Presentation about the transition to middle school and Q&A

• Every school is different

• Maybe facilitate a Q&A for 5th graders and 8th graders transitioning to middle schools specific for HiCap kids

• Possibly after the middle school / high school open houses

• Social event for kids/teens?

Committee plans - discuss possible points of advocacy

• **What Matters Most evening with Dr. Irish? Ashley has reached out to try to schedule an evening event. Waiting to hear back.

• More days and locations to take SATs?

Our next meeting is December 2 from 10:00-12:00.