F.M. Black Middle School

1575 Chantilly Lane, Houston TX 77018

Office: 713-613-2505, Fax: 713-613-2533

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Central Region

SDMC Meeting
Minutes
9.1.09

Meeting start time:  4.09 p.m
 I.  Roll Call:  Members Present:
J. Anigbo, J. Barnwell, T.Day, R. Hambley, B. Johnson, N.Khan, K.Livingston, M.Jao, Mr. Billy, Mrs. Webb, Mrs. Luna.

Visitors Present:  C. Richmond

II.  Approved minutes from previous SDMC meeting
Approved by R.Hambley, seconded by B.Johnson

III.Approve agenda for scheduled SDMC meeting

IV.  Specific Agenda Items:

1. Saturday Tutorials:  K. Booker
   October:  monthly or biweekly camp for special needs students held by T.Allen.  Information will be forthcoming as time approaches.
   December benchmark data will be used to determine the bubble list.
   Students on the bubble list will be invited to Saturday tutorials, which will begin in January.
2. TLC Committee:  B.Johnson
3. Dues are $20.  They are due to B.O’Finan
4. TLC members enjoy certain benefits:  Dues for Brady’s Christmas party will be offset if one is a part of the TLC committee.
5. Births, funerals, sicknesses are all acknowledged with TLC money.
6. Professional Development:  J. Barnwell/R.Hambley/N.Khan
7. Will begin to plan for the two weeks of August professional development after dropouts have been found.
8. Community Marketing:  C.Richmond/M.Jao
9. K.Booker and C.Richmond will visit campuses and bring performances in order to showcase Black Middle School.
10. They will also present flyers with bulleted accomplishments: ie:  Karate Champions.
11. State of Schools to discuss Aspire Data and other pertinent community concerns will take place in the following months at the following locations:
1. October:  Scarborough High School
2. February:  Black Middle School
3. March:  Oak Forest Elementary School
12. School Culture:  M. Jao
13. Beginning next meeting, M. Jao will report about celebrations to promote good school culture that various PLC’s are having.
14. The first PTO meeting is Sept. 30.  Teachers, please attend.
15. C. Richmond brought up the idea of PTO sponsors:  If teachers or working parents would like to support the PTO, they can do so by becoming PTO sponsors. 
16. The benefits of PTO sponsorship include but are not limited to increased parent participation in the PTO, and allows working moms to donate their money or time.
17. PTO will have a booth at Open House in order to begin their sponsorship program
18. Mrs. Luna will also have a survey available for parents to fill out during open house.
19. Advocacy: K. Booker
20. K. Booker will present the BMS advocacy plan to teachers during Professional Development on 9.3.09 for 20 mins.
21. IAT referral will be discussed by the Counseling department for 25 mins.
22. PLC’s will have the opportunity to work for 60 mins.

1. Budget:  M. Jao
2. 525 students are enrolled
3. We are 35 students under enrolled which means that we could loose up to $105,000
4. Budget can not be discussed because we will not know what our budget will be until snapshot date because it is pending if we meet student enrollment set at 560 students.  If we don’t meet projection, we will lose money.
5. Stimulus money for special ed and Title 1 can not be discussed because the district does not approve those budgets until October

1. Letter from the Box:  J. Anigbo:  None
2. Old Business:
3. Pull Outs:  Students can not be taken out for more than 10% of the days in a semester. 
4. Electives have agreed to allow teachers to pull out students for 10 45 minute sessions in the fall and spring semesters.
5. Elective teachers have also agreed to up to 4 more additional sessions for bubble students in the spring semester.
6. Students should be taken out during the last 45 minutes of the period.
7. Elective teachers agree to allow students to attend Math and Science camps held in the spring semesters.
8. New Business:

a.  New Bell Schedule

1. T. Day explained reasoning behind the new bell schedule.  New bell schedule was needed because some teachers, particularly the ESL and Elective teachers have mixed grade levels in their classes. Teachers were not able to receive their lunch times due to the fact that they had two different grades that went to lunch at different times; therefore, it was necessary to create a new bell schedule.
2. T.Day and C.Richmond created new bell schedule, where lunch was scaled down to two periods.  T. Day presented the new bell schedule, which was slated to begin Tuesday, September 9th.
3. Mrs. Webb voiced concerns as a parent about the late start to the school day.  Concerns included:  football practice and other after school activities cause students to get home very late, which pushes homework time back.  Due to the fact that Waltrip and Black now begin and end school at the same time, it is difficult to coordinate pick up and drop off schedules. 
4. R.Hambley countered by saying that beginning school later was a good thing because teachers are now able to hold tutorials in the morning.
5. Mrs. Luna voiced concerns about the late lunch.  6th grade lunch begins at 12:05 and 8th grade lunch begins at 1:05 with the new bell schedule.  Mrs. Luna thought that lunch was too late, and that her kids would need snacks in order to carry them through.
6. M.Jao reassured Mrs. Luna by stating that 25 faculty members are participating in the breakfast in the classroom program.  If students eat breakfast at 8:25am, then they should be somewhat satisfied until 1 p.m.
7. T.Day asked members of the SDMC to look over the schedule for any problems:
1. R. Hambley:  6th and 7th graders going to lunch together is a bad idea.  The 6th graders will be influenced in a negative manner by the 7th graders
2. C.Richmond:  Students are already in mixed lunches.  B lunch is the catch all lunch for both elective and ESL teachers.
3. T.Day:  One of the reasons the schedule needs to be amended is because B lunch too crowded.
4. Mrs. Webb:  It is not a good idea to separate the lunches.  While Mrs. Webb was at Black Middle School, lunches were not separated by grade levels. Having mixed lunches helps to prepare students for highschool.
5. J.Anigbo:  7th grade teachers will have different lunches.  Lunch helps to strengthen PLC dynamics.  The 7th grade teachers may not like getting separated.  Can 6th and 7th grade combine to have lunch at once?
6. B.Johnshon:  The current bell schedule makes for a crowded lunch.  There are 177 7th graders and 164 6th graders.  It is impossible to combine 6th and 7th graders into one lunch period.  There is not enough administrative staff to handle a crowd that large.
7. C.Richmond:  Teachers are split by location in order to avoid disturbing other students while in class. 
8. SDMC voted for the following teachers upstairs to have first lunch:  Rhodes, Gaines, Mecum, Caldera, Pete, and Peter.  The vote was 6 to 4.  Mrs. Jao abstained from the vote.
9. Early dismissal schedule:  N.Khan and R.Hambley worked on the schedule alongside T.Day to extend the early dismissal lunch period from 30 minutes to 35 minutes.
1. Parents from Oak forest would like to adopt and beautify the BMS campus.  This project will not only help to build relationships, but it would also help to attract more students to BMS from Oak Forest.  Mrs. Webb said that many students do not come to Black because we do not have a band.  M.Jao responded that if enrollment goes up, a band director might be a possibility.

VII. Calendar of Important Dates:
-9.8.09:  Open House
-9.30.09:  PTO meeting

VIII.  Next scheduled SDMC meeting:
-Tuesday October 6th, 2009

IX.  Adjournment: 
-Motion to adjourn:  J.Anigbo.  Seconded by R.Hambley at 5:31p.m

 

 

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