November 20, 2024 – Minutes

Ridgecrest Elementary School Community Council

Monthly Meeting Agenda

Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2024

4:00pm- Library

•   Call to Order: 4:01 p.m.

In attendance:  Sara Allen, Carrie Christensen, Fengmin Li,  Anna Whiteley, 

Chris Hettich, Cort Bouldin, Sammy Fan, Brooke Schneider, 

 Jeanne Herbert and Rhea Eggert

Absent: Stephanie McCabe, Elias Perez, and Alex Gibbs

• Previous Meeting Minutes: 
  • minutes have been approved

• • Bylaws review 
    • Article 3, section 8 says, “SCC meeting minutes will be sent to members electronically for approval prior to being posted online and prior to the next scheduled SCC meeting.” 
    • We are required to post the minutes 1 week before the next meeting with the agenda. Technically, they can be draft minutes, but if we all agree to approve them by that time, it saves a step for our web manager. 

• please approve minutes within a few days of receiving by email

• Review to ensure we are on course with Current Year’s:
  • LAND Trust Plan
  • Data
    • Attendance and Office Referrals
      • Graphs for attendance comparisons between last year and to date this year.
        • To date attendance has increased with the percentage of students whose attendance is severe and off-track decreasing.

• Office Discipline Referrals (anything that is a significant discipline issue)
• Graphs for ODRs are attached. 
  • To note:Yearly comparisons: 

• 2023: 328 episodes
• 2024: 276 episodes
• 2025: 64 episodes to date for 2024-2025 school years

• Comparison between last year and this year’s ODRs show a decrease in referrals for the months of September and October.
• Hourly comparison throughout daily episodes show ODRs tend to spike during lunch and the end of the day
  • Lunch discipline has decreased so far this year which could be due to the change in schedule with recess before lunch.
  • Check-in/Check-out program benefitting student behaviors
• Major behaviors are outlined by the district. They  include behaviors that are disrupting the learning of all, showing continued defiance, and being repeatedly aggressive.
• Link to CSD’s Levels of Behavior document: Student Conduct & Discipline Process

• Expenditures
  • Land Trust: on-track with budget
    • Stipends: money used for stipends shown
    • ST Math: covered partially by grants
  • TSSA – on track with budget
    • Counselor expenses could change with transition in counselors and salary levels.
    • QTalk (4th & 5th grade):  program to build more interactions between students in the dual-immersion classes.

• Begin Final Report for previous year’s plan- Due end of January
  • Changes have not been made since first shared

• Review Attendance Plan
  • Goal: 95% students at school daily
  • Success measures: keep absences to 8 or less during the school year
  • Teachers reach out to families when students are absent for three consecutive days.  
  • Hierarchy is followed by the office staff for 6 or more absences 
  • Tools to Maintain/Increase Attendance:
    • Tiger Cub Club has been developed to help build relationships between teachers and students.
    • Concerns are addressed in conferences with teachers and parents
    • Thrive Time is used as a tool to increase attendance.
    • Monitoring ODR ( Office Discipline Referrals)

• Additional school climate updates or principal report
  • Susan Edwards has requested an adjustment to one of the safety plans –  request for safe walking routes and advocating for sidewalks to be placed on streets
    • Need to include specific roads for Bus 1255 route
      • Stops on Greenfield Way and La Cresta Drive
  • Crosswalk painting request being moved to Community Needs on Safety Report

• School Climate:
  • New counselor
  • A number of long term subs in the building 
  • Celebration for school Reading Challenge – Road to Success 
    • 91% of students are logging minutes
    • Ridgecrest is 14th in the state for schools using Road to Success and Beanstack
    • 1st/2nd place continually in CSD
  • Shadow Day
    • Found there is a need to develop/build students self-efficacy
    • Stamina  in learning as we build students learning skills
    • Something which seems small to the teacher may seem big to our student – little things matter -both positive and negative
    • BLT will look at experience and findings to see if and where improvements and changes can be made 

Next meetings Wed., Dec. 18 (if needed), and/or Wed. Jan. 22, 2025

• December Meeting canceled by majority vote
• 4:58 adjourned.   Anna motioned and Chris seconded