SGC Minutes

Seawell Elementary School

September 2,2003

Members Present Amy Kwiek, Keri Litwak, Terry Stewart,

Katherine Worley, Susan Pegg, Phylis Cook, Ursula Council,

Mark Peters, Teri, Larry Fox

Others in attendance Marny Ruben

Mark Peters reviewed the agenda that included traffic issues,

Facilitative Leadership, fifth grade field trip, newsletter,

Principal's Report, new business, accomplishable goals

Traffic

Terry Stewart shared the concerns that she, as well as others

have about the traffic/speeding/safety issues on Seawell School

Road in the mornings. Mrs. Pegg reported that there is less of a

problem this year due to the decreased number of

students/families. It was suggested that the SGC chairs from the

three adjoining campuses meet with the Highway Patrol and the

Department of Transportation representatives to discuss the

problems. The group agreed that this was a good idea.

The issue of safety coverage during events such as Meet the

Teacher night or other events that share the same dates as

Smith Middle School were discussed. It was suggested that

Seawell advertise the use of parking at the high school and

walking across campuses to increase the safety. Mrs. Pegg

agreed to try to coordinate different evening events as long as it

was possible within the schedule and did not mean having

Saturday events. The group agreed to look at the district calendar

and review this at a different date.

Facilitative Leadership

Terry Stewart participated in the Facilitative Leadership training

this summer.

Fifth Grade Field Trip

The fifth grade field trip was discussed. The SGC will make this

decision after gathering input/information from the teachers and

parents. The fifth grade teachers will present several options for

a trip/end of the year event to the SGC in October.

PTA Newsletter

The administration and the SGC chairs will alternate the

responsibility of adding a SGC article to the Seawell newsletter

each month. Mrs. Pegg and Mrs. Ruben will be responsible for

the September article. SGC parent reps agreed to publish their

contact information in the September newsletter.

Principal's Report

There are 514 students enrolled at Seawell.

A 4/5 and a K/1 combination were created due to the teacher

allotment and the number of students in each grade level. The

state/district allot schools teachers by the number of students in

k-2 and 3-5. This does not always work out to be neat groups of

23 students and the need for combination classes arise.

New teachers to Seawell include Sarah Jo Thompson (4), Amy

Staley (k-2 Reading), Mary Gillan (Media Specialist), Stephanie

King (5), and Anita Hawks (P.E.).

Seawell is continuing with the schoolwide Literacy Collaborative

model in an effort to make literacy instruction more consistent.

Literacy Collaborative is a comprehensive literacy framework that

builds in the components of a balanced literacy program. Amy

Staley is the new k-2 faculty member who is being trained in the

framework this year at Lesley University.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is a federal report card for schools.

Seawell met the requirements for NCLB this year. Seawell had

25 subgroups and were successful with all of these. Seawell

was one of four schools in the district to achieve this goal.

Seawell also reached the status of high growth on the end of

grade tests given in grades 3-5.

The Educational Summit will be held at Smith Middle School the

morning of Oct. 11th. The focus is on closing the achievement

gap. All SGC members are invited/encouraged to attend. The

Walk for Education is also on Oct. 11th beginning at 300.

Merger -meetings to discuss the merger of CHCCS and Orange

County have been set. Dates will be sent to the SGC members.

SGC members will promote the idea that people should choose

to vote on the issue but will not take a collective stand on the

issue.

Seawell's Open House will be held on September 11th. SGC

members will be introduced at the PTA meeting that will be held

from 645-715 between classroom sessions. Mrs. Pegg will

arrange to have SGC member's names and contact information

on the back of the agenda.

The Homeless children's policy was shared and explained.

Project Homestart is now called Homestart and is the homeless

shelter for women and children in Chapel Hill. It is in Seawell's

school district.

New Business

Chris Betts, former SGC member has moved, opening a parent

position on the SGC. The bylaws state that the PTA Board fills

this position. Mrs. Pegg will share the previous election results

and the bylaws with the PTA Executive Board. The PTA meeting

is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 8th.

A school board meeting is scheduled to be at Seawell on

Thursday, Sept. 18th. SGC members, PTA officers, FORT co

chairs and school board members are invited to a dinner at 600

in the cafeteria, followed by a meeting.

SGC members need to make a list of goals that they would like

the committee to accomplish this year to be shared at the Oct.

meeting.

Larry Fox shared some concerns/questions about teacher

assistant representation at school events and the use of parent

volunteers to improve the Seawell website. A discussion of each

topic took place.

It was decided by the group that meetings would continue on the

first and third (if necessary) Tuesday of each month.

The use of a Yahoo group for SGC was discussed.

Larry shared an idea for a math and science initiative sponsored

by Boroughs Welcome Fund. Marny took the information to the

district Science Vertical Team meeting.

The next meeting will be help on Oct. 7th at 600.

SGC Contact List

Co-Chairs

Terry Stewart tstewart@chccs.k12.nc.us 967-4343 ext. 249

Mark Peters tarheel@thepeters.org 967-5451

Faculty Members

Susan Pegg spegg@chccs.k12.nc.us 967-4343 ext. 203

Amy Kwiek akwiek@chccs.k12.nc.us 967-4343 ext. 223

Keri Litwak klitwak@chccs.k12.nc.us 967-4343 ext. 219

KeriLitwak@hotmail.com

Katherine Worley kworley@chccs.k12.nc.us 967-4343 ext. 234

Phylis Cook p.cook@chccs.k12.nc.us 967-4343 ext. 238

Parent Members

Ursula Council ursulac@childservices.org 933-3034

Heyurs@hotmail.com

Larry Fox pisfox@cs.com 932-5613

Teri would prefer to keep her info off of any websites but it can be

posted in the newsletter.

Secretary Marny Ruben mruben@chccs.k12.nc.us 967-4343