Approval of Minutes

Minutes from the November 20 meeting were approved as submitted.

Parent/Community Comments

Mardi Nystrom spoke about the Issaquah Schools Foundation. She is the liaison for IMS. She handed out a Needs Assessment Questionnaire and asked School Council members to fill it out and bring back to the next meeting for discussion. Contact Mardi if there are questions.

Old Business

Ron presented the proposed 2003-2004 building budget. There was discussion on the possibility of mailing home all report cards instead of only Trimester III. There was discussion on putting the Panther Press newsletter on the IMS website instead of mailing it.

New Business

Marianne Kersten reported on the Bell Schedule Committee Meeting she attended. She reviewed what will be presented at the Regional meetings – January 8 at Skyline, January 13 at Issaquah Valley Elementary and January 15 at Maywood Middle School. The committee is looking at what changes could be made to the current schedule and what costs are involved and to also study a possible schedule inversion to start secondary schools later than elementary schools. She recommended that everyone attend one of the meetings and give their input.

Ron presented a draft of the Continuous Improvement Plan. He explained how IMS did on meeting last year’s goals related to WASL and ITBS scores. The staff has formed a Curriculum and Assessment Committee to make recommendations on how to further improve scores. The completed CIP will be available at the next School Council Meeting and will be presented to the School Board in February.

Ron reported that the staff has decided that parent signatures on Mid-Tri Reports would be determined by individual teachers. Those teachers will clearly mark their Mid-Tri Reports that a parent signature is required. Others will not require parents to sign and return.

Team Reports

6^th Grade

The team expressed appreciation for all the work done by Karen Dealy with the sixth grade students in the Safenet program.

7^th Grade

None

8^th Grade

Eighth grade is looking at field trips to the Seattle Children’s Theatre the first week in March and to the Seattle Rep on April 28.

Special Needs

None

Classified Staff

None

ASB Report

Adopt-A-Child went very well. We met the needs of 53 children.

PTSA Report

None

District Liaison Report

Everyone is encouraged to take the District Budget Survey. The deadline has been extended to December 25. At least 1000 responses are needed for the data to be valid.

Community Center

None

FYI – Ron Thiele

December 22 – January 2 No School – First Winter Break

January 8 Team Leader Meeting 2:15 p.m.

January 19 No School – Martin Luther King Jr. Day

January 20 PTSA Meeting 9:30 a.m.

January 22 School Council Meeting 2:15 p.m.

January 23 Panther Press Deadline

January 27 Mid-Tri II
January 27 Staff Meeting 2:15 p.m.

January 30 Student of the Month Celebration

Other

Gatekeeper for the next meeting will be Lorna Furtado.

Next meeting will be January 22, 2004 at 2:15 p.m.