University School Advisory Committee (USAC)…

Jackie Simmons, Chair
 

Meeting Time:  6:00 p.m. in the Media Center

Meeting Date:  3^rd Monday of each month

Next Meeting:  May 19, 2008

 University School Advisory Committee (USAC)

April 21, 2008

Call to Order at 6:00 pm - Jackie Simmons, Chair.

Members Present

Dr. DeFrieze, Jackie Simmons, Sonja Hadad, Nancy Renfro, Nora Lee, Kathleen Ecay.              

Others Present

Pat Jungkeit, Lee Wells, April Blakely, Dan Pohlgeers, Andrea Carr.

Agenda Items:

Revisioning: April Blakely

            Ms. Blakely presented USAC with a brief Progress Report which she will be compiling as the school year comes to a close.  She gave the Committee a synopsis of the items the Revisioning Committee has addressed this year.  They include:

1.  Smart Boards are now in all classrooms & faculty has had in-service training.

2.  Dual/Online Courses are being developed & deployed.

3.  Curricular Alignment between Math & Science is well under way.

4.  High School & Middle School course requirements have been modified.

5.  Environmental Education (Green School) is now a reality & growing in practice.  University School has been nominated for a Governor’s Award for Environmental Stewardship. 

6.  New courses are being taught in elementary, middle school & high school.  For example, Anatomy is being added to HS next year.

7.  University School has made Global Connections in Korea & Australia.

8.  The 8^th grade Pilot Program has students who meet the criteria to take HS courses was implemented & will be continued.

9.  Classroom Map program is underway.  The goal is to have maps EVERYWHERE in the school.  There will be maps in the hallways, classrooms, over the drinking fountains, etc. 

10.  The School Brochure has been updated thanks to input from parents, teachers and staff..

*Please mark your calendars for the USAC meetings.  This will be the forum for the Math/Science Signature School updates that we talked about at the open house general meeting.  As a school in the infancy stages of becoming a Math/Science Signature School we would like to make sure we have input from all of the stakeholders involved in creating a successful learning environment for our students.  We hope to create a complex thinker who can apply the appropriate math and science principles in real-life situations.  This complex thinker can produce solutions to real-life problems based on assembly and integration of data from a variety of sources.