2017-2018 Meeting summaries
June 4th, 2018 Meeting Summary
1) The End of Year Board of Education Meeting for Shared Decision Making Reports will take place on Monday, June 11th @ 7 PM in South High's Library
May 7th, 2018 Meeting Summary
1) The Summary Report was reviewed and finalized for submission to the Board of Education. The goal on the development of a School Motto was selected as the one to be presented and the district meeting on June 11th. 2) There was brief discussion about grading practices within the district; specifically on the practice by North High School where points are added to the final average based on AP performance and the inclusion of the Physical Education grade in the GPA calculation. 3) A request was made to engage in discussion on cheating at our next Shared Decision Making meeting. 4) The next SDM meeting will take place on Monday, June 4th. At that meeting we will develop a list of possible goals for the following school year. April 9th, 2018 Meeting Summary
1) Student Government shared the results of the voting for a new school motto. Kelley Chiu's submission of “Our orange and blue starts with an extraordinary you” was voted to be South’s new motto. Student Government will finalize the details of her prize for winning the "Motto Contest." 2) On Wednesday, April 11th there will be a district-wide meeting to review the by-laws that govern Shared Decision Making practices. Mrs. Julie Agris, Mr. Christopher Beaujon, Mr. Bradley Krauz, and Ms. Talia Katz will be present to represent South High and its various constituencies.
4) It was suggested that Homecoming Weekend be identified earlier to maximize the success of the event. 5) The next SDM meeting will take place on Monday, May 7th. At that meeting we will review the Summary Report to be presented at the BOE meeting on June 11th. March 5th, 2018 Meeting Summary
1) Student Government shared student suggestions for a school motto. As a committee, the suggestions were narrowed down to the top five to be voted upon by the student body. The final five possible motto's are listed below:
January 8th, 2018 Meeting Summary
1) There was open discussion about the district looking into opening Gradebook. Both parents and students shared thoughts/concerns/questions including, but not limited to:
3) South High's MLK assembly will be on Friday, January 12th. Parents on Shared Decision Making have been invited to attend to better inform our discussion on evolving our MLK Day activity. 4) Examples of mission statements were disseminated to the committee. The committee will begin discussion on the creation of a school mission statement. |
December 4th, 2017 Meeting Summary
1) Student Government shared some of their goals for the remaining school year. i. They are looking for new ways to promote Rebel Olympics with fun, new activity ideas for Spirit Week (The week leading up to Rebel Olympics). 2) Discussion continued on the MLK Assembly.
November 6th, 2017 Meeting Summary
1) A request was made to avoid having year book photo day conflict with pep rally day. As year book photo day is reserved, sometimes years ahead of time, it is important to plan pep rally carefully to avoid this conflict in the future. 2) Discussion continued on acquiring vending machines that accept debit/credit cards. The vending machines are managed by Food Services, so they need to be approached to look into this option. 3) Mr. Mooney and Facing History sponsored a Fall Fest, which was an outdoor BBQ to which students could purchase tickets. It was a great success and a positive event. There was discussion about possibly combining this event with Pep Rally to enhance the events associated with Pep Rally. There was feedback from students that they thought it would be beneficial to keep the events separate. 4) Mr. Reader, one of our school librarians, gave a PowerPoint presentation on current discussions surrounding the renovations to the school library after the approved bond proposal.
6) Groups were polled for any new goals, none were added to the current goals for the year. October 2nd, 2017 Meeting Summary
1) Meeting continued with a discussion regarding this year’s South High pep rally and homecoming. Student Government and Facing History were acknowledged for doing an amazing job setting the tone for the day. Pep rally was quick but not rushed, and captured the pep rally feel. Overall organization, music, lights, fog machine, sport team entrance were all noticeable enhancements compared to years past. It is a general goal to keep channeling pep rallies and school spirit in a direction that meets the needs of our school. 2) Goals and discussions:
3) Library bond discussion to be hosted at the next Shared Decision Making meeting. Damon Reader and Judy McClellan have been invited to attend our next SDM meeting to discuss visions and progress of a 21st century library. Perhaps SDM can contribute to ideas. 4) Closing
September 11th, 2017 Meeting Summary
1) Meeting continued with a discussion SDM had been addressing last school year; school spirit. This discussion is relevant as South High Pep Rally and Homecoming are Friday and Saturday (respectively).
2) Rules of SDM were expressed: all present should know they can feel comfortable expressing themselves and sharing ideas in discussion. 3) Closing
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2016-2017 Meeting summaries
May 1st, 2017 Meeting Summary
1) Below is a draft of the Summary Report for this year's SDM Committee. 2) The committee reviewed the COURSE FLOWCHARTS. These flow charts will be reviewed by students, parents, and staff and modified as necessary.
3) The district meeting for presentation of Shared Decision Making Reports will be on June 12th at 7 PM in the South High School Library.
April 3rd, 2017 Meeting Summary
1) Below is a draft of the Student Wellness note to be sent to parents and students
2) There was discussion on SDM's involvement in Pep Rally this fall as part of a Unifying Event to promote school spirit/unity.
5) SDM Committee Reports to Board of Ed will be on Monday, June 12th in the South High School Library @ 7 PM. February 6th, 2017 Meeting Summary
1) Updates were made to the school website based on feedback from SDM
October 17th, 2016 Meeting Summary
1) The annual SDM Training will take place on October 26th @ 4 PM in the South High School Library. This training is the training that has been a working dinner at the New Hyde Park Inn. Hopefully the change in time and venue can lead to a more focused, productive training. Anyone interested in attending should RSVP to Agnes Buckley ([email protected]). It is preferable that members of each of the different groups (Parents, Students, and Teachers) are in attendance. In addition, a request was made that veteran/experienced SDM members attend along with new members. If you are planning on attending, please let the SDM chairpeople (Mrs. Sperling (parent co-chair), Mrs. Goodwin (parent co-chair), Ms. Sorise (teacher co-chair), Mr. Krauz (teacher co-chair)) know, as well. 2) The committee debriefed on the efforts to build upon homecoming
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March 6th, 2017 Meeting Summary
1) On behalf of Student Government, SG President Shrinath Viswanathan, gave a brief presentation summarizing Rebel Olympics from Friday, March 3rd. Shrinath shared the following:
DRAFT OF LETTER: South High Parents & Students, Please remember to: Get enough sleep. Eat breakfast and take time to eat lunch. Drink water to stay hydrated throughout the day. Many students are coming to school tired because they aren’t getting enough sleep. A recent survey of our 11th graders showed that 75 percent of them consider themselves sleep deprived, primarily due to homework, procrastination or spending time on electronics. For more information on strategies to improve sleep quality and the importance of getting sufficient continuous sleep, please click HERE! Some students are not eating during the day, and many of those end up feeling dizzy due to lack of food. Encourage your child to eat. They can bring food from home if they don’t have time to buy food at the cafeteria. For more information on strategies to ensure proper nutrition and its importance, please click HERE! Students need to drink water throughout the day to stay hydrated and to avoid feeling dizzy or faint. There are filtered water stations across from the Dean’s Office, across from the Main Office and outside of the East Gym where students can refill water bottles. Refillable water bottles can be brought from home or purchased in the school store. For more information on strategies to stay hydrated and its importance, please click HERE! Thank you for your time and cooperation as we work together to improve student health and wellness. The Shared Decision Making Committee Great Neck South High School January 9th, 2017 Meeting Summary
1) Discussion continued about the South High School website:
September 12th, 2016 Meeting Summary
1) The new school map was presented to the committee. It can be found HERE. Many thanks to parents, students, and teachers for helping to provide this much needed update. Particular thanks goes to parent Kuniko Langel and South High's Student Government. 2) An update was provided on the continuation of last year's goal to improve school spirit/community through a more inclusive pep rally/homecoming event. On October 14th, during 9th period, South High will have its Pep Rally. Immediately following school a Faculty Volleyball game will take place for students to watch and fill the time between the end of school and home athletic contests. In addition, select clubs and activities will have an opportunity to showcase themselves as pep rally/homecoming is an opportunity to celebrate all of our extra-curricular activities. A video was created by parent, Kuniko Langel, which will be shown during Open House and throughout the week leading up to Pep Rally on the school monitors to help promote Homecoming Weekend and highlight all the programs that take place in our school. Two suggestions were made:
4) Ms. Elliott discussed the need to have tangible, practical goals for the SDM committee for the year. She encouraged each group to elicit further feedback from their constituents so we could agree upon viable goals in our next meeting. 5) The next meeting of Shared Decision Making will be Monday, October 17th. |
2015-2016 Meeting summaries
June 6th, 2016 Meeting Summary
1) Next year's Homecoming will take place on October 15th. The football team will be hosting Great Neck North. An update was shared on the preparations for SDM's support of 2016's Homecoming. Ms. Sorise has created a shared Google Drive folder for all faculty to submit pictures and videos of all the different extra-curricular activities in which students take part. Mr. Krauz and Ms. Sorise will review these items to ensure that permission is granted for these images to be published. Those materials will then be shared with Ms. Langel as she develops a short video promoting Homecoming and our school community. In addition, Ms. Sorise and Mr. Krauz are coordinating with Coach Umstatter to arrange as many, if not all, athletic contests to be home on October 14th or October 15th. This will coordinate with the scheduled school pep rally on Friday, October 14th. Ms. Sorise and Mr. Krauz will be organizing a faculty event immediately after school as entertainment during the open time between school ending and the start of athletic contests. During this event, various clubs and activities will have a chance to showcase their own actions as all efforts are meant to promote everything our students do in school. 2) On June 15th, all school's SDM committees will present their annual summary report. The meeting will take place at South High School's Library at 7:30 PM. Our school has chosen to present our efforts in developing a more dynamic Homecoming experience. 3) The Board of Education approved the suggested changes to the District Compact regarding the rules/procedures that SDM follows. Our building level by-laws will need to be amended to match these changes. 4) Discussion took place about potential goals for next school year. Including:
April 4th, 2016 Meeting Summary
1) The district wide compact for Shared Decision Making was reviewed. The attached file highlights some grammatical corrections as well as pointing out Section B, Letter F as needing further discussion; especially at the High School level, where finding sufficient numbers of participants can be challenged. The suggestion was made to change the language to allow flexibility in sufficiently populating the committee. 2) A district wide meeting will be held on April 12th, from 4-6 PM in South Middle School, to Review the District SDM guidelines. 3) Further discussion took place around homecoming and using this as a means to establish a building wide event to celebrate the school and the students.
5) Open discussion of goals for next year included:
February 1st, 2016 Meeting Summary
1) Consensus was reached regarding the committee's recommendation about schedule change week. The final draft is below. 2) There was extensive discussion about a unifying event at the school. A list of various events that take place was provided and reviewed by the committee.
2) There was discussion about our next goal which was to address a unifying event for the school. For our next meeting, each constituency will reflect on events that they feel are successful and identify what factors allow for such success.
December 7th, 2015 Meeting Summary
1) The meeting focused on reviewing and reflecting on the suggested appropriate reasons for schedule change requests. The reasons included:
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May 2nd, 2016 Meeting Summary
1) A summary of the district-wide meeting held on April 12th that reviewed the district compact on Shared Decision Making was provided. South High's suggestion of modifying the language regarding committee composition, specifically relatives, was actively discussed. The resolution was changing the language to allow student siblings that are democratically elected to serve on the same Shared Decision Making Committee. 2) Next year's Homecoming, which will serve as the basis for the unifying event that Shared Decision Making has been working on, will most likely take place on September 30th - October 1st. The committee is working to ensure that all sports teams have an opportunity to play a home game on one of those two days. In addition, the fall pep rally will take place on that Friday followed by an opportunity for clubs to showcase themselves in addition to a faculty event for students to enjoy while waiting for afternoon athletic contests. The committee is working on following up with publicity, additional entertainment, club coordination, sports schedules, and faculty event coordination. 3) After discussion, it was agreed that Student Government needs to develop a more district wide initiative if they wish to pursue air conditioning in the building. Until such time, Shared Decision Making's support would be redundant and most likely not productive. 4) A review of the 2015-2016 summary report took place. A draft has been emailed to all SDM members for review and submission by May 25th. One of the goals from this year will be highlighted at the Board Meeting on June 15th. March 14th, 2016 Meeting Summary
1) Discussion continued about creating the opportunity for Homecoming to be a more school-wide uniting event. Ideas below were discussed regarding increasing participation in the events Friday after school:
January 4th, 2016 Meeting Summary
1) Our committee's final recommendation was developed regarding schedule change week procedures. November 2nd, 2015 Meeting Summary
1) With a large number of new attendees, the meeting began with introductions. Several additional participants arrived after these introductions. 2) Ms. Sorise summarized the role of Shared Decision Making highlighting the following points: a. It is meant to be a collaboration that focuses on state mandated topics that can be found in the District Compact. b. The final recommendations of Shared Decision Making are presented at the District Wide End-of-Year Summary Reports session in front of the Board at South High. This summary report is a matter of public record. c. The goal selection process for the year and how the three goals for this year were chosen. Those three goals include reviewing schedule change week, a unifying school event, and a buddy system for underclassmen. 3) The Shared Decision Making By-Laws were highlighted, which can be found on the South High Shared Decision Making website (www.gnshssdm.weebly.com) 4) In response to the last meeting, the schedule change week goal was redefined. There was confusion because it arose from the suggestion that students receive their schedules in the summer without student names. This was a possible solution to address the intended goal which was to clarify the reasons for a schedule change and ensure consistency and fairness in their distribution and application. 5) Mrs. Applebaum and Mr. Erickson provided some background information/timeline on how schedules are created during the spring. It was important to note that during this process students and parents meet with guidance counselors to plan the following years schedule. 6) A brainstorming session took place with the goal being to create a list of potential legitimate reasons for schedule change requests. This list included the following:
8) Our next meeting is Dec. 7th |
Notes from October 27th District Wide Shared Decision Making Training Session
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September 21st, 2015 Meeting Summary
1) We went over our summary report from last year. (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Brk_5zEZVyvhJtfCvmGo5dCpAyR5cMdqK3PNzG-NSoA/edit?usp=sharing) 2) We reviewed the by-laws and discussed some of the procedures. (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IitAiu_FWgDUI6k6TgE3MDVg60B4Gg3zn8vy6o7ULv0/edit?usp=sharing) 3) There are two training dates to note: a. September 29th - @ North High, for new Shared Decision Making members. Following the UPTC meeting (around 8 PM) will be a short training on participating in Shared Decision Making b. October 27th - @ The Inn at New Hyde Park. The District Wide Shared Decision Making training which will use our suggestion from last year and focus on "success". RSVPs will be required to this training. 4) Student Government shared their current efforts on incorporating the Anti-Defamation League's "No Place 4 Hate" Campaign. At the recent club fair, the various clubs represented No Place 4 Hate with stickers. The Chalk Art between the grades will also embrace this idea. Student Government is looking to bring in a speaker, as well. This may be something as a group we can work to support Student Government's efforts. 5) Some initial discussion about possible goals for our group began...potential suggestions included: a. Discussion about School Spirit / Unifying Events b. Developing a peer information exchange c. Reviewing the school website (which has been recently updated and everyone is encouraged to check it out) d. Student Health Forums e. Follow up on "Success" program from the district training f. Reflecting on the Schedule Change process g. Alumni providing feedback/guidance on the college process h. Stream-lining attendance procedures to college info sessions* *It was noted that this was something that had been done previously and perhaps wasn't working through Naviance. Mrs. Applebaum said she would look into it. 6) We would like to solicit more goals from the various groups and have them to reflect upon and choose which will be our focus for the year at our next meeting in two weeks. 7) Our next Shared Decision Making meeting with be Monday, October 5th @ 2:45 PM in Room 202. 8) We have begun to create a website for our SDM committee...getting everyone's feedback on what should be there would be great. It currently looks like: (http://gnshssdm.weebly.com/) |