Alexander M. Patch Elementary
School
Stuttgart,
Germany
School Advisory Committee
End of Year Report
School Year 2005-2006
1. PES SAC Board Membership:
Chairperson - Parent
Parent
Vacant, Parent - Third parent representative resigned from the PES SAC in Nov 06 after being hired as a Teacher at PES.
Deputy Chairperson, SAC IAC representative - Teacher
2 other Teachers
2. PES SAC meetings held during the reporting period:
1 September 2005, 6 October 2005, 1 December 2005, 9 February 2006, 2 March 2006, 4 May 2006, and 1 June 2006.
3. The goals and objectives of the PES SAC for SY 2005/06: The PES SAC did not develop any additional goals or objectives other than those addressed in the Community Strategic Plan. The PES SAC was briefed on the DoDEA Vision, Mission Statement, Guiding Principles and Goals during SAC training and reviewed them during a follow-up PES SAC meeting. Although never officially voted on, the PES SAC strived to be an “Advocate” for our children within the purview outlined in Department of Defense Instruction 1342.15, March 27 1987.
4. Measures of success in achieving each goal or objective listed above: Overall the PES SAC engaged in a number of issues, but had limited success in SY 2005/06. Several issues were addressed and forwarded to responsible agencies either for awareness and/or action. With the exception of increased tutor support—the status of all other identified issues is still to be determined.
5. Others matters addressed and any outcome from the work of the PES SAC:
a. Summer School – SAC sent a letter to DSO requesting information on whether there would be a Summer School program following SY 2005/06. SAC stated feedback from within the Stuttgart community was very positive about last year’s program. SAC requested information be provided as early as possible to facilitate planning from both a student and faculty perspective. DSO provided information as soon as it was available. The summer school enrichment program will be offered during the Jul 06 timeframe at PES.
b. Discipline Plan – In response to both parent and faculty questions, Ms. Pleiss addressed the PES Discipline program. In her explanation Ms. Pleiss referenced the PES school handbook and emphasized each case is different and there essentially is not a discipline chart that guides punishment or remediation.
c. Staffing versus Class Size – SAC sent a letter to DSO expressing concern about PES staffing for SY 2006/07. Current PES staffing is based off of PES Sep 05 student numbers, less the 6th grade that will be at a Stuttgart Middle School. PES staffing does not factor in the impact of the Middle School initiative on student numbers at PES. Specifically the redistricting decision and the building capacity issue at Boeblingen are projected to significantly increase the student numbers at PES above the Dec 05 projection (e.g., 393 students in grades K thru 5) Even with higher than projected pre-registration numbers at PES, staffing projections for PES have not increased thus far. It appears that DSO will wait until Aug 06 to attempt to hire required teachers.
d. Middle School – the middle school initiative caused a lot of angst throughout the SY. Mr. Werner attended the various SAC meetings, supported community MS forums, and worked to establish a Stuttgart MS site on the DoDEA web page. All of these actions helped to get the word out and involve those community members who chose to participate in the process. The PES SAC supported the MS Curriculum Development committee with three volunteers. From a PES SAC perspective, our concern was with the 2nd and 3rd order effects of the MS on PES and our 5th and 6th grade families that will have students in one of the Stuttgart Middle Schools next SY. Three specific MS issues that were addressed this SY include: 1) impact on student numbers at PES due to loss of 6th grade, redistricting, and capacity issue at Boeblingen, 2) MS course registration, and 3) student uniforms and/or dress code at Robinson Barracks (RB) or Boeblingen Middle Schools. We’ve essentially established a feeder program where PES 5th graders will attend a MS at either RB or Boeblingen and MS students from RB and Boeblingen will attend Patch High School. This will require close coordination and information sharing amongst the respective Stuttgart school administrations and SACs, and close supervision by DSO to adequately support school staffing requirements.
e. Safety Issue (Screens) - The issue of window screens at PES was discussed at a PES SAC meeting in Sep 05 and was also expressed as a concern in a letter to the DSO. Apparently, this has been a concern expressed by PES teachers for several years, but no action has been taken. This issue was also addressed in the IAC forum. Due to limited funding and competing priorities, the chance of obtaining funding from either DSO or USAG-Stuttgart to place screens in PES classrooms is essentially zero!
f. Children with Reading Difficulties – this issue was initially introduced in an open forum discussion to assess what is the actual requirement at PES and what is the authorized staffing for a LARS instructor. What we found out is there are multiple reading programs, not just LARS, and staffing is based off of the total number of students at the school, not off of an identified requirement in any given SY. A resulting mid-year survey of PES students reading abilities indicated the majority of students identified to be reading below grade level were receiving services; however, there were 18 students at risk that were not receiving services. Subsequent questions in this analysis include: What does “at risk” mean and what is the accepted standard? What resources are available to help within PES, the district, and community? As a result of this discussion, a SAC member requested tutor support through the EUCOM mentor program and assistance was provided, where requested. This is an area that requires further monitoring and support when student requirements exceed school capacity.
g. AAFES meal program – the AAFES school meal program experienced several problems this SY to include: timeliness to get students through the line, and the notification procedure for insufficient accounts (e.g., students notified vice the parent). This issue was also addressed in the IAC forum and AAFES representatives are aware of the issues. The installation of a second cash register and hire of an additional worker in April 06 appears to have rectified the meal line timeliness problem. AAFES plans to implement a system that will allow respective family accounts to be monitored and managed via the web as of this summer (TBD). Key to success is effective and timely communication between the AAFES staff and PES professional staff.
h. SMS – SAC asked DSO to provide a status on SMS due to the numerous problems experienced both with its implementation and capability. DSO forwarded PES request for an SMS update to DoDEA via DoDDS-Europe—no response received.
i. Information briefs: Smart Board, ISAFE, and Multi-age Instruction
6. PES SAC achievements during this reporting period:
a. Established a PES SAC e-mail account with a hot link off of the PES homepage.
b. Improved communications by including SAC article in the PES Stallion newspaper.
c. Established communication with other SACs within the Stuttgart community.
d. Successful SAC election for SY 2006/07.
e. Established effective communication/info sharing with PES PTA.
f. Engaged DSO representatives on a number of issues that are a concern to PES.
7. PES SAC concerns requiring additional review/ recommendations for SY 2006/07 PES SAC.
a. PES staffing for SY 2006/07.
b. Children with Reading Difficulties – continue to monitor students that are below grade level and ensure resources are made available to assist these children.
c. Middle School lessons learned, effective coordination between Stuttgart school administrations and SACs.
d. Need to proactively engage the PES community – let them know about SAC and open as many links as possible to encourage constructive communication throughout the community.
8. Actions taken to strengthen and improve the PES SAC.
a. Actively engaged all SAC Team members to ensure all were involved as a part of the overall SAC Team.
b. Established additional and/or improved communication links to include: SAC e-mail account with hyperlink off of the school web page and monthly article in the PES Stallion.
c. Ensured PES SAC portion of PES homepage was up-to-date.
d. Proactively engaged the community to ensure the SAC and more importantly our community is supported and represented by personnel that are qualified and care about our children.
9. Recommendations for improvement of the Local Education Advisory Program: None.
10. Additional comments: Key to success is effective communication with the educational forum both horizontally within PES (e.g., support/advice to PES principal) and sharing with other SACs with our community, and vertically to DSO and through the IAC forum for issues that fall outside SAC but that impact PES. Collectively, we need to support our respective schools and be willing to address issues that are forwarded to this forum. Hopefully by establishing an effective and credible information chain and solving some issues, it will encourage greater community confidence and participation in the process as well.
PES SAC Chairman
10/10/06