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SLT Meeting Minutes SLT Meeting Minutes
April 12, 2007
Time Started: 3:45 PM
Chair: Ms. Schweitzer I. Application Limits
-Mr. Teitel handed out copies of the letters sent home to Juniors. The letters explained that the school’s policy regarding the number of college applications each student is allowed has changed. The mailing also included replacements to pages 11 and 27 of the College Handbook which were the only two pages that mentioned a limit. II. Homework Policy
- Mr. Teitel distributed copies of the school’s vacation homework policy.
He explained that the staff received copies of the policy on Monday, March 19, 2007.The policy was made general to account for the fact that teachers need to assign varying amounts of work at different points in the curriculum. III. New DOE Structure
-Mr. Teitel informed the SLT that he has recently attended two meetings about the new DOE structure. The first meeting was an informational meeting about empowerment option entitled “Toolbox One” and the second meeting occurred with the principals of Bronx Science, Townsend Harris, The High School of American Studies at Lehman College, and Queens High School for the Sciences at York College.
- During his meeting with the principals, he learned that two principals are in favor of the Learning Support Organization(LSO): Integrated Curriculum option. Mr. Teitel and the other principals are looking to set up a meeting with Judy Chin, the head of this option in order to learn of more details about the option such as cost. He is concerned that the costs of services once provided by the Region such as overtime security would not be provided by the option. He reiterated that the meeting will merely be an informational meeting and does not mean the Stuyvesant has committed to this option.
- Mr. Teitel explained that during the Toolbox One, periodic assessments were discussed. Assessments will be given to students four times a year in both Math and English. In response to Mr. Teitel’s concerns about the Stuyvesant student body being over-tested, it was suggested that the four assessments be used to substitute four classroom tests. It was agreed that the teachers of Stuyvesant would be very reluctant to that suggestion because the general assessment tests are not comparable to class material.
It is not clear if joining an LSO would exempt the assessments or if they will be enforced at all. A parent suggested that Stuyvesant may be able to argue exemption because it is a Specialized High School.
- Mr. Teitel explained that the meeting also introduced a computer program called ARIS which stands for Achievement Recording and Innovation System.
The program would store all information regarding a particular student such as transcript data and attendance records. The program would be beneficial to high schools that select their students but serves no relevance to Stuyvesant who admits students based on an exam.
- Mr. Teitel distributed information on upcoming fairs. There is a meeting for principals scheduled for April 23, 2007. While Mr. Teitel is not certain if he will attend because he did not find a previous chancellor meeting due to the inability to ask questions, a parent pointed out that SLT members are also able to attend the meeting. IV, Bathrooms
- A parent pointed out that even though bathrooms have been reopened, she was shocked to learn they were closed for two weeks, She explained that the closure of bathrooms on even floors went against New York State regulations which allocates a certain number of bathrooms for a certain number of students. She acknowledged that fire safety is important but emphasized that students need access to bathrooms. She suggested alternate safety measures such as a monitoring system outside bathrooms.
- Mr. Teitel explained that his main concern is the safety of the student body; fires in the bathrooms need to be prevented. He closed bathrooms in the hopes that increased traffic in each bathroom would not allow a student the time to set a fire undetected. He explained that setting up school aids in front of the twenty student bathrooms in the school would be ver y expensive. He has considered switching over to electric hand-blowers instead of paper towels because the paper towels are being used to set the fires but that would need approval by the DOE and would be a very tedious process of wiring the bathrooms.
- A student explained that the exact reason why the bathrooms were closed was never divulged to the student body. There was one announcement and no further communication. She explained that the administration needs to communicate with the student body in order to discuss what can be done to help the situation.
- A teacher suggested that eliminating paper towels from bathrooms may be one way to help the problem.
- A teacher said that taking away the paper towels would not solve the problem. The reason behind the fires needs to be discovered. When things are taken away from the student body a bitter atmosphere is created where students don’t feel as welcomed.
- A teacher explained that the reason paper towels are used is that they are slow burning and generate a lot of smoke which would set off the smoke detectors. He explained that there was a strong correlation between fires and math test days. It seems that students are hoping for an school evacuation to avoid taking a test.
-Mr. Teitel reiterated the importance of fire safety, he explained that if bathrooms can not be closed, he is willing to put the entire school out on the streets after each fire until someone comes forward.
- A student explained that the school should move away from denying the entire student because of a few. V. Open School Week
- A parent explained that class visitations were canceled only a few weeks before Open School Week. She explained that not many people make use of the classroom visitations because many parents have full time jobs so it would have been possible to set guidelines on the parents that do come.
She questioned why parents were not told in advance so that they could work with the faculty and accommodate their concerns.
- A parent suggested polling the teachers to find out what their concerns are.
- A parent explained that classroom visitations were a very unique aspect of Stuyvesant and should be reinstated.
- Mr. Teitel explained that he was thanked by several staff members for relieving the stress of visitors. Even if the teachers who are against classroom visits are in the minority, he is not sure that the minority should be ignored.
- The SLT agreed that the meeting is not the venue in which a decision as to whether classroom visits will be reinstated will be made. The parents asked to be kept informed. VI. CEP
- Mr. McMahon explained that she sent an email earlier to SLT members asking that suggestions of new objectives, questions and concerns be emailed to her. Since she received no responses, she asked for suggestions during the meeting.
-A parent explained that since PSAT have been aligned with the New York State Curriculum and will be administered to Sophomores and Juniors, a goal of improvement between Sophomore and Junior years should be created.
- A teacher explained that the PSAT exam measures proficiency not excellence. The exam should not be a main focus because classrooms should not be centered around teaching for the exam.
- A parent suggested taking advantage of AIS services to prepare for the exam. VII. Quality Review
-Mr. Teitel presented copies of the report that resulted from the Quality Review of Stuyvesant which occurred from February 7th to February 9th.
- The Quality Review will be a yearly assessment and will be online for all schools. The team met with groups of students, teachers, and parents.
They also toured the building and visited classrooms. VIII. New Business
- Stuyvesant’s Crisis Team
- DOE Structure revisited
- Draft of CEP
-School Safety and Security
-PSAT Update IX. Meeting Adjourned: 5: 20 PM
Next Meeting: Tuesday, May 1, 2007
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