HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-10-22-DIAMOND-min Diamond Site Council Meetings 2020-2021
October 22, 2020 Meeting Minutes
Members in Attendance: Jen Turner, Sam Bosbach, Remy Coombs, Katina Lawdis, Hallie
Wells, Ed Dube, Dongzi Yu, Kar Hwee Koh, Bayard Klimasmith (admin, taking notes)
Late: Tayyaba Salman
Missing: Charles Mosquera, (We will email notes to missing members to ratify notes)
Approval of Minutes: 9/24/20
Principal's Report:
• Back-to-School night was last night. Seemed to be a success. Was virtual.
Synchronous presentation for most major subjects. Asynchronous meetings for other
subjects (e.g., PE) with teachers at many grade levels or two many students for Zoom.
• Budget: looking at hiring for next year, particularly in SPED
• SPED: additional teacher in TLP, Reading teacher, ILP speech and language
• Considering two budgets: If we remain in remote:
■ 3lAs
■ Keep lunch monitors at extended hours
■ Full-time Spanish FTE
■ Two additional team teachers for half-teams
• Overall feel things have been going well
Staff Report:
• Wells: has taken time for parents and staff to feel comfortable with Zoom for IEP
meetings. We are in process of catching up with IEP meetings delayed in spring.
• Lawdis: doing much more virtually. Some pleasant surprises
• Bosbach: SPED staff are feeling the hiring needs, especially for those with full-time
students.
• Coombs: gen ed teachers are feeling some pressure from the absence of IAs.
• Dube: remote teams are very big, feeling extra pressure to provide feedback
• Bosbach: sometime hard to manage parental expectations about providing feedback, fill
in curriculum gaps, respond to requests.
• Turner: helpful to think about the different changes in positive ways (e.g., reduction of
curriculum has meant focus on "power standards"). Staff is starting to experience what
Admin experienced in late August; we had to confront the limitations of what we can do.
Member Input:
• Kar Hwee Koh: parental concerns about coverage might be overblown. Turner: yes, less
is more can lead us to the same level of achievement.
• When is parent conference?
• Dongzi Yu: with virtual BTSN we didn't have the stress of moving from class to class, but
got the same level of information, had adequate time for Q &A. Husband was able to
attend (usually can't because he usually travels)
• Clubs? Parent Interested in other/more afterschool activities. Turner: the clubs will be
up and running soon, but all virtual. Some clubs will be different (e.g., Science Olympiad
may not run, but we will have some kind of science club)
• Tayyaba Salman: COVID is on the rise. We need to stay conscientious about safety.
Adjournment
Next Meeting: