Present: Lydia Woerner, Shawn Suzuki, Debbie Hedemann, Britney Manago, Karen Heinecke, Sherry Nagai, Norma Matsumoto, Robert Rossman, Karen Harrison, Margaret Masunaga. Non-Members: Isabel Vinson, Craig Fuller

Meeting was called to order at 4:05 PM by Lydia Woerner.

Motion to approve the minutes of 1/22/07 was made and seconded. Minutes accepted.
It is agreed that when presenting agenda item, Update of Grant Writing, the Technology Report will be incorporated at the same time.

Update on Attendance Policy Draft from the different components (Lydia):
PTSA update by Debbie: Approximately 20 PTSA members attended the PTSA meeting on February 12, 2007. Attendance draft was presented and discussed by the attendees. Concerns were: taking away the credit, what the parent’s role is with student attendance, & the appeals process. Three students were at the meeting and they felt that with our present attendance “system” they were able to take a lesser class (i.e. English X, rather than AP English), cut classes, and still receive an A or B in the class. With an Attendance policy tied into credits or grades, one student felt she would opt for the AP class since she would be
required to be in class. It was agreed by all attendees that further information on the Attendance Policy should be brought back and looked at by the PTSA after teacher and staff review.

Student update by Shawn: Shawn started out by making the point that the purpose of an Attendance Policy is to get students in the classroom. And although we have an existing system, individual teachers approach it differently and therefore potentially create many different systems.
Feedback from the students: Seniors are not vested, although they understand why a policy is being discussed. Many students had a problem with tardies turning into an absence. Many students felt it didn’t make sense that if they were able to get the grade, why not the credit. There were many procedural and operational questions: When would policy go into effect? What’s the appeals process? When do they need a Dr.’s note? Britney Manago, our student member, thinks that the students do feel that having an attendance policy in place will get more students into the classroom.
Further discussion by council members regarding the implementation and clerical aspects of putting a policy into place.
Teacher update by Lydia: A majority of the teachers want a new school wide attendance policy; they cannot teach students if the students aren't present and they believe that seat time is important. Lydia did
a survey regarding the Attendance Policy Draft at the KHS Faculty meeting on Feb. 16, 2007. Survey handout was passed out to all members. Synopses of the 5 choices on the survey are, as follows: (1) Non-attendance to class equals no credit. Addressing more roles for parents/guardians. (2) Appeals process may have a teacher serve as an advocate for granting credit to student exceeding the number of absences. (3) Remain status quo for 2007-2008 school year to implement school’s new direction. (4) Policy should lean toward rewards/privileges rather than punitive consequences. (5) Should not have school-wide policy; attendance addressed by individual teachers. Credit awarded on the basis of mastery of the standards.
There were 37 responses. Majority of responses (20) favored choices 1 & 2.
But 7 of those responses favored a combination of the choices (i.e. choice 1&3, choice 2&4).
There was a lot of dialogue amongst the teachers and discussion of a teacher’s suggestion to include NG (no grade, no credit) in the Attendance Policy.

General Council discussion:
Onus of attendance should fall more on the parents & involve parents sooner. Margaret: Based on the students seen in (Family Court) Judge Aiona ’s courtroom, he feels that security at schools should be tightened up and there should be more parental involvement. Discussion about having to re-think where
we put our money if we want more security, hall monitors, different bell schedules, etc.

Discussion of the ipod/cell policy having made a positive difference around campus.
Discussion of the operational realities of putting this attendance policy in place.
Long discussion by Council Members of the NG (no grade) idea, and the No Credit with No Grade VS.
No Credit with Grade. Shawn: needs to check the policy with Ann Mahi’s office regarding the NG idea, but we do need to move on this, get the policy finalized and bring back to the SCC for a vote. Public forum necessary by end of March.

Motion: Move to get a SCC consensus and amend the language of the draft policy to either: No Credit with No Grade OR No Credit with Grade.
Further discussion of the above motion, and receiving no credit for excessive absences. Discussion of the definition of excused absences, legitimate lengthy illnesses, team-sport related absences, unexcused absences. The above motion was tabled.

Discussion: Attendance Policy committee should make amendments to add more parental roles, and also should address the issues (5 choices) on Lydia’s teacher survey and incorporate results into the draft.
Motion: To move forward with this draft Attendance Policy and have committee bring a finalized draft back to the SCC for a vote.
Move to accept the motion on the table.
Vote: 8 yes, 1 no

Shawn: Asks of the Attendance Policy Committee: Check on page 87-88 of the SCC Handbook, and fill in the waiver form. Suggest that committee look at the initial waiver.

Update on Grant Writing/Technology (Debbie):
A technology survey went out to 70 teachers and staff. Debbie passed out copies of the survey/results to all council members. 33 responses.
Results of survey:
E-mail: 21 had no problems, 12 had problems
Telephone: 31 had no problems, 2 had problems
TV Bulletin: 23 had access to the daily bulletin, 10 could not access
Use of Computers for Attendance: 23 use the system, 7 do not use the system, 3 no response

Discussion/Comments: Fire Alarm hasn’t worked in part of “S” Building for the last 2 years.
KHS has not passed fire inspections. Also, program bells don’t work up by “S” building. Shawn
believes that money has been appropriated for the repair of the alarm/bell.

Craig Fuller’s report/response to the technology survey:
Craig makes personal visits to the classrooms. Each week he is in ½ of the rooms. Most of the problems are personnel problems, not operational problems. Gives individual attention when needed. Certified staff has email. Custodial staff has email but doesn’t use it. Some teachers have not activated their voice mail, and even after showing them how, are still not utilizing the system. Telephones are in every room, except P-7 has no phone, and P-5 is not wired for a phone.
Television system was rewired and had some drops about a month ago. Network support came to KHS and then the outbuildings had no service. Cablevision came out last week and found that the amp was out.
Computers - there are 6 laptops and an average of 1.82 computers available for use in each classroom.
If each student had their own domain, they could work on any computer within the school. We have a server already; we need a person to input an account for all students. They did it a Kealakehe HS and it took approximately 2 months. Debbie: What do you need Craig so we can work on a grant? Answer: ½ time person qualified in repair and software.
General discussion of perhaps getting a temporary position and another server (approximately $5,000) to facilitate setting up a domain at the school.

School Data (Shawn): Shawn passed out hand-out “Konawaena High Trend Report: Educational and Fiscal Accountability”, and said the guide is available online at: http://arch.k12.hi.us
There is a seriousness and new direction formulating at KHS. The Attendance Policy is of the utmost importance.

Report on Complex-wide Feb. 1st meeting: General comment by attendees was that a main point of discussion at the meeting was the overcrowding of buses servicing students south of the school. Other information about this meeting, if any, will be discussed at our next meeting.

Meeting Adjourned at 6:20 PM

March SCC Meeting - March 13, 2007 4:00PM

Proposed Agenda Items:
? Update on Attendance Policy Draft and Finalization of the Policy (Lydia)
? New Direction for the School (Shawn)
? Update of Contacting Grant Writer (Mary Beth Hilburn) (Shawn)