BREWSTER HIGH SCHOOL

PARENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE AGENDA

Monday, May 2, 2011

Library and High School Commons

May 3, 2011

RE: May 2, PAC Meeting

On May 2, 2011 we held our last PAC meeting of the school year.  For this meeting we invited our Board members and Administrators.  We started the evening with a potluck in the Cafeteria; from there we went into the High School Library where we divided into five different groups.  In each group we had a board member or administrator, translator, note taker, and parents.  There were six questions that were asked and responded by parents in the following order:

1.       In what ways has the Migrant/Bilingual Programs served you and your children’s needs?

·         It has help with health benefits

·         The school offers plenty of benefits through each school level

·         Our kids have received help from the CAMP program in college and are able to receive scholarships   

·         We have gotten plenty of information at PAC meetings

·         The discipline of the dress code

·         Our questions help improve the programs

·         We get notified of the activities that take place at school

·         Flyers get sent in both English and Spanish

·         The Bilingual program has helped my children with lettering and reading.  It has also helped our children with their grades

·         The after school program has help our children and it’s a great program

·         I would like for the school to teach our kids speak English and Spanish, because sometimes they don’t know how to translate

·         It helps our kids when they go to Mexico and it helps them to get their grades up

·         It really helps our kids, because there are some parents that don’t speak English

·         When families arrive from Mexico the program helps the students in the after school program

·         Some of our kids have not been able to use this program because they don’t qualify

·         When we were in school the program did help us

·         This program is very beneficial for those students that do utilize it

·         It’s a wonderful opportunity because they make it easier to learn English

·         The school offers much to our community

2.       In your opinion is there something that you believe would make the Migrant/Bilingual Program better?

·         Educate the entire student body with the program not just Hispanics

·         There are many kids that speak a different language that should qualify for the Migrant/Bilingual Program

·         It offers many things already

·         Up to this point everything that the program does is good

·         Help the kids more

·         More motivation

·         When kids don’t want to come to school, you (the school) need to tell them they have to come to school

·         The way the programs are now their fine, they have help the kids a lot

·         The programs help a lot, but only those that are behind in their classes

·         It would be nice if those kids in the after school program could get a vegetable/fruit snack, since those that ride the after school bus get home around 4:30

·         Why is it that Chelan offers more help through the Migrant Program?

·         Focus more in school

·         We would like for our kids to have Spanish writing classes at the elementary level

·         More hands on things for the lower grades

·         More creative art classes

·         Would like to have summer school for two complete months every year

·         Do parent calling on Friday to inform about PAC meetings

·         Pass out the dates of all PAC meetings for the year during the first PAC meeting

·         Update phone numbers

·         Bring more agencies so parents can benefit more from PAC meetings

·         Bring parent coordinators

·         More information about college

·         Police department

·         Health services

·         We should be informed and participate or become more involved with every meeting

·         Invite more students to all meeting not just parents

·         We need to communicate better with our kids as well as with their teachers

3.       During school activities, such as parent/teacher conferences and open house, how did the Brewster School staff treat you?

·         We have been treated well and everyone is respectful

·         Had some bad experiences, but it got better over the years

·         Staff are polite, respectful and have nice attitudes

·         Staff are always willing to listen

·         Need to provide more translators for Student Led Conferences

·         Like college programs that come to our school

·         Perfect and like how staff members work here

·         Can always talk to them

·         There is a teacher that we don’t agree with as to how she corrects papers, because there are times that students get a word wrong and they get an F, that’s not right because that lowers the student’s self-esteem

·         It has been twice that I had a misunderstanding that somebody treated me bad

·         I had a problem once when my husband came to check out our daughter and the secretary told him he couldn’t take her because she was taking a test.  My husband got mad.  The principal found out and told the secretary to let dad take his daughter

4.       If you have had a concern or question, what steps did you take in trying to communicate to school officials?

·         When I have a concern I come to the office and ask them the question

·         It’s very important for me to come to school and ask any question I might have

·         I always come to see teachers with any concerns I have in regards to my son/daughter

·         I like asking Mr. Bird for help, he’s very helpful

·         Look for the teacher where my son/daughter is failing his/her class to meet and talk

·         I come to school to let them know to call me whenever there’s a problem

·         Talk to High School office staff or Mr. Camacho

·         We should always talk to a teacher, principal, or the Bilingual Program Director.

·         When students get in trouble and need to contact parents to inform them about the incident is better to do that in person

·         Some parents have spoken directly with staff members to get informed

5.       If you could change anything about our school district, what would you change?

·         The school should properly establish the school dress code by having the same one for everyone or take the dress code away

·         Enforce the dress code in the Elementary and Jr./Sr. High School buildings

·         More protection so there won’t be drugs in school

·         Everything seems fine to me

·         The science teacher needs to be more patient

·         More help, because there are students that learn faster than others

·         On the bus the older kids say bad words and the little ones learn those words and start saying them

·         More control on the bus

·         Funding enough money to provide resources

·         We need people to motivate our students, like speakers who come and talk to our students about the importance of education

·         More art and music programs

·         Ballet and gymnastic programs

·         Need more activities for kids to do at the elementary level

6.       Other comments or Concerns?

·         The Dress Code

·         Teachers are not always fair with all students when it comes down to dress code, some get in trouble and some don’t.

·         The school should go back to just certain colors of clothes.  It makes it hard for us parents to buy clothes for our kids

·         Every morning I feel very comfortable leaving my kids at school because school staff is outside greeting them.

·         How do I know that my son/daughter stays on school grounds when I bring them to school?

·         Need more patrols around school so our kids don’t leave school grounds

·         Some students are driving too fast on school grounds and we just want our children to be walking in safe areas

·         Perfect, thank you for everything

·         We always agreed on the dress code

·         I like a solid uniform better

·         Many parents have taking their kids to other school districts because of the dress code

·         Thank you to the teachers, they do their job very well

·         When students get in trouble due to drugs, alcohol, o fighting, we would like to know about it first instead of calling the police.

7.       Why is it that you don’t come to Board meetings?

·         Need to send School Board Meeting reminders

·         Need to be informed more

·         Don’t know when they are

·         Need translator

Mario Camacho

PAC Coordinator