Horace Mann School Site Council
Approved Minutes
8701 Charleville Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211
Monday, January 25 at 3:30pm
Room 123
Members Present: Nina Kreshek, Kimberly Combs, Lee Egerman, Elaine Cantella, Kristina Wiener, Jill
Bakhsh, David Foldvary, Romi Azevedo, Sandi Mason, Harvey Oaxaca, and Julie Hershkowitz
Call to Order and Welcome: Lee Egerman called the meeting to order at 3:37pm.
Public Comment (5mins): There was no one who wanted to make a public comment.
Approval of Agenda (Action): The Agenda was unanimously approved.
Approval of Minutes from November 23rd Meeting (Action): The Minutes from the previous
meeting were unanimously approved.
SSC By-Laws: Egerman discussed the reasons for having By-laws and their importance to the
SSC’s overall goals. Oaxaca led the Council through the proposed changes to the by-laws. The
major revisions dealt with updating the membership and elections/selection of those members
to reflect current practices used by the Council. Council members had the opportunity to
discuss these changes and ask clarify questions.
Action: The Council voted unanimously to approve the By-laws with the proposed as presented.
These By-laws will go into effect on January 26, 2016.
Title I Update: Jill Bakhsh presented the Council with a brief Title I update and mid-year data
report. Bakhsh explained that the Title I teachers have been assessing students throughout the
year using STAR 360 and other pieces of data. Based on this information, students are provided
a variety of service options. Bakhsh provided the Council with Title I Progress Monitoring Data
which aligns to the LCAP and Title I plan goals. STAR 360 Data suggests that students in the
Title I program in the lower grades are making gains in both Reading and Math. Those in upper
elementary and middle school are not making as much gains. Those students who spent more
time on Success Maker showed more gains in their achievement level. Based on this data,
decisions about programming were made at mid-year. We currently offer before, during, and
after school opportunities with a variety of levels of support. Based on mid-year data, we
added a MS elective using Math 180 to support mathematics skill development. Other students
are using Success Maker which is adaptive and focuses instruction on students’ skill level needs.
Additionally, additional support has been added for upper elementary students in math and
ELA. Discussion about the data was had by the Council. Bakhsh reminded the Council that in
order for students to participate in Title I that parents had to give permission and that this has
been a challenge to obtain for some students.
Title I Summer School will take place at Hawthorne for both Hawthorne and Horace Mann
students from June 6th-30th. This program will only be half day this year and more information
will be forthcoming. Title I parent involvement has been good overall. There have been several
presentations to parents around Lexia and Success Maker. Upcoming presentations called
“Understanding Common Core” will be presented by teachers to grade-level specific families
later in January and in February. Discussion was had about other potential parental
involvement opportunities. Bakhsh will continue to work with the Title I teachers and principal
to create meaningful opportunities for parents that align to the LCAP and Parent Involvement
Policy.
There was discussion about the Title I Budget and how it is supporting the LCAP and Title I goals
for students. Oaxaca discussed the fact that we have some additional money in the personnel
line due to not having an IA in the lower grades for several months. He requested (based on
the data presented and in looking that the LCAP goals/data) that the Council approve the
additional money to be moved to Professional Development to provide teachers collaboration
time to plan for differentiated instruction for struggling students. Additionally, the Title I midyear budget update will be coming by the end of February and we could potential receive
additional funds at that time.
Action: The Council approved unanimously to move money in the Title I Budget from personnel
to professional development to pay for substitutes while teachers planned collaboratively with a
focus on supporting struggling students.
Single Plan for Student Achievement (SPSA): Oaxaca provided the Council with the “HM LCAP
Mid-Year Progress Report January 2016” document. This document contained a variety of data
points showing progress towards each of the LCAP Goals. Oaxaca led the Council through a
lengthy discussion about each LCAP goal and progress toward each goal. During the
presentation, there was much discussion from the Council about specific actions and goals
within the LCAP and areas that continued to need support. Highlights from the presentation
include:
Goal #1-Literacy: Overall, 74% of students K-8 are meeting/exceeding standards on the Writing
Benchmark; with 75% of students in 3rd-8th meeting/exceeding on these benchmarks. Also, on
the STAR 360 ELA/Reading, the 7th grade has the largest percentage of students On-Watch or at
Level 2; with 2nd, 6ht, and 8th closely behind.
Goal #2-Mathematics: Overall, 76% of students in K-8 are meeting/exceeding standards on the
Math Benchmark; with 72% of students in 3rd-8th grades meeting; exceeding on Math
Benchmarks. Also, on STAR 360 Math, the 2nd & 5th grades have the largest percentage of
students On-Watch on the District Measure.
Goal #3-Science: Overall, 93% of middle school students are meeting/exceeding the Science
Benchmark expectations. Also, in regards to PLTW (STEM) implementation, half of the 5 th grade
class and all of the 4th grade class have currently participated in at least on PLTW module.
Goal #4-Subgroup Achievement: On the STAR 260 Math, 46% of Special Education students are
At/Above and 67% of ELs are at/above the District Measure. During this section of the
presentation, Oaxaca also presented the “Mid-Year EL Report” prepared by the EL Coordinator
Ashley Hacker. There are 42 students who are limited English proficient at HM with 14 who are
considered newcomers. There is also additional before school support classes to support EL
language development. Foldvary led the Council through a discussion about the Special
Education program at HM and the various serves that are provided to students here. There
currently 94 students at HM who have an IEP and receive some type of Special Education
service(s). The Council had a discussion about how to effectively support both ELs and students
in Special Education.
Goal #5-College/Career Readiness: All middle school students have completed at least 5
Naviance modules since the end of September. Additionally, attendance data indicates that our
overall attendance rates are above 94% with the highest being in middle school in October at
98.8% and our lowest being in middle school in December with 94%. During the discussion,
Azevedo raised concerns about a focus on this goal at younger grades. There was discussion
that for the lower grades the goal is more about exposure and less about pressure to attend a
specific college.
Goal #6-Student Safety/Connectedness: On the BHUSD Student Safety survey 81% of
respondents indicated that they felt safe at school and 85% of respondents indicated that they
felt that they were a part of the school. During the discussion, Foldvary presented Mid-Year
Discipline Data to the Council. This data indicated that the top five referral categories this year
were horseplay, refusal to follow classroom rules/polices, cell phone usage, offensive social
behavior, and violation of dress code.
The Council discussed how to continue to monitor the plan and ensure that we reach our goals
by May/June. Oaxaca indicated that staff would also be reviewing this data and would work to
create plans to address areas of need.
Technology Update (Discussion): Oaxaca explained to the Council that staff had formed a
Technology Committee to help create a Technology Vision for HM. Their first meeting will be
January 27th. Once there is a vision, they will bring this to the Council to ensure that all parties
are working in concert with each other to ensure success. Oaxaca also indicated that the
committee would be going on school sight visits to learn and see how technology is integrated
at other school sites. Kimberly Combs will be the Council/Parent liaison to the Technology
Committee.
Construction Update (Discussion): Oaxaca explained that due to some hold ups from the gas
and electric companies the Charleville Gate would remainded closed for most of the spring.
However, the Construction Team has been able to open the Kindergarten play structure up for
student use during this time. At this point, the construction project is on time. More updates
will be coming at the Community Construction Update Meeting on Feb. 24th at 6:00pm.
New Business: Upcoming Events
i. Early Release Day, 1/26
ii. PTA Restaurant Night at Chin Chin, 1/26 and 1/17
iii. Board Study Session, 2/4 from 4pm-6pm (Staffing/Budget)
iv. Movie Night: Beyond Measure, 2/10 at 7pm
v. No School, 2/8 and 2/15
vi. PTA General Meeting, 2/18 at 8:30am
vii. 5th Grade Dance Performance for Parents, 2/23 from 8:30-10:30
viii. No School for ES, 2/29
SSC Feedback/Discussion
*Azevedo asked if we could have a PTA Bistro about testing and how to reduce anxiety. There
was discussion and Oaxaca indicated that the PTA Bistro on March 8 th would be a good time for
this type of informational session.
*Egerman expressed his gratitude to the administration for being a part of the conversation at
the PTA’s “Race to Nowhere” event.
Announcements and Adjournment: The next SSC Meeting will be on February 22nd at 3:30pm.
Egerman adjourned the meeting at 5:40pm.