Skip to content

School Community Council Meeting Minutes from 2022-23 School Year

SOUTH VALLEY SCHOOL

SCHOOL COMMUNITY COUNCIL

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 2022

MINUTES

 

School members present:  Rita Bouillon

 

Parent members present:  Marcie Valentine, Kirsten Cantrell, Aimee Snow, Eva Chance

 

  1. Introductions
  2. Elect Chair and co-chair – Kirsten Cantrell – chair and Jessica Wilson – co-chair
  3. Robert’s Rules of Order – we reviewed the Rules of Order that have been used in the past. No edits or changes were recommended.  Marcie moved to accept these rules and Rita seconded.  Motion passed.
  4. Cafeteria update – Free breakfast and free lunch has ended. Rita is following up with students who have large lunch balances and we are sending a free and reduced lunch application home with each of them.  We served enough meals last year to allow our food service manager to become a full-time employee. We also have a clerk but a third position was discontinued and the cafeteria is now a job site for class 10 students.  They are doing so well and even worked without a job coach when their coach was absent…  Nutri-slice offers nutritional information on the meals that are served at all schools.  A difference several new students have pointed out and complained about – they had many choices at their previous high school.  SVS has one entrée each day and a fixed 6-week rotation of menus for both breakfast and lunch.  Today she is serving 78-85.
  5. Status report of South Valley this year –
    1. We have an intern assigned as a part-time assistant principal at SVS this year - Jessica Wilson.
    2. Class sizes – 14-16 students in each class, team leader/certified teacher, 2-3 full-time ESP and a part-time ESP in the classes with only 2 full-time ESP staff. An ESP is an educational support professional.
    3. Certified Staff – Bob Boston retired at the end of last year but is now subbing for us. Lexie Waite is out on maternity leave and taking a leave of absence for the rest of this year.  I had hired a certified sub to start the year in Lexie’s place but that person ended up quitting after the first 2 days of school.  It is difficult to find applicants and there are currently more than a dozen certified SPED openings in our district.  Rita needed to make a quick decision about what to do for this class without a teacher and decided to disperse the students throughout all of the other classrooms.  Students were in class 7 Thursday & Friday, the teacher quit on Monday, parents were notified and students started in new classes on Wednesday.  Whew!  The transition has gone perfectly!   a new full-time staff member started Monday and a new part-time person starts on Monday, October 4th.  We still have a full-time and 2 part-time positions open.  Fortunately, we have several great subs who love working at SVS.
    4. Bussing – there is a shortage of drivers again this year. Fortunately, we still have our 5 buses that stay at our school each day.
    5. Community involvement - students are participating in CBT and job sites regularly. Herriman High FBLA plans to do a budget workshop here at our school.  Herriman High PLT will be helping with our Halloween Carnival.
    6. Job sites – a few new ones in West Jordan – Taylor Andrews Academy – Beauty School and Helm’s Ace Hardware in and another Papa Murphy’s Pizza.
    7. Homecoming Dance – Friday, September 23rd. Lots of alumni attend.
    8. Coaches, mentors and Digital Teacher Leader – we have 2 staff, Kim and Codee, attending the coaching trainings, a Digital Teacher Leader, Codee, who attends trainings and trains us, and a Lead Mentor, Kim, and several mentors, Kim, Laurie, and Eric, to assist new staff
  6. Community Involvement –
    1. Community Harvest - Starbucks in Cottonwood Heights and Pizza Hut in West Jordan
    2. HHS PLT – providing several activities for our Halloween Carnival again this year. HHS FBLA – providing budget workshops for our students.
    3. Foster Grandparent program – Jan is a volunteer in class 6 and has been volunteering at SVS for over 8 years
    4. Forever Cheer - Ulbby Dyson will be doing cheerleading every Wednesday beginning in November so for now, Jessica Wilson is doing it.  Fun!
    5. COSTCO – Jordan Education Foundation – Principal’s Pantry donation – they are again using or old greenhouse for donation drop-offs. Richard Kochendorfer, our custodian is going above and beyond in helping with this endeavor.
  7. Wellness at SVS - Codee Flores is our rep again for the district wellness committee
  8. Land Trust monies for this year - $19,143 $20,144.47

Goal:  During the 2022-2023 school year, students met 38% of their annual IEP goals and showed sufficient progress in 57’% of their goals.  The goal is to increase the percentage of annual IEP goals that are met to 40%.

Academic Area:  

  • College and Career Readiness
  • English/Language Arts
  • Financial Literacy
  • Fine Arts
  • Health
  • Library/Media
  • Physical Education

 

Measurements.  Students at South Valley School will show increased growth on their annual IEP goals in the areas of Vocational Training, Community Training and Life Skills.

Action Steps:  Students will. . .

  1. participate in job training at community businesses with a job coach.
  2. learn to use public transportation to access the community.
  3. patronize community businesses to buy materials for school lessons, e.g. science, cooking, art.
  4. access local community venues for eating out, arts and entertainment.
  5. access the school weight room or community rec centers.
  6. access community libraries.

 

Expenditures:

  1. Supplies – Action Step #3 - $800 each for 11 classrooms = $8,800
  2. Student Transportation/Field Trips (599) - Action Step #4 - = 10,343

TOTAL EXPENDITURES:  $19,143

 

  1. TEACHER AND STUDENT SUCCESS ACT (TSSA) Planning – monies go toward coaches and their completion of coaching cycles with other staff

 

Our mission is to successfully transition students into the community and our beliefs include using current technology, offering a diverse range of vocational opportunities and experiences, and giving students a school experience that improves their quality of life. Individual Educational Plans are developed annually for each student and include goals in community access, job training, public transportation training, social skills and functional academics. A look at progress reports for every student at their annual IEP during the 2021-2022 school year is an indication of our success: 38% of student goals were achieved, 57% showed sufficient progress

 

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

 

Our Professional Development will focus on transition resources available for students.

 

Action Steps

  1. Meet quarterly with Vocational Rehabilitation to discuss students registered for their services.
  2. Develop an Academic and Job Center: an additional post-high option for students who need to complete their diploma and obtain work but may not need the functional living skills taught to most South Valley students.
  3. To increase job training opportunities and employability, provide training for Food Handler's permits for all students.

 

  1. Incident Command –2 evacuation drills this year, Safety Committee meets after each drill, Rita emails staff after each drill with follow-up suggestions.
  2. Professional Development Report –
    1. The district requires a thorough review of Policies and Procedures such as Child Abuse Prevention, Universal Precautions
    2. UTA – all students attended a training the first week of school
    3. All staff and students received food handler’s permits - our instructor was Jeff Oaks whose son Tyson graduated from SVS
  3. Safe Technology and Digital Citizenship – taught in each classroom by our teachers.
  4. Rita received a grant for ESL or ELL - $13,630. I wrote it to pay a stipend for 3 staff who are getting their ESL endorsement and to give money to each class to pay for a cultural experience. . . lunch out at a restaurant that serves ethnic food, a visit to a store, museum or park (International Peace Garden) that represents a different ethnicity, inviting a guest in to share their culture, or a cooking experience that provides a variety of ethnic foods for students to research, shop for, make and taste.

 

 

Next meetings on Fridays at 7:30 – November 18, January 6, and March 10

 

 

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2022

MINUTES

School members present:  Rita Bouillon, Jessica Wilson

Parent members present:  Kirsten Cantrell, Marcie Valentine

Parent members absent:  Aimee Snow, Eva Chance

Chair:  Kirsten Cantrell            Vice-Chair:  Jessica Wilson

 

  1. Introductions
  2. Review minutes from last meeting – emails responses indicated acceptance of the minutes
  3. Community Activities Update –
    1. Community Based Training (CBT) – all classes are participating in job site training, experiences in the community and UTA.
    2. Jodi Spencer, our Opportunities Coordinator, and Luanne Sullivan, a staff member from class 8, are working on job development. We currently have 29 job sites!  We now have the banner in the cafeteria and have shared the list of job sites with families.  Rita will ask the printing company to make new logos for our new job sites and ask Becky to add the list of current jobs to our school website.
    3. Thanksgiving Heroes is providing dinner for over 20 families.
    4. Christmas for Kids is providing Christmas for 34 of our students.
    5. Classrooms are going to Festival of Trees in December.
    6. The entire school is going to Hale Theater in January – we will enjoy a production as well as a back-stage tour!
  4. At-Risk Grant – We received over $13,000 from this grant. Jessica explained the plan we have for increasing cultural awareness.  It includes monthly assemblies celebrating various cultures as well as a culminating activity in February.  Each class will research a country and students will go around the school learning about other countries and cultures, collecting passport stamps along the way as well as trinkets celebrating each country.  Each student who participates will receive a biplane ornament.
  5. Technology Update – we have a revolving door when it comes to our tech support person, but the department is making sure our needs are met. We will be completing a trial of a new device called the VIVI – Eric Slaymaker will use it and share his thoughts and we will consider buying one for each class.  The VIVI is similar to Apple TV but can be used with chromebooks.  Jessica commented that it will be a good thing for speakers who come in with devices that aren’t compatible with Apple TV.  Codee Flores, class 10 teacher, is our Digital Teacher Leader this year.
  6. Land Trust - staff are using their budgets for accessing the community and making purchases.
  7. TSSA – Teacher and Student Success Act – Coaches are Codee Flores and Kim Hardman-Jones (who Is also our lead mentor). Coaches will work with individual teachers to identify what they want to improve and then observe to see how it’s going. Everyone has received their food handler’s permits - students who were absent that day have been supported in receiving their permit individually.  We still need to schedule an opportunity for teachers to trade jobs for a period of time.
  8. Incident Command - so far this year, we’ve completed 2 evacuation drills and a drill for a Hazardous Spill. We learn each time and improve our response to emergency situations.  We will share our Reunification Plan with families through a Skylert directing families to our school website and a hard copy will be sent home with each student in the coming weeks.
  9. SVS Mission, Vision and Beliefs – we reviewed our Mission and Belief Statements. Rita asked SCC members what they see happening that supports our Mission and Beliefs and asked if there are additional things that could be done in support of the Mission and Beliefs. Following some discussion, committee members agreed that all of our school activities support our Mission and Belief Statements.   Parents complimented the school on what students learn here, how much students grow & change and recognize that all staff promote maximum independence.
  10. Principals Pantry – we are currently accepting donations for our pantry with all food collected going to our own students who need food. Members present asked if we are also accepting monetary donations and Rita said yes and explained that donations can be made through the Jordan Education Foundation in order to get a donation receipt for taxes.  Parents asked if we could add a link on our website so anyone can quickly make a donation.  Rita spoke with our secretary, Becky, and she will add that link.  Parents also asked if they can just write a check to our school and Rita said yes and THANK YOU!

 

Next meetings on Fridays at 7:30 am in the main office conference room on January 6 and March 10.

 

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 2023

MINUTES

SCHOOL MEMBERS PRESENT:  Rita Bouillon, Jessica Wilson
PARENT MEMBERS PRESENT:  Aimee Snow, Marcie Valentine, Kirsten Cantrell
PARENT MEMBER EXCUSED:  Eva Chance

  1. Introductions
    2. The minutes from our last meeting were approved.
    3. Rita shared the news that one of our bus drivers passed away unexpectedly.  Parents said they appreciated receiving the letter home.
    4. December Staff Appreciation Luncheon was a gain held at Jim's Restaurant at Quarry Bend in Sandy. Luanne Sullivan, an ESP in class 8, solicited dozens of donations for a staff give away.
    5. Teacher Appreciation week will be May 1st and we will culminate the week with a staff appreciation luncheon. SCC parents will plan something for one day during Teacher Appreciation week, likely around our school theme this year: Fly Higher
    6. Community involvement since November:
  2. Christmas for Kids - Walmart in South Jordan - 1:1 shopping - wonderful event and so rewarding for everyone involved.  They allowed us to bring 34 students!  Rita shared the story of a student meeting Dawn Ramsey, the South Jordan Mayor.
  3. Santa's visit - huge success! Thank you, Aimee.
  4. Principal's Pantry

- Our greenhouse space continues to be used for storage and as the distribution center when the district receives large food or clothing donations.

- Food drive in our school was a big success.

  1. Job Sites - Celebrating job coaches at a luncheon on Friday the 13th.  Switch job sites for 2nd semester after MLK weekend.  Adding new job site logos to our poster in the cafeteria.
  2. Harvest Donation Program - we've added Starbucks in West Jordan.  So much fun!  And such a generous donation each week. The office staff draw student names to see who will receive food to take home each day. When all names have been drawn once, the names are all put back into the bowl for the next drawing.
  3. Flying Around the World Event - Jessica - each classroom is researching a country and will share info at our event on Friday, February 3rd. Classrooms have been given a budget so they can experience something from the country they are studying, create a learning experience for other students and provide a treat or charm from their country.  Our parents are invited.
    8. Professional Development report
  4. Daphne Castor, Nancy McDougal and Jessica Wilson have completed their SPED ESL endorsement program.
  5. Codee Flores - Digital Teacher Leader.  Monthly training.
  6. Codee Flores and Kim Hardman-Jones are our Coaches.  Monthly training.
  7. Isaac Merrell - Wood shop techniques from a local woodworker.
  8. Sarah Robbins - annual school psych convention in Denver.
  9. Rita to Principal's conference in February.
  10. TSSA Plan and progress - Kim and Codee are our coaches.  They will be planning a staff swap this spring for staff to go into different classrooms for an hour or so. The intent is for staff to learn from the lessons and routines in other classrooms.  It was a good success last year when we did it.  Kim and Codee will also be completing a coaching cycle with 2 other staff members.  Rita reviewed this year’s TSSA budget which is used to pay a stipend to our coaches, stipends to our certified teachers for their PLC time which takes away from their planning time, and stipends for coaches and teachers completing coaching cycles.  The council unanimously approved this same plan and budget for next year’s TSSA Plan.
    10. Next year's Land Trust Proposal - This year's budget was $20,144.47.  Staff are using their budgets for accessing the community and making purchases. The Council unanimously agreed that the same focus should be maintained for next year’s Land Trust Plan:  support staff in their community efforts.  Any excess funding will be designated for rec center passes.
  11. New students for next year:
  12. Rita will be receiving lists from the high school teachers and their completed transition forms.
  13. Dates scheduled:

- a parent info night May 10th

- student visits in April - separate for each HS

  1. Guardianship workshop planned for February 7th, 6:00 – 8:00. The Utah Parent Center is also conducting ongoing workshops through their Transition University and you can find out more on their website.

We also discussed TRBI - Trust Based Relational Intervention.  Aimee is a trainer for this evidence-based intervention and mentioned upcoming trainings that are available including an 8-week course that will begin in April.  She is interested in providing a 2-hour training for our staff.  Staff can receive credit hours toward their teacher re-certification for TRBI training completed.  Rita will reach out to Aimee to schedule this for a Friday afternoon.

TEACHER APPRECIATION - week of May 1, 2023

NEXT MEETING - 7:30 am Friday, March 10, 2023

 

 

FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 2023

MINUTES

 

MEMBERS PRESENT:  Rita Bouillon, Jessica Wilson, Kirsten Cantrell, Marcie Valentine

MEMBERS ABSENT:  Eva Chance, Aimee Snow

SPECIAL GUEST:  Tammy Rajczyk, newly appointed Principal for SVS effective July 1, 2023

 

  1. Professional Development Update
  • Guardianship TrainingFebruary 7, 2023 - Utah Parent Center
  • Voc Rehab Training March 7, 2023 - Scott Fields, Pre-ETS
  • Aimee Snow - TODAY - TBRI - all staff
  • Elementary Principal's Conference - Rita attended in February
  • National Psych Conference - Sarah attended in February
  • Behavioral Training - JSD behavioral staff trained all SVS staff on Friday, February 24, 2023
  1. School Climate Survey - Jessica is taking charge of this project.  The survey will be administered to students after Spring Break.  Parents and Teachers will receive links in March.  Please participate and encourage others to participate.
  2. Land Trust and TSSA – A final review of our plans before Rita submits them next week – TSSA coaching and PLC stipends.  Land Trust – accessing the community and making purchases.  Excess will pay for rec center passes.  No email signatures this year.  Rita had members sign the form indicating whether or not they were involved in the development of the Land Trust plan.
  3. Incident Command – Monthly drills continue although our February Drill didn’t happen due to the Virtual Learning/Snow Days.  We are having a Bomb Threat drill on March 13th.  We will participate in the Great Utah Shakeout on Thursday, April 20that 10:45.
  4. Review Flying Around the World Day – Jessica and Kirsten- huge success!  Classrooms demonstrated a variety of presentation styles that matched their students’ strengths.  So much information was shared about each country and culture.  Students were engaged and enjoyed the various foods, trinkets and activities.  Getting their passports stamped was a lot of fun for everyone.  Jessica sent a survey to staff and the feedback was that it was a lot of work but worth it.  Groups were only 10 minutes but, in hindsight, staff wished they had been a little bit longer.
  5. Calendar for remainder of year:
  • Friday, March 24 - South Valley School Wellness Day funded by the E-Cigarette and Nicotine Settlement – students will learn about stress-reduction experiences in each of our classrooms.  Students and staff will receive a booklet with resources to use at home to reduce stress.
  • Friday, April 14 - Spring Dance
  • Friday, April 7 - Egg Drop
  • Seniors to visit - various days in April
  • Spring Break - Grade Transmittal Day Monday, March 27 followed by Spring Break March 28 through March 31
  • SBO Campaign Week - April 24, 26, and 27
  • Teacher Appreciation Week - week of May 1
  • Orientation for parents of incoming seniors - Wednesday, May 10
  • Sheriff's Week - week of May 15
  • Rita's Retirement Celebration - May 19
  • Last day for job sites - Monday, May 22 and Tuesday, May 23
  • Friday, May 26 - end of year social at school
  • Wednesday, May 31 - Graduation Open House at SVS 3-5 pm
  • Friday, June 2 - last day of school
  1. Award - Laurie Egan - JEF Educator of the Year for South Valley School will be presented today at the March Madness basketball tournament.
  2. Teacher Appreciation Week – We will do something every day of the week.  For Cinco de Mayo we are having a Mexican feast for staff and students to culminate our Cultural Activities that happened all year.  Jodi will solicit donations for other staff celebrations.  Parents on the School Community Council will do something for May 4th.
  3. Community Involvement
  • Taylor Andrews will be here to do hair and nails for the dance.
  • May - Sheriff's Week

This is our last meeting and we can’t thank you enough for your participation on our committee this year.  Tammy will email this summer to see if any of you would be willing to participate on this committee again next year.