Crescent Valley Parent Organization Meeting and Parent Coffee

December 11, 2008


CVPO Business

Meeting began at 11:00 a.m. with welcome and introductions.

Minutes: The minutes of the 11/13/08 meeting were approved.

Treasurer’s Report: We have available funds of $3450.90 as of 11/30/08, which reflects income of $144.77 ($30.00 from dues and $114.77 from E-Scrip). More was brought in from E-Scrip than in prior months.

A question was raised about Teacher Grant awards. Year-to-date awards include $2182. from the CVPO checking account and $500 received by the Foundation/ CV Excellence Campaign and designated for teacher grants.  Treasurer’s report was accepted.

CVPO Office Openings:  Sandie Banowetz was introduced and voted in by the members to fill the secretary vacancy. Welcome Sandie! Our new CVPO Secretary. Volunteers are still needed for the following: coordinators for the Spring Conference Dinner, Staff Appreciation Lunch (May), awards night and the National Honor Society induction ceremony. If you are interested in volunteering for any of these positions, please contact Nanette Armstrong:  nyarmstrong@comcast.net.

Correspondance: The CVPO received a thank-you note for the ‘Back-to-school breakfast’ from the CVHS teachers. This note will be passed on to the breakfast committee. {Thanks Janet, Sandy and Shannon!}  Nanette will serve as Corresponding Secretary this year. She will send out thank you notes, sympathy notes and condolences as the need arises in the CVHS community. Nyarmstrong@comcast.net

Youth Advisory Team:  Evan Wu, a student from CV, currently in England, sent a letter to the CVPO informing the board that he will be joining The Youth Advisory Team for the State Superintendent, Susan Castillo.  This team is a group of students from across the State of Oregon that meet several times a year to inform the superintendent of student’s views and concerns. Evan would like to get any input from parents and students with concerns they may have that he may address at his first meeting in February.  He’s invited to the January CVPO meeting.

CV Excellence Campaign Update:  The “Fall Appeal” campaign ran from October 27 through November 26.  The campaign had some success and there has been some thought to extend the campaign until the end of the year. The CV Excellence campaign brought in $6360.00 directly. Perhaps an indirect benefit as well, since in the past 6 months $44,795.00 has been donated to CV for all program needs.  This was made possible by 98 donors, 20 of which were 1st time donors.  A large amount of these donations came from donors involved with the new CV Batting Cages for the Baseball and Softball programs.

When donations are made to the Corvallis Foundation, that allows for specification of where the funds/donation are targeted.  By going through the Foundation, all funds are fully tax deductible. Any cash given or checks that are written to CVHS may not be fully tax deductible, therefore it is recommended that donations be made to the Corvallis Foundation to ensure Charitable Giving and viable tax deductions and that an acknowledgement from the foundation ensures 501-3C tax consequences.

It was also brought to the attention of the CVPO that one more LIST SERVE notice would be beneficial regarding Donations/Corvallis Foundation before the end of the year for Tax Deductions. This is a good way to get a last minute tax deduction for 2008.

CVPO Fundraising Update:  E-Scrip is doing well and Safeway yields strong returns. 78 families have participated in the E-Scrip program. We’re hoping for more involvement in this free program www.escrip.com.  We also have scrip programs with Albertsons and 1st Alternative Co-op.

Site Council: The site council is open to anyone who wishes to attend. Cherie Stroud reported that the purpose of the site council was go over current school issues and to help in the development of school policy.  Meetings are conducted on the 3rd Tuesday each month at 3:30 pm in the CVHS Library.  The next meeting is on Tuesday, December 16th, 2008.

Cherie reported that we are in our 3rd year of a 3-year improvement plan. This aims at closing achievement gaps, improvement of reading instruction, and student safety.  Student Safety Survey stated that 84 % of CV students feel safe, welcomed and included.

A Culture Survey for parents has been standardized and completed but a survey for students is in the process of completion and will be ready to be submitted to students in January 2009.  Cherie has consulted with Jeanie Holmes of OSU in order to develop this survey.

PBIS – Positive Behavior Intervention Supports system. Assistant principals Melissa Harder and Julie Linharres explained what PBIS does for our students on campus. Building positive behaviors on/off campus result from creating a culture on campus that stresses positive accomplishments rather than catching them in misbehavior.  PBIS / support group also gives our behavior specialists a better handle on working with struggling students. Melissa built a pyramid/triangle representing the % of students and into what category they fell into.  This triangle was broken into three categories.   A Red Zone-(top zone) 2-5% of students with major struggling, The Yellow Zone-(mid zone) 10- 15% of students who are somewhat struggling and The Green Zone-(bottom zone) 85% of students with no struggling.  This program is effective with support from reward incentives, peer motivation, staff and teacher input and influence.  In order to get a comprehensive look at each student, information is shared with all departments (ie, Alternative Education Programs, Mental Health, ESD Truancy Department, student support teams, Link Crew, peer mentoring programs, Academic intervention-Study hall, and peer tutors- National Honor Society students, etc.)

Upcoming topics:
 Currently the calendar for school year 09-10 is in the works. Any suggestions please contact the district: http://www.csd509j.net
 The OSU Leadership Training Class for high school students is scheduled for February 11th, 2009 from 8:00am – 4:00pm.


Principal’s Coffee 11:45:

Budget Update :   Cherie Stroud reported that first off, the district will not be closing one of the high schools due to budget cuts.  She did report that in the Corvallis School District $920,000 in cuts will be made.  Information will be coming out in January 2009 as to what and where those cuts will be and how it will affect our district. Proposed cuts by the Corvallis School District Brainstorming Team are as follows:

      *Outstanding Fiber optics   $400,000
      *Bathroom Remodels ...     .$40,000
      *5% Discretionary Funds  ..$225,000
      *Staff Development              $60,000

                                   Total...$720,000

       *Proposed cutting of one school day    .$185,000
        (Everyone takes one day w/o pay)

       *$195,000-$200,000 still needs to be cut.

On November 26th, Kathy Rodeman sent a budget update to all Corvallis School District staff regarding the necessary cuts for the remainder of the school year.  In that communication, she reported that each school needs to cut 5% of their discretionary budget before the winter holiday.  For Crescent Valley, this means reducing our budget by $12,267.  But don’t worry!!!   The cuts made to the CV budget will not impact classroom supplies or cause staff reductions.  Adjustments were made in the following accounts in order to meet the requirement.

*Licensed substitutes (for professional development and unpaid leave)     $3000
*Classified Timecard for extra duties                                                     $2000
(does not impact grading or technology support)
*General Supplies (not departmental supplies)                                       $1267
*Fund for Capital improvements/purchases (hoping for a forklift or new
van)                                                                                                   $5000
*Tuition (for students taking courses at CHS)                                        $1000


Total                                                                                               $12,267


Bleachers :  The formal process of estimating the cost of the bleachers in the Field of Dreams has taken longer than anticipated.  We are still waiting for the final report coming from the engineering firms.

Schools Speed Zone:  An automated program has been shipped.  Automated flashing lights will be at each end of the school property on Highland Dr. A speed limit of 20 miles/hour from 8:00am-5:00pm will be in effect.  At other times, the speed limit will resume to 45 miles/hour.

Raider Way Speed Bumps : A decision has not been determined at this time to install speed bumps on Raider Way.  It was mentioned that it was easy to post a speed limit but difficult to enforce it.

Upcoming Events:

Winter Break:                         Monday, December 22-January 4th, 2009
CVPO Mtg/Parent Coffee:     Thursday, January 8th, 2009

CVHS Website:  http://www.csd509j.net/cvhs/
Current Raider News:   http://www.csd509j.net/cvsh/raidernews/Raider%20

Minutes Submitted by Sandie Banowetz