March 8, 2007 CVPO Meeting
and Principal Coffee
CVPO Business
Introduction and
Welcome: CVPO President Roberta Lundeberg opened the
meeting with a welcome to all attending and introductions.
Minutes: The
minutes of the 12/14/06 and 2/7/07 meetings were approved. The 1/11/07 meeting was cancelled due to
weather.
Correspondence:
Notes of congratulations were sent to Danny Corliss on the birth of his
son and Julie Halsey on the birth of her daughter. Sympathy cards were sent to Ben Leroux, whose brother passed away
and the family of Leonard King, who passed away. Get well cards were sent to Andrea Hopkins and Ellen Trask.
A letter was
received from the Corvallis Public School Foundation thanking the CVPO for its
gift of $1000 which was used for the August 2006 registration mailing.
Treasurer’s
Report and Teacher Grants: Available
funds of $3,174.59 were reported. The
disbursements for teacher grants was increased by $20, and a donation of $40
was used to pay a math grant shipping charge for a total of $1820 spent on
teacher grants. A revised proposed
budget was prepared which shows an available balance of $319.59. A motion was made and approved to add this
balance to the remainder of money budgeted for teacher grants ($1180) for a
total of $1500. Cherie Stroud will
notify the staff that grant money is available and that proposals are due on
March 21st. The grants committee will meet to review the
grants and prepare a proposal for the CVPO’s vote at the April meeting.
Volunteer News: Daryl
Thaw announced that the Staff Appreciation Luncheon will be held on Wednesday,
May 9th . Anyone interested
in planning for the event should contact Daryl at
738-8921.
Senior All-Night
Party: Julie Gardner reported that the committee
will meet on Thursday, April 19th at 6 p.m. in the staff room at
CHS. All are welcome. Volunteers are still needed as it takes
approximately 300 parents to make this event successful.
Along with senior
parents, parents of this year’s juniors are encouraged to get involved so that
there is a smooth transition to throwing the party for their students next
year. It is especially helpful for
parents of juniors to coordinate the party set-up and decorating, freeing
senior parents to attend graduation and enjoy their families before working
during party.
If you’d like to volunteer
for the Senior All-Night Party, please e-mail adamski@proaxis.com.
Fundraising: Katherine Cleland volunteered to coordinate communication and follow-up
on easy fundraising opportunities, such as Office Max and Albertson’s.
New
Co-President: Roberta asked for a volunteer to serve with
her as Co-President of the CVPO for the 2007-8 school year as she will be
stepping down in June 2008 when her daughter graduates. This would allow a smooth transition for the
CVPO to new leadership. Those
interested can contact Roberta at lundeberg@earthlink.net.
Principal Topics
Transition to 9th
Grade: Cherie Stroud introduced teachers Jenny
Bunkelman and Shelia Fowler who presented on the implementation of an incoming
freshman transition program called “Link Crew.” This national program has four
parts: a fall orientation session,
academic follow-up sessions throughout the year, social follow-up sessions, and
leadership development for junior and senior Link Leaders.
The application
process for this year’s sophomores and juniors has begun. There will be a spring training session for
the 50-55 students selected and the group will meet again in the late summer to
prepare for freshman orientation, which will be held on the Tuesday before
school starts.
For more
information, contact Jenny or Shelia or go to:
http://www.boomerangproject.com/linkcrew/
High School
Schedule Survey: Parents were encouraged to take this on-line
survey, and if there isn’t space or prompting for specific comments, e-mail
them to Cherie and Superintendent Dawn Tarzian. The survey requires your student’s ID number, which you can get
by calling the CV office at 757-5802.
The survey (you may
need to copy and paste this link): http://www.csd509j.net/news/1599.html
Additional schedule
comments to: dawn.tarzian@corvallis.k12.or.us,
cherie.stroud@corvallis.k12.or.us
2007-8 School
Year Calendar: The district calendar committee has proposed
a calendar for the next school year.
The board was scheduled to review it on March 12. Roberta commented that fall conferences are
moved to November, resulting in three consecutive shortened weeks which when combined
with the block schedule could be detrimental to student learning. Another area of discussion was the winter
holiday which the proposal models on this year’s calendar with the last day
before the break on Friday, Dec. 21.
This was done to align the calendar with Philomath, Albany, and the ESD.
Spring
Conferences: Will be held on Thursday, April 12, arena-style
in the cafeteria from noon to 7:45 p.m. and by appointment on Friday, April 13
from 8 a.m. to noon. More information
will follow in the April Raider News. A
few parent volunteers would be appreciated to man the reception table on
Thursday.
Registration: Will begin after Spring Break with class meetings to review course
options. On April 9th the
course handbook will be available and students will begin the paperwork which
will require a parent’s signature.
During the week
after the April 18th 8th grade Open House, CV counselors
will visit the middle schools and start the registration process for incoming
freshmen.
Cherie will present
more course information at the April CVPO/Principal Coffee.
Allocation of
Additional Resources: With the additional funds the school
received as a result of the levy passage last fall, new teachers have been
hired for study hall, learning lab, and government classes. A campus support position has been
posted. Additional new positions will
be posted when the district budget is produced and intra-district staffing
changes occur.
Review of Sadie
Hawkins Dance: Student Body President Courtney Gardner
reported that this event was successful and enjoyable, with appropriate dancing
for the most part. A parent reported
that middle school dances at the Boys and Girls Club are being restructured,
including music choice, and that this
should spill over positively to the dance culture at CV.
Courtney also
reminded us that the Mr. CV Pageant is coming up on April 14 and that the money
raised goes to the Children’s Miracle Network (Sacred Heart Medical Center
neonatal unit), the Jackson Street Youth Shelter, and the Boys and Girls
Club. There are many ways to support
this student-run fundraiser, including attending the Pageant, participating in
the Garage Sale on Saturday, March 17 from 8 am until 2 pm at Rite Aid (contact
Kirsten Bildfell at 602-1920 or flowerrocke@hotmail.com for locations or if you
want a contestant to come pick up your donation), purchasing a calendar
(contact Coutney at 745-4470), or simply making a cash donation (contact
Courtney).
Grades and
Grading: Several parents wanted to know why CV
doesn't distinguish between a B+, a B and a B- (or A, or C's for that matter) for calculating GPA's and
why the grades for honors and AP classes are not weighted. Cherie said that no Oregon high schools make
these distinctions and that Oregon colleges request that they don’t. Selective schools un-weight GPAs anyway when
they are deciding which students to admit.
The district program committee is currently talking about the issue of
weighted grades and the possibility of an honors diploma.
Upcoming Events:
March 26-30: Spring Break
April 2: School resumes
April 5: CVPO meeting and Principal Coffee, 11:00,
staff dining room (note that this is a week early due to conferences)
April 12-13: Spring Conferences
April 14: Mr. CV Pageant, CV auditorium
April 18: 8th Grade Open House
April 19: Senior All Night Party Meeting, 6 pm, CHS
staff room
May 23: Art Fest at CVHS, tentative date
Respectfully
submitted,
Alex Vincent