Guests: Linda Zirkelbach, John See and JoAnna Graham, John See
- Introductions – The LSAT members and guests introduced themselves, including introduction of new LSAT Community Rep. member Emma Stewart.
- Parent Information Night
- Tentatively scheduled for January 29, 2014. A snow date will also be scheduled.
- General topic: curriculum, what your child should know by the end of the year.
- Subcommittee planning committee: Sabrina Finberg, Bethany Little, and Vicki Otten
- Budget
- David Catania passed legislation providing additional funding to schools for at–‐risk students. May require LSAT to separately designate how these funds will be spent.
- Martha McIntosh posted previous two years budgets on Basecamp.
- School/office supply line.
- A concern has been raised by parents that office supplies are not sufficient and teachers are buying office supplies with own money. During discussion, the following possible causes were identified:
- October budget gap –‐ each year DCPS can be slow to release funds at the start of the District’s fiscal year, which starts October 1.
- Sequester made it worse
- Printer Ink: HSA historically has purchased some supplies for equipment it has purchased and donated to the school (i.e., printer ink and laminator paper) but they were not purchased this fall. This was due to a miscommunication that has been resolved the HSA will order ink.
- HSA Printers – Lisa Stone will work with HSA to get ink cartridges ordered.
- DCPS printers – Martha to investigate.
- Paper: Each teacher was given a case of paper at the beginning of the year but that ran out quickly.
- At beginning of year some expected curriculum was not available. Teachers were copying resources to fill in the caps, causing the initial case of paper to go very quickly.
- Resupply happened in past couple of weeks and now classroom teachers have paper.
- One issue may be how to most fairly distribute supplies based on varying needs.
- Money/sources available to teachers
- School funds
- DCPS –‐ $200 office depot card at beginning of year
- HSA –‐ $200 at beginning of year per teacher
- Parent purchased school supplies
- HSA teachers grants
- Questions:
- Did the school spend down the full supply budget the past 2 years?
- How much paper and supplies do teachers use each year?
- Did non–‐classroom teachers (such as special ed) get a resupply of paper?
- Is current paper allocation by grade appropriate?
- Need to review purchasing system (ordering and distribution) and determine what is not working – Martha to research
- Parent comment: If ordering system isn’t working for Murch, parents want to be informed and want to be able to intervene.
- A concern has been raised by parents that office supplies are not sufficient and teachers are buying office supplies with own money. During discussion, the following possible causes were identified:
- School renovation
- Murch already has been pushed back one year.
- Janney is going ahead with a $5 million expansion even though Janney already has twice the space of Murch with the same enrollment.
- DCGS has been difficult to communicate with and is not providing required information.
- Murch SIT has identified possible problem with rebuilding where Kaufman stands, which is on National Park Service land. Original agreement to build Kaufman took long–‐term negotiations and includes clause that if Kaufman is knocked down the space will return to green space.
- LSAT agreed to sent joint letter with HSA to DC Council and others expressing concern about the status of the renovation. Martha McIntosh to draft letter.