Hillcrest Elementary

Community Council Minutes
December 3, 2021 @ 7am
Hillcrest Zoom Meeting

Minutes

• Hillcrest Mission
  • The mission of Hillcrest Elementary is to ensure all students at Hillcrest are learners with skills to reach their dreams and succeed.
• Review and Approve November Minutes
  • Sara motion, Dannon seconded, unanimous vote to approve minutes.
  • As a reminder, minutes are always posted on the website.
• Budget update
  • Planned for just under $70k this year, but actual distribution was $85,443
  • We allocated $16,500 for an ELL Consultant, but received that support through USBE and only allocated $12,500 during the November meeting, leaving $24,000 that needs to be allocated
  • Options for spending the money:
    • Teacher submitted ideas that SCC voted to spend money on at the November meeting (already purchased):
      • Reading kits = $5,000
      • Additional devices to progress monitor students/support Tier 2 instructional services = $4,500
      • Docking and charging stations = $3,000
      • Headphones with microphones for devices = $1,000
    • Other ideas:
      • Additional counselor time, 10 hours per week, extern from USU under the direction of Dr. Renshaw. Total cost = $4,800
      • Interventionist: licensed teacher to support instruction throughout the school, especially tier 2 supports for students that are struggling with concepts. Cost = $60,000.
    • Questions/discussions:
      • Really like the idea of another certified teacher/interventionist, but what happens at the end of the year? Is this sustainable?
      • This would be soft money so there would be no guarantee that we could continue this interventionist position next year.
      • The hope would be to target very specific groups of kids and for this to be supplemental intervention for those students – not replacing anything classroom teachers are doing right now, but would be extra help to hopefully help them get closer to proficient before the end of the year.
      • There are small groups of students who have missed learning due to COVID and help get kids caught up, we could target very specific kids for this extra intervention.
      • Spencer has additional Title I funds to support this position, but the Community Council funds would be helpful.
  • VOTE:
    • Motion to spend funds – approximately $4,000 on an additional school psychology extern and approximately $20,000 on a certified interventionist to provide additional supports.
    • Dannon moved, Heather seconded – unanimous vote to approve spending funds.
    • Spencer will bring a more detailed plan for how we will use each of these positions and how we will measure the effects of these new professionals and additional interventions for students.
    • Request to include new staff in the LTRS training. Spencer agreed they could participate.
• DLI Update
  • Had Community Connections night at Bridger, accomplished purpose of bringing the communities together. Designed to target Bridger community and make connections.
  • DLI Committee meetings – first Monday of each month, 4:00 pm at Hillcrest, open to everyone. This month will be talking about the new website and what would be most helpful to include on the website.
  • Have a lot of facts about the benefits of DLI for students, will add teacher bios, etc.
  • Open enrollment started this week and the school is receiving a lot of requests from across the district to attend Hillcrest next year.
  • The Bridger community doesn’t currently have a lot of the traditions that Hillcrest has like STEM night, science fair, international night, etc. Hillcrest will be inviting Bridger students and families to attend those traditional events through the remainder of the school year.
  • Students will be prioritized that currently attend or whose siblings attend. We will also open up for any students up to 5 th grade to join Hillcrest. Logan students are prioritized over County or Charter students.
  • There isn’t a banner up yet at the Early Childhood Center. Spencer will connect with Lorene to make sure a banner is posted at the Early Childhood Center.
• Boundary Discussion
  • Update from boundary discussion meetings
    • There is a video presenting the proposed boundaries on the District’s website.
    • Students will apply to DLI before Kindergarten and attend Hillcrest for Kindergarten in the year prior to starting DLI.
    • Questions that came up were around Hillcrest not having a boundary and the implications of that. What are the safe walking routes for students who live in Hillcrest boundaries.
    • Busing and potential full-day kindergarten could have implications for who can attend Hillcrest. If the legislature puts additional funds toward full-day Kindergarten, the district would still have to prioritize them.
    • Busing isn’t necessarily available for all students to attend Hillcrest who want to. Hillcrest will start 20 minutes before or after the other elementary schools to accommodate busing.
    • Input can be provided at the board meetings on November 11 th and 25 th . There are also meetings on December 8 th (Ellis) and December 9 th (Woodruff).
    • The DLI committee can consider some ways to mitigate the potential barriers to recruiting families to attend Hillcrest next year:
      • Survey current Bridger students/families to find out how many families are planning to come to Hillcrest next year.
      • Possibly offer carpooling opportunities through the website – a space for families to offer rides to other families and request rides for students.
      • Work with parent liaisons at Hillcrest and Bridger to help families whose students are native Spanish and Portuguese speakers to understand the benefits of continuing in DLI.
• Consultant visit Dr. Estrada
  • Dr. Estrada is the director for Title III (Federal programs for English learners) for the Utah State Board of Education (USBE) and came to Hillcrest in November to observe and provide feedback on how Hillcrest is doing with helping students who are learning English. (report attached)
    • Commendations: SCC, teachers, students, a lot of positive
    • Recommendations: Use Title III tool (attached)
• Next Steps
  • Spencer will bring a more detailed plan for how we will use each of these positions and how we will measure the effects of these new professionals and additional interventions for students.
  • Spencer will connect with Lorene to make sure a banner is posted at the Early Childhood Center.
• Pulbic Input
  • Consider how we can start to involve
• Dannon motions we adjourn, Tessa seconds. Meeting adjourned

Next Meeting: Friday, Jan. 7, 2022 @ 7am