Seaside School, Inc

Minutes

Student Excellence Committee Meeting

Date and Time

Friday May 12, 2023 at 9:30 AM

Location

60 Clayton Lane

Santa Rosa Beach, FL

Founded in 1996
Serving Students in Grades 5 - 12

 

We seek to sustain an educational community where an emphasis on academic excellence is complemented by our concern for each learner’s personal growth and intellectual, aesthetic, and psychological development. The curriculum is developmentally responsive – actively engaging students in learning skills in context, integrative – directing students to connect learning to daily lives, and exploratory – enabling students to discover their abilities, interests, learning styles, and ways that they can make contributions to society.

Committee Members Present

D. Tinghitella, J. O’Donoghue, M. Foley, M. Hale, T. Glavine

Committee Members Absent

None

Guests Present

K. Mixson

I. Opening Items

A.

Record Attendance

B.

Call the Meeting to Order

M. Foley called a meeting of the Academic Excellence Committee of Seaside School, Inc to order on Friday May 12, 2023 at 9:33 AM.

C.

Approve Minutes

M. Hale made a motion to approve the minutes from Student Excellence Monthly Meeting on 04-14-23.
T. Glavine seconded the motion.
The committee VOTED to approve the motion.

II. Student Excellence

A.

School Update - Academics

Teacher appreciation at the MS and HS went very well - great participation.  Very thankful for the volunteers and parents who contributed.

 

Several field trips in progress - ECTC, Washington DC, Big Kahunas, Graduation lunch.

 

Next school year preparations in progress - a lot of moving parts but trying to keep it "normal" for teachers

 

Open Houses went very well at HS and MS.  Very good turnout at the HS and about 3/4 of the entering 5th graders for the MS.

 

FAST testing - all 192 kids were tested at the same time this is a first in school history.  100 computers were ordered during the school year to support testing but they still haven't arrived. MS borrowed computers from HS for testing. Some of the computers were going to "sleep" (becoming inactive) in between tests so teachers had to exit out and log back in to continue.  Results in these instances were delayed for 48 hours.  We are looking at how to disable the "sleep" setting for future testing.  Overall, the organization and flow of testing went very well.

 

CTE - entrepreneur tests ongoing. A great majority of the 33 students testing have passed.  MS TOSA certifications have become a very good case study, and because of its success, we will renew the program next year.

 

HS - AP exams finished except for one.  CTE certifications ongoing.  State testing next week.  Preparations for graduation in full swing.

 

Recommendation was made to better publicize our graduation statistics, to include scholarships, ie Bright Futures, et al. Tom Miller recently sent out an email with some amazing information important for parents and the community to understand.

 

Discussion of the after school pick-up policy. This continues to be a significant operational issue for the school and warrants another discussion at our next Board meeting.

B.

School Update - Athletics

Drew is attending the State track meet where we have three students competing.

Three our out students are playing for the boys football team at ECMS

Three students have made the ECMS cheerleading team.

 

C.

Uniform policy

Recommendation is to make no changes to the uniform policy for the MS.  HS policy for next year will be addressed soon.

July will be a uniform sale at the MS.

D.

Student handbooks for next year

Review still ongoing for the MS student handbook but it will be ready for approval soon. 

Discussion of the student cell phone policy. Students will be encouraged to ensure the phones continue to be off or on silent AND kept in their backpacks rather than in their pockets during school hours.

E.

Dr. Seuss books for the 8th grade graduation

Discussion on the purchase of Dr. Seuss books for 8th graders. Tom made a motion to recommend approval to the Board, seconded by Jenna.  

 

III. Closing Items

A.

Adjourn Meeting

There being no further business to be transacted, and upon motion duly made, seconded and approved, the meeting was adjourned at 10:45 AM.

Respectfully Submitted,
M. Foley