Colorado Early Colleges, Fort Collins School Accountability Committee 2016-2017 End of Year Report

This year the School Accountability Committee (SAC) met seven times. During our September 2016 meeting, the Geographic Community Meeting for Charter Renewal was presented. For our other six meetings we had a core group of five parents attending four or more of the meetings. We averaged seven parents in attendance each meeting. Our group was a mix of middle school and high school parents. We had nine students each attend one meeting. Each of this year’s meetings consisted of an informational presentation from a school department followed by an opportunity for parents and students to ask questions or make comments. Our meetings promoted positive dialogue and every concern was resolved in a timely manner. Below are the areas that we discussed throughout the year. Middle School Drop Off and Pick Up Procedures At the beginning of the school year parents noted some safety issues during the drop off and pick up times. Improvements began the very next day. A staff crossing guard was stationed at the four way stop, cones were put in place at the drop off/pick up area, staff members began wearing safety vests and radios. In addition the middle school dismissal time was moved up ten minutes, which alleviated congestion in the pick up line. The SAC committee is very satisfied with the current drop off and pick up procedures at the middle school. Backpack Weight Although we discussed backpack weight many times during the previous school year, this year we had only one middle school parent come to the committee with a concern. She was able to talk directly with the middle school leadership and teachers to come up with a plan, which allowed her son to leave one backpack hanging on a hook and take another backpack to and from school. The SAC committee is thankful that many of the middle school classes allow students to leave heavy textbooks and binders in the classroom or have two sets of textbooks for each student, so they are not forced to carry textbooks to and from school every day. Student Council Dress Code Presentation At our April meeting, the high school student council gave a presentation and submitted their proposal to update the dress code. They requested that we just begin the conversation and give feedback during this meeting. Since it was the end of the year, they want to continue this topic next school year. The two student council representatives answered questions from the committee regarding their proposal. Mrs. Brown gave the committee some background information regarding the dress code. Mr. Kenny spoke about the day-to-day enforcement of the dress code.

The committee agreed that having a dress code was a positive attribute of the school. We agree that a dress code encourages professionalism. We do not agree with the student council’s request to have a clothing bank available for those students who are out of dress code. If a student chooses to come to school out of dress code then they should be held accountable. Although we don’t have an issue with shoulders showing, we want our staff to be protected when having to enforce the dress code. We asked the student council representatives to come back next year with an idea of how the dress code could be modified to include sleeveless tops without having the staff needing to measure any clothing. Advertising SAC Those of us who attend the meetings regularly find SAC to be very valuable in keeping informed and having a voice. We spent a considerable amount of time this semester talking about how we can increase the attendance of the monthly SAC meetings. We discussed wording for advertising, changing our name, and ways to advertise. Beginning in March we have had one parent/SAC representative speak at the prospective family informational meetings about their experience as a parent and to give information about our SAC committee. We are hoping that this will encourage new parents to attend our meetings. We would like to focus on increasing the attendance of parents in particular. We request that our meetings for the 2017/2018 school year be on the second Thursday of the month from 6:30 to 7:30. Parent/Student End of the Year Surveys Over the past three years the committee has been involved in creating an annual end of the year survey for parents and students. This year we discussed how the Gallup Student Poll measures student success. We request that for the 2017/2018 school year the students and teachers take the Gallup Poll in place of our annual end of the year survey. 2017/2018 Traffic Management We request that the City of Fort Collins be asked to preform a traffic study of the area around the middle school and new high school. Since there is no traffic light at Harmony and Innovation, there maybe excess traffic on Monte Carlo and McMurry during the morning drop off and afternoon pick up times. Submitted by, 2016-2017 SAC Officers Michelle Watts Colleen Gowenlock Heidi Nelson