ACME ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Acme Steering Committee Minutes

March 24, 2004 

Members Present:, Jackie Ebert, Ellyn Erickson, Diane Leigh, Betty Ensley, Dick Vollmer, Melinda Smull,

Members Absent: Libby Westdal, Kim Sutherland,

New Issues:

1.Pledge of Allegiance –

Issue Concern ( Anonymous) - We received a note from a parent asking about the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance at Acme School.

“Our child brought to our attention that his class does not say the Pledge of Allegiance regularly.  We feel it is an important of his upbringing.   Our Jr. High age child tells us that the whole school says it together in the mornings.  Could this be a solution?  What is the law?”

The group discussed this issue and came to these conclusions:

1.  It is required by Washington State Law that every child recite the Pledge of

   Allegiance  every day.

2.  It is the responsibility of the classroom teacher to facilitate the fulfillment of

     this law.

3. It can be difficult to remember to this every day.

4. We tried using the intercom to lead the Pledge as a school wide activity a few

    years ago and it was difficult to fit into each classroom’s morning routines.  At  

    that time we agreed to have the classroom teacher fit it into their schedule.

5.     Because we did not know which classroom the parents were referring to, we could

    only guess at the challenges to remember to do the pledge daily:  Late buses,

    changing schedules, new to the profession, new to the state, breakfast delivery,

    etc.

6. We did generate a number of solutions: 

A.    Select a child to lead the pledge on a daily/weekly rotation.  They will be sure to remember.

B.     Add it to the written daily schedule on the board for the students

C.     Assign one student to be the “Pledge Reminder”!

2. Parent Survey on Class configuration –

The ASC decided to not conduct this survey this year.  They directed Ellyn to write a letter to parents explaining the reasons why different configurations are necessary and the process that staff uses to determine the configuration and the selection of students to fit those classes.   That letter will be mailed to all Acme families.

In Process:

1. Literacy Project –

Read Across America – Beginning on Dr. Seuss’s Birthday, March 2, we will earn miles by reading books at home.  All staff and students are challenged to read at least 1 ½ hours to earn 10 miles toward our goal of New York City.  Students will record their reading on bookmarks.  A completed bookmark will equal 100 miles.  The bookmark will earn the reader a free book from our donated collection.  We will chart the mileage on the US Map on the wall in the gym.  We will move the Acme School each week to record the mileage read to date.

Artist In Residency – We will have Rebecca Meloy providing illustration lessons to each class.  She will be here March 29, 30 & 31.  We have a tentative schedule out for teachers to check for conflicts.   Our goal is to provide every student with an opportunity to receive a lesson fro a professional artist.  The hope is that the students will be able to apply their art learning into the illustrations for their books, entries for the Gallery Walk and the Mt. Baker Art Show.

Allied Arts Children’s Gallery Walk -  This event will be one of the Monthly Bellingham Gallery Walks.  Our school may enter 50 – 100 pieces of work. The following staff members have volunteered to help coordinate the collection of student art, the hanging of the pieces in Bellingham and the return of the pieces to the school.  Michelle Coburn will coordinate for K – 2, Jon Anderson for 3-4 and Robin Bruntil with Diane Leigh will coordinate the 5-6.  The following people have volunteered to help with hanging and/or taking down the art:  Jon Anderson, Michelle Coburn, Jamine Moss-Owen, Kim Sutherland, and Amy Chase.

Mt. Baker School District Art Show  This year the art show will be in May.  The details for the individual school shows, judging and show at the Deming Library are yet to be clarified.

WWU Theater Tour – The Student Theater Troup, MOTley Crew, is touring this spring with a Multicultural presentation of FolkTales.  This is another opportunity to experience the richness of literature in a variety of forms.   They will perform on Monday, May 3^rd. 

WWU Dance Performance – The WWU Danceworks Company is touring this spring with a performance based upon the 6 traits of writing.   They will be here for an assembly on June 4^th.

2. Math Project

We have concluded our staff development work with Janet Mock.  At this time the Math Team will be surveying the staff to determine what activities they would like to see continue into the next school year.

3. Hi-Cap Update

School board work session this Thursday will be addressing the recommendations being presented for adaptation of the current elementary Highly Capable program in the MBSD.  Meeting is at 7:00 and the public is welcome.

4. Radios

Next Meeting:

Other Topics to revisit:

Steering Committee Home Page

Acme Home Page

MB Home Page