Applewood Christian School

§ Jennifer Boatright: We don't have to change what we are doing, but we still had to send them a note that explained why we should still be exempt. That information was sent via registered mail.

§ action, Jennifer Boatright: Email the information to Jon Church

o Michal Herrington: Fine arts competition, were we not going to take something else out of this fund?

§ We did not.

o Michal Herrington: Why do we not budget for substitute teachers?

§ Jon Church: Because we do not pay the teachers when they miss school.

o Michal Herrington: Why do we not budget for Iowa basics.

§ Jon Church: It comes out of book fees.

o Debbie Church: Program and Events, why did it go over?

§ Thanksgiving feast lost money last year.

o Michal Herrington: Fundraising budget?

§ Jennifer Boatright: The sponsors cover these expenses

§ Michal Herrington: Doesn't see where we paid money out.

· Jon Church: Has a spreadsheet that shows where we paid money out.

· Action Jon Church: Send this information to Michal Herrington.

o Carrie Aquino: Has several checks written that have not been cleared (for entry to a ball game)

§ From March and April

· 3 different events

· All girls soccer games

§ Has contacted Gay Otten and Darla Lansing.

§ Had to close an account, so these checks will not clear.

§ Will write another check to the school to cover these costs.

§ Jennifer Boatright: Concerned that if these didn't get deposited what other expenses are we missing?

§ Bill Lansing: Soccer is difficult to track because the box does not always come back to the school right away.

· Jennifer Boatright: Please discuss this in the next committee meeting.

§ Bill Lansing: Possibly not charge for ladies soccer entry fee, and charge more for soccer participation fee in lieu of taking the gate.

§ Bill Lansing: Is sometimes difficult to get the box to games due to coming from work, etc.

§ Terry Wassam: Possibly a job for a team parent.

o Motion to approve

§ Josh Greer

§ Second: Jim Kjar

§ Approved

· Principals Report: Debbie Church

o 83 students (Tom Wassam and Thomas families have withdrawn)

o Interviews taking place

o 2 teachers withdrawn

§ Thomas

§ Cormican

o Mr. Sims accepted position to teach

o 9 classes still need teachers

o Jennifer Boatright: Have the people being interviewed been tested, and/or will that matter?

§ Debbie Church: Should not matter.

o Jennifer Boatright: Who is teaching chemistry?

§ Debbie Church: Melissa Bussey

o Michal Herrington: Teaching textbooks

§ Go as high as pre-calc (covers trigonometry)

§ Jennifer Boatright: Do we have kids that need advanced math?

· Debbie Church: Yes

· Debbie Church: we do have CDs that can be used.

o Kelley will be checking this to see how it can be used.

o Terry Wassam: For the students that have withdrawn, have any of these families paid?

§ Jon Church: No

§ Terry Wassam: Isn't this kind of late to be withdrawing?

· Jon Church: Is too difficult to track to find out when someone hasn't paid until it is too late. Staff is not available to see people and track data more quickly.

§ Jennifer Boatright: At this point, go back and look to see who hasn't paid, people could be contacted.

§ Paula Crosier: But teachers do not pay in June since they do not have a paycheck until September. Perhaps we should remove this grace.

· Josh Greer: But if it were due to a hardship, we would most likely give the money back.

§ Paula Crosier: Did we turn away anyone that we could now fit in any of these classes?

· Michal Herrington: When the class is full, many people don't get past a phone call. No information is left.

§ Carie Aquino: But some of these classes were already over the limit, so the reduction in students in some cases is still at the maximum limit.

Open Discussion: 30 min

· The sign

o Michal Herrington: it is falling apart.

o Jennifer Boatright: Call Lisa Cloud to contact whoever built it.

§ Terry Wassam: Will take care of it. The lumber used was green and has shrunk.

§ Terry Wassam: Landscaping timbers were used.

· Carie Aquino: When do we find out about the high school volleyball coach

o Bill Lansing: Needs to be voted on by the committee, but could be voted on at the board meeting if needed.

o Bill Lansing: The meeting is tomorrow.

§ Bill Lansing: If the committee approves it could she be approved by a vote tonight?

§ Motion: To accept Gaye Hiller as the Varsity volleyball coach assuming the committee votes her in.

· Jon Church

· Second: Michal Herrington

· Approved.

· Jim Kjar: How are we doing on the scrip cards?

o Jacinda Wassam: summer time has been slow, but some individual large orders are coming through.

o Jon Church: Are we tracking solely how much money this process is making us?

§ Jacinda: Gaye Hiller has built a folder to show the details.

§ Current profit: $981.50

o Jacinda Wassam: People need to step it up or we will have to have a selling fund raiser.

o Jon Church: Until September, Wal-Mart has a 10 cent discount when using a scrip card for gas purchases.

o Gaye Hiller: Once we track what people need, we will start carrying more of an inventory.

Old Business: 35 min

· Town Hall meeting

o Jennifer Boatright: Are we geared up?

o Jim Kjar: Maplewood is available.

o Jennifer Boatright: We were going to send out information so people could add topics.

§ Debbie Church: Can do this.

§ Jim Kjar: If we could have responses back by August 15.

§ Jennifer Boatright: Wants to talk primarily about tuition increases in future years, but also wants to make available the ability to have a controlled discussion on other items so they can be added to an agenda.

New Business: 40 min

· Summer Reading Program

o Josh Greer: In a discussion with an ACS family about the summer reading program, this family feels that we should be able to implement our own learning programs during the summer and not be ruled by the school in their own homes.

o Jennifer Boatright: Is this an academic committee decision or board decision?

§ Debbie Church: The academic committee has met and has not changed their opinion on the use of the summer reading program.

§ Josh Greer: But feels this goes beyond the reading program. The fact that we are invading family time in the summer causes us to exceed our bounds.

§ Jennifer Boatright: What happens if the reading is not done.

§ Debbie Church: Currently nothing happens.

§ Debbie Church: Some students that went above and beyond were awarded a special event held by the Reickhoff family.

§ Debbie Church: For this summer, reports are not needed, but students are still required to read from the list.

§ Josh Greer: Why not do it like the book-it program and allow it to be a volunteer program.

§ Paula Crosier: Because ACS claims to be a higher learning program, but we are not meeting these expectations. The students don't actually get to do that much reading in class. It comes down to what do families want for their education. Without this program, it takes away from the value of the diploma.

§ Carie Aquino: In Warrensburg, we can't find many of the books on the list. Some of the books are hard to choose from.

§ Carie Aquino: You either like to read or you don't. It is needed for students to read, but is causing her kids to not like reading even more.

§ Paula Crosier: Are we sending kids to college disadvantaged? Are we dumbing down our education?

§ Debbie Church: The curriculum does allow for at least 1 novel a year.

§ Josh Greer: We have to keep coming back to a common point discussed: ACS cannot be everything to everyone. At some point we need to leave up to the parents to decide if their student needs more literature.

§ Jim Kjar: Is higher literature part of the honors program?

· Debbie Church: No

· Jim Kjar: This is a travesty

o Jim Kjar: Could we add this to the honors program and let families decide whether they do it during the summer or the school year; all from the recommended list of classic literature?

o Debbie Church: That works for the high school but not the younger programs

o Jim Kjar: But that could be up to the parents to ensure their kids are reading something; not necessarily from the list. Just to keep them reading.

o Bill Lansing: Where did the list get generated from

o Debbie Church: From a Christian book reading program.

o Jim Kjar: Instead of having the kids write a report, have the literature teacher quiz them orally. We do not teach kids to speak, which is difficult.

o Michal Herrington: But the teachers will have had to read each of these books.

o Josh Greer: What can I tell my family that introduced the question?

§ Jennifer Boatright: The committee will discuss this issue again, and they can attend the meeting (Wed 7/27 @ 1:00 PM in the green room)

§ Jennifer Boatright: If they do not like the results, they can send the information to the town hall group to be placed on the agenda.

· Bullying Policy

o Jennifer Boatright: Because of emails and discussions of attitudes and heart issues, we need a bullying policy. It was recommended by an outside source that we introduce a policy.

o Jennifer Boatright: A sample was found and a rough policy was drafted for discussion.

o Jennifer Boatright: One of the topics was based on emotional bullying.

§ We have some people that have expressed that they do not want to come to school due to existing bullying.

o Paula Crosier: How do you enforce this policy

§ Jennifer Boatright: By definition of the act and the results of such acts.

§ Jennifer Boatright: A report would be filled out that would go to an administrator (as an example from another school). The administrator would find witnesses to corroborate the issue. An investigation would ensue.

· If it were found to be true, it would go into the student's file.

· Ramifications for each act

· A plan would be put in place to correct it.

o Jennifer Boatright: Don't feel we have issues with physical bullying, but the heart issues certainly exist.

§ Jennifer Boatright: Even if the person didn't mean to make people feel a certain way, actions need to be put in place to correct the issue

§ Paula Crosier: But this is a two way street.

§ Gaye Hiller: It is a two way street one issue at a time, but when you compile the issues and it constantly points to a certain individual, then things need to be done.

§ Paula Crosier: Uncomfortable putting this bullying policy in place at a school this small. If people feel uncomfortable by certain attitudes, "come on".

· Jennifer Boatright: But if someone feels uncomfortable we need to find out why and attempt to resolve it.

· Jennifer Boatright: Talked about Facebook, and the act of un-friending someone, as an example in society for ways to emotionally harming people.

· Paula: If someone un-friends one of the students here, is this considered bullying?

· Jennifer Boatright: Was just used as an example. Nothing has been mentioned at this point about Facebook and attitudes at the school.

o An example that lends itself to the wrong types of attitudes.

o Another example is email that is taken out of context.

o Jacinda Wassam: Would not categorize this as bullying because it is every day life type of activity. But has heard of issues in the school that she would consider bullying. Typically comes through the same people.

§ Gaye Hiller: We need to carefully define the term bullying. One person's thought of bullying may be vastly different than someone else's view.

· Jennifer: (reading from an excerpt of another school's policy): "Bullying is sometimes difficult to identify as it requires evidence of both intent and effect and can be difficult to discern from normal relationships between students. Bullying occurs when a person or group is intimidated, frightened, excluded, hurt or discomforted by a pattern of behaviors directed at them by others."

· Paula Crosier: Doesn't see why our current discipline policy doesn't cover these types of attitudes.

o Debbie Church: the current policy is mostly based on physical activity.

o Paula Crosier: If you are placing this information on a student's permanent record, the information has to be crystal clear.

o Gaye Hiller: But if the issues are going on now, they are not getting addressed.

o Paula Crosier: Gave an example where students might not get invited to an event outside of school, is that bullying?

§ Gaye Hiller: It is not a Christian attitude

§ Paula Crosier: But you can not tell people what to do in their homes.

o Jim Kjar: But the problem is, teen aged girls get offended and get mad at one another. But the victim is not going to feel comfortable addressing the bullies for fear of making the problem worse.

§ Carie Aquino: Feels this is a parent issue to teach their kids how to resolve the issue. For example, some girls can be petty about some things, but it is her job as a parent to help her kids address this issue.

§ Carie Aquino: Gave an example of a classroom environment where some kids are closer to one another than other students.

§ Carie Aquino: Her girls felt left out at prom

· Paula Crosier: Why?

· Carie Aquino: Felt excluded by some people in the group.

o Carlos Leon: The policy is coming into place sometimes because parents are not being parents

§ Jon Church: Totally agree. This is a hot topic that is being discussed everywhere. We are getting into some of the same issues.

§ Jon Church: It is one thing to be friends, but another to exclude people.

§ Jacinda Wassam: A lot of the issue is the school can not control what goes on at home. But administrators and teachers can control what goes on at school. Whether or not the parents are teaching it at home, it is the school's responsibility to ensure it is taught at the school.

§ Jacinda Wassam: It is also an issue in sporting events for the coaches to teach players if they act a certain way, they will not get to play.

§ Jon Church: The problem is issues happen among the peers, and it is one person's word against another.

§ Jon Church: If people aren't standing up to these attitudes, it is up to the parents to encourage their kids to do so.

§ Jon Church: We should go the extra mile to make others feel loved. We should go beyond the public school.

§ Paula Crosier: If I had a kid that felt like they were excluded, I would be the one hosting the event in the future.

§ Paula Crosier: Feels her kids are excluded by other kids in the school for outside events. Does not consider this as bullying.

§ Paula Crosier: Hopes that because they have a basketball event at their house that non-basketball kids don't feel left out.

· Carie Aquino: Feel this makes sense because that is for a special group; the team.

§ Jon Church: We are talking about who you can be friends with, but this is not the current issue.

· Adam Cormican: We are talking about bad attitudes at school.

§ Paula Crosier: Her kids associate with other athletes, but it isn't done to exclude anyone.

§ Jon Church: We are getting off track. We are talking about heart attitudes.

§ Jennifer Boatright: Had someone told them they were upset that someone made fun of what they are wearing?

· Paula Crosier: But is this something that administrators should get involved in?

· Terry Wassam: Yes, if it is a pattern

· Josh Greer: And the only way you can know if there is a pattern, is if all of the issues are documented.

§ Carie Aquino: the problem is we have people that don't see that certain attitudes are a problem.

· Gave an example from home: If there is an issue at home, if an example is made from one child, the others will not make the same mistakes.

· Perception is reality. We need to make dealing with these issues public and consistent.

§ Jennifer Boatright: If people are perceiving an issue occurs, the person needs to be made aware of the issue so they can resolve the issue. Would hope their hearts were tender enough that people would want to do something to resolve the issue.

· Gaye Hiller: This is the problem. Some hearts have not softened.

§ Sal Aquino: If this were a public school it would be much larger issue.

· Gaye Hiller: but that is one of the benefits to coming here. To avoid these kinds of issue.

§ Jim Kjar: Do we need to encourage our kids more to confront the issues. Perhaps the bullies don't know they are bullies. Have any of these people been confronted?

· Jennifer Boatright: There have not been any documented cases. Word of mouth communication has been deemed gossiping and is therefore stopped.

· Jim Kjar: We are asking the administration to be parents. Should we be?

o Terry Wassam: If it is happening at school, yes.

· Jim Kjar: Are we asking our parents to tell their kids to tell the administration that an issue needs to be documented?

§ Jim Kjar: If parents are addressing issues with other parents and can't get the issue resolved, addressing the issue further will make the problem worse.

§ Jim Kjar: Feels that we can't address the school until we follow the Matthew principle.

§ Michal Herrington: The whole reason we are having this issue is because the Matthew principle does not work in this school. Why do we need a policy to define bullying?

§ Jim Kjar: If we are going to have a policy, parents need to be held accountable as well.

§ Terry Wassam: The policy discusses physical issues, but isn't mental abuse as damaging?

§ Debbie Church: What happens when everyone has met and the issue still isn't resolved?

· Jim Kjar: That's when the administration or board should be getting involved.

§ Adam Cormican: Feels that it is ridiculous that we have to even discuss a bullying policy.

§ Paula Crosier: Doesn't understand why the existing policy doesn't cover these issues.

§ Paula Crosier: Feels that if one of her kids has a "rotten attitude for an entire semester" and get's labeled a bully, "we will be out that door".

§ Jennifer Boatright: We need to be able to confront students for these types of attitudes.

§ Jennifer Boatright: doesn't feel a policy is lynch mob. We need to define what bullying is. If a pattern is defined, an issue needs to be resolved.

§ Jennifer Boatright: We need to make our student body, parents, and teachers aware of things that we will consider bullying. And let them know that these issues will be addressed. We want to help them project a more Christ-like behavior.

§ Paula Crosier: Feels that it can get out of control because some attitudes will never be accused of bullying. Some strong willed attitudes will constantly be accused.

§ Jacinda Wassam: There is a difference in being strong and outspoken and being hateful.

§ Gaye Hiller: You won't get very far as a leader if strong and outspoken is perceived as hateful.

§ Jennifer Boatright: It is discussed in the Bible that our message should not be abrasive so that we don't turn people away. It should also not be hidden in a corner because that does not attribute a Christ like behavior.

§ Michal Herrington: What if we just amend the discipline policy and include the items we have discussed?

· Jennifer Boatright: We do not have a discipline policy, it is a procedure.

§ Michal Herrington: Maybe we present it at the town hall. Students and parents need to be made aware that we are serious about addressing these issues.

§ Carie Aquino: Gave an example about her recently discovering through scripture that she was not portraying her own attitude as gentleness

· Jacinda Wassam: but the difference is, she (Jacinda) does not feel Carie is being hateful. Some people are hateful.

§ Paula Crosier: But if you have a student that constantly gets labeled with these issues, will you ask them to leave the school?

· Jennifer Boatright: Yes, if they consistently do not abide by the rules.

· Paula: Asked if this was documented in the minutes.

· Josh Greer: Yes

§ Jennifer Boatright: Parents need to be able to discuss with the administration issues that may not be resolved in the classroom involving students and/or teachers.

§ Michal Herrington: There were issues that occurred last year that never reached the administration.

§ Jennifer Boatright: This is the issue, if issues are not addressed, they either need to address it or deal with it.

§ Carie Aquino: The problem is, there seems to be an inconsistency in the teachers that give impartial treatment to some students and their activity.

· Sal Aquino: Depends on what kind of mood the teacher is in.

· Bart Hiller: That is favoritism not bullying.

§ Gaye Hiller: Feels that some of the issues can occur when some teachers perceive some students issues are serious, but other teachers do not.

§ Carie Aquino: Some of the interpretation of Matthew 18 causes confusion about not knowing the correct channels of communication.

§ Jim Kjar: Read from Matthew 18

§ Jennifer Boatright: Do we want to add something to our discipline procedure?

· Adam Cormican: Yes

· Jon Church: Agree

§ Adam Cormican: We need to clearly define what we are calling bullying and list out things we are talking about.

§ Jennifer Boatright: What do we want our definition to be?

· Who is going to work on the correct wording:

o Adam Cormican

o Carlos Leon

§ Carlos Leon: How are we going to do the approval process?

· Jenifer Boatright: send a draft to the board via email before the next meeting.

· Next meeting:

o August 22 @ 6:30 PM

· Adjourn:

o Motion to adjourn

§ Jon Church

§ Second: Carlos Leon

§ Approved

Published Friday, August 26, 2011 1:44 PM by Josh Greer

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