Activity #26, Competency 3

            I recently attended two district site base meetings and I am the chair for my campus site base committee.  The role of the parents in the site base process is to provide feedback from their point of view.  They are their child’s advocate and what they bring to the committee is very important information for the committee to consider.  It is also important that they take information away from the committee to better inform other parents as well.  This form or community relation is a two way street.  Parents are the investor and their children are the invested.  You want to get the most out of any investment and having them serve on the committee is the same concept that most large businesses use. 

            In order for parents to serve a vital role in the site base meetings you must include them in every action taken by the committee.  Minutes, activities and recommendations must be provided by the chair in order for them to stay current and up to date.  You cannot take a sloppy approach to assembling your committee or the parents will not see value in serving. 

Minutes and Info from District Site Base Meetings will be posted on my wiki page on the Activity 26 Page:
http://moseslamarsuperintendentcertification.wikispaces.com/

Activity #17, Competency 9

            Emily Morris, Salado ISD Nurse, and I sat down last week and had a conversation about the state of affairs in our district, the state and in the nation in regards to school health.  Mrs. Morris is very knowledgeable and extremely diligent in her professional development and is always up to date on current issues.  She has been the nurse here for 4 years.  Before that she served in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Scott & White Hospital in Temple.  She is a registered nurse and holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. 

            Emily discussed with me the shortage that the state and nation are seeing in the field of nursing.  She said that it is no different in the public school system.  There is a shortage of good nurses but our shortage stems from budget shortfalls and quality applications.  We discussed that the pay for good nurses is very competitive between hospitals and that schools cannot compete unless the person is looking for opportunity cost.  One opportunity cost that would be attractive to nurses is the 8 to 5 schedule at a school compared to the ever changing schedule at a hospital.  Another issue facing school nurses is the availability of health care for families and children.  We talked about this being a major issue for Texas but we realized it is a problem all over this country.   Emily heads up our Student Health Advisory Committee (SHAC) and conducts quarterly meetings at our district.  This committee discusses these same issues that we discuss and focus them down upon certain children and try to make ends meet. 

            Mrs. Morris and I ended our interview with the discussion that nurses in schools are becoming more of a luxury as our budgets get tighter.  Could nurses on every campus be a luxury?  At a previous district that I taught at, we had a district nurse one day a week.  How is that meeting our students needs? 

Site Supervisor Conference Final

            Mr. Wiggins and I met again, via phone, and discussed my intern plan on November 11^th.  Like the first meeting, there was a lot of insight that was shared before we got down to business in talking about my next few months.  We talked about the state at which the school is in and the plan for the future of Salado ISD.  With the board meeting looming in the coming weeks and the approval of the superintendents goals for the district, we discussed those goals and how he came up with them.  What was the shared vision for the upcoming school year?  I say vision for the year because it is my belief that you can have a vision for the district that will stand for a few years that everyone can get behind, but you must have a short term vision or goals, if you will, to lead you through to the district vision.  We talked about some of the issues that are upcoming that I will be able to be a part of and that I will be reflecting to my cohort.  Salado will probably be discussing a bond in the next held election.  That bond will focus on athletic facilities and classrooms at the new high school.  Issues that surround a bond are numerous and those issues must be met with resolve and transparency.  Salado is in the process for putting together a plan for the TEA for a stage 3 focus group surrounding ESL Science in our district.  Our district has just been lifted into AAA by the UIL after achieving much success at the AA level and the process by which we continue our success is an issue that we will be discussing as well.

            We discussed my intern plan relating the above to the activities that I have in my plan and how I can best go about making those activities benefit the district as well.  I am really excited about being a part of the bond election that the board will be discussing.  I will get to sit in on those focus groups, make trips and give my insight to the group and that will be a great opportunity.  A bond election to me is a great undertaking by a district and with that it carries a great stress to the superintendent.  I will get to experience that stress, to a lesser degree, and all that goes with it.  There were no revisions to my plan but we had a great deal of discussion of the opportunities that I will have with the upcoming year at Salado ISD.