CPMS PTC Community Meeting Minutes

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ATTENDEES: **Bettina Jeszenszky, Hannah Donohue, Jenna Dornblaser, Dr. Shannon Anderson, Anne Erwin, Shellie Bailey-Shah, Skye Kutansky, John Huelskamp, Maureen Louie, Melissa Manos, Megan Cook, Christopher Richardson, Claire Parker, Clark Crowell, Daphne Teals, Eleanor Kahn, George Anthony Nervez, Jackson Mahoney, Jennifer Allen, Jessica Canessa, Jona Davis, Kara Drolet, Kathleen Everett, Kelly Kinzer, Kim Pasion, Lianne Yarvis, Mai Richardson, Margarita Gonzalez, Mikkel Nieto, Nicole Reynolds, Nina Ball Walter, Jenn Scholes, Sheila Scheve, Siobhan, Stacey Gonzalez, Star Erickson, Steve Scholes, Sydney Keister, Tina Meier-Nowell, Andrew Rippy, Angie Parker, Lisa Leonardo, Beverly Hernandez, Cami Misk, Carolyn Pasquarella, Meagan Pham

****Due to the fluidity of zoom/virtual gatherings, this list may not accurately reflect all participants/attendees.

CALL TO ORDER (6:36pm)

APPROVAL OF MINUTES (from November 4, 2020)

A short update on the upcoming long range facility survey & how our 2014 bond money was spent.

• Upcoming long range planning (survey & video)

• 2014 bond review (video)

• Black History Month: Last year we had door decorating contest (many still up) ; this year Cedar Park is incorporating at walk-thru event & through advisory/humanities curriculum

• Hearing parent voices surrounding kids back to school: Dr. A and other administrators continue to be in planning stages on how to bring kids/staff back safely, while meeting OHA and ODE guidelines. Hours of work going on to do that planning because they know kids need to be in schools.

• Common Middle School Experience: Changes coming to middle schools include what electives are offered, what the schedule looks like, and how that varies at each school. Implementation may take a few years, as there are a lot of changes happening for all middle schools, especially CPMS (with attendance boundary changes).

• Plans for LIPI and beyond: Planning for limited in-person instruction (LIPI) continues. Struggling and special needs students are being invited back first this spring.

• Parent Question: Will there be conferences this spring? With all the work going into LIPI/hybrid, boundary changes & changes due to Common Middle School Experience, Dr. A hasn’t had time to consider this. She will connect with other admins and her supervisor to see what is planned.

• Thank you to all who donated to our No Fuss Fundraising; 109 donors/sponsors contributed over $15,000

• Board Roles in 2021-22: Next school year will bring significant changes to Cedar Park with dramatic shift in feeders and addition of Rachel Carson MS program. All four of the current board members will be rolling out of their current position either due to term limits or rezoning. Reach out to Bettina (president@cedarparkptc.org) if you are interested in helping out next year.

• Bettina and Dr. A are planning to reach out to our new feeders this spring to engage, answer questions, and recruit new leadership/interest.

Cedar Park Walk-Thru Social (combined with art/science kit pick-up) on Friday, 2/12 (has since been rescheduled for Tuesday, 2/16 due to weather). Jenna & Hannah Donohue (PTC Secretary) described the event & need for volunteer support.

• Students will sign-up for a 15-minute time slot to walk-thru various carnival games (all social distanced) for some fun prizes before picking up their art/science kits, and new band instruments.

• Email from school has since been sent with map, sign-up, & volunteer info
  

Year to Date Numbers: Continue to look good. Outgoing expenses in Dec/January included December Staff Appreciation goody bags & library support (OBOB books).

Dive into our current financials HERE.

After a bit of hilarity, attendees were eventually able to join breakout rooms with their respective principal in order to answer questions & give high school and forecasting info.

The following is a brief description of those breakout sessions, as well as additional high school info taken from their 2020 presentation that still applies to all BSD students.

In her 9th year as principal of THE Beaverton High School, Anne believes the transition to 9th grade is the most challenging school transition of them all. Anne strives that graduates of BHS be prepared for the future that they choose and notes the tremendous community involvement from BHS alumni who have come back to help support Beaverton High. She is anxious to meet rising 9th grade families and is intrigued by Cedar becoming an exclusively Beaverton feeder.

• BHS has a long tradition - school is over 100 years old. Community is fundamentally important and we're very glad to welcome new students. BHS is an AP school.

• Incoming families should now be receiving weekly emails with key information about the school, class selection and key dates.

• Feb. 3rd is a virtual incoming family night - it's highly recommended that you attend.

• Students will meet their new counselors on Feb. 11th during school to go through class selection. Students are assigned a counselor that will be with them all four years. This person is the best go-to contact on campus for questions regarding your student

• Academic Planning Guide is the place to look for class descriptions (including videos). https://bhs.beaverton.k12.or.us/academics/academic-planning-guide

• It's recommended that you chart out a rough guide to a 4-year plan for courses. This is important if you want to choose a pathway (see below) or if a class that you want to take has per-requisites. Also important if you plan to take AP classes and they have a prerequisite.

• Students will turn in their forecasting / class selection the week of March 1st.

• All 9th graders will take eight classes (Lit and Comp, AGS, Either Stem Physics or Stem Chemistry, Social Studies, Health, PE, an elective or language arts and Beaver Lodge)

• Optional educational tracks / pathways throughout all 4 years include a health track, marketing, engineering, education and digital media

• Couple of interesting added notes: you can take dual credit courses at BHS through PCC (some students have graduated ready to go into their sophomore year of college); there is a dual language program at BHS and students who come in fluent in a language other than English can test to receive high school units for their fluency; several core classes are taught in Spanish to continue dual language instruction

• As an incoming family to BHS, you are a part of the Beaverton Family Alumni Network (BFAN) https://bhsbfan.org/

• Students are highly encouraged to join campus activities. There are 50+ campus clubs and numerous athletic options

As principal and parent at Sunset High School, John has a unique perspective to the Sunset experience. He has been with Sunset for ten years, and was formerly the principal of Terra Linda. Sunset is an International Baccalaureate school (three BSD high schools are IB, three are AP like Beaverton), and became the first school in the nation to offer an “IB for all” experience, having every junior take IB History.

John strives for all students to have as many options/doors open as possible during high school and beyond. Sunset’s unwritten motto is “Enter to Learn, Leave to Serve,” where students can learn not to be selfish with their experience and work to make the world a better place. He understands that many students will need social/emotional support after a year at home and shares that Sunset teachers, “teach kids, not curriculum,” and will meet them wherever they are. After all the upheaval of the past year, he expects “2000 underclassmen” to enter Sunset next fall.

• Virtual Student Tours: Every Thursday @ 3pm, additional times/dates to be added later in the spring

• Sunset is an IB School, which is an advanced program that concentrates on breadth, not depth; teaches students to create and communicate not typical in HS. The IB diploma is the most rigorous diploma in the country and can open many doors. While not all Sunset students earn the IB diploma, they all have the opportunity to take IB classes. All juniors will take at least one IB course in history (three options).

• Comprehensive high school: houses all the district programs/specialized programs; 2000 students; 47 different languages.

• Curriculum Night will now be a two week virtual curriculum event: Counselors will be in contact with each student; forecasting info coming soon.

• Forecasting sheets are due March 5; after curriculum week. Students will choose three electives during forecasting.

• Students have access to many activities and extracurriculars, including the arts (five choirs, theater, band, marching band, madrigals), and over 50 clubs/activities.

• Most standard classe are graded on a 1-4 scale (9th & 10th), but college level courses (IB or dual credit) are available on campus, usually for upperclassmen. Students earning dual credit through PSU can take the course on Sunset’s campus, but earn two transcripts and college credit that can be taken with them after graduation. Examples include computer science classes, various higher level math courses, and a handful of business courses.

• The current 4x4 high school schedule, where students have four classes every day for a condensed time frame (one year’s work done in one semester) has been challenging. Mr. Huelskamp hopes to switch back to a A/B schedule next year.

• In general, a freshman will take eight classes during their freshman year, including health/PE, math (AGS1, AGS2, Calculus), Physics or Stem Physics, Language Arts 9, World History 9 and two electives (often a language, performing or studio art, psychology, pre-law or intro business), and Access Tutorial. The full list of offerings can be found within the Academic Program Guide: https://sunset.beaverton.k12.or.us/academics/2020-21-preliminary-program-guide

• Sunset offers Spanish, French, & Japanese.

• Access Tutorial (AT) is “study hall on steroids” where students can get help, make up work, and/or meet-up with a teacher. Pre-covid, this time was the same across all students (everyone had AT at the same time).

(taken from Feb 2020 minutes; still applies)

All comprehensive high schools in BSD offer career pathways, or a guided track of classes to set students up for success in a specific field. Sunset offers Business, Computer Science, Engineering, and Mathematics pathways. Beaverton High School has Education, Engineering, Health Careers, Marketing and Digital Media pathways.

Pathways are not required for graduation, but are usually decided by the end of freshman year or during the sophomore year. Students have the options of taking their homeschool pathways, or accessing the magnet pathways: Terra Nova, Auto (Aloha HS), Manufacturing (Westview), Culinary (Mountainside), or Health Careers (Beaverton High School). Transportation is provided to a magnet pathway.

Anne is especially proud of the Health Careers pathway at BHS. Students can graduate as certified nurse’s aides, be prepared as pharmacy techs, cardio techs, or medical techs (especially valuable with the dual language program), meaning they graduate high school with job offers. The Education pathway allows graduates to sit for the paraeducator exam, which qualifies them to work as an instructional aide in BSD after graduation. These students shadow and assist at Vose Elementary during their program. The Digital Media pathway students create all the marketing materials for Beaverton High School (such as signage and business cards).

John also mentions the PCC Early College program, available to BSD students after their sophomore year, that provides training in machining, welding, and other career pathways. Graduates can complete high school with an associates degree from PCC.

Sophomore year is an important time to decide the choices for junior year. Junior year is an important grade for students to set themselves up for post-high school success.

(taken from Feb 2020 minutes; still applies)

Anne’s goal is to have 100% kids connected with something by the end of freshman year. Her advice includes bringing students/families into your community to create connections, work for students to be on track by the end of 9th grade, READ every word she sends you :) and let BHS know if something isn’t working.

John agrees on all those points, but adds that Sunset is always striving to circle back and ensure students are accessing the clubs/connections/activities. There are still cracks that kids can fall through and our high schools work to catch those kids.

(taken from Feb 2020 minutes; still applies)

Anne shares that Sunset & Beaverton use the teaming model, meaning the same four teachers teach around the same 100 freshman. This is a deliberate/intentional choice to create a safety net and smaller community within the school (similar to what Cedar Park does).

John shares that high schools are intentional in developing self-advocacy in students and use a collegiate model, similar to office hours, for students to meet with teachers, ask questions, etc., called Access Tutorial (AT) at Sunset and Beaver Lodge at BHS. This also allows students to work together collaboratively. They strive to help students learn that strength is in asking and encourage a study group vs. competition mentality. He encourages parents to stay involved by volunteering, such as working concessions, in the classroom or at the College & Career Center.

Beaverton HS and Sunset only use Canvas (not google classroom). Canvas is the same system used by the Oregon University system, and while not a gradebook, it is a window into the daily activities and assignments.

ADJOURNMENT (8:01pm)

All current parents and guardians of CPMS students are automatically members of the PTC. Our events, programs, school support, and enthusiasm make up this vibrant volunteer community and are indeed, POWERED BY YOU.

Email: secretary@cedarparkptc.org
Website: www.cedarparkptc.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CPMSPTC