Anouncements
- Need Community Service? 5 food cans = 30 minutes, room 651
- April 2008: The Gallery will be updated every week.
- Click "Students" to go to Student Connect without the navigation.
- April 24 STAR Testing begins
- May 2 World Faire Day
- June 3 SciTech Awards Night
- June 16 Last Day of School
Contact Info
1405 Park Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92101
(619) 525-7459
Fax (619) 744-7677
Dianne Cordero, Principal
| Purpose and Scope| Participants | Membership and Terms | Roles | Alternates | Meetings | Emergency Meetings | Agenda | Quroum | Committee Groups| Scope of Authority | Decision Making Process | Voting | Dispute Resolutions | Accountability |
SAN DIEGO HIGH
SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
School Governance Team Document
The purpose of shared decision making at San Diego High School of Science of Technology is to empower the staff, students, parents, and the community to make long-range decisions and changes that will promote student achievement. Shared decision making allows for flexibility and assures accountability. It also fosters positive communications, collaboration and positive consensus. The goal of shared decision making is to improve the quality of the learning experience and the learning outcomes of students, improve the quality of education, enhance working conditions of employees, and improve communications and involvement of parents and community.
The composition of the Site Governance Team shall represent the various stakeholder groups (teachers, parents, administrators, classified, community, and students.) The Site Governance Team will be composed of the following:
50% SDEA unit member, including the SDEA representative
35% Parents/ community (with a minimum of 3 parents)
15% others, (classified, other SDEA embers, staff personnel, students)
And the Principal (Note: the principal is not counted in the percentages.}
For the San Diego High School of Science of Technology (SciTech), a suitable number to meet this requirement is 8 (4 SDEA unit members, 3 Parents/community members, 1 student and the principal.) With 8 members, 5 members constitute a quorum.
MEMBERSHIP AND TERMS OF OFFICE
The term of office for each member is traditional school year. On or about the first working day of the traditional school year, new members will be elected to the Site Governance Team.
If only the required number of persons volunteer from each stakeholder group, those persons are automatically the assigned representative. If more then the required number of persons volunteer from each group, the required number of persons must be elected or selected to be the official representatives. (See Alternative section)
All meetings are open and all may participate in consensus building. If consensus cannot be reached with everyone, however, only the official representatives may participate in consensus. The Chairperson shall be clear about who are the official representatives at the beginning of each meeting.
- SDEA unit member will be elected democratically by their peers.
- Student members will be selected through a nomination process conducted in each of them advisory or first period class at the beginning of the traditional school year. A list of students who would like to participate on the Governance Team will then be supplied to the Governance Team Chairperson who will contact the students regarding their possible participation. In the event that no student members can be found, the Governance Team. An explanation of the Governance Team and request for volunteers, will be included in the orientation packet for the new students, the re-enrollment packet for the returning students, an/or will be handed out on or about the first school day of the traditional school year.
- Prospective parent members of the Governance Team will receive volunteer forms at the orientation for the coming school year, and forms will be sent home on or about the first school day of the traditional school year. In the event that no parent volunteers are found, current Governance Team members will contact and personally recommend parents for the Team. If more than four parents attend any one Governance meeting, all may participate in consensus building. If they cannot agree, however, only those official parent representatives may participate in consensus.
The new members will take office as soon as possible at the beginning of the school year. Members may serve consecutive terms of office with no limit to the number of terms. Members are encouraged to serve more than one year to hopefully prevent a totally new team at the beginning of each school year. Resignations are accepted at the beginning of the school year.
The Site Governance Team shall elect a Chairperson at the first meeting at the beginning of the school year. There is no limit to the number of terms a Chairperson may serve.
A Vice-Chairperson and Secretary shall also be elected at the first meeting at the beginning of the school year.
ROLE OF GOVERNANCE TEAM MEMBERS
The role of the Governance Team members is to support the goals of the school and school district by:
- Supporting the shared decision making process.
- Seeking input and sharing outcomes with constituency groups.
- Attending meeting regularly.
- Becoming familiar with the Governance Document.
- Sharing information, expertise, and documents necessary to make informed decisions.
- Ensuring that decisions made do not violate contracts, laws, district policies and procedures.
Should a member find it necessary to miss a scheduled meeting, he or she may personally select an alternate representative to carry forward the consensus vote of that group at the meeting. Any alternate is a full consensus voting member of the Site Governance Team for that meeting. A written notice for an alternate, signed by both parties, must be submitted and noted in the official minutes.
While school is in session, meetings may be held monthly or as determined by the Chairperson, with a minimum of 8 meetings held during the traditional school year. The team will agree on a regular time which will be circulated to the faculty after the first meeting of the school year.
The Chairperson may call an emergency meeting outside the normal meeting schedule. It is necessary to obtain only the quorum number of votes to establish passage of the item being referred. The Consensus voters are the official representatives and any parent or student who has attended at least 2 meetings. These meetings may be conducted by phone or mail.
Agenda items may be referred in writing to the Chairperson or Governance Secretary at least three days prior to the meeting. The Chairperson will make every effort to include every item on the agenda. Items may be added to the agenda at the meeting with the consent of the body. Agendas will be distributed to all the staff and Team members prior to the meeting.
A quorum for the purpose of conducting business of the Site Governance Team shall be a simple majority of 50% plus one (1) more.
The Site Governance Team shall establish committee groups as deemed necessary. They shall perform their responsibilities, conduct research, and propose recommendations in their respective areas.
Areas of Decision Making (to include but no limited to)
- Master Schedule/ Instructional Calendar and Schedule
- Curriculum
- Staff/ Professional Development
- Teacher Assignments
- Resource Allocation
- Involvement in staff Selection
- Accountability
- Site Budget Expenditures
The principal’s role is as a spokesperson, communicating total staff and Governance Team decisions to the district office.
Decisions shall be made is accordance with the following process.
- The Site Governance Team discusses the issue and formulates the issue in clear and concise language.
- The Chairperson of the Team attempts to reach consensus on the issue from the stakeholder groups representatives.
- If consensus cannot be reached, each representative is given a copy of the issue to review with their group, and return their comments at the next Governance Team meeting.
- The Chairperson of the Team again attempts to reach consensus on the issue.
- Any decision made by reaching consensus from the Site Governance Team, after following the decision making process shall be final.
- Upon consensus vote of the official representatives, the issue can be resubmitted to the Site Governance Team for reconsideration.
VOTING ON GOVERNANCE DOCUMENT AND ANY CHANGES TO DOCUMENT
All staff members of SciTech, and student and parent representatives will be given a secret ballot to vote on the original Governance Document and any amendments. A simple majority of the number of ballots cast will mean passage of the Document or changes.
Every effort will be made to reach consensus among all stakeholder group representatives according to the “Decision Making Process” described above. In consensus building, each representative from group is to be “comfortable with” and can “live with” the decision.
If consensus cannot be reached, the issue will be sent to the Shared Decision Making Dispute Resolution Committee (members of the CAC plus five parents appointed by the district and the SDEA association.) Decisions by this body shall be made by a majority vote. Issues should be resolved expeditiously and consistent with the state law. The Shared Decision Making Procedures retain final responsibility for administration of district schools.
The decisions of the Site Governance Team are to improve the quality of the learning experience and learning outcomes for students at the San Diego High School of Science and Technology.