DUVENECK ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
SITE COUNCIL HANDBOOK
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 I. BACKGROUND

 
The School Site Council (SSC) implements policies established by the School Improvement Plan (SIP). The SIP provides supplemental funds to schools and is intended to increase school wide effectiveness, improve student achievement, and better prepare students to be productive and responsible. It stresses that those individuals closest to the students should be more involved in making significant decisions affecting the instructional program and vision for ongoing improvement of the school. Attached to the master copy of this handbook located in the school office are copies of the educational code sections describing this program. The program requires a SSC as a condition for receiving and expending supplemental funds.
The SSC develops, uses, and updates a school plan for long-range planning purposes, and to implement and monitor the school's improvement activities and expenditure of funds for such activities.
 
II. THE SCHOOL PLAN
 
A school plan is the document which guides the implementation of the school's improvement activities and which justifies the various improvement strategies and the expenditure of the school's fiscal resources. It is also a contract between the school and the district controlling how the supplemental funds provided by the special programs will be expended. The district is required to review and approve school plans. No plans may be approved by the district unless the SSC recommended its approval. There cannot be any expenditure of supplemental funds until the district approves the school plan.

The school plan should include:

  • A clear statement of the goals for the school and what the school hopes to accomplish through its improvement strategies to better meet these goals.
  • An analysis of how effective the school's current program is in improving student achievement, including information on student performance, retention rates, review of classroom work, results of self-studies or past Program Quality Review (PQR), as well as information on the ability of the school staff to provide an instructional program consistent with that described in the various curriculum frameworks.
  • A description of the strategies, including the allocation of funds and the use of staff development days, that will be.
  • A description of how the school will monitor or check to ensure that the improvement strategies are being
  • A description of how the school will determine if its program improvement efforts have been successful in achieving its goals.
  • Each element in the school plan should be connected to and supportive of the other elements of the plan.

III. RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE SSC

A. DEVELOPMENT/UPDATING OF THE SCHOOL PLAN:

Attached to the master copy of this handbook located in the school office are copies of the education code sections pertaining to the responsibility of the SSC to develop the school plan. The SSC may conduct all aspects of the program and plan development itself or it may delegate some of the tasks such as data gathering and analysis, development of strategies for program development, and the allocation of budgetary resources to a task force. Regardless of how the SSC proceeds in developing the school plan, that plan and the accompanying budget must be formally approved by a majority vote of the SSC before being forwarded to the school district for its review and approval.
Typically a preliminary budget and the school plan are prepared in the spring.
The school plan needs to be reviewed regularly to determine which goals, strategies, and expenditures should be modified so that it is current and is meeting the needs of the school's students.
The SSC is responsible for allocating the available supplemental resources from SIP money to meet the school's immediate and/or long term needs, to consider the skills and knowledge students will need to succeed, and to allocate the available supplemental resources for assisting students in attaining these goals.
The SSC develops a school improvement plan which includes a budget that reflects and supports the plan. Further, the SSC is responsible for regularly reviewing the plan and assuring its elements are implemented. The SSC should also monitor and review the effectiveness of the plan and update it as needed.

B. IDENTIFICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF CURRICULUM AND INSTRUCTIONALPRACTICES:
 
The primary responsibility of the SSC is to ensure that the school is continually attempting to identify and implement curriculum and instructional practices that strengthen the core academic program and ensure that students have access to and success in that program. The core academic program should embody the district's curriculum. The district's curriculum in turn should reflect the essence of the state educational frameworks. Since making decisions on the use of supplemental resources requires an understanding of the core curriculum and of the reasons students are or are not succeeding in learning, SSC members should be given access to the state curriculum frameworks and the series of curriculum booklets for parents published by the California Department of Education. Copies of these documents are attached to the master copy of this handbook in the school office. Additionally, whenever necessary, SSC members should have access to:
  • Qualitative and quantitative summary information on student achievement at the school;
  • Input from teachers and staff members as needed;
  • Information on all programs and financial resources available at the school
  • The school's most recent self-study and/or PQR review report;
  • The existing school plan and budget or information on plan writing if the school is writing its first plan;
  • The calendar of SSC meetings
  • A list of SSC members and their length of terms; and
  • The SSC bylaws.

 

C. INVESTMENT IN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT:
 
To assist the administration, teachers, and staff in delivering the curriculum to a diverse group of students, our school needs to invest in their professional development. Thus, the SSC should consider providing resources to support the following:
  • Sending teachers, staff, and administrators to continuing education and development courses and programs;
  • Providing new instructional materials as needed;
  • Providing release time to teachers for professional development;
  • Hiring experts to assist teachers in developing, improving, and implementing instructional techniques.
D. SETTING A VISION AND DIRECTION FOR THE SCHOOL:
 
To assist it in decision making, the SSC should regularly gather information to use as input through surveys, forums, and by soliciting input teachers, staff, and parents. The SSC's vision should consider the skills and knowledge students will need to be competitive in a modern economy and then use available supplemental resources, along with the existing base resources of the school, to make this vision possible for all students.

E. COMMUNICATING WITH THE LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT:
 
The SSC should communicate with the school district to assure the school and the district are supporting the goals and needs of one another.

F. MAINTAINING A DECISION MATRIX TO DETERMINE WHERE DECISIONS AFFECTINGTHE SCHOOL ARE MADE.
 
G. PROVIDING A FORUM WHERE CONFLICTING OPINIONS CAN BE DISCUSSED.
 
H. REVIEWING AND UPDATING THE SSC BY-LAWS AS NEEDED.
 
I. REVIEWING AND UPDATING THE SSC HANDBOOK AS NEEDED.