Chair Anna Zane annazane@aol.com

Vice-Chair Jonathan Nickell  jonathan.nickell@gmail.com

Treasurer

Secretary Margaret Romero mromero@discovercompass.org

 

 

a.   Purpose/Charge:

1) Make recommendations to the Board priorities for spending school district moneys with a focus on improving literacy and numeracy;

2) Submit recommendations to the Board concerning preparation of the District’s Performance, Improvement, Priority Improvement or Turnaround plan (whichever is applicable);

3) Review any charter school applications received by the Board and upon request of the District and at the DAC’s option, review any charter school renewal application prior to consideration by the Board;

4) At least annually, cooperatively determine with the Board the areas and issues, in addition to budget issues, that the DAC shall study and make recommendations upon;

5)  Provide input and recommendations to principals, on an advisory basis, concerning the development and use of new assessment tools that are not research-based and have not been proven effective to measure and evaluate student academic growth as it relates to teacher evaluations;

6) Publicize opportunities to serve and solicit parents to serve on the DAC;

7) Assist the District in implementing the District’s family engagement policy; and

8) Assist school personnel to increase families’ engagement with educators, including families’ engagement in creating students’ READ plans, Individual Career and Academic Plans, and plans to address habitual truancy. 

b.   Schedule and Method of Implementing Purpose/Charge

The work of the DAC will be accomplished in the following manner and on the following schedule. The DAC shall meet monthly as described in the following: 

1) September - At a meeting, the Elementary School Principal or his/her designee shall make a presentation concerning the current financial needs of the school, including a priority list of financial needs going forward. The principal shall address the ways the school is currently financially meeting the students’ needs in numeracy and literacy and how the priority list dollars might impact those needs in the future. The principal shall also discuss ways the DAC might assist school personnel to increase families’ engagement with educators, including families’ engagement in creating students’ READ plans, Individual Career and Academic Plans, and plans to address habitual truancy.

2) October - At a meeting, the Middle School Principal or his/her designee shall make a presentation concerning the current financial needs of the school, including a priority list of financial needs going forward. The principal shall address the ways the school is currently financially meeting the students’ needs in numeracy and literacy and how the priority list dollars might impact those needs in the future. The principal shall also discuss ways the DAC might assist school personnel to increase families’ engagement with educators, including families’ engagement in creating students’ READ plans, Individual Career and Academic Plans, and plans to address habitual truancy.

3) November - At a meeting, the High School Principal or his/her designee shall make a presentation concerning the current financial needs of the school, including a priority list of financial needs going forward. The principal shall address the ways the school is currently financially meeting the students’ needs in numeracy and literacy and how the priority list dollars might impact those needs in the future. The principal shall also discuss ways the DAC might assist school personnel to increase families’ engagement with educators, including families’ engagement in creating students’ READ plans, Individual Career and Academic Plans, and plans to address habitual truancy.

4) December - At a joint meeting with the Elementary School Accountability Committee (ESAC), the DAC and ESAC shall review the District’s family engagement policy (Administrative Policy KB) with the school principal or his/her designee with the goal of determining any recommended policy changes and ways the DAC and ESAC might assist in better implementing the policy.

5) January - At a meeting the Assistant Superintendent shall review the draft Uniform Improvement Plan, if any, with the DAC.

6) February - At a joint meeting with the Middle School Accountability Committee (MSAC), the DAC and MSAC shall review the District’s family engagement policy (Administrative Policy KB) with the school principal or his/her designee with the goal of determining any recommended policy changes and ways the DAC and MSAC might assist in better implementing the policy.

7) March - At a joint meeting with the High School Accountability Committee (HSAC), the DAC and HSAC shall review the District’s family engagement policy (Administrative Policy KB) with the school principal or his/her designee with the goal of determining any recommended policy changes and ways the DAC and HSAC might assist in better implementing the policy.

8) April - At a meeting, the Assistant Superintendent shall review the revised draft UIP, if any. Prior to the end of the meeting, the DAC shall draft a list of recommendations to the Board concerning any changes to the preparation of the District’s Uniform Improvement Plan.

9) May - At a meeting with the Board of Education, the DAC shall present a report containing its recommendation with regard to: board priorities for spending school district moneys with a focus on improving literacy and numeracy; any recommended policy changes and ways the DAC and the various SAC’s might assist in better implementing the District’s family engagement policy including families’ engagement in creating students’ READ plans, Individual Career and Academic Plans, and plans to address habitual truancy. At that time, the Board and the DAC shall also discuss and cooperatively determine if there are any areas or issues, in addition to budget issues related to the UIP, that the DAC shall study and make recommendations upon for the following year.

If the Board receives a new, renewal or expansion charter school application, the Board President shall work with the DAC to schedule appropriate time for the DAC to review such application prior to consideration by the Board.

If the development and use of new assessment tools that are not research-based and have not been proven effective to measure and evaluate student academic growth have been newly employed in teacher evaluations, the Board President shall work with the DAC to schedule appropriate time for the DAC to provide input and recommendations to principals, on an advisory basis, concerning the development and use of such new assessment tools in teacher evaluations.

c.   Membership - minimum (appointed by the Board, with attention to the Districts racial/ethnic proportions):

1) At least three parents of students enrolled in the district;

2) At least one teacher employed by the district;

3) At least one school administrator employed by the district;

4) At least one person involved in business in the community within the district boundaries; and

5) One or two board members.

d.   Reporting Schedule: Annually in May or as requested by the Board

e.   Term: Members appointed annually by the Board

f.    Authority: Advisory to the Board

Board Committee Members' Code of Conduct Policy: GP-7A

Board committees function to support the Board and to assist in the fulfillment of its stated functions. All board committees report directly to the Board, and committee members serve at the Board’s pleasure. The Board commits itself and expects its committee members to commit to ethical, businesslike and lawful conduct, including proper use of authority and appropriate decorum when acting on behalf of the Board. 

Accordingly: 

1.   Committee members may not attempt to exercise individual authority over the organization.

       a.  Committee members’ interaction with the superintendent and with staff must recognize the lack of authority vested in individual
            committee members except when explicitly authorized by the Board.

       b.  Committee members’ interaction with the public, press or other entities must recognize the same limitation and the inability of
            any committee member to speak for the committee or the Board.

       c.  Committee members will not make individual requests of staff for operational information without specific board authorization.

2.   To build trust among committee members and to ensure an environment conducive to effective governance, committee members will:

1. focus on issues rather than personalities;
2. exercise honesty in all written and interpersonal interaction, never intentionally misleading or misinforming each other;
3. criticize privately, praise publicly;
4. make every reasonable effort to protect the integrity and promote the positive image of the district and one another;
5. never embarrass each other or the district;
6. demonstrate respect for each others’ opinions;
7. assume and practice trust;
8. maintain focus on identified goals;
1. communicate in a timely manner to avoid surprises;
10. withhold judgment on issues until fully informed;
11. maintain confidentiality;
12. follow the chain of command;
13. assume a non-defensive posture, taking the initiative to communicate and ask questions for clarification;
14. publicly support final actions of the committee and the Board.