Minutes of Faculty Council Meeting 9/21/99

 

Announcements:

Dot asked for 2 faculty volunteers to help plan Staff Appreciation Day.

Carol Hughes, Chairperson of the Board of Trustees, had surgery and the faculty sent her a get well card.

Ten to twelve members of the UNC Board of Governors will come to campus on October 13.  Faculty should be considering areas that they want to bring to their attention

Marilyn Link suggested that the school do something for the victims of Hurricane Floyd.  Sohair will let the SGA know that the faculty would be interested in helping students organize a drive.

Warren Basket reported that 20 students are still out of school due to the flooding at home and that the school has tried to contact them to let them know not to worry about their studies and that the school will help them catch up when they are able to return.

 

Approval of Minutes

The faculty voted to approve the minutes from the 9/7/99 meeting.

 

Third Decade Discussion

Purpose:

Advise SACS committee

Assist with fund-raising

Provide a direction for future curriculum decisions

 

Dot reminded faculty that the original questions had come from the Educational Advisory Council. 

Questions to be considered:

Who are our students?

What does/can our program do to meet student needs?

How can we improve our position as a cutting edge institution?

What does/can our program do to meet the educational needs of North Carolina and perhaps the nation?

What needs to happen to make our program the best possible?

 

Who are our students?

Faculty Ideas/Comments in response to the question posed:

Our student body is changing and that needs to be considered as plans are made for the next ten years.  Teachers and students who participate in our distance learning programs are also our students.  We also need to realize that we have potential students now at the lower grades across North Carolina. 

Our students are very bright 16-18 year olds who want to take advantage of many different things.  We can offer them a residential environment where they can utilize new and different options in terms of their educational experience. 

Our students are mature, motivated students who are not necessarily challenged at their home school. Our students have abilities across the board and are discovering interests, and we need to provide a stimulating environment to enhance their development.

 

 

Can the school of science and math provide an excellent curriculum in all areas?    Can the school just focus on science and math/ provide resources for that/ or try to provide bells and whistles in all areas?

Are our students coming in with a more diversified background needing extra assistance?

Do we have the resources to meet the needs of all students at various levels?

What do we need to be?

We can’t be everything to everybody.

What is the best school we can be given the resources we have?

We need to agree on these questions?

 

Who do we want our students to be in the future?

 

Donita Robinson summarized the following comments from our discussion on an overhead:

 

-defining goals of our program determines students

-include DL students & teachers as well as residents

-student body changing

-what we offer to students (& teachers) in a unique way (technology, residential program,

academics) will determine our student body

-in some way this is associated with the student body we have here

-consider social, physical, spiritual aspects of teenagers (look to "national experts")

-3 groups to consider & try to understand

            1. current middle school

            2. DL students

            3. current NCSSM students

-residential program is special

- current students are ones who are willing to leave home (& all that goes with that) for something

academic & to try an adventure

-look at alumni surveys

-students whose needs are not being met by home schools

-we serve a diverse population

-come in with less skills - to get to excellence takes more time & effect

 

Academic eligibility for the drama club:

Barbara Namkoong  suggested a plan to tell the students that if they get into academic difficulty she will be willing to cut them from the cast in their productions this year. She would like to use the regulations in place for athletics.  Advisees should be aware that these statements have been made to students.  She will send to faculty a list of students who are involved in productions.  She also will consult the list of C- and D’s for students who are in trouble.  The faculty endorsed the efforts of Ms. Namkoong in this area and thanked her for her efforts.