LISD Academic Advocates

1. Call to Order and Pledge. The meeting was called to order at 7:03 by Secretary, Erika Mittag and those present recited the Pledge.

2. Secretary's report. The minutes were approved.

3. Treasurer's report and budget. The treasurer's report showed a current balance of $279.02 before the most recent membership dues have been deposited. Expenses included the website hosting service and domain name registration, the post office box fee and the student and teacher scholarships. A budget will be presented at the October meeting.

4. Membership report. Ray Cowperthwaite reported that he has been visiting with banks especially to solicit memberships. Ideas for recognizing corporate donors included listing the business name on our stationery (at present we do not have stationery), including the business name on a scholarship if they provided the full amount, and linking on our website. [Update: Since the meeting, M/D Totco has signed on as a corporate member]

5. Brief overview of Update meeting with district curriculum staff - Erika Mittag & Chris Cavalli. Topics discussed with district staff included activities related to curriculum for advanced learners such as vertical alignment on core subjects grades 6 through 12 and elementary accelerated programs in math and language arts. Teachers attended a number of training programs related to Advanced Placement and Gifted & Talented instruction. The district continues to work on better ways to identify gifted and talented students. A new brochure will be coming out soon highlighting all accelerated/advanced course opportunities K-12.

6. Round table discussion - raise issues of importance to you; share your experience with academic issues in our district. There was a general discussion on attendees' experiences although no major theme emerged.

7. Discuss future speaker topics: Among the topics suggested were: 1) a state legislator speaking on school finance; 2) Latin club demonstration of their interactive program; 3) ACC dual enrollment; 4) examples of excellence in all of the four core academic areas.

8. Announcements:
a. Next meeting, Wednesday, October 29, 2003, 7 p.m., CPMS Library
b. Renew Hill Country News paid subscriptions, designate Academic Advocates for the $10 education organization donation by September 30.

9. The meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Erika Mittag
Secretary