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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 10/20/1998October,20, 1998 Vo1.3~r, Page 307 i MINUTES z OF A SPECIAL 1VIEETING 3 PETALUMA CITY COUNCIL a ~ TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1998 s ROLL CALL, 7:00 u.m. 6 Councilmembers Present: Keller (DK), Read. (NR), Vice Mayor Maguire (NIl~I), Mayor ~ Hilligoss (PH) - .Absent: Torliatt (PT), Hamilton (JH), Stompe (MS s •Petaluma City School District Members Present: Lou Steinberg -Chairman, Carolyn 9 Tennyson, Sally Foley, Elizabeth Marquardt io •Cinnabar School District Members Present: Ann Rabidoux, Paul Sequeira, Donna. Walker u •Old Adobe School District Board Members Present: Marlene Abel, Elaine Boling, Jim iz Janakes, Gary Johnson, Diane Kiefer 13 •Waugh School District Board Members Present: Shelley Ford, Mike Kerns, Dorothy to Sturdevant is •Facilitator: Doug Gamson, Dean Santa Rosa Junior College Petaluma Campus i6 PUBLIC COIVIIVIENT t~ Duane Bellinger -perhaps there could be a forum sponsored by HCZ to bring experts is who have effective drug education programs so they could share information from i9 programs other than DARE, which he feels is not as effective a program discouraging zo drug use as has been hoped. zi Madeline Asche - is pleased this is happening. She is interested in /having a discussion zz about a possible third junior high school. z3 Janice Cader-Thompson -safety in our schools is of interest to her especially Kenilworth za Junior High. There is bad traffic,. yield signs, stop signs and directional arrows are zs needed. She supports a third junior high school. z6 IDISCUSSION OF'-ITEMS OF COIVIMON INTEREST z~ 1. Continued Sharing of Various Facilities zs Members of each of the school districts agreed with the current sharing of the various z9 school and public facilities. It was felt that, if possible, additional. indoor facilities could 3o also be enjoyed for such .activities as indoor soccer. With the concern of the youth in 31 mind, there were expressions about traffic problems at various locations. Anything that 3z can be done collaboratively was encouraged. 33 2. Sharing of.Community Access Television 34 It was noted the Community Access Television has its facility at Casa Grande High 3s School. They have an ongoing need for financial support to obtain. more in-depth 36 training fora `School-to-Career' supplement to high school educational possibilities. 37 Representatives of the Petaluma High School Board would approve a funding increase. Key to abbreviations: JH-Councilmember Jane Hamilton, NR-Councilmember Nancy Read PH-Mayor M. Patricia Hilligoss, MS-Councilmember Mary Stompe DK Councilmember David Keller, PT-Councilmember Pamela Torliatt MM--Vice Mayor Matt Maguire Page 308, Volti 32 October 20, 1998 1 It was noted that PetalumaNet, which is a local internet access group that. gave the z schools and the city a boost in development of -Internet capabilities., It is4 hoped that 3 there will be more .community access between Sonoma. and Marin counties': The a Community Access Television receives a ` oluntary' TCI (cabl'e~`televisionjsubscriber s donation of $0.50 per TCI subscriber bill payment in Petaluma. 6 Enrollment in adult educational .programs through this. local cable. television access is a 7 potential opportunity not yet being taken, advantage of. A community survey would be s valuable 'in determining what the community wolxld like to see on the. three local 9 television. access stations which currently are Channe161, 62 and 63. All of these :ideas;. to and more,. are in their. infancy .at this time.. The requirements for graduation and the 11 Goals 2000' could be strengthened through'this medium. 'The xunior College is planning lz `connectivity.' 13 3. Maintain and .Further Relationships with Law Enforcement for Safe Schools. and .a. Safe 14 CO1nlriUriltV is The. schools and. the Police .Department :meet on a monthly basis to discuss' safety; drugs, 16 .gangs and strategies to for prevention. of these problems: They (high schools and' police) 17 are learning how to help, each other and are also .learning; how to communicate with each is other. Additional .discussions. with the elementary school districts as well as the Sheriff 19 would be ;helpful. The police .have a 1_ack of staffing which- caused cessation of the zo `Lunch with Students' police program. The DARE program schedules police interaction zl with the sixth graders. zz There could be. more joint school meetings to develop strategy and talk .about these z3 mutual problems: A suggestion was to develop a program. where. the youth,. would hear za such things as, `It ;not cool to, x x x .' .Also,. the. youth. should `be hearing -what they are zs doing' shat is acceptable behavior. A fund should 'be started and thin type`s of program z6 could be used from Kindergarten through. the 6th grade. Sorrle school .board members z~ would -like to meet with the police about. speed reduction measures. zs Also the schools :are., working with appropriate agencies on truancy 'issues.- Monthly z9 meetings have been. held on this subject. over -the last. four years. It was- noted that 3o parents need to be in the communication loop: An example given was the= fact' that 31 parents provide an arena to drink. Project Graduation. is an example of parents giving 3z teens an arena to. enjoy-without drinking., .Another example of setting examples was that 33 at local high school football games smoking. is banned. 3a An elementary school' board member said he feels gang activity .hasn't increased. The 3s question was asked if there are teacher education. programs on, identifying .:gang 36 membership. .Staff advised there is such a, program that assists teachers to identify :and 37 address the issue.. Thee police department has been of. great assistance in this regard. In 3a this instance, activities- and manner of dressing are pointed out. so the faculties. may be 39 cognizant of possible participants in.,gang activity.- Thls school program is working. ao Graffiti is photographed before it is removed. al The schools were asked if there are any unmet needs. az It was noted that the Police Department is one department that has actually grown over a3 the years. as Gangs seem to give youth. a. feeling -of belonging. The City ;and the schools need to .get as the kids' to 'become lnvolvee and to have a sense of community at a younger age. The a6 DARE program focuses on the elementary schools where it is hoped the program will Key to abbreviations: JH-CouncilmemberJaneHamilfon, NR-Councilmember Nancy.Read PH:Mayor M' .Patricia Hi/ligoss, MS Cour~cilmember Mary Stompe. DK Councilmember David `Keller, PT-Councilmember~Pamela Torliatf MM-Vice Mayor Matt Maguire October20, 1998 Vo1.3~ Page 309 i catch theme. before they experiment with drugs. No reinforcement of the DARE program z exists beyond the sixth grade, and there needs to be a follow-up for the older age groups. 3 To do that, there is the need for more funding sources. It was suggested that the most a stringent intervention should be at the middle school level. s With the City beginning to work on revisions to the General Plan, a new element is being s considered to cover Children and Families. This information will be considered in that 7 context, too. s There is zero tolerance for these activities in junior high and high school. In service 9 training for teachers has. been instituted to help them to identify indications of potential io problems. A joint community-wide program should be available for parents so they can ii learn to recognize some of the drug and gang indicators. Often parents are in denial that i2 there maybe such a problem. 13 4. Continue Education -Community partnership with the Healthy Community Consortium i4 CZ . is The essence of the HC2 mission statement is to build a healthy community by effecting i6 lasting, positive changes for the economic, social, spiritual. and physical well-being of the i~ community. Currently the main issues being dealt with are domestic violence, teen drug is abuse prevention and a dialogue on race. Those issues will be discussed in more detail at the i9 November 14 Public Forum at Casa Grande High.. School. The Board Members in so attendance agreed that parental education is a topic that HCZ could and should be addressing. si 5. Continue Collaborative Efforts Regarding Traffic Concerns and Student Safetv ~z The `round-about' at the intersection of Ely Blvd. South and Casa Grande Drive (at 23 Casa Grande High School) is a bit of concern to board members and to parents. These za intersections have been used successfully in Europe and elsewhere to assist with traffic Zs flow. It was suggested that the City do some proactive education about the use of the 26 `round-abouts.' It was asked, "Who has the right-of-way?" Several in attendance a~ expressed their concern that adherence to speed laws has disintegrated for the whole Zs population. s9 It was mentioned that the City now has a "Traffic Detail" for traffic enforcement. The 3o schools were encouraged to make comments about potential traffic impacts when the 31 City forwards development plans to them for school board review. It was noted that 3z California children know that people are going to stop for them, but that is not true 33 elsewhere. Another concern expressed was the `red light runners.' 34 Iri .addition to enforcement, there is a need to re-educate the parents and the community 3s about traffic safety. It was suggested to have a school safety week and .put police 36 officers at the schools to give tickets as:necessary. All of the safety information should 3~ be placed on the City's Web site ,as well as using handouts at city schools and at the 3s driving schools for°reinforcement. 39 How the transit system carr be impioved to get people off of the streets and to reduce ao traffic is a topic that needs involvement of schools and parents. Children walking to and ai from Kenilworth School is a concern to parents and needs to be addressed. This as expression of concern relates to children crossing the freeway as well as walking south a3 on Kenilworth Court. It was suggested that the gate at the Fairgrounds Park and Ride as could be looked at as a substitute ingress and egress to the school area. The traffic as situation on Bantam and' Bodega was expressed as a concern and there was a question a6 whether or not there are plans for a traffic light there. Key.to abbreviations: JH-Councilmember Jane Hamilton, NR-Councilmember Nancy Read PH-Mayor M. Patricia Hilligoss, MS-Councilmember Mary Stompe DK- Councilmember David Keller, PT-Councilmember Pamela Torliatt MM-vice Mayor Matt Maguire Page 310, Vol. 32 October 20, 1998 ~~~~* 2 Informational Sharing: 3 On November 12 there will be a Community Forum at Cinnabar School. The main a topics' are "School to Work" and "Goals 2000." s This was: a good first step. There should be~more meetings. This group should get down 6 to strategies to .solve problems. ~ There is a need to .collaborate among the schools between meetings. That.informaton s should then be shared with the City Council. and ultimately with the community. 9 Expressions: of appreciation were shared for the occasion to have. this meeting and to all to those wha `inten 11 elected officials h ed. Thee Superintendents get together regularly. It is good. that the ave now begun this dialogue. lz Subjects for additional schooVcity:forums such as this can be: 13 -Expectations of.students. 14 -Accomplishments: grammar school to:rriiddle school, to high school. is -After school activities, such as non-varsity sports. 16 'These meetings. should be 'held at aeast every six. months,: with a continued. dialogue 17 between the school boards... Perhaps the. county schools may wish to become involved, is as well. 19 Ivlr. Gamson was thanked for facilitating the meeting. and he was asked to include the 20 junior college. next time: 21 AI)JOUItN . zz At 9:10 p.m. the meeting was adjourned 23 24 2s 26 27 2s ATTEST: 29 .~, 31 ..:.,_. , ._, 32 Patricia E. Bernard, City Clerk Key to abbreviations: JH-Counci7member Jane Hamilton, NR=Couricilmeinber IVancy~Read . PH-Mayor M..Patricia,.Hilligoss, MS-Councilmember. MaryrStompe DK- Councilmember David Keller," PT-Councilmember Pamela Torliatt MM=vice Mayor MattMaguir. e