Advisory Council

5-6- Casey Keller
7-8- David Cole
PTO Chairs- Portia Garrett and Emily Bowie

5- Bre Libert
6- Chelsey Hill²
7- Ali Foster
8- Marti Jeffords²
RA- Kaci Holz
Electives- Juaquin Rodriguez
Sped.- Barb Tjornehoj²
Support- Kimberly Jefferson
Bookkeeper- Julie Duel
Administration

The Student Principal's Advisory Council is made up of student leaders from every grade level who have been selected by their peers for their character, leadership, and commitment to our school.  These students work closely with the principal to ensure the student voice is represented in the decision-making process and to collaborate on ideas making our school an even better place.  They also serve as our House Captains.  Members meet monthly with Dr. Erickson to share insights, offer feedback on school programs, and discuss ways to continue improving our school environment.  The council also helps plan student-centered events and spirit days, supports schoolwide initiatives, and serves as a representative voice for their classmates.  Advisory Council members are expected to be positive role models, problem-solvers, and collaborators who care about making a difference in our school community.

2025-2026 Student Principal Advisory Council Members are:

Fifth Grade: Lottie Carpenter, Wyatt Guidry, William Leaverton, Stephania Shepard

Sixth Grade: Hope Allen, Alex Avila Casillas, Lucy Herman, Lizzy Mendez Alvarado

Seventh Grade: Leah Alvarado, Molly Ayers, Santana Rodgers, Angello Pena, 

Eighth Grade: Amber Avila Casillas, Bryce Pauley, Darren Villavicencio, Jackson York

Council Purpose: The purpose of the advisory council is to foster open, direct communication with PGMS administration. Council members serve as representatives for families.

Protocol: 

• The goal of PAC is to provide an open line of communication across all grade levels 5-8 We will define areas of need, brainstorm solutions, and make decisions as they relate to our school needs. 
• Submit agenda items in advance.  This will provide the opportunity for research and a response to questions. Please email questions to ericksonali@fssd.org.  A three-day advance notice for all questions will help in preparation.  
• We will try to keep the meeting length to one hour, but will certainly continue if necessary.
• Meeting minutes will be kept.
• Meetings will take place in the conference room.

2026-27 Meeting Dates

• August 20 2:45-4:00
• December  10  2:45-4:00
• April 14  2:45-4:00
• Even Grades will roll off at the end of this year

PGMS Principal’s Advisory Council Agenda

August 20, 2026

In Attendance: Alisha Erickson, Josh Bracamontes, JP Orman, David Cole, Casey Keller, Portia Garrett, Celia Whitler, Chelsey Hill, Ali Foster, Marti Jeffords, Kaci Holz, Juaquin Rodriguez, Kimberly Jefferson, Barb Tjornehoj

absent: Emily Bowie

Review of Minutes: Motion to approve-Cole, Second-Keller, motion passes

School News

• 5-strong beginning, addition of 4th teacher to the 5th grade team, digital learning guidelines covered, Biz Town upcoming field trip  
• 6-started content and homework this week, welcomed 2 new staff to the 6th grade team 
• 7-started content and covering new info, welcomed new teacher to the 7th team, getting 7th graders transitioned to a new hallway and end of the building
• 8-good start to the school year, uneventful and students are getting settled, welcomed new teacher and learned pronunciation of his name, student teacher with Mrs. Jeffords who will be with us almost until winter break 
• Support-busy working on benchmark and screening for data needed, getting to meet all students, start out the year with check ins and standards
• Related Arts-great start to the year, team meeting with coaches about WIN time and how they can best support them
• SPED –going over IEPs and scheduling, checking in with all students to establish a great start to the school year
• Electives-started the year to establish the understanding that this is a HS credit course so the demands could be higher and to take it seriously. Students are ready to enjoy the year.

Parent News: 

• Hearing good things about WIN Time.  Want to know what the purpose is and how the time should be used. What is ideal for the students in that time and want more explanation. 
  • Dr. Erickson shared that students in Tier 1 that may need additional time to cover a subject or concept so that students with like-minded needs can be grouped together and cover items more fully. Priority days are a part of the system and that can help teachers pull students to offer additional support. If not pulled to any area, a study hall or iReady review session will be utilized so all students are engaged. Second semester may show additional refinement to the system since this is a new routine. Possible new options available to give students more choices. WIN occurs for 7th and 8th grade only and occurs in the morning. Explanation given of daily selection and ways that the system may be utilized by different teachers and staff. WIN is not a place to do homework that was missed last night, for example, however the genesis to start this was to give students more opportunities and support to prevent missing assignments and work. 
• Parents are feeling positive about WIN and look forward to seeing it develop.  Thank you.

Principal’s Update: 

• Lions Serve and House Days update
  • Dr. Erickson gave an overview of last year’s Lions Serve days and feedback given. Now, half days will be used for House Days so students can be dressed up and enjoy it, but House games will be for no more than an hour. The rest of the day will be more structured to give character and community lessons. This way students can enjoy the day without it being overstimulating.
  • Lions Serve days will be more strategically planned on weeks so that instructional time will not be forfeited. Students shared that they loved going off campus and to places to visit, so we will lean in to that and have more off campus service locations like the Animal Shelter, assisted living, etc. The 2 dates are in December and again in April
• Aug. 20- Cafecito with Jessica and Teresa, 7:45am. It was a great meeting but it was not well attended so we are trying to find alternative ideas to help build this connection-ideas to maybe go out to community, etc.
• Aug. 21- Uniform Committee
  • Survey results were overall positive.  A steering committee has been established that will involve students, staff members and some family members. This is purely to get ideas, start the brainstorming process, and have a better idea of what a uniform could look like for PGS if we decided to go that route. 
• New PGS Sign Coming-all FSD schools will get new signs.  The completion date is scheduled for November.

PTO Update: 

• Moving along with all the back to school paperwork and thank you to teachers and staff for getting packets sent home and gathering info to turn into offices and PTO. 
• PTO staff appreciation donations are coming in but not set yet. They will be updating the participation Ice Cream Scoops board for elementary and House points thermometer for middle school

New Business: 

• School Improvement Plan
  • Goals
    • Improved ELA & Math achievement
    • Strong Culture of Wellbeing and Belonging
    • Reduce the percentage of of chronically absent students
• Parent Engagement Policy (district level) and then the school crafts it to be fitting for the individual school community environment. The Compact is what shows commitments from the school, teachers/staff and families/students. 
  • move to approve engagement policy C. Keller, A. Foster second, motion passes with no changes or edits
• School Parent Compact changes from last year include dates and district & school goals including improvement plans. School goals to continue improving Math and Literacy goals. 12% is what the state set as goal and this is challenging but achievable for our school. We will utilize tools like Bloomsights. Attendance will also be a focus to be proactive and additions of reactive structures. 
  • move to approve A. Foster, second C. Whitler, motion passes with no changes or edits
• Title 1 Budget Update
  • Total Budget- $48,911
    • Professional Learning- $13,500
    • Parent Engagement- $700
    • Technology Equipment- $14,421
    • Instructional Materials- $14,367
    • Communication Board- $3,000
    • Tutoring/Club- $943, use of some funds to help clubs that align to our school goals, it also encourages students to become more involved which then helps them attend school and have better attendance.
    • Transportation- $1,980
• Next meeting- December 10
  • Motion to adjourn-A. Foster, seconded-M. Jeffords 3:34 pm