HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-02-01-Estabrook-min
Estabrook School Site Council
Meeting Minutes
February 1, 2010
Present: Sandy Trach Ron Sanborn
Kim Coburn Gretchen Saunders
Lisa Nordman Carey St. Onge
Pamela Tames
Next meeting: Monday, March 15th, 3:30-4:15, Estabrook Teacher’s Room
I. Announcements
We have added the January meeting to the schedule. The remaining Site Council
meeting dates are as follows:
th
Monday, January 11, 3:30-4:15 pm
st
Monday, February 1, 3:30-4:15 pm
th
Monday, March 15, 3:30-4:15 pm
th
Monday, April 26, 3:30-4:15 pm
th
Friday, June 4, 3:30-4:15 pm
II. Discussion
The Site Council continued the discussion of the remaining points under Goal 3:
Promote a culture of home & school collaboration
Conducting inventory of K-5 activities
a.It was agreed that there is value in conducting an inventory of K-5
activities. One idea was to create a calendar that includes all events,
by grade for each month.
b.Pam Tames volunteered to create one calendar as an example of
what the resulting calendar might look like.
c.The idea of having a calendar that includes all events per grade per
month could help to gather parent participation in activities, more
involvement by students and parents, and to ensure this information is
available to all parents in a timely manner.
Student health, well-being, indoor recess relative to existing
goals.
a.This topic was shelved for future meeting.
Gaining Site Council & Leadership Team feedback on new website
components.
a.The website is going to be updated. Ideas on how to update the site
are forthcoming.
Communication & relationships goal with our METCO families
a.Family Friends Program. We would like to be proactive in the family
friends program which typically begins in the fall; we are hoping to
establish connections in March.
b.Kim Coburn spoke to Margaret Counts-Klebe regarding this idea. The
nominating committee usually happens in March, so at this point they
have not initiated Family Friend discussions. The idea is to pair a
Lexington family with a METCO family. Susan Foster coordinated this
in years past. The recommendation was established for someone to
contact Susan Foster and ask who will be coordinating family friends
this upcoming year. Pam Tames volunteered to contact Susan Foster.
c.We are hoping to get a list of hosting families, contact those families
and ask whether they plan to host next year. Talk with them about
what worked, and areas of improvement in the process.
d.If families do not plan to host this next year, do they have ideas of a
family who might be interested in becoming a host family?
e.Perhaps teachers could get involved to the extent of being able to
identify friends the METCO student has in class. We could contact one
of those friends' families to find out if they might be interested in
becoming a host family.
rdth
f.3 and 5 graders, there is a scheduling issue if the Lexington
children participate in orchestra/band. As concerts get closer, practice
typically falls on Thursdays, so for host families, if the METCO child
does not participate in band, how do they fill their time? Perhaps
having a second family host that same child so that during busy band
season, the child has an option to either go observe band or go to the
second hosting families home to play.
g.Cheryl Crowder is currently the METCO coordinator; she would be a
good person to contact for advice on how families who want to
participate who have had issues with the match not going well, Cheryl
can help solve issues. Kim Coburn will contact Cheryl.
Read out of Green Team Lunch. Purpose was to evaluate student
interest. Include recycling initiative, explore idea of morning
student greenhouse group, consider evaluating building energy
report, education of fellow students.
a.Lunch with the 5th graders went very well. Students were excited
about the idea of participating. They came up with a long list of ideas
of how Estabrook could support this idea.
b.The idea is to now, identify a core Green Team comprised of K-5.
Meet with those students during lunch and have the students sort and
categorize the list of ideas they came up with during the lunch.
c.Once categorized and sorted, the team would then choose 1 topic
and work with that idea. Have a legacy that they can pass on to the
class next year.
d.Decisions need to be made regarding how many times the Green
Team meets, when they meet, how to establish who is on the team
e.Things to think about when choosing the topic:
a.Which ideas require human change
i.Using recycle bins more often
b.Which ideas require money to fulfill
i.Purchasing additional recycle bins – more trash pickup
ii.No trash competition - rewards
c.Which ideas require additional supplies
i.Compost pile – what does that entail
ii.Planting trees – cost of tree saplings, etc
f.Sample of ideas:
a.Turning 1 row of lights off
b.Recycle more
c.No trash day competition
d.Research websites looking for initiatives for recycling
e.Planting trees BBY
f.Collect rainwater and reuse
g.Create compost pile
h.Use greenhouse
i.Reuse milk cartons
III. Plan for next meeting
At our March 15th meeting we will look over the points brought up by this meeting,
focusing on the main topics and further evolve our main areas.
Minutes recorded by Lisa Nordman