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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