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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2003-12-04-Hastings-min Minutes of the School Council December 4, 2003 Meeting A) LEF GRANT: We have the opportunity to apply for a special LEF grant. The idea should be developed as a partnership between staff and parents since LEF would like to fund a community building project. Due in February. The grant can’t replace things that were lost through the override. Some ideas for the grant were discussed including: Enrichment? Kid City was discussed as a good example of a project that was enriching academically and brought the community together. We did not have specific ideas for a follow-up. Other performers could be sought. Lynne will solicit ideas from staff. Closing the gap? Is there a special project Hastings could do to work on our SIP goal of closing the achievement gap. One idea was a morning enrichment to overlap with breakfast but this time is too tight. Lynne will solicit ideas from staff. EMI training for parents? The Anti-Bias Committee described a very effective training offered by EMI. (EMI stands for Empowering Multicultural Initiatives and coordinates training to support students, teachers and communities participating in the Metco program.) The parents who took it spoke highly of the workshops at the most recent PTA meeting. We could have a version of the class here at Hastings. Having parents “catch up” with some of the training our teachers have had would be a great way to continue the work of the ABC team. Crisis/Grief training? Another principal in town expressed interested in sharing a speaker to give special training in crisis/grief. Hastings School Council members responded strongly to the suggestion of being co-applicants especially in light of the recent loss of a parent at Hastings, other losses in prior years, and the lasting emotional impact of 9/11. Field trip to Boston? In the past, some students at Hastings went on a field trip to visit Boston neighborhoods where Hastings students actually live. A grant could fund a field trip for a grade level to enrich our community building goals, build from the work Anti- Bias is doing, and capture some of the successes from the Kid City Boston field trip. Evening Multi-Cultural dance? We might expand from the successful Family Square Dances held the past two years through Karen Zallen (with ACT). Wetu? We could work on/from the Wetu, either completing the roof/cover (if it is intended to be covered), or having the builder make a formal presentation to students/staff. Staff pointed out that the specific purpose of the Wetu has not been made clear to the entire student body. Having it resolved or shared might help out at recess. Lynne will take these ideas to the staff meeting and collect other ideas and responses. We all want to be sure the grant would fill a need, and not overwhelm staff, students or volunteer parents! Jennifer Hertzel suggested that we find out if any parents at Hastings are professional grant-writers. B) SURVEY OF PARENTS REGARDING SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT : To create an effective School Improvement Plan in the spring, School Council members agree that it is important to create a way that all families can express their ideas. We will launch a one page open-ended survey school-wide and will follow-up with a suggestion box. Questions might include “what makes Hastings a good school?” or “what would you like to see improved at Hastings?” What is working? What should be improved? Susan Campbell suggested we find a way to include children’s thoughts and ideas. Bette Piece described a way that children’s reflections were captured in the past. School Council agreed to try a survey in January which will use two sides of one piece of paper where we ask parents to talk to their children to fill out the first side. Parents will have the reverse side to fill out by themselves. It can be anonymous and we will ask to have it back in one week. Tammy Mulligan will write the survey and cc. a copy to the other School Council members for comment. Jessie Steigerwald will send it out on January 6 to be returned on Jan. 13. Suggestion box will go up after the surveys are completed. C) VOLUNTEERISM WORKSHOP The problem: Hastings currently has no volunteer policy. There is no public document explaining appropriate behavior, confidentiality issues, ways that parents can participate in school, and no document to help teachers think of ways to delegate tasks that utilize parent volunteers. Many schools hold a mandatory volunteer training session before any parent can volunteer and Jessie wants to work to develop this, and offer it several times a year so that anyone can be included. Barbara Lockwood and Jessie Steigerwald are organizing School Council’s volunteerism workshop for January 13. The training is now scheduled from 3:30 - 4:30 on a Tuesday. There was a suggestion to move the workshop to early morning to encourage more parents to attend (because their children will be in school, and some parents might more easily go to work late, rather than come at pick-up time). Jessie presented the proposed workshop plan for review : At the workshop parents will work in small groups. Hopefully there will be teachers willing to come. However, if we change the timing, teachers will need to have coverage in order to be at the meeting. Several comments were made about the reluctance some teachers or parents might have in speaking candidly about volunteerism in front of one another. Others felt that it is helpful for parents to learn about volunteerism from a teacher’s perspective, and teachers from parents’ but it needs to be a safe forum with a skilled moderator. Another possibility is to hold two workshops, emphasizing that one is open and the other is just for (teachers/parents). A teacher rep. suggested offering a hand-out that teachers can complete without going to the hour meeting. Parents will meet in small groups to examine the following issues regarding volunteerism: DECLINE IN VOLUNTEERS- Why are people stopping volunteering? EXPECTATIONS/APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR – how is this communicated? STRESS - Too few parents doing the work, workload is too heavy, burnout STRESS -At some times too many parents presenting enrichment, teachers can’t teach. Who determines when volunteers come in? Teachers need control of classroom. LEARNING TO DELEGATE – Teachers aren’t trained volunteer coordinators and may not know of ways to use parents that support their work. INCLUSION OF WORKING PARENTS – How do we make opportunities for working parents to participate in the school and feel valued? D) GROWTH IN HASTINGS POPULATION Hastings is growing while some schools are shrinking. People are choosing the Hastings school district. We gave 510 kids now, it will be 515 in January. The first grade is up to 24 kids per classroom. There is no room for more portable modular classrooms. Lynn will meet with parents to ask for volunteers to move their children to neighboring districts as was done with kindergarten in 2000. We may have to push for redistricting if alternate means do not resolve this or classroom size and learning quality will suffer. E) SCHOOL COUNCIL BULLETIN Bridge and Fiske publish a bulletin. There are new school budget cuts coming, and although the list of staff and areas affected is still a confidential draft. Tuesday Dec. 9 the final “HIT LIST” will be established and made public. Parents should know. School Council can publish public meeting dates and encourage participation, but can not advocate any particular position. “Go to the meeting. Read. Participate. Vote” is appropriate advocacy. “Vote for an override” is inappropriate support of a political position. Proposal: A School Council bulletin should be published 3 or 4 times a year and other topical articles in the weekly bulletin on a regular basis written by the School Council. JESSIE: I came in late about after the last question in bold. Go ahead and respond right in the document. - Thank you for all you are doing. I’m sure there is more than I even know about. -- Janet School Council December 4, 2003 A) LEF GRANT: The grant should be a community developed grant, Due in February. Were examples given? Ideas for the Grant: Enrichment – WHAT IS THIS Closing the gap WHAT DOES EMI Stand for EMI training for parents I assume this is for teachers dealing with children in Crisis/Grief training crisis? Lynn will take ideas to the staff meeting B) SURVEY OF PARENTS REGARDING SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT: What is working? What should be improved? Write it from the children’s perspective. Are we surveying both children and parents - will there be two survey formats? Suggestion box after the survey is done Tammy Mulligan will write the survey and cc. a copy to the other School Council members for comment. Jessie Stiegerwald will send it out on January 6 to be returned on Jan. 13. C) VOLUNTEERISM WORKSHOP The problem: Hastings currently has no volunteer policy. There is no public document explaining appropriate behavior, confidentiality issues, ways that parents can participate in school, and no document to help teachers think of ways to delegate tasks that utilize parent volunteers. Many schools hold a mandatory volunteer training session before any parent can volunteer and Jessie wants to work to develop this, and offer it several times a year so that anyone can be included. Jessie Steigerwald and Barbara Lockwood are organizing a workshop for January 13. Time will be from 8:30 to10:00 to allow more working parents less disruption. Jessie presented the proposed workshop plan for review : At the workshop parents will work in small groups. Hopefully there will be teachers willing to come. List the many types of volunteers: Behind the scenes committees, fund raising and administrative work In school volunteers such as Library Aides In class volunteers JESSIE: I WAS LISTENING TO THE CONTENT OF YOUR WORKSHOP, BUT I COULDN”T WRITE FAST ENOUGH TO RECORD THE DRAFT VERSION of the evening. If you think that should be made public I could write it here- you could email me your outline, or add it here. There needs to be dialogue between parents and teachers to understand and learn from each other, but it needs to be a safe forum with a skilled moderator. There are things that are hard to say in public. Parents will meet in small groups to examine the following issues regarding volunteerism: DECLINE IN VOLUNTEERS- Why are people stopping volunteering? EXPECTATIONS/APPROPRIATE BEHAVIOR – how is this communicated? STRESS - Too few parents doing the work, workload is too heavy, burnout STRESS -At some times too many parents presenting enrichment, teachers can’t teach. Who determines when volunteers come in? Teacher control of classroom. LEARNING TO DELEGATE – Teachers aren’t trained volunteer coordinators and may not know of ways to use parents to support their work. INCLUSION OF WORKING PARENTS – How do we make opportunities for working parents to participate in the school and feel valued? D) GROWTH IN HASTINGS POPULATION Some schools are shrinking. Hastings is growing. We gave 510 kids now, it will be 515 in January. The first grade is up to 24 kids per classroom. People are choosing the Hastings school district. There is no room for more portable modular classrooms. Lynn will meet with parents to ask for volunteers to move their children to neighboring districts as was done with kindergarten in 2000. We may have to push for redistricting if alternate means do not resolve this or classroom size and learning quality will suffer. E) SCHOOL COUNCIL BULLETIN Bridge and Fiske publish a bulletin. There are new school budget cuts coming, and although the list of staff and areas affected is still a confidential draft. Tuesday Dec. 9 the final “HIT LIST” will be established and made public. Parents should know. School Council can publish public meeting dates and encourage participation, but can not advocate any particular position. “Go to the meeting. Read. Participate. Vote” is appropriate advocacy. “Vote for an override” is inappropriate support of a political position. Proposal: School council bulletin should be published 3 or 4 times a year Other topical articles in weekly bulletin on a regular basis written by the School Council.