Parents as Partners, Thursday September 3, 2009
Attendance:Geoff Glaspie, Laura Wu, Karyn Roberts, Kelley Charland, Laurie Lavallee, Laurie Singer, Sharon Sturm, Woody Martel, Joanne Jewell, Dorothy Dickson, Mary Lou Lord, Theresa Utton-Jerman, Laura Cunningham Firkey, Lisa Dike
Mrs. Singer:
A lot of work got done over the summer. The library is
completely redone. Bathrooms – new partitions. New windows in Mr. G’s room.
Wireless installed in the whole B wing and C wing, useful for mobile lab with
20 laptops, which effectively expands the function to three labs including the
two stationary labs. Mrs. Gendron has a set of 20 mini-notebooks. Ideally,
the long-range goal is to hand a mini to each new 6th grade student for their
use for the three years they're here. Mrs. Gendron will use these, among other
things, for the Young Writers’ Project, which is a statewide program allowing
students to review others' works and get immediate feedback on their own writing.
The girls' locker room in the gym has four new changing spaces.
Broke down some walls in the office in the boys' locker room to increase office space for PE teachers. All classrooms either have smart boards or white boards with projectors. Hector works with teachers to plan and implement integration of technology into classroom time and work. Hector is shared now with Hiawatha, and is here 3.5 days. He will still do a computer club after school and offer staff training in new technology. Melanie Cote also helps teachers integrate technology into the classroom.
Web page is different, and each team will have its own team web page, regularly updated. Homework updates on the site will be more consistent this year.
Will Rich is a consultant for differentiated instruction strategies who will work with staff on those techniques. He will work with a pilot group of 12-15 teachers this year, and by the end of his third year will have covered all teachers. He will be here at least once a month.
Three target areas: Differentiated Instruction. Literacy across all teaching areas. Barbara Sachs, the Title 1 reading teacher, led a workshop in August and will work with teachers individually and in groups. Technology integration – how can technology enhance learning for students in all areas? Work is also happening related to climate issues, decision-making about awards/recognitions for students.
Question: What is Title 1? Title 1 is government-funded and addresses learning deficiencies in students, especially in reading and math. We lost some Title 1 funding this year due to restructuring of the formulae deciding funding. Title 1 staff people can only be used for specific things. They can plan with staff members to help them understand how to support Title 1 students, and they can go into the classroom and work with small groups.
Parent reps for teams – hoping for 2-3 for each group. Mary Lou and Sharon will work with Discovery and staff member Donna Heath. Kelley Charland will do Nova and work with Catherine Boyer. Lisa Dike steps up to work with Wonder, and will work with staff member Meghan Steves. Laurie Lavallee will work with Alchemy with staff member Kathy Hunt. What are the teams? Wonder (6th), Nova (7th), Alchemy (8th), Discovery (multi-age). Teachers have put time into how they can operate as a small community. Nova is a looping program, which looks at things long-terms since they have two years to work with. These designations will affect some school events. Some will happen as team events, some as grade events.
For this year, volunteers will be able to just do forms, but the Brianna Maitland case triggered legislation that will require future volunteers to have full background checks and fingerprinting. Coaches need that check now – anyone who will be alone with kids.
Snack Shack: We sell goodies at a snack cart after school from 2:40-3:00. Volunteers pick up the cart, cash box, and key from the office and dole out healthy snacks and water at $0.50 or less to students before they head home or start sports practices. Looking for volunteers to staff and shop for this.
Financial report: $1662.74 in our account.
Ann Malle contacted Dorothy Dickson regarding GASP. She is willing to help with the planning, but will probably be out of town for the event itself, so another co-facilitator is needed to be there that night to help oversee things.
Question – why no bells? Helps with block times. Teachers dismiss when ready, which may make students less likely to wait for the bell and bolt when they hear it.
Question – are kids locked in at the dance? They aren’t allowed to leave during the dance without a parent. They are released en masse at the end with the expectation that parents are there to get them.
September dates: no school Monday. Picture day 9/10, along with 6th grade parent breakfast chaired by Gaye Boutin (?). Open House 9/17. First dance 9/25, 7-9pm. Dance dates: 10/16, 11/20, 1/8, 2/12, 4/9, 5/14. Parents as Partners: 10/1, 11/5, 12/3, 1/7, 2/4, 3/4, 4/1, 5/6, 6/3.
NECAP testing 10/6-10/9. PAP coordinates snacks for all 344 students. Possible that the teams will get a certain amount of money to go and get snacks. Laurie will speak with team teachers about that concept.
Student-led conferences 11/23 and 24. Days by first letter of last name if convenient – otherwise come when you can!
Band concert 11/19. No knowledge about what musical will happen in April. Work day will happen in January – possible painting? The boys’ locker room could use a coat, and Laurie would love uniformity in door colors throughout the building.
Media literacy person can come after a PAP meeting to present on that topic. If there are other topics we want to hear about, we need to let Gail or Laurie know. Internet safety? Health? Staff report about how the teaming thing is going?
Gary will continue to do the quarterly newsletters.
Please continue to save box tops – we got $185 last year. We can publicize this through the marquis sign, the school note in the Essex Reporter, and newsletters.
Hannaford Tools for Schools products – buy them and put the cash register printout (not your receipt – a separate printout) in the ADL slot in the box at the store, or bring them in to ADL. This program only runs through December.
Scholastic book fair in November – Charlee will run it again and will get the dates to Gail.