Meeting Minutes - May 2012

PARENTS AS PARTNERS

Thursday, May 3, 2012                           

Facilitator: Kelley Charland, 881-5816

ATTENDEES

Kelley Charland, Laurie Singer, Lisa & Geoff Dike, Elizabeth Logan, Dorothy Dickson, Paul McLaughlin

PRINCIPAL’S ADDRESS

Action plan for performance targets is nearing completion. Science NECAPs is next week for 8^th graders (no goodies needed from PaP, though we might provide mints). We have 116 8^th graders. We’re assembling teams for 6^th graders going to 7^th, and we’re working on welcoming 5^th graders coming up to 6^th.

FINANCIAL REPORT - as of 5/2/2012 there is $2294.14. This reflects a payment of $630.00 to Koenig Cedar Company for the wood to build the raised beds for the Speak Up program and a deposit of $102.50 from Box Tops for Education.

IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES

·         May 9 &10 - 8^th Grade Science NECAPS

·         May 10 - 8^th grade Spaghetti Dinner, Team Alchemy Citizenship Gala Celebration

·         May 11 - Dance

·         May 17 - 6^th Grade Parent/Guardian Night

·         May 18 - 7^th Grade Trip to Montreal

·         May 21 - INSERVICE DAY FOR STAFF/NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS

·         May 24 - Spring Concert

·         May 25 - Memorial Day Assembly (8am) and Barbecue (10:45am if you want to volunteer, 8^th grade lunch starts at 11:00, 7^th at 11:40, and 6^th at 12:00. Typically wind up by 12:30.)

·         May 28 - Memorial Day, NO SCHOOL

·         May 29 – French 8^th Grade Montreal Trip (French Immersion Day)

·         June 1 - Team Alchemy Boston Trip

·         June 6 - Great Escape Trip for Distinguished Musicians

·         June 7 - Jazz Band on Church St., School Report Night following PaP meeting

·         June 8 - Jazz Band on Church St., 8^th grade sleepover

·         June 11 - Spanish Immersion Day

·         June 13 - 8^th Grade Academic Awards Assembly ***(tentative)***

·         June 14 - Final Awards Assembly, 8^th grade Promotion Night, reception and semi-formal dance

·         June 15 - Last day of school. Step Up Day. No 8^th graders, but we’ll have our current 6^th and 7^th graders plus the 5^th graders incoming for next year.

UPCOMING PAP DATES: 6/7 (and that’s all for the year!)

FOLLOW-UP BUSINESS

·         The DJ and obstacle course have been booked for GASP next year, March 15, 2013.

·         How did the Musical go? Went great. Sold out each night.

·         All the “How-to” documents have been sent to Paul McLaughlin for inclusion on our Wiki page for the following ADL events (https://sites.google.com/site/adlparentsaspartners/home): concert refreshments, sweatshirt sales, Book Fair, 8^th grade Promotion Night, GASP, 8^th grade spaghetti dinner and Staff Appreciation week. Kelley, Laurie and Paul have access to change these documents and others can be given access as needed to view them.
Paul should check to see if the link is on our web page.

·         The Fine Arts Festival was magnificent as usual! I hope everyone had the opportunity to attend.

·         7^th grade Parent/Guardian night was somewhat sparsely attended, but I felt the information was very relevant even though I have already had a student go through ADL. I especially liked the inclusion of normal behaviors for tweens. It was also very nice to meet our new Assistant Principal, Amy Conger.

·         How did the dance go? Went fine.

·         Staff Appreciation Week is next week and we have some nice events planned: Coffee and donuts, a breakfast, a cupcake and lemonade bar, a flock of flamingoes expressing gratitude with attitude, hand massages, goodies in mailboxes and an ongoing weeklong raffle. I think the Staff will love the week we have in store!

·         This year’s Beautification Day has been cancelled as we were planning to help with the Speak Up gardens, but Mr. Moreau has indicated that he feels that won’t be necessary as the students are working on them consistently now. Parents as Partners decided at the April meeting to give the Speak Up program $630.00 to purchase lumber to construct 6 4x8 and 1 6x12 raised beds.

·         Mr. Moreau has not had any parents come forward yet to handle concert refreshments beginning next year. He will announce this need again at the Spring Concert on May 24^th.

OTHER BUSINESS?

·         Congratulations!!! The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance program has named ADL as a Mix It Up Model School for its exemplary efforts to foster respect and understanding among students and throughout campus during the 2-11-2012 school year. ADL is one of 77 schools from across the country receiving the honor. “We are delighted to recognize each of these schools,” said Teaching Tolerance Director Maureen Costello. “Mix it Up Model Schools have found innovative ways to create a school environment where respect and inclusiveness are core values.”

·         We are looking for volunteers to help serve food at the ADL Memorial Day BBQ on Friday, May 25^th from 10:45-12:30. If you can help out, please email Laurie Singer at lsinger@ccsuvt.org and let her know. Thank you!

·         We had approximately 2500 points awarded to ADL through the Price Chopper AdvantEdge program and they had to be cashed in by May 15^th. We gave these points to Tina Logan to purchase items that will be used throughout the entire school. This year she was able to purchase a 6 color assortment of glitter and a package of paint brushes.

Next meeting date is 6/7 at 6:30 pm. This will be immediately followed at 7:00 pm by School Report Night presented by Laurie, which is always full of interesting information and statistics about the school year. I hope to see you there!

PLEASE REMEMBER TO BRING IN YOUR BOX TOPS TO THE FRONT OFFICE!

Tip: Save these over the summer. The next turn-in is in October.

GENERAL NOTES

You can find our knowledge base at https://sites.google.com/site/adlparentsaspartners/home

Meeting Minutes - April 2012

PARENTS AS PARTNERS
Thursday, April 5, 2012                          
Facilitator:  Kelley Charland

Present: Kelley Charland, Lisa Dyke, Geoff Dyke, Gary Moreau, Laurie Singer, Dorothy Dickson, Gabrielle Smith

GUEST SPEAKERS: Gary Moreau speaking on behalf of the Speak Up program and the ADL gardens.  He was asking for help with funding raised bed gardens at ADL.  There will also be garden sculptures.  Root vegetables will be planted for use in the cafeteria at ADL in the fall.  He will prep the area for the gardens over the April break and construction will begin after the vacation by the 8th grade students.  Funding in the amount of $630.00 was approved by the group for 6 4x8 8” high beds and 1 6x12 8” high bed.  The theme of this program is Sustainability.

Gabrielle Smith, CCSU Prevention and Wellness Coordinator re: Community Supper and conversation about bringing more local foods and products into the school meals.  Invited all CCSU parents and students 6th grade and up to attend this event next Thursday, April 12, 2012.  Currently only about 20% of food in the school meals comes from within Vermont and a 30 mile radius outside of Vermont.  This program seeks to include local farms to produce a higher percentage of local foods in the school meals program.

PRINCIPAL’S ADDRESS - Has a decision been made on the Assistant Principal’s position?  The position had about 30 applications to begin.  Laurie whittled that down to 14 and then the committee narrowed that number to about 7 whom they wanted to interview and ultimately there were two finalists who each met with ADL staff, parents and students over the course of two days.  A finalist has been chosen and that name has been forwarded to the Board for their approval.  A decision will be made on April 16th and then the name will be made public.

Today the 7th graders piloted an online portion of the NECAP writing sections.  It went pretty will with only a few minor glitches.  There will be no scored results, but the writings will be returned to the Language Arts teachers for them to review with the students.

FINANCIAL REPORT - as of 3/30/2012 there is $2821.64.  This reflects an expense of $18.00 for stamps used on letters soliciting prizes/donations for the Staff Appreciation Week raffle and the deposit of a check from Hannaford’s Helps Schools in the amount of $369.00!!                    

IMPORTANT UPCOMING DATES

• April 12-14- ADL Musical, “The Music Man Junior”
• April 12- Expanding Farm-to-School and Local Foods into School Meals presentation, 6-8 pm, EHS cafeteria
• April 18- Fine Arts Festival, EHS
• April 19- 7th Grade Parent/Guardian night
• April 20- Dance
• April 23-27- School Recess 
• May 4- Johnson State Jazz Competition-TBD if ADL will be participating-it conflicts with the Presidential Fitness Day 
• May 7-11-Staff Appreciation Week
• May 9 &10-8th Grade Science NECAPS
• May 11-Dance
• May 12-ADL Beautification Day-Postponed as the gardens probably will be all set by that time.  To be picked up again during next school year, 2012-2013.
• May 17-6th Grade Parent/Guardian Night
• May 18-7th Grade Trip to Montreal
• May 21-INSERVICE DAY FOR STAFF/NO SCHOOL FOR STUDENTS
• May 24-Spring Concert
• May 25-Memorial Day Assembly and Barbecue
• May 29-8th Grade Montreal Trip-French Immersion Day

DANCE DATES: 5/11
PAP DATES: 5/3 AND 6/7


FOLLOW-UP BUSINESS

• GASP- About 160 students attended.  The profit was just under $400.  A date of 
• March 15th has been set for GASP for 2013.  Do we need to book DJ and/or obstacle course now?  Laurie will check with Barb to ensure we have reserved both the DJ and obstacle course.
• How did  the  8th grade only dance at EMS go?   Good, but more chatting than dancing! 
• Conferences were well-attended.  Did they go well? Very well.    
• Chorus Concert was well-attended and very nice. Mr. Moreau announced prior to the concert that Conny and Maria will not be at ADL next year (very sad) and we are looking for a couple of parents to take over the refreshment duties for the concert evenings.  Have there been any volunteers yet?  No volunteers yet.  Mr. Moreau to announce this again at Spring Concert and in a newsletter he is sending out.  If no one steps up, Kelley will find two volunteers at the start of next school year, 2012-2013.           
• Staff Appreciation week, May 7th-11th is coming together nicely.  Wendy Johnson and Sarah Zobel are assisting me with the plans.  Again, if anyone wishes to help or put together an event/activity, please let me know.   I am also needing items for raffle prizes for that week.  I need about 50 more small items.  Please let me know if you have something to donate or spread the word to your friends with students at ADL.  
• I have emailed my “How-to” pages to Paul (McLaughlin) for 8th Grade Promotion Night and Spaghetti Dinner and Staff Appreciation.  Maria Dramstad emailed the directions for concert refreshments to be included, as well.   These are now on a Wiki page that can be viewed by parents who might need these to refer to in the future for planning of these events.  We hope to also have these documents for GASP, the Book Fair and sweatshirt sales.  How are these coming along?  Dorothy will be emailing the GASP and Book Fair “how-tos” to Paul shortly.  Kelley will contact Conny again to ask if she has done the one for sweatshirt sales.  
• Beautification Day this year is cancelled.  To be picked up again next school year, 2012-2013.  

OTHER BUSINESS?
Kelley to send invitation to parents for Memorial Day Assembly and BBQ to Laurie for inclusion in the Progress Reports due to be sent out in a couple of weeks.

Next meeting date is 5/3 at 6:30 pm. I hope to see you there and hopefully, we will have some of next year’s 6th grade parents to join us!  I have sent out a blurb to Bette Martin at Fleming to have included in the Fleming Flyer through June 1st inviting next year’s 6th grade parents to join us at our May and June meetings.

PLEASE REMEMBER TO BRING IN YOUR BOX TOPS TO THE FRONT OFFICE!  ALSO, PLEASE GO ONLINE AND RE-ENROLL YOUR PRICE CHOPPER ADVANTEDGE CARDS FOR THE YEAR 2012.  THANK YOU!