[PC News] Meeting Agenda for September 7, Meeting Minutes for May 4, Child Abuse Prevention Facilitators Needed

[Shelley Payne]

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                  ** Parent Council News, September 1, 2004 **
                              http://avenue.org/parentcouncil
<http://avenue.org/parentcouncil>
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Topics in This Issue:

1. Parent Council Meeting Agenda for September 7
2. Parent Council Meeting Minutes for May 4, 2004
3. “Students Make a Difference Day” project Summary
4. Child Abuse Prevention Facilitators Needed

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1. Parent Council Meeting Agenda for September 7

Parent Council Meeting
September 7, 2004

AGENDA

Meeting objectives: Provide an overview of School Division and School Board
priorities, and an orientation on Parent Council's purposes and plans; learn
each school's areas of focus.

Desired outcomes:  Become better grounded on the School Division, the School
Board and the Parent Council; begin process of sharing ideas amongst the
county's public schools.

1.  (7:00 - 7:10pm) Welcome and introductions - Parent Council President
Chip Deale and Parent Council officers

2.  (7:10 - 7:30pm) Self-introductions by school representatives, with brief
statements on their school's/PTO's areas of focus and priority this school
year

3.  (7:30 - 7:45pm) "State of the School Division" - Dr. Kevin Castner,
Superintendent of Schools

4.  (7:45 - 8:00pm) School Board update - Diantha McKeel, School Board Chair

5.  (8:00 - 8:10pm) Remarks by Charlene Green, Equity & Diversity
Coordinator

6.  (8:10 - 8:20pm) "Students Make a Difference Day" - June Smith,
Citizenship Education Coordinator

7.  (8:20 - 8:30pm) Parent Council "housekeeping" business -

a.  Appointment to Technology Committee
      b.  Appointment to Calendar Committee
      c.  Nomination/election of new President-Elect
      d.  Discussion of possible At-Large Representatives to Parent Council
      e.  Voluntary contributions by school PTOs to Parent Council

8.  (8:30 - 8:50pm) The Parent Council's plans for the coming year:  focus
of monthly meetings; communications; community outreach; involvement in
county budget process; etc. - Review and group discussion

9.  (8:50 - 9:00pm) "Good and welfare" - An opportunity for any
representative who wishes to do so to offer thoughts, comments, ideas,
opinions, etc. on any Parent Council, school, or general education-related
topic.  "Good and welfare" is a time for individual reflection and not group
discussion.

10. (9:00pm) Adjourn until October 5th


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2. Parent Council Meeting Minutes for May 4, 2004

Parent Council
May 4, 2004 Minutes

Attending: Lisa Moorefield, Joe Abbate, Tom Pajewski, Al Hughes, Billy
Ballard, Chip Deale, Don Bergstresser, Alison Wilson, Teresa Hashisaki,
Miriam Rushfinn, Shelley Payne, Meredith Noble, Kevin Castner, Steele Howen

Not Attending:  Sherri Martin, William Wylie, Mike Koch,  Karen Collier,
Laura Laffond, Stacy Walker, Charlie Trachta, Philip Harris, Eydie Halstad,
Susan Uland, Kathie Ross, Michelle Bushrow, Walter Oliveira, Anne Hoy, Laura
Craft, Ronnie Price, Lori Woods, Carol Krohn, Dale Johnson, Marie White,

Note:  In your end of year meetings with your PTO’s, please be sure to
appoint a representative for Parent Council if the current representative
cannot serve another year.

Minutes from the March 2 meeting were approved.

Elections of Officers for 2004-05
President - Chip Deale
President Elect – Al Hughes
Vice-President for Communications – Shelly Payne, Lisa Ross
Vice-President for  Community – Ron Price, Theresa Hashisaki
The slate of candidates was approved and the candidates were elected to
office.

Dr. Castner recognized Tom Pajewski for his work with the Parent Council
this year.

Remarks from Dr. Castner
Budget – Since the tax rate stayed at .76 cents we have an 8% increase this
year.  Much of that money will be put into teacher raises.  Teacher salaries
are a moving target but we are going in the right direction.  For upper
level administrative positions, the salary will help us be competitive.
Other things in the budget such as additions to the schools’ operational
budgets, health care costs, ESOL, computer replacement, clerical assistance
and assistant principals help us catch up.

Communications – will have an additional $15,000 next year.  Some of this
will be for expanded hours for Cathy Eberly, but there will be some money
for an operational budget.  Parent Council will be connected to
communications more strongly next year.

Commendations - The list of Commendations for the 2003-04 school year was
shared, as was the list of Golden Apple recipients for 2003-04.

May 8 Meeting – This Saturday, May 8, the School Board will begin to look at
goals for the next 5 years in a Strategic Planning retreat.

French – French is alive and well at the high school level.  We are piloting
some non-European languages at the high school level.  We are looking at
Spanish K-8.  No decisions have been made yet.  We have started teaching
Spanish in some elementary schools in K-1.  It will move to 2nd grade next
year and more schools.  We need to be sure that students have a language of
utility as the Hispanic population is growing.

The whole middle school elective program will be reviewed to direct the
elective curriculum for all middle schools.

Make-A-Difference Day – Habitat for Humanity Youth United is spreading.  It
is active in some schools but not in others.  It is October 23, 2004.  See
“Students Make a Difference Day” project Summary.

Fund Raising Feedback – There was considerable discussion about the fund
raising policy.  Staff will work on a clearer policy this summer to bring to
the council in the fall for input before taking it to the school board.  We
will have Jackson Zimmerman as the featured speaker at the first meeting to
discuss fiscal practices.

Summary of 2003-04 – The fight to convince the community to support public
education never ends.  The budget process went well and the efforts showed.
Make-a-Difference Day was another area of effort.   The Parent Council Forum
with the Charlottesville PTO Council was successful for best practices.  The
suggestion was made to write a manual.  There was one a few years ago, which
we will try and locate.  Both the PTA website and PTO Now website have good
information.  Chip Deale and Tom Pajewski will work on the manual and get it
to staff to review. There were good presentations on Design 2004 and others.

Plans for 2004-05
Sustain and build on Make-a-Difference Day.  Integrate events and
communications and make it a community event.
Maintain and build a relationship with the School Board.  Continue to have a
positive relationship with the Board of Supervisors.
Heighten outreach to business community particularly the realtor community.
Parent Council to be a resource for parents and PTO’s.  Make the Website
more user friendly and informative.
Programs – Idea Sharing and best practice at each meeting.  How to include
and welcome all being more inclusive.
Get off to a fast start summary of what is the Parent Council all about.

We need to try to get the whole group attending.  Could we have each person
bring one other?  Give ideas to:
Chip Deale at 823-2071, 951-5342 or dealesx4 at earthlink.net
<mailto:dealesx4 at earthlink.net>  .

Chip may try to do a brief survey of the whole group.

We will continue with the first Tuesday in the month at 7 pm in Room 320 as
the meeting date.  The first meeting of the 2004-05 school year will be held
on Tuesday, September 7, 2004.

Other meeting dates
October 5, November 2, December 7, January 4, February 1, March 1, April 5,
May 3.

Respectfully submitted,

Ms. Sherrard H. Howen
Executive Director
Administrative Services

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3. “Students Make a Difference Day” project Summary

Albemarle County (Virginia) Schools Parent Council
“Students Make a Difference Day” project

How we gave an existing effort an extra emphasis on Saturday, October 25th

There were several elements to the Parent Council’s 2nd “Students Make a
Difference Day’ initiative that enhanced the 2003 project vis-à-vis the
inaugural 2002 effort:

1.  Several schools integrated the concept of community service into
classroom instructional time and the on-going “Character Education” program,
rather than just treating community service as a stand-alone event.  Refer
to the enclosed reports from Monticello High School and Sutherland Middle
School for examples of this.

2.  More schools participated this year.  In 2002, a few of the Albemarle
County public schools chose – for various reasons – not to participate in
Students Make a Difference Day.  This year, there was 100% participation by
the county’s 27 public schools – including three specialized or alternative
education schools (CATEC, Ivy Creek and Murray High School) . . . plus the
participation of one area private school.

3.  More long-term projects were conducted.  Examples of these included the
year-long “adoption” of a day care center by Virginia L. Murray Elementary
School and the initiation of an effort by six schools in the southern feeder
pattern to raise $60,000 in order to build a house in partnership with
Habitat for Humanity.  These examples, and others, are described in the
enclosed reports from various schools.

4.  There were more multi-school partnerships, rather than simply
single-school initiatives.  The southern feeder pattern partnership cited
above is one example, as was the combined efforts of four public schools and
one private school in the western area of the county (Crozet and Brownsville
Elementary, Henley Middle, Western Albemarle High School, and
Charlottesville Waldorf School).

On Make a Difference Day, this is what we did:

Under the auspices of the Albemarle County Schools Parent Council, each of
the county’s public schools at the elementary, middle and high school levels
undertook projects to benefit the communities, residents and various
organizations in the geographic area served by each school.  While the
volunteer-run Parent Council was the coordinating body for “Students Make a
Difference Day” (in cooperation with the county school division’s Character
Education Coordinator), the determination of specific projects was left to
each individual school.  Some of these projects were short-term in nature,
building up to and culminating on October 25th.  Others were targeted to
occur specifically on Make a Difference Day.  And still others were of a
longer-term nature.  Each of the projects that the schools sponsored was
designed to maximize the involvement of all school-aged children, the
students’ parents, school faculty, and other interested community members.

Each of the projects undertaken is described in the reports submitted by the
individual schools, which are enclosed.  However, a number of the projects
can be grouped into related topics.  These include, but are not limited to:

Support of community organizations:
* SPCA (Agnor-Hurt, Burley, Jouett, Murray H.S.)
* Ronald McDonald House (Jouett)
* Special Olympics (Albemarle H.S.)
* Habitat for Humanity (6 schools in southern feeder pattern)
* Meals on Wheels (Burley)
* Shelter for Help in Emergency (Sutherland)
* Claudius Crozet Park (4 schools in western area of county)
* Albemarle County Parks & Recreation Department/Mint Springs Park (4
schools in western area of county)

Help for the needy:
* “Backpack Mission” – school supplies (Broadus Wood)
* Coat & clothing drives (Baker-Butler, Burley, Ivy Creek)
* Fire kits & comfort kits (Baker-Butler)
* Food drives; establishment of a Food Bank (CATEC, Greer, Hollymead)
* Establishment of a “students in need” fund (Monticello)
* “Neighbors in Need” (Murray H.S.)
* Hurricane Isabel relief fund (Sutherland)

Senior citizen support:
* The Meadows retirement community (Brownsville)
* Mountainside retirement living (Charlottesville Waldorf)
* Cedar’s Nursing Home (Meriwether Lewis)

Educational support:
* “Adoption” of a day care center (Virginia L. Murray E.S.; Meriwether
Lewis)
* Beautifying of school grounds; greenway trails; and outdoor classroom
(Henley, Stony Point)

We decided to do this because:

The Parent Council realized that while schools in Albemarle County regularly
engage in community service activities (a tenet of the division-wide
Character Education Program), these school-based initiatives are scattered
throughout the course of the school year.  As a result, their overall impact
likely is more muted and less recognizable, especially by area residents who
do not have children connected to the school system.  As a result, by
focusing community service activities on a single day of giving – without
dictating what the community service projects should be and by not
precluding on-going community service efforts – the Parent Council believed
that the Albemarle County schools would garner greater community
appreciation for the fact that the division’s 12,000-plus students truly do
“make a difference” in the area in which we live, work and are educated.  In
addition, students gained a better understanding for the value of community
service (since they generally were the ones selecting and implementing the
projects).  Finally, by leaving the selection of projects to each school,
the Parent Council was able to ensure that the most pressing needs of a
given geographic area were addressed and effectively dealt with.

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4. Child Abuse Prevention Facilitators Needed

CAP (Child Abuse Prevention for Elementary School Children) is a national
program designed to help prevent the victimization of children. It is an
anti-violence program committed to keeping children safe, strong, and free.
The Sexual Assault Resource Agency (SARA) in Charlottesville needs people
(facilitators) to help by participating in the programs that are presented
to elementary children in the area. Facilitators should feel comfortable
role playing and/or facilitating small groups. The hours involved (3-10
weekly, if possible), are mainly daytime hours, with a possibility of some
evening hours as well. A 24-hour training program is provided. Interested
people can contact Megan Malia at 434-295-7273, or meganm at ntelos.net.

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