PIE Forum
June 7, 2011
In attendance: Kate Dodge, Alyssa Lasher, Heather Way, Renee Durochia, Joanne Crawford, Deirdre Gladstone, Catherine Goldsmith, Bob Goudreau, Andrew Dennison, Kelli Brown, Frank Twarog, Andrea Francis, Jen Prue, Lisa Falcone, Amanda Van Vranken, Kerri Wallis, Sara Driscoll, Ali Douglas, Carla Wuthrich
1. Memorable Partnerships
- Hands on Nature (4 Winds, ELF, etc)
- Experiential hands-on science
- Teachers get to use parents as a resource
- Playground Project
- Brought HCS community together
- What is the next phase?
- Thanks to Frank for the help!
- Garden Project
- Kelli Brown helped complete “phase-one” with grants received.
- Input and support from the larger community
- Grants received
- Help from Gary Clark and NRG
- Literacy Enrichment
- Great communication makes great partnership
- Always better when teachers are in attendance
- Helpful to have an understanding of what is being offered at HCS to the students
- Betsy Knox facilitated gathering parent mentoring for book discussion and activities (some in person and others on-line)
- Math Coordinator Participation
- Nancy came to a meeting to introduce the Bridges program
- Mrs. McGuire shared an example of how Bridges is being utilized in 1st grade
- Staff Appreciation Breakfast
- Leadership of the group
- Made teachers feel loved
- Principals thought of PiE for support
- Monthly Teacher/staff/parent sharing of PiE meetings
- Sharing by grade levels (from both parent and teacher perspectives) allowed for a greater understanding of what is going on in the building
- Young Adult literacy reviewed from the middle school teachers
- Open, energized conversations with many view points
- “Co-ing” (or shared) PIE roles
- Allowed parents and teachers to have increased sharing and to maintain balance of their own responsibilities
- Diversity in Participants of PiE meetings
- Variety of teachers participating and both mothers/fathers attending meetings
- Snap Grades
- Great conversation had with staff and parents about what this system is and the potential of using this technology.
- Mrs. Lasher’s “HCS’s Best Kept Secrets”
- Based on one night’s conversation, Alyssa created this helpful informational document and put a call out for kindergarten parent mentors in time for kindergarten screening!
2. Celebrate and Imagine (Hopes and Dreams)
- One conduit for school communication
- Investigating technology for sharing information from PiE (Blogs, links from HCS website, etc)
- Funds planning and developing method for fund requests
- Inclusive school climate (?)
- Farm to school (Phase one)
- Garden project was the first step on this journey. PiE is hoping to maintain some momentum through the summer and into next year with the current implementation. Longer term vision might incorporate: Growing food as a science center, an opportunity to feed the school, and a way to learn about being a gardener/farmer
- Next step is gathering a small group of committed parents to make plans/goals for increasing nutritional awareness and making available opportunities for the whole school.
- More work for Parent Rep
- How to communicate “who we are”
- All grade levels represented at every meeting
- Pick 1-2 initiatives to focus on
- Finding a few projects to focus on and not spread our resources too thin
- A school fundraising plan
- A common calendar so that fund raising efforts do not overlap
- Enrichment
- K-4 presentation or talent show
- In-service or more PiE information offered to staff
- Common PiE calendar with fundraising efforts, discussion topics, and event coordination
- Pre-announcements in the Viking with agenda items (what to expect at the next PIE meeting) to help draw people on items they are interested in.
3. Business and other Items:
· Gentle reminder that the HCS library will be open this summer on Tuesdays and Wednesday mornings from 8:30 to 11:30 (June 28 – August 9th). We also welcome preschoolers and incoming kindergartners with their families. The summer is an important time to keep students’ literacy skills strong
· Playground update from Kate:
o Phase one complete (old structure down and main structure put in)
o Phase Two (group reviewed variety of structures) and put together a plan with itemized pricing
o Phase Three: Applied for grants (Over $4 K received) and one grant is pending, book sale, Box Tops, open house pasta dinner all going towards playground fund
o Two other summer grants will be applied for by the fundraising sub-committee
o Once all grant opportunities have been explored/exhausted, the this subcommittee will begin planning fundraising efforts through business organizations and private donations
· PiE will get a gift card for Gary Clark to thank him for his efforts (and use of his resources/time/equipment) for the playground project and the garden project.
o Alyssa to e-mail Heather re: getting funds to do so.
· Garden Mixer is scheduled for July 27th at 5:30 pm. Details to follow
· Several requests were made to adjust the time/day of the PiE meeting to allow for fuller parent (and teacher) participation.
o Agreed that monthly contact will be kept via e-mail to explore potentials for times/dates and to continue on-going conversations about proposed projects.
Thanks to everyone who attended and participated in any PIE event this year! With the first year behind us… it is exciting to ponder the infinite ways in which we can grow!
