PiE meeting November 7, 2011

PIE - November 7, 2011

In attendance: Alesia Depot, Alyssa Lasher, Carla Wuthrich, Heather Way, Jen Prue, Joy O’Neill, Joyce Wright, Kim Gordon, Patti Drew, Sue Hoeppner, Lisa Falcone, James Goldsmith, Bill Baker, Keith Roberts, Ali Douglas, Jeff O’Hara, Bob Goudreau

1. Treasurer’s report

• Susan Abell is relinquishing her signing rights on the PIE checking account from Merchant’s Bank. The treasurer Heather Way will add Kate Dodge as the second signer on the account.
• A tax-exempt ID number is needed so that PIE can apply for grants and have more autonomy over funds spent. Kate Dodge met with Bob last week about this. The process is in motion; more will be reported as outcomes are achieved.

2. Fundraising Report:

· Kate Dodge (on behalf of the Fundraising Committee) reported that the committee is currently working on the draft of 3 separate documents. The documents are as follows:

§ Guidelines for requesting funds

§ Application form to request funds

§ Document of the overall process of requesting, distributing, and accounting for funds

· Some timely requests have been made known, so this process has been actively worked on for the PIE group (Thanks for your hard work!)

o One request being a funding request to co-host a Parenting on Track workshop with Charlotte Central School

· As the Fundraising Committee meets, multiple questions of process and for clarification have emerged. Based on this:

§ Kate met with Bob to clarify questions that the committee raised.

§ Plans and goals are welcomed by administration; the more unified PIE can be the better for overall visibility and to build a positive reputation

§ Grant opportunities and donation recruitment sites are being researched.

· Group to send out Survey to teachers to find out what the teachers want/need

3. School House Savings Program:

· Ali reported for Margaret Spivack about the student savings program sponsored by the National Bank of Middlebury.

o Parent volunteers are still wanted for Tuesday morning banking hours.

o 20 new student accounts were initiated this school year.

o Only 2 students from 4^th-6^th grades signed up. As the program progresses, student banking opportunities might be consolidated to a single day.

· Teachers in attendance requested a list of students participating from each classroom, a reminder of day/hours student banking will be made available (and where banking happens) Ali will e-mail this request individually to Margaret.

· Some PIE members voiced concerns about how to handle children who do not have the means to participate in the program. Specific concerns will be brought to administrators (and/or Margaret) as they arise.

· PIT crew was encouraged to review previous PIE minutes. While Margaret did meet with staff, it was after information got sent to families. Some teachers still have questions looming about how it will “look” with regards to their morning program/routine. PIT crew will review the timeline of events and see if having a process in place for initiating, sharing, and supporting information about new programs can be more unified in the future.

4. Playground update:

• A new installment of the playground equipment/structure is scheduled for installation Nov 19^th. This will include a therapeutic swing for increased accessibility for all students.

· Kate Dodge is coordinating this volunteer workday. Approximately 15 people will be needed; more info to come as they day gets nearer.

· Both Bobs (principal and playground rep) believe that there is enough mulch for the time being. Perhaps more will be needed in the spring.

• This is only a partial installation, another installment will happen in the spring.

* Pending grants will play a role in what equipment is purchased for the spring portion of this project

• Trying to get concrete donated…does anyone in the HCS community have any connections?
• Bake sale this Saturday at the town hall; volunteers and bake goods needed. Sign up genius is up to date. 10:30-12 extra help is needed.
• Kate now has blog on HCS website; you can now subscribe by e-mail. Kate will look into adding this to the playground blog.

5. Nutrition

• Nutrition committee has had 2 meetings since the beginning of the year. Last meeting the entire wellness committee (of HCS staff) participated.
• A mission statement was drafted and is available on the HCS website to view.
• The group is following the format presented by Vermont FEEDS program (which is aimed at increasing farm-to-school initiatives)

· Applies the 3 C’s (community, classroom, and cafeteria)

• Kelli has applied for a grant that would get HCS a sponsored participant in the farm-to-school program (only 5 schools get this in the state of VT).

· This is a smaller grant ($1500) is to be used for planning. If won, it would make HCS open to get a larger implementation grant.

· If the grant were not awarded to HCS, the Nutrition committee would coordinate fund raising efforts with the larger fundraising effort to achieve the same end points over the following school year.

• Next Nutrition meeting is this Thursday (Nov 10).
• A group discussion was entertained about how the HCS community celebrates holidays and how staff provides role modeling about healthy food choices/habits.

· These topics tend to be ones that hold strong opinions. Kelli assured the group that any school-wide change would be made only after opening the topic to the larger community for feedback and after careful research/surveying.

6. PIT Crew update:

· Process improvement team (PIT crew) has met 2 times since the last PIE meeting.

· A draft of an organizational flow chart was distributed to illustrate proposed procedures and structure.

· Potentially, PIE would complete business utilizing 3 PIE groups/meetings:

o Subcommittee meetings (no different to what occurs now)

o A CORE PIE meeting which would be more of a working session with more in-depth details with a smaller representation from each sum-committee

o PIE forum open to the general community to share information – comparable to the current PiE meetings.

· Some concerns were raised about the role of the CORE group, and how final decisions were made.

· PIT crew members agreed that it made sense to have a way in which items decided upon by the CORE group could be left dynamic and accessible to the larger group (especially when not all members of the community were in agreement).

· Suggestion about if/when the CORE group makes a decision should show proof of how the outreach/information was gathered

· Alternatives could include break out sessions, pre-advertising of forum agenda items and hard dead lines for decision making

· Core group coming up with agenda items makes sense… larger conversation about how decisions are ultimately made (how voting occurs and final decisions) still needs to be refined.

· Creation of a Mission statement and a more seasoned and vetted policy will help make this a fluid/dynamic process

· January is an estimated timeline for a more finalized procedure outline to be shared and made public for the PIE procedures

7. Communication
   * Jeff O’Hara reported out about the following:

· First student news segment going out tomorrow!

· Student news will be linked to the HCS website and the FaceBook page.

· Protocols are in the works for protecting student identity.

· Fan page on FaceBook is an emerging way of sharing information with students and parents

· Most feedback about use of a FaceBook page has been positive.

· Jeff is responsible for monitoring the content and adjusting/deleting inappropriate content posted.

· The hope is that there will be teaching moments to introduce e-mail and Facebook etiquette, give more information for parental monitoring, and modeling appropriate on-line use and expectations.

· Talked about age limit of age 13 (set by Facebook)…and how home values met with school-led content

· Facebook meant for 7^th and 8^th grade (thus meeting the “age 13” limitation).

· Ultimately, trying to find unique and tech-savvy ways to share the many cool things that happen on a daily basis each day in a more public way.

8. Grade level updates:

• K-2 update
• Kindergarten went to Sylvester and the Magic Pebble at the Flynn.
• Pumpkin carving done in conjunction with Burton. $200 being donated to Mrs. Lasher’s class and students will each receive a Burton hat!
• Danny McHasckel is a pro-biker admired by all. Students wrote to him and he wrote back! He answered all of their questions…this is a great talking point in Mrs. Lasher’s class!
• First Grade has been finishing up a writing unit and sharing with kindergarten, Mrs. Stanton’s class has published their first books and shared with an audience.
• 2^nd grade has been working on ant math unit; Mrs. O’Brien did a walking history of the town of Hinesburg. Tulip bulbs being planted

• 3-5 update”
• Revolutionary war unit test is over. Moving onto teaching US government. Students will be visiting VT historical museum and
• Water is Rising at the Flynn (in conjunction with ecology unit)
• Book Trailers (photo story and advertisement for a book) in conjuntion with literacy
• Grade 3,4,5 working on science curriculum.
• 3^rd graders are studying Native Americans and excited about focusing on one specific tribe and sharing with the larger group.
• 6-8 grade update
• 6^th graders did, by all accounts, an amazing job hosting Funo’ween with the younger students. Thanks for the great interactions and fun
• UA update

Elementary students at HCS will again be invited to participate in the "Reading is an Investment" program through the school library. This program is sponsored by the office of the Vermont State Treasurer's office. Look for a letter explaining the program and a website with more information in the next Viking.This year's focus will again look at the benefits of saving and will also focus on opportunity costs. Last year Corinna Stanley, our school librarian, received feedback from some parents that November and December were great months to focus on money skills. Many children were applying the lessons from the "Reading is an Investment" program to their wish lists and holiday shopping. Kindergarten through 2nd grade are beginning the program immediately. All other grade levels will begin later in November after current library units are completed. Watch for a reading log and recommended money reading list to come home with elementary students in November.

9. Book Fair:

· Scholastic Book Fair is slated to run from December 1^st to the 8^th.

· Stay tuned for more information in the Viking!

· Contact Sue Hoeppner if you have talents/time you would like to contribute to the effort: shoeppner@cssu.org

PIE Meetings to be held on the first Monday of the month at 6 pm

(Next meeting December 5th)

PIE roles & volunteers

K-2 representation:

Parent: Kim Gordon

Staff: Alyssa Lasher

Grades 3-5 representation:

Parent: Carla Wuthrich and Renee Durochia

Staff: Joyce Wright

Grades 6-8 representation:

Parent: Pam Mathews and Patti Drew

Staff: Steve Hyde

Co-Chairs: Jen Prue and Staff (to me named later)

Facilitator: Carla Wuthrich

Treasurer: Heather Way

Communication/PR: Kate Dodge, Sue Hoeppner, Kim Gordon

Secretary: Ali Douglas

HCS School Board representative: TBA

Unified Arts Representative: TBA

Administration Representative: Bob/Jeff

K-4 Play: Joy O’Neil and Kate Peterson

Staff Appreciation: Ali Douglas, Sue Hoeppner, Jamie Cudney

Funds Planning: Kim Gordon, Calen King, Alyssa Lasher, Jamie Cudney, Alesia Depot, Kate Dodge

Process Improvement Team (PIT Crew): Patti Drew, Jen Prue, Ali Douglas