May 5 Meeting Notes

In attendance: Kristin Miskavage, Stacy Riley, Jennifer Lundquist, Tanya Jones, Jeff O’Hara, Jim Goldsmith, Allegra Miller, Heidi Bouchard, Barb Galgon, Nancy Wood, Kate Dodge, Doug Stewart.

Co-Principal’s Presentation: Placement Process and School Safety

Placement Process – K-4 (Allegra Miller)

Main goal is to create heterogenous classes.  Many factors to balance including gender, personalities, learning partners.  Teachers recommend groupings, many meetings take place with teams including Unified Arts, Special Educators and Allegra. The process is starting this week after school and will continue through early June.  Any retention decisions happen at this time.

Teacher and parent requests are not feasible to honor, they don’t help toward the overall goal.  Family continuity also does not really factor into placement because it’s not equitable for new families.  There will be a Move Up day on June 12 where students have a chance to visit their new classroom and see their new classmates.

Placement Process – 5-8 (Jeff O’Hara)

The middle school works a little differently.  This is the first year that parent input has not been solicited for 5^th graders moving up, mostly because we know your student by now, but also because middle school students will have all the teachers.  The rest of the process (group meetings, lots of input) mirrors the elementary school.  Currently the plan is to shift a teacher to the middle school team of teachers so there will be three groupings of students.  Each group will stay together as they travel through the subjects, instead of mixing up like they’re doing this year in 5^th grade.

In K-4 there may be some moving around of teachers but at this time there are no open teacher slots to be filled.  One K teacher will move to 1^st grade.  There’ll be one reduction in staff.

School Safety

Safety is a top priority and gets a lot of attention in all corners of the building.  Students are familiar with at least 4 types of drills, one of which is an evacuation drill (what we called a Fire Drill back in olden times). There are monthly drills and safety meetings that include Hinesburg Fire and Police members.  All our doors in the main bldg.. have been upgraded to be able to be locked from the inside without a key. Drills are announced over the PA system.

HCS has a back up generator, which is on a timer.  Power outages can occur, students are kept at school so long as HCS has water, at least a few hours.  We also have installed surveillance cameras at school.

Discussion about locking the front and side doors during Part II after school programs.  The office is not currently staffed to buzz parents in after 4:30.  At that point, our school bldg.. becomes a public, community building.  Still struggling with how to solve this problem so Part II students/parents feel safe but the bldg.. doesn’t feel like a jail.  CCS has a locked door with a doorbell right near the entrance to where Part II takes place.

Principal’s Report

• Volunteers from NRG helped with mulching around the property
• Great turn out for spring sports
• New artwork in the cafeteria
• $3,700 raised for the American Heart Association through Jump Rope for Heart
• Science NECAPs are coming up for 4^th and 8^th graders
• 5 UVM seniors will be student-teaching here next fall
• Completed Math Best Practice Studios
• School Action Plan is in development, including Math, Literacy, School Climate & Wellness, Social Studies and Science.  Expect to see a survey in the fall.
• Professional Development classes are ongoing for the staff
• Theatre program changes: next year there will be a grade 4-5 fall production and a grade 6-8 spring production.  This is mostly due to high participation rates across the board. Both are school sanctioned and budgeted programs. The 3^rd grade rainforest production will be deepened with more help from the Music Dept.

PiE Committee Reports

Staff Appreciation Week: lots of exciting opportunities to thank teachers and staff are planned all week.  Sign up to help here: www.SignUpGenius.com/go/10C0D45A9AA2AA02-staff1

Fundraising Update

Hinesburgh Public House Dinner: Tuesday May 6.  $20 price fixe dinner, half the proceeds will support PiE’s efforts to add some natural play elements to our playground

Lake Monsters Game Tickets: Packets are due on Friday May 9.  HCS Night at the Ball park is Saturday, June 21^st.  If that date doesn’t work for your family, you can exchange the tix. For another home game.  Instructions are in your packet.

Hike for HCS Day at the Russell Trails: Sunday, June 1 from 11:00-1:00 come hike the Russell Trails (meet at the backstop at Lyman field) and enjoy a scavenger hunt and potluck picnic at the HCS Playground afterward for only $5.

Box Tops and Labels for Education - Due May 28th for fun raffle prizes.  For every 10 clipped, your child gets an entry into the raffle.

Enrichment

Carla Wuthrich is working on a one-day “Design & Build” after school program for grades 4-8 in boat building (and sinking).  Date is Wed. May 28^th after school.  Look for announcement in the Viking.

Other

PiE has designed a quick survey for parents and teachers – looking for input on how to improve.  Here’s the link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1bIIMdLrvpJfRY7mt60yTVzus7S8mlyHK2ZAEe3YQbqw/viewform?usp=send_form

Leadership of PIE next year

Kate Dodge and Alyssa Lasher will both step down as Co-Chairs of PiE next year, and Ali Douglas will step down as Secretary - so there are lots of opportunities to get involved and help steer the PiE ship into the future!  Email Kate for more info.

Upcoming Events

• May 9 – Grades 5-6 Dance 3:00 to 5:00 pm
• May 28 – 2^nd grade Aesop’s Fables and Design & Build after school
• May 28 – Box Tops/Labels for Education Due
• June 2 – 6:00pm – Last PiE meeting of the year – “End of year Wrap Up”
• June 3 – 7:00pm – 5/6 Chorus, Beginner & Intermediate Band
• June 4 – 7:00pm -7/8 Chorus, Jazz Band & Advanced Band
• June 6 – Field Day – K-5
• June 6 – All Library books are due back to the Library 
• June 12 – Move Up Day (1:00-2:00) and 8^th grade graduation
• June 13 – Is the last day of school for students for K-7 

Next meeting is Monday, June 2 at 6:00pm in the Flex Space.