January School Board and District News

Posted on 27. Jan, 2010 by in District, District and School Board News, Minutes

2586853Board of Education Report – Liz O’Neil

  • Next year’s school calendar will be approved at the February meeting (2/1 Work Session; 2/16 Regular Meeting)
  • The area churches have requested that the schools be sensitive to scheduling activities on Sunday mornings, as it hinders the student from attending services. This request will be addressed by the policy committee.

Administrative Report – Rachel Jones

  • Feb 12th is an In Service day: The focus will be technology. There will be 2 main sessions for the teachers in which they will hear presenters on specific topics and then have time to collaborate with colleagues to develop lessons, activities etc on what they have just learned. For each session, teachers will sign up for a presentation from a menu of topics such as wikis, mimios, digital storytelling, podcasting, student response systems and much more.
  • Datawerks is a new database the district has purchased to house all of our K-12 assessment data on students. Testingwerks-a K-12 Data Warehouse for Student Testing was developed for school districts that perform a variety of diagnostic tests from a variety of sources and want to view and analyze all the results together. Testingwerks is a depository where districts can import or enter scores ranging from locally developed common assessments, state tests, diagnostic tests, national tests, and national standardized tests. With Testingwerks, your teachers, counselors, administrators, and special education teachers can now see all tests in one location and begin to develop comprehensive intervention plans.
  • Kindergarten offerings next year are the same as they were this year. We have one more year of this and then full day, every day kindergarten is mandated. So for next year, we will have am/pm kindergarten and full day, tuition based kindergarten offered. Kindergarten registration is Feb. 27th.

Computeruser

District PTO Reports

Comments from the President – Gwenn Klose

Letters have been sent to encourage teachers, who have not yet responded, to join the PTO.

Comments from Secretary – Kathryn Williams

  • No Report

Comments and Treasurer’s Report – Jen Ganger

  • Treasurer’s monthly financial report distributed and reviewed.

Comments from 1st Vice President – Colleen Mahoney

  • Website:  Angie DeBernardo sent an e-mail letter to all PTO members introducing them to the PTO website and encouraging them to use the site for all pertinent PTO information.  Currently posted is the flyer for PTO Bingo Night scheduled for Friday, January 29.  Also:  if you are having trouble getting email from the school because you are on roadrunner, try this fix suggested by other parents.
  • Shopping Credits:  Heinen’s registration numbers are down. Kelly Hendricks reports the following:
Giant Eagle Numbers: 277   (last year 213, in Nov. 270)Heinen’s  Numbers:      433   (last year 827, in  Nov. 213)

I sent out several emails to different chairs and organizations back in November…I think this worked. I will send another round and emphasize Giant Eagle.

I will send Giant Eagle rewards book with request information to Barb Wilson this week and she will then forward to teachers.

Additionally, last week, all teachers  received a letter from PTO listing the “shopping programs” as one way to get involved with PTO and help raise money for the district.

Comments from 2nd Vice President – Gigi Kuper-Lewis

  • no audience comments / participation although many people attended this meeting
  • This is School Board Recognition Month and Steve Thompson thanked the members of the school board
  • Bob Hunt updated the Board on some possible changes coming with the upcoming house bill   :  changes will affect current 8th graders for grad. requirements – would make it easier for students to get credits without actually being in classroom (indep. studies, etc.)
  • The calendar has not yet been presented to the Board

Comments from Financial Vice President –Laurie McCormack

Financial Planning Committee – A memo went to all teachers, administrators and staff at the beginning

of January advising them of the February 5, 2010 deadline for major grant requests.

We have received one request so far.

We received 3 building fund requests in December.  The two at the Middle School were approved.

  • School Supplies – no report.
  • Membership – We have 3 new members at the $10 level.  Each non-member teacher and select Administrator will have received a letter by this Friday to encourage membership.
  • Fundraising – no report.

General Discussion

  • Lisa Fredrickson still needs 5-6 additional volunteers to update the PTO constitution. Please, contact her if you are willing to help.

Comments are closed.