PGG Meeting Minutes from 9/7/04, 6:30-8:00
Present: Sharon Vardatira, Alyssa Melnick, Yaldira Brown, Alisa Brewer, Heather A Lord, Katie Winston, Jennifer Boyd, Tricia Everett, Jackie Churchill, Andy Churchill, Tom Flittie, Nick Yaffe, Ian Boyd, Bonnie Wolfman, Debbie Timberlake, Dan Kramer
- Potluck Picnic is scheduled for Friday September 10th. New parents and children will have different colored name tags. Tricia circulated a list for volunteers for setting up, purchasing supplies and clean-up.
- Big Y is offering Education Express points again this year. Alisa Brewer will sign interested people up at the Picnic or Curriculum Night.
- Alyssa Melnick spoke of setting up Host Families for new families at Mark’s Meadow. To help welcome new families to the school and the community. She will be at a table during the picnic to sign families up and provide information.
- Discussion started on what the role of the room parent is. Last year it involved communication with families about school events and issues. Talked about having contact with the teacher and about what the Teacher would like in the way of support. Suggestion to review this further at the next PGG meeting.
- There was a suggestion that Parents speak to the classrooms about PGG during curriculum night for 2 minutes. Nick to follow-up.
- PGG Coordination: Looking at ways to coordinate PGG without having a chairperson. The different roles of the Chairs (e.g. oversee official functions, ex treasurer, fundraising). Taking Minutes, (Debbie T. will do at meetings I am able to attend.), setting the Agenda, coordinating and facilitating meetings. Arranging childcare (Yaldira will pick up.) Suggestion to have a pool of people to facilitate the meetings and set the agenda. Dan Kramer, Sharon Vardatira, Tom Flittie, and possibly Katie Winston in time, have agreed to start. More volunteers will be needed. Plan to identify who will run the next meeting at each meeting. Sharon Vardatira will be facilitating the next meeting.
- With a rotating PGG facilitator there is a need for a consistent contact person to forward funding requests to PGG, answer questions, and forward agenda items to the appropriate facilitator. Debbie Timberlake can do this.
- Principle’s Report:
- First Day went well, will need some fine tuning, but would continue this for next year. Suggested a First Day Committee be identified before the end of the school year.
Talking with staff about how to create a professional learning community, to teach, inspire; having a discussion with our children, parents and guardians, and teachers on having students be excited about learning and engaged.
- Kindergarten Placement: Our current configuration is too small, how it is uncomfortable deciding who will stay, who goes. How to fit every thing in, needing to look at how we do this. There is a need for 14 rooms instead of the 10 we have.
- School Governance Council: Two vacant seats, possibly three. Katie will work on the flyer providing information, and soliciting candidates. It will be sent home with students, families may return the completed forms to their Childs teachers, and they will be forwarded to the office. Elections will take place on curriculum night.
- The next meeting will be Wednesday October 6th. Then Monday November 1st, and Thursday December 2nd.
- Other dates October 1st will be school pictures. Thursday October 7th will be a AAEA trivia bee.
- Agenda for the next meeting: Funding Guidelines, Yearbook, Room Parents, Grant for Gardening, Art Fundraiser/ Holiday Art Presents, Food Bank, Future PGG Meeting Dates, next meeting’s facilitator.