PiE Meeting Minutes
12-15-16
Planning Meeting
Planning Meeting
Location: Flex
Space
Attending: Suzan
Locke, Jen Roth, Elisabeth Garvey, Aimee Frost, Rachel Kring, Kate Dodge, Jenny
Wilkinson, Jim Goldsmith, Jeff O’Hara
Welcome and Intros
Principal Updates
·
Staff working on Proficiency Based Learning
o
Sent out first middle school Jump Rope reports
(online grade reports)
§
Parent shared the feedback that it was hard to
read the report, even though she knew what it was all about and had been to the
school information night
§
One teacher had done a small narrative, which
helped put the numbers in context, and it would be helpful if all teachers
could do this
·
Into the Woods was a great success
·
Families have been picking up gift cards for the
holidays
o
This year, staff donated funds to purchase gift
cards for HCS families in need
·
Miranda Johnson given the Berlin City award
($1,200) for books for her classroom
·
Stephanie Konowitz will be presenting about a
science unit at a national conference
·
Staff continuing to work on restorative justice
and working on celebrations for positive behavior
o
School is exploring the idea of using the term “Social
Justice” instead of “Restorative Justice”
·
At last month’s PiE meeting we explored the
system that’s in place to make the school a welcoming place and to set
expectations for positive behavior and how staff work to build relationships,
safety and trust with and among students
o
Small audience, but it was very informative
o
May be some education that needs to happen for
parents so they know how this relates to them
Holiday Activities Updates
·
Wrapping paper drive is done, and there were plenty
of donations – thanks, parents!
·
PiE is donating milk coupons and granola bars to
the vacation food bags offered by the Hinesburg Community Resource Center to
families receiving free and reduced
lunch, which will amount to about $150
·
School always gets requests for coats and boots;
PiE contributes to the Star Fund, and some money is used for that in winter
months
·
Looking for a new PiE grants coordination person
o
If anyone is interested, reach out to Aimee
Frost or Kristin Miskavage
o
Ideally, someone would be able to shadow Kristin
this year
Proficiency Based Learning (PBL)
·
January 19 at 6:30 the PiE learning event will
be all about PBL, and the administration and PiE leaders will collaborate on
putting together the content
·
Admin is collecting data about how PBL system is
working in the classroom with 5th through 8th grade and
putting together a video – hoping to use
that to show parents what’s going on
·
Could also address Jump Rope at that time
o
Parent suggested it would be helpful if a teacher
walks through a sample report with parents
·
Could address what PBL is looking like for
teachers
·
Shelburne just had a parent forum, and there
were parents upset about the Jump Rope program
o
Important that that HCS educates parents about
PBL and shows them the progression – how this links to high school and beyond
o
Parents want to know are kids graduating ready
for CVU
·
Could consider breaking up into smaller groups
by age at the PBL event
Family Dance – Elisabeth Garvey and Jenny Wilkinson
·
March 10 (Fri.), 6-8:30
·
Setup starts at 3:00
·
Theme is “Fun in the Sun”
·
Pre-sale of tickets the week before
o
$20/family pre-paid; $30/family at the door
night-of
·
River Cove Animal Hospital and Village Car Co.
each donating $350
·
Committees: Food and Drink; Decorations; Baskets
o
Getting committee heads in place – contact
Elisabeth and Jenny
o
Imagine could possibly help with decorations
o
Could involve student council
§
7th and 8th graders
personalized learning includes a contribution to the school community, so
participating in the dance would be a nice way to contribute and would
hopefully involve more older kids
·
Baskets
o
Baskets make up half of the profits last year
o
Admin to talk with teachers about putting
together baskets
§
Last year putting together the baskets seemed a
bit rushed
§
Jeff suggested we think about just putting out
theme ideas to all the parents, and they could contribute to any basket - would
need to figure out logistics of collecting items
§
Important to communicate to teachers that field
trip money came from PiE, so contributing to the basket auction ensures PiE has
enough money to continue that support
o
Also make sure parents are contributing items
vs. asking for donations in the community
·
Wiggle Room activity table will be set up
·
Photo booth
o
Cost $300 last year, so the co-chairs are
considering other options:
§
Could just having props and having people snap
picture with their phones instead
§
Try asking Ambient Photography what they could
do – they take the school photos and have been great to work with
§
Option to have a sponsor cover the cost for the
photo booth
§
After talking over the options, we decided to go
with the same photo booth company as last year
o
Last year we had to do a photo release – do we
have to do again this year?
§
Admin felt no, as families sign a release at the
beginning of the year for the school
·
Make sure families know this is not a drop-off
event
2017 Learning Events
·
At the beginning of the year we talked about
doing five learning events
·
Last year we brought in Vicki Hoffle (paid)
·
This year, a parent suggested Cindy Pierce –
author, sexuality educator, speaker and comic
o
Her book Sexploitation
talks about “porn” culture; she asserts that “it is
fundamentally a parent’s job to provide information about sex and relationships
early… Delaying the necessary
but awkward conversations with their kids leaves them vulnerable. The media,
marketers, and porn and gaming industries are eager to step in anywhere parents
choose to hold back…Kids who enter their teens with accurate information and truths
stand a better chance of developing an “inner compass” when it comes to sex and
relationships, which sets them up for a healthy adulthood.”
o
She typically presents to parents of high school
or college age kids, but she is willing to tailor her talk to parents of
younger kids
§
May be best for middle school and up
o
$2,000 for the presentation
§
People thought this was really steep for a
speaking fee
§
Could seek sponsorship or offer in conjunction
with another school (e.g., offer at CVU in cooperation with Williston)
o
This event would be for parents
o
Parents questioned what is taught at HCS now
§
Health curriculum teaches about sexual health;
internet safety is covered with bullying curriculum; there is no discussion of culture
around sex, norms, etc.
·
Admin feels this is role for parents
·
Other possible topics suggested by meeting
attendees:
o
Internet safety
§
Former parent who works for Essex PD
§
Many noted this topic was not well attended in
the past
o
Jean Fitzgerald who does work for childcare
centers could present on child development
o
Anxiety and stress in children
§
Teaching resiliency and coping skills for kids
Ongoing Communication
·
Fundraising Committee met in October and was
feeling like communication needs some work
o
Both inter-PiE communication and communication
to parents
o
Maybe bring back “slice of PiE” – a very short
summary emailed out to teachers after meetings
§
Post on Facebook page
§
Post a link to PiE notes from Facebook and the
HCS page
o
Coordinate what’s going into the Viking
§
Have same phrasing in all school communications
o
Who takes on coordinating all of this? Needs to
be discussed more at the next planning meeting
o
Need to plan school events and schedule them in
June so there isn’t a mad rush in August
§
Open houses and curriculum nights would be great
to have scheduled ahead so PiE can weave in events around, support, etc.
§
Burlington schedules out everything for the year,
so we could look at doing something similar
o
Maybe set aside a day for a PiE retreat
January PiE planning meeting or mingle
·
Would be great to do a planning meeting in
addition to the learning event
o
Talk about communication at this meeting
o
Student directory needs to be discussed
§
Could we print from the school database and do
an “opt-out” for those families who don’t want to participate?
Next Steps
·
Schedule January planning meeting
·
Start January learning event promotion
