Community Evening & Welcome
Location: Flex
Space
Attending: 26 people
Opening: Welcome to
PiE (Acting co-chair, Carla Wuthrich)
·
PiE stands for Partnership in Education and
works on the following:
o
Community building
o
Education: forums are offered throughout the
year to explore timely topics (e.g., curriculum, assessment, school policies,
etc.); PiE is seeking parent input on learning topics for this school year.
Fill out the survey here: www.facebook.com/HCSPiE
o
Fundraising/sponsoring events
o
Serves as a conduit for school information to
get out to community
o
Supports staff and parents – everyone connected
and working toward a common goal
o
This year PiE also has the goal of connecting with
the birth to five community and alums
·
Introductions were made around the room, and
there were a number of families who were new to HCS this year
·
Key dates:
o
Sept. 22 - morning mingle 7:15am
§
What do kids do during this time? Some families
bring the kids, but PiE welcomes feedback if that doesn’t work for folks
o
Sept. 27 - curriculum night (6-7 grade)
o
Sept. 29 - k-2 open house
o
Oct. 4 - 4th grade curriculum night
o
Oct. 21 – parent/teacher conferences
o
Oct. TBD - Unified Arts Open House and Harvest
Dinner
o
Nov. 4 - Bake Sale
o
Nov. 18-19 - Fall Musical
o
Dec. - Adult Dance
o
Jan/Feb/March - Info Nights
o
March 10 - Family Dance
Top 10 (Facilitated
by parent, Rob O’Neil)
We played a “Family Feud”- style game to explore common
questions and topics of interest. Quick answers were provided when possible; some
topics will be explored in greater detail at future meetings.
·
New Staff (Suzan Locke, Co-Principal)
o
New Administration – Suzan Locke and Jeff O’Hara
are co-principals instead of the former model of breaking up by grades
§
Suzan will be focusing on her strengths –
curriculum, instruction, standards based learning
§
Jeff will be focusing on his strengths – PBIS
(Positive Behavior Intervention and Supports), social and emotional development
§
Contact either principal, and they will
collaborate and touch base with each other
§
Jeff is still the contact for Imagine
§
Parents have been hearing that students would
like a “new principal intro” – maybe at lunch
o
Alicia Kurth is the new Director of Special
Education (shared position between Charlotte and Hinesburg)
o
HCS Pre-k program is now for Hinesburg and
Charlotte (2 Charlotte students this year)
·
Early Release Days (Suzan Locke, Co-Principal)
o
New this year: Tuesdays students are released at
1:55
o
Staff meet from 2:00-4:00; first hour is new
learning; second hour is a chance to apply what’s learned
§
Some parents asked if this seems like enough time
§
Fourth grade teacher, Jen Roth, said most teachers
appreciate not being overwhelmed by a full day course; since teachers put the
learning into practice and revisit it the next week, the learning is ongoing
and evolving and seems more beneficial to the HCS community
§
Between the weeks there’s a consultant giving
feedback on implementation of what’s been learned
§
Teaching teams (by grade level) also come
together once a week or more during common planning time (when students at PE,
art, etc.)
§
Parents were in agreement that they would like
periodic updates about what staff are learning and how it’s being implemented
o
Some key topics of staff learning this year:
§
Proficiency Based Learning (PBL): teachers to
look at targets/expectations for students around new standards; developing 4
point scale based on expectations
·
PiE to offer follow-up session to this from the info
night offered last year
§
Restorative justice: how to make all students
feel like they belong, can express themselves, feel safe; part of educating the
“whole child”
·
Parent involvement at school – how to get
started?
o
Ask your child’s classroom teacher
o
Other ways – drama, spelling bee, PiE
o
Questions about fingerprinting – lots of folks
wondering when fingerprinting is needed
§
Parents do need fingerprinting to go on field
trips and in roles working one-on-one with students
§
Check with Deb Lavallete in the front office for
forms and whether necessary
§
Process takes a while – start early
·
Change in morning school routine
o
In past years all students went into the
cafeteria and stood there until they were allowed to go to classrooms at 7:50,
and school started at 8:00
o
Now, para-specialists are in by 7:30, and each
grade level has an area to go to and activities to do (Legos, reading,
Chromebook time, games, etc.)
§
Students now have a quieter start to ease into
the day
·
School Bucks
o
Parent had a question about why her child is being
allowed to buy lunch when no money in account (child choosing to purchase
lunch, even when they have a lunch from home that day); a few other parents
echoed this frustration
§
School policy to feed all kids; be sure to
communicate with your child’s teacher if there’s an issue (cc Deb Bissonette,
cafeteria director, so she knows as well)
·
School bus safety/policies
o
How does the school care for students on the
bus/make sure they are safe?
o
Who to ask if there are questions about bussing:
Ken Martin KMartin@cssu.org;
or call the HCS front office and they can connect you
o
Concerns can be addressed to either principal
o
Many parents echoed that they would like more
information on official bus policies (e.g., behavior expectations, students
sitting by grade? etc.)
o
Suggestion to put something in the Viking about
how the bus is supposed to work and invite parents to contact the school if there
are concerns
·
PiE community info night in October will be
about behavior and conduct
o
Breakout sessions to cover wide variety of
ages/concerns (e.g., social media)
·
Fundraising (acting Treasurer, Jim Goldsmith)
o
Goal is to raise $20,000 this year
§
$12,000 goes into teacher accounts to provide
money for field trips, special projects
§
$5,000 for grants (distributed to teachers)
§
Smaller amounts for teacher appreciation,
wellness (garden), etc.
o
Need more families to help with fundraising
§
Genevieve’s – catalog fundraiser going home this
month
§
Fundraising team has monthly meetings
o
Always the option for families to “opt out” of
fundraisers that are sent home by making a contribution instead
·
School Board Consolidation (HCS Board members Bill
Baker, Stacy Riley and Keith Roberts)
o
Gives more flexibility to provide kids better
services – (e.g., sharing Alicia Kurth between Hinesburg and Charlotte, more
sports and opportunities available, etc.)
o
Right now there are 7 school boards in the
district
o
July 1, 2017 there will be one board
§
Colleen McKinnon and Ray Mainer are going to
serve on the consolidated CSSU board
§
PiE money will stay with HCS
§
Governance-wise there will be a big change, and
there will be no local budget – not day-to-day changes for teachers, kids,
administration
o
Parents welcome to attend any board meetings –
check agenda for topics
§
HCS Board still meeting this school year, and
the consolidated board is meeting concurrently and getting up to speed
·
PiE Officers (Aimee Frost, acting Co-Chair)
o
Aimee Frost made a motion and Stacy Riley seconded
the motion to open the discussion about PiE officers
§
Carla Wuthrich and Aimee Frost were put forward
as candidates for PiE Co-Chair
§
Jim Goldsmith was put forward as the candidate
for PiE Treasurer
§
Rachel Kring was put forward as the candidate
for PiE Secretary
§
Bill Baker made a motion and Kate Dodge seconded
the motion to close discussion and vote
§
A vote by show of hands elected all officers to
roles detailed above
Wrapping up
·
Keep new hopes/ideas coming!
·
Extra curriculars
o
If people have interests/skills, we can do it
(e.g., chess club started by a parent)
o
PiE survey seeking feedback about Tuesday after
school offerings had 40% response by HCS community
§
Meetings have happened between school, Imagine,
Rec Department and other community partners; PiE to stay involved in how the
early release is affecting families and if there are enough offerings/options
·
T-shirts
o
Orders for HCS t-shirts (logo design by HCS
student, Cody O’Neil) accepted until October 14; offered at cost
·
What’s next?
o
PiE meetings are the third Thursday of the month at 6:30; next one is
October 20
o
PiE emails go out to everyone who provides an
email address
§
As you hear about opportunities/events you want
to be involved with, let us know!
