On Nov. 15, 2017 the School Leadership Team of The Children’s School (“The SLT”) held its regular meeting at 7:30am.
Meeting called to order @ 7:30
Housekeeping
- October minutes approved
- Chris Fladgate volunteered to serve as backup secretary
- Matt Miller to complete November minutes and the two will rotate moving forward
Principal Update
- Cell phone policy – in response to an incident on a school bus, language to be added about students viewing pornography
- One suggestion was to draw a separate letter
- Research materials about cyber security, safety, parental controls
- Open House – Dec 14 (6:00 – 7:30 pm)
- Children will showcase studios
- Smaller tours during the day – need teacher volunteers to open 1 class per grade
- Border Crossers – 11/18 training for parents (including childcare for children in PK, K, 1, 2)
- Sponsored by PTA
- 2nd training forthcoming to dig deeper
- Training for teachers took place 11/7
- Parent Academy – One Saturday per month
- Grant for the Arts – Family arts collaborative – For Ms. Sandi
- Administration to look into why no funds from STEM grant in the borough went to our school
UFT Update
- Nothing to report
- Winter Festival – Dec. 20 – Songs of the Season
- Will check about including Dawali
PTA Update
- November meeting 11/8
- Evening meeting – very poor attendance by parents
- Cathy Price – D15 CEC rep spoke
- Steve Questar spoke about Border Crossers
- Arts/Science day
- Undecided about the sale of student work
- School gear will be sold
- 4th grade has priority for fundraising; then Undoing Racism
- No meeting in December
- Konstella up and running – being used regularly
- Encourage more teacher use – blast emails to families
- Can’t be used at ASD – a lot of parents don’t have email, access to computers, speak English, etc.
- Look into options like Remind for text reminders
Committee Updates
Diversity Committee
- Meeting week of 11/13
- Focus of the meeting was on outreach for Kindergarten recruiting.
- Kindergarten application process opens on November 28th and will run through January 12.
- Gowanus concert with City Stomp
- Concert date: December 3rd at 2pm
- Concert Location: Theater of the Liberated at Gowanus Houses Community Center
- Rosa Amato may have another band to join the concert – TBC
- Discussed whether other schools should be invited and it was decided that BNS and PS 133 should be asked to participate
- The 5th Ave Committee can also promote concert through their channels just need to be given support materials
- Need to give credit to the 5th Ave Committee in printed materials
- 5th Ave Committee asked for a $5 donation fee to be paid by attendees however Diversity Committee decided to request funds from PTA to keep the concert free
- Actions needed
- Secure someone from the administration to speak at the concert
- Ask PTA for funds to cover $5 suggested admission fee
- Volunteers needed for day of event to help with set-up, breakdown, work information table
- Follow-up with Rosa Amato about other potential band
- Contact BNS and PS133 about joining event – Michele will contact former 372 parents who are now at those schools
- Create concert version of flyer to promote TCS Open House(s) which mentions 5th Ave – Committee/Cheri to create flyer/Also suggested to add breakfast at 8am and school start time to flyer
- Michele to find TCS brochure which was used approximately 3 years ago and will need to be updated
- Contact local pre-ks to promote concert
- Provide 5th Ave Coalition with promotional materials for concert
- Open House
- Date still TBC though Yvette is aiming for early December
- Early December deemed too early, mid-December date preferred
- Discussed the need for additional open house and tour dates that can be added to the flyer
- Actions needed
- Contact Yvette about moving open House to mid-December
- Request more than one open house date
- Michele will request meeting with Rosa
- Neighborhood Outreach Teams
- Louis to join Sunset Park Team
- MG will connect him with Judy Wong
- Robert to join Red Hook Team
- Candida to join Kensington Team
- MG to connect her with Sarah & rest of K team
- Actions needed
- Figure out neighborhood outreach strategies with the teams
- Candida to contact friend in Red Hook and see if she has local community contacts to give to Robert
- TCS flyers and brochures to be used for these recruitment efforts
- Rafael to ask Good Shepherd Services who to contact to reach out to preschools
- Holly to contact family daycares and find which ones are in D15
- Contact Center for Family Life in Sunset Park
- Michele will send out email via Konstella to request additional help on neighborhood teams
- New Committee Chair – Need someone to help Michele coordinate and take over as new Chair for next year
Social-Emotional Community Building Committee
- Working on establishing student council
Wellness Committee
- After first meeting a bid for a grant was put together within 48 hours to meet the deadline
- $2,500 grant awarded ➔ earmarked for mindfulness around student anxiety about testing
- Planning an evening family wellness night
- Train teachers in Move to Improve
- Free DOE program
- Incorporate in classrooms