Recap of 11/20/07 Meeting

ADMINISTRATIVE DISCUSSION
*Tom Burke,new Assistant Principal,discussed his background of various educational experiences. His passion in education is innovative and creative ways to teach students—finding different ways to earn credits which will appeal to different learners, such as Virtual High School. At this time, he is focusing on relationship building. He is responsible for discipline and emergency response plans as well.
*The Administration is looking at a program called Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, as a means of reducing disciplinary issues at the school. You can access information about this program at www.PBIS.org. They would like one to two parents on the committee, which requires a commitment of 1 hour per month for about 3 years. They hope to have it up and running by the end of June. We will be discussing this program at future meetings.
*Nothing more has been done beyond the cameras and doors regarding security at the school
*The hardware for the boys’ bathroom stall doors is on order. Parents expressed concern that the doors had still not been installed. Tom B. wanted to commend the Building and Grounds staff for disinfecting the entire building every night---railings, doorknobs, etc.
* There was discussion about unexcused absences and planned parental-excused absences. Parents requested a review of this policy as it does not address parent-approved absences.
*The Senior Dinner was discussed. The administration has moved along on this and has incorporated student entertainment into the dinners. They also have begun selecting some students to sit with the seniors during lunch. There was much discussion about encouraging all students to participate in this and providing them with icebreakers to initiate conversations.
*A student newspaper was briefly touched upon. Currently the Journalism class is the only group working on it. There is no extracurricular program for other students. We may want to look into this further.
*Annie Fernandez explained the program Rise to the Challenge, provided thru CCV. This is a class, Introduction to College Studies, offered for free to all high school students, particularly juniors and seniors, and we are trying to arrange a class in Chester for Green Mountain students. We asked Tom B to contact CCV to see what could be set up for the Spring.
BRAINSTORMING
*Maddie Bodin brought to our attention the Okemo Mountain Challenge Grant. For two years there have been no applications from any Chester group for these. She is one of a group soliciting donations from the Chester community for the Ski Ball in January. This year’s theme is Students Involved in Civic Life. We will obtain an application from the Superintendent and need to come up with some ideas for projects involving GM students and the community.
*We discussed the upcoming School Board elections. There will be two three-year seats available, one in Chester and one in Cavendish. Any resident at least 18 years of age who obtains 30 signatures from resident legal voters by the end of January can be placed on the ballot. We discussed ways of encouraging more candidates to run and more interest by the community in voting.

Recap of 10/16/07 Meeting

Alison DesLauriers joined us to discuss the budget process, among other things. Budget committee members are elected at the annual school meeting and Chester needs more involvement. There are currently 6-7 members, they have meetings, ask questions and act as the educational and budgetary watch-dogs for the school budget. The principal and the school board finance committee present the budget to them. At this time, Tom is working on next year’s budget. He plans on getting feedback from parents and the community. We have an opportunity to advise him of our interests and items of importance.

Many stall doors are missing from the boys’ bathrooms. Apparently this is the result of past misbehaviors. Tom will have them reinstalled in the interest of privacy for our male students but, if similar misdeeds occur, it may be reevaluated.

The lack of parking for parents close to the school was discussed. Tom will get a sign made for the current parking space next to his.

Tom has created a Student Support Team to help students in trouble. When made aware of a child experiencing life difficulties, this team can find assistance and help where needed

Alison discussed the Tech Center as well. There are misperceptions in the community that the students that attend the Center are getting only vocational education. However, most go on to attend college and pursue higher education and careers. She would like to see parents made aware of the opportunities there.

Tom would like us to include in our section of the newsletter a series of frequently asked questions by parents. This will be further discussed.

Student involvement in the newsletter was brought up. Should they be able to take it over, produce one of their own or contribute to it? Concerns of censorship were brought up. Tom encouraged students to submit articles to him for inclusion and stated he would not censor them, within reason.

In this vein, having a climate study of the students was discussed. This will need further investigation.

Security was discussed. Parents questioned the reason for installing cameras. There is not a preventative aspect to them so they are for help in bullying situations and location of a threat. Tom and Alison stated that their installation was a decision made last year in a reaction to a need for some type of action to be taken. It was requested that Tom outline in the newsletter exactly what actions the school is taking regarding security. It was agreed that this is a huge nationwide social issue that needs in-depth analysis and discussion in order to determine causes and courses of action.

Recap of 9/18/07 Meeting

Tom Ferenc asked for help with the Yearbook Club. We need an advisor. A suggestion was made to contact the Rotary Club for assistance. The former advisor, Melissa Palmer, will be out for part of the year on maternity leave but is willing to work with someone and will provide the action plan. Parents of seniors are encouraged to brainstorm. The job would entail selling ad space and working with the existing computer program. Pam Nelligan was suggested as a contact for photography, as she is doing school photos this year.
---Side-note: We are in debt to the publisher from last year’s book and have approx 50 yearbooks leftover. The possibility of having the senior table sell them for half-price at this weekend’s Sale on the Green was put forth.

Linda Waite went over the Climate Study from 2005. She explained the history of the project and some of the findings. At this point, most line items that were suggested solutions have been adopted and the current administration is looking to the future and working on the larger goals of building trust among staff and increasing student expectations. Some of the things currently being implemented as a result of this study are the Virtual High School (VHS), High Schools on the Move (link on GM Parents website) and a 30-hour course for staff from the National School Reform called “Critical Friends”.

Tom outlined some of the steps he has taken since coming to GM. His goals are to improve student learning…to become a professional learning community interdependent with teaching…and to emphasize the social/emotional aspect of learning. He has made an effort to be visible in the school at all hours, learning the names of many students, and visiting the classrooms on an informal basis.

A discussion about the Anti-Bullying program ensued. Tom considers this part of social/emotional learning. He explained that part of the impetus for our adopting a program comes from a legal settlement that was made with some GM parents but that it should have been implemented in any case. He is now in the process of investigating different options for programs to follow and will set up an exploratory committee when he is further along that road before he makes any final decisions. Several parents emphasized that the program must be pervasive and especially involve the staff, as well as contain common sense.

Several other topics that were briefly discussed were the Middle School, more communication to parents regarding programs such as VHS and guidance issues, individual learning plans for each student at GM, the email list for GM and the need for more school spirit.

Making Life Good for Your Kids' Teachers

I found this helpful and appropriate blog entry when scanning parenting websites. This is not composed by one of the GM Parents but embodies many of the sentiments we have discussed. Please check it out:


http://moxie.blogs.com/askmoxie/2007/08/making-life-goo.html

Reception a Success

Thanks to all the parents, teachers, students, community members and school administrators who attended the back to school reception at Green Mountain Union High School on the first day of classes.

It was a “warm” reception, and not just because of the hot weather on that first day of school. We parents were able to meet new district superintendent Joan Paustian, new principal Tom Ferenc, and associate principal Geoff Lawrence, plus many teachers, including several of the high school’s department chairpeople.

Tasty baked goods sweetened the event, including Baba a Louis’s famous bars and a coconut-topped cake baked by future Green Mountain student Andrew Dent that was almost too beautiful to eat. (But it was only almost too beautiful. We ate it, and it was delicious.)

Thanks also go to Lisai’s Market, Jiffy Mart and Ray Gould’s Market which provided the drinks, and to The Message for printing an announcement about the reception for the community.

It was wonderful to see so many people willing to celebrate the first day of a new school year with us. Thank you!

Welcome Back To School Reception

Parents and staff celebrate opening day in the gallery at GMUHS.

Attn: Thespian Enthusiasts

The Drama Department will be presenting two musicals and one drama this year and is looking for anyone willing to help with costumes for their productions. The fall drama production is open to 9 - 12 grade, the spring musical 7 - 12 grade and the middle school play (late spring) 7th and 8th grade. Please call or email Amanda Bourque at 875-2974 or bourque1@vermontel.net if you are interested or if you have questions.

Reception Planned

The primary purpose for the Aug. 14 meeting was to organize a “Welcome Back to School” reception to give parents and community members a chance to meet the principal, and perhaps some of their children’s teachers.

We confirmed that the reception would be held from 4 to 6 PM on the first day of school – Weds., August 29 -- at the Gallery on the Bridge at the high school.

We divvied up the organizational chores: contacting the high school maintenance staff, creating a banner to display near the road, writing a press release, contacting Chester-Andover Elementary School to get information to elementary school parents, organizing the refreshments, napkins, cups, ice and tubs to put it in, and getting word out to teachers.

We also talked about the parents’ event that GM currently offers 7th graders. It is primarily an open night sometime in the first two weeks of school. The Tuesday before schools opens, 7th graders have Move Up Day.

We discussed the idea of having a meet-the-teacher get-together prior to the kids going into 9th grade. A big question is how receptive the teachers might be to this idea. This is something to talk to Tom Ferenc about at a future meeting.

Some ideas for the event were a Parents’ Night, where parents would follow their kids’ schedules, with each period lasting a few minutes – just long enough to meet the teacher and hear a little bit about the class. Another idea was an Open School Day, where parents attend school with their children for all or part of the school day.

At the next meeting we will revisit some of our goals and our plans to meet those goals. A future meeting will feature a presentation by Linda Waite on the Climate Survey that was conducted last year. This was originally scheduled for June, but was rescheduled to give more people a chance to attend.

Meeting with Tom Ferenc

The group met last night with incoming principal Tom Ferenc in the high school library. It was an upbeat and productive meeting, and we were pleased that he was willing to meet with us before officially starting his duties at Green Mountain. The group presented some of the issues that we hope to work on, while the new principal discussed some of his ideas for the upcoming school year.

The issues we discussed are:

*To improve communication between the school and parents.

*To support innovative and caring teachers.

*To foster respect between and among students, teachers and parents.

To kick things off we discussed a school newsletter. Tom Ferenc's previous high school has an impressive, several page long newsletter that is mailed home to parents. He would like to create a similar newsletter at Green Mountain and would appreciate parent volunteers.

We decided that future meetings would have a facilitator, a recorder and reporter at each meeting. These roles will be rotated among the attending members.

We also began plans for a welcoming party for Tom Ferenc. We are planning a pot luck party on the evening after the first day of school with students, parents, teachers and community members. Stay tuned for more details.