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.