Recap of 3/18/08 Meeting

Tom Burke, Assistant Principal, met with us this evening and we had a lively two hour discussion, to include:
*The Okemo Challenge Grant--it was decided that since we have no particular project in mind this year, Anne Lamb's group seems to be the best avenue for our community to be involved. We encourage all interested parents to contact her for information or to help with Kids Consortium (kidsconsortium.org).
*Although too late for this year, parents interested in the school choice program should be aware that some of the participating schools are: Hartford, Black River, Springfield, Woodstock, Windsor, Leland & Grey, Bellows Falls, Brattleboro & Twin Valley, along with Green Mountain.
*The recently released 11th grade NECAP scores were less than impressive for Green Mountain and parents were very interested to hear the administration's take on these, as well as any action to be undertaken. Tom is working on a report about it. Tom Ferenc and Linda Waite have been discussing it. It was agreed that we would like to hear more on this subject in future meetings.
*We requested the status of the PBIS system that Tom is implementing for discipline at GM. There has only been staff involvement to date and they are requesting information on school systems that have implemented the program successfully. Tom is bringing in a Vermont consultant to confer with the committee. We requested the parents that have volunteered for this team start being apprised of its status and any actions to be taken. We would like to see the parent/community volunteers involved at this time.
*We queried if Tom was aware of any efforts on the part of Guidance to promote the college tuition cuts that have been making news recently. He was not but brought up a system that is being reviewed for implementation called NAVIANC. It will assist Guidance in college preparation. However, funds will need to be allocated for it.
*We asked Tom what qualifications a student had to have to be in the Life Skills program, which teaches children adaptive skills. Tom will gather more information and report to us at the next meeting.
*Tom announced a new system the administration is looking to implement called ALERT NOW. This is a telephone service that makes automated calls to all parents and guardians in the event of an emergency or any occasion determined to be of merit by the administration. There was some concern expressed about the extent to which this will be used and general agreement it should not be used to announce routine school events. Parents also thought this is something that should be discussed with the community at large before implementation, in order to avoid a failure of the program. Having the parents on board with this is important, as well as agreement on the extent to which it is used. Tom did emphasize that it is used with great success by many school systems in Vermont.
*Finally, next year's block scheduling was discussed. Study hall has been eliminated. School will start at 8 am. There will be 3 87-minute blocks before lunch, one after and finally a split 87-minute block ends the day, which can be used for 2 classes or just 1. There was a need expressed for the continued availability of a year-long class, especially for subjects like math and foreign languages.