Roland Park Elementary Middle School

School Family Council Meeting

September 21, 2015

3:30 pm

Attendees

Melanie Carter, Jaime Roberts, Kristen Bowden, Shannon Fleming Bray, Margo Candelaria, Sarah Walker, Pamela Hamm, Curtisha Wilson, Stephanie Safran, Debbie Claiborne, Randi Crystal, Allisun Baumgartner, James Lindsey, Matthew Croson, Sara Kern, Nick D’Ambrosio, Stephanie Bass, Madeline Egan, Daniel Hellerbach, Natalia Goldenberg, Jeremy Greene, Leila Kohler-Freub, Philip Rowland-Seymour, Patricia Jiggetts-Jones, Samantha Pitts, Justin Holbrook, Heidi Mozoki

Opening Activity

What school supply matches your personality? Why?

Committee Catch-Ups

Attendance –Melanie Carter

  • I have new ideas for this school year.
  • Would love to have more members on the attendance team.

Climate – Margo

  • Ceiling tiles in cafeteria have been replaced. We are now at 95% sound absorption.
  • Civility Campaign - Wear your buttons to remind each other to smile and greet one another.
  • We created a Peace Path (a conflict resolution path/technique). It is painted on the back playground. The children use it to talk out the steps of conflict resolution.
  • We have many more things planned for the year.

Goucher Update – Sarah Walker

  • We have 3 student teachers this year
  • 2 in first grade and 1 in third/second grade

PTA Update – Kristen Bowden

  • Very successful work day in the school: installed ceiling tiles, painted peace path, organized closets, organized student art work and trophies
  • Dance on Sept 25th for 7th and 8th graders
  • Teacher luncheon – October 28th

Special Education – Madeline Egan

  • ADHD support group will meet in October
  • October 12th – Elementary
  • October 26th – Middle
  • Michelle Ruth and Nancy Salmon will facilitate
  • Future Topics: Need to find a homework specialist & working with your teacher

Family/Community Engagement – Stephanie Safran

  • A BUILD staff person helps organize our community
  • We work with City and State to inform the school community
  • We welcome new members with new ideas
  • Issue of Charter Funding – They have not been doing what the guidance said. We want every kid to get the money they need for the services they need. Two opportunities to attend forums this week. Messages about the forums will be sent out on classroom parent. We need to be part of the conversation. We have obligation to make sure that we have the resources to keep our school functioning as we want it to. Need to advocate for transparency.

Principal Report/ILT

  • Off to a really good start this school year
  • Jumped right into instruction
  • Had a great summer of planning with 30 teachers in August
  • Last week we had 3 successful Back to School Nights. PTA fed us. Thank you.
  • Front playground is being shut down for repairs. There are pipes under foundation that are broken. At least 4 weeks, may be closer to 8 weeks. We will keep the kids active. The funding will be taken care of by the State.
  • Curriculum & Assessment
  • iReady – Curriculum Associates – online test, quick results, students have expressed some joy with some of the functions, it is given 3 times a year, we will use info to guide instruction, we are finding that kids are more successful in comprehension of literary text rather than non-fiction test
  • Each grade level team developed a Curriculum Map that includes enrichment – we want to spread out activities to reach every student. This will drive our fundraising this year.
  • Current enrollment - 1352 students
  • In Kindergarten, we went down to 3 classes because we know that first grade is historically a large enrollment grade due to students who go to Kindergarten at private preschools. This was a long term solution. This strategic decision was made to benefit our school in the long run.
  • Main Goal for SFC – Revising our school mission statement

Goal Setting Brainstorm

We worked to answer the following questions:

What do you hope to get out of SFC meetings?

  • Two hopes and dreams – having discussions & info, changes, updates, etc.

What is one goal you have for SFC this school year?

  • The mission
  • Parent engagement
  • Awareness of happenings

Next meeting: We need a time keeper!

Closing – We filled all the openings for committee chairs.

Monday, October 19th is the next meeting.