September 2009 PTO Minutes

Read the latest L-E news from the PTO September meeting

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Lincoln-Eliot PTO Meeting Agenda
Monday, September 21, 2009, 6:30 PM in the Music Room
Welcome & Introductions –
Agi Sardi  -  President
Vicki Ritterband – Secretary
Miriam Alandydy  - Treasurer 
 
Principal Katie Charner-Laird
Teacher Representative Jason Raisner
Teacher Representative Barbara Phelan
Plowshares Director Marcia Ward
Plowshares Assistant Director Michael Finnegan
 
Parents:
Andrea Boucher
Alanya Bostwick
Heather Kelly
Michael Rothstein
Megara Bell
Stacey Horsik
Tami Ireland
Melissa Fang
Michele Kfouri
Alison Mooradian
Stacey Horsik
Elaine Smith Purcell
Missy White
Melanie Varady
Sherly Jean Baptiste
Shannon Flint
Maria Greenberg
Emile Kfouri
Olajumoke Agoro
Sharon Alterescu
Shaul Berechman
Nancy Caira
Susan Dargon-Hart
Sorana Ailanca
Sandra Cosby
Susan Goddard
 
 
2. Lincoln-Eliot Yard Sale
Our first-ever (or at least first in a long time) Lincoln-Eliot yard sale will be held from 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 17 at the school. We need donations and volunteers to help with everything from organizing items to selling to cleaning up.  If you want to donate items, you will be able to drop them off at the school or at organizer Missy White’s house across from the school at 61 Jackson Road. Stay tuned for more information about when and where to drop donations as well as volunteering. Missy’s email is missywhite99@yahoo.com.
 
Teachers will be able to shop free – i.e. take whatever they’d like for their classrooms. Alicia Matos will be running a swap table with Halloween costumes, snow gear and all sorts of sports gear including cleats, ice skates, and skis. If you bring a swappable item, you can take whatever you want from the table for $5.
 
3. Principal Katie Updates

• Lunch: This year, the order of lunch and recess have been reversed. Now students are having lunch, then recess which has been working out “pretty well.” Additionally, lunch is now being supervised by one lunch attendant, one Northeastern Coop student and building aides. The district laid off most of its lunch attendants this year due to budget constraints. There has been an effort to make lunch quieter and calmer.
• MCAS scores: This year Lincoln-Eliot students as a whole as well as our low-income subgroup made “Adequate Yearly Progress” (AYP). This is great news because our low-income subgroup hasn’t always made AYP. AYP is a relative measure that answers the question: Did students improve over the past year so the school is on track for all students to be proficient in English Language Arts and Math by 2014? Last year’s third graders, in aggregate, had the 8th highest math scores of 981 elementary schools in the state! Parents should be receiving their children’s individual MCAS scores in the next week.
•  Katie will be holding two types of parent coffees this year. The first type are monthly coffees that have a curriculum focus.  In attendance will be the district coordinator for that month’s area of focus – for example Math or English Language Arts -  to answer questions and talk to parents about anything that’s on their minds. The second type of coffee will focus on parents who do not speak English.  She is hoping to have a coffee for parents who speak Spanish, Russian and Chinese (either Mandarin or Cantonese and maybe both). Katie is eager for ideas from parents about how non-English speaking parents can get more involved in the school, so if you have some ideas, please come to these bilingual coffees.
• Megara Bell said that her husband Brian Flaherty is hosting informal coffees “with no agenda!” in the Jackson Street entrance on Thursday mornings, so come by for coffee and conversation.
• A group of parents worked diligently last spring to lobby the school committee and administration to provide some relief to Lincoln-Eliot for this year’s large kindergarten, 1st and 4th grade classes. The school was recently allocated a half-time aide – long-time L-E staffer Linda Crosby - who the two kindergartens will share.
• Katie is hoping to have several “Celebrating our Differences” gatherings, inspired by our terrific International Night. She’s not sure what form these will take, but they might involve a reading or a video and discussion, a poetry reading, etc. She asked for parent volunteers to help her flesh out some ideas for events.

 
4. Mural Project: Michael Finnegan
Michael,the assistant director of L-E’s Plowshares after-school program, told the group he wants to do a mural with students on the outside wall on the Jackson Street side of the school. He is looking for ideas for what to paint. If you have ideas, contact Michael at mfinnegan@finneganart.com
 
 
5. Help Needed
·      Elaine Smith Purcell, the mom who coordinates our Creative Arts and Sciences program, is looking for other parents to assist her. The program brings artists, scientists and others to the school to work with students. Elaine needs someone to help her book appearances, report on the visits for the L-E Leader and write thank you notes to the visitors.
·      We need a mom or dad to head up our Spiritwear sales (those cute sweatshirts, hats, etc. with Lincoln-Eliot’s name and logo on them). It’s not a huge job: you just need to inventory the items we have, re-order, and twist people’s arms to help you sell Spiritwear at school events.
·      Michele Kfouri, our room parent organizer (and former PTO co-chair extraordinaire) is looking for two room parents per classroom. The room parents act as supports for the teachers, helping solicit donations and volunteers for class celebrations, recruit chaperones for field trips, communicate information to other parents in the class, welcome new families, etc. The room parent training will take place  Friday, Oct. 2 at 8:30 a.m. in the cafeteria.  You can be a room parent and work full-time, as much of the corresponding and organizing is done via email. If interested, email Michele at emile.michele@humanscape.com.
 
6. Newton Parent Council for Special Education (SPED-PAC): Shaul Berechman
Shaul and his wife Debbie are L-E’s liaisons to SPED-PAC.  SPED-PAC, now in its third year, is an organization of Newton parents, education specialists and interested community members who work to ensure that the Newton school department is responding appropriately to children in need of special education services. The group also serves as a network for parents, sharing advice, information and support. The next meeting is Monday, Oct. 5 at 7:15 p.m. in  room 210 at the Ed Center, 100 Walnut Street. For more information, email Shaul at sberechman@yahoo.com or Debbie at debshoap@yahoo.com.
 
7. e-Rewards: Maria Greenberg
Maria has been busy investigating and signing Lincoln-Eliot up for various e-Rewards shopping programs, including ones at Stop and Shop, Shaws, etc. To see how you can benefit Lincoln-Eliot every time you fill up your shopping cart, visit the e-Rewards section of the PTO website at  www.lepto.org/eRewards.
 
8. All Things Green

• Melissa Fang spoke on behalf of her husband, Andrew Hargens, who is heading up our L-E educational garden project. Principal Katie secured $7,750 of grant money to build and plant the garden, which students will tend and learn in. The garden will be on the Gardner Street side of the building and planting should begin this spring.

• Alison Mooradian, the school’s recycling queen and one of the leaders of the Green Team, said that the educational garden will be one of the team’s three main programs this year. The others will be an “eco-team” program which teaches families how to reduce their carbon footprint and a school recycling program.

• Students will participate in a fall beautification day Wednesday, October 7 and Thursday, October 8. Each class will rake and plant bulbs for 30 minutes. Parents are welcome to particpate.  If possible, please send your child to school with gardening gloves. 

 
9. Class size/additional support: Melanie Varady
Melanie spoke about the ad-hoc group of parents that formed last spring to address the large classes L-E was anticipating this fall. Their advocacy seems to have paid off with the assigning of a part-time aide to the two kindergarten classes. Melanie said the group will continue to monitor class size at L-E and how it affects classroom learning. For more information, contact Melanie at melvarady@rcn.com.
 
Next Meeting: Tue 10/20 at 6:30 p.m. in the music room