Family School Partnership Meeting

Family School Partnership Meeting

Family School Partnership Meeting

September 28, 2016

Middle School Office Conference Room

6:00 p.m.

Attendance:Allison Huber,Lori Kolaric, Owen Thomas, Lynette Thomas, Rena Lehman, June Shepherd, Ashley Bartkovsky, Michelle Heckman, Mike Pericci, Nate Frank

FSPMission/Purpose Statement:

The Elizabethtown Area Middle School FSPCARES:

Consistent Communication

Accountability

Responsibility

Encouraging Excellence

Striving for Success

  1. FSP Goals for 16-17
  2. Individual Interests: Owen Thomas: Want to help out where/when possible; June Shepherd: Wants to see what’s going on; Allison Huber: Hoping to keep connected with what is going on in school; Lori Kolaric: PTO for a long time and wants to stay connected with the school; Rena Lehman: Want to help out where she can.
  3. Group Goals
  4. Other?
  1. Ongoing Projects
  2. Teacher Appreciation: Parent Conferences: 11/21: 12-7:25; 11/22: 12-3:25; 11/23 7:25-11:25Did a breakfast the past few years. Dinner opportunity on 11/21. Sign-up genius seeking parents to bring in or donate items for the event. Possibly dinner on 11/21. Maybe soup and salad. Can make it a common dinnertime for the entire staff. Could put an announcement out on Community Portal announcing the dinner. Between now and October, come up with a list of items we will need for the dinner. June Shepherd and Allison Huber will handle the Sign-up Genius and the list of items we will need. Need to account for allergies, gluten issues, etc.
  1. EAMS Mini-THON: It’s a go. Friday, December 9th is our day! Karen Oulahan will be organizing this event. Completed a partnership agreement with the 4 Diamonds. Looking at a three-hour Mini-Thon, running from 2-5. Goal is to stay on feet for three hours. Goal is to raise $2,500. Looking at activities for the event. Not going to provide food. How do they earn money? Several ways to raise money; Karen O. has to figure out what our fundraising event will be. Start recruiting student leaders who can help run the event. Can charge a straight admission fee for all the students who participate. Kids can utilize the online portal for fundraising activities.
  1. EAMS Book Fair 10/3-10/7 – Still 6 volunteer slots that need to be filled! Need the most volunteers on Monday. Open until the end of school day.
  1. Other? Junior Achievement on November 8th
  1. Academic Review
  2. School/Family Communication: Virtual Backpack; Possibly announce which grade student is in when there is an incident at school. For example, would it hurt to announce which grade student was in who made threat in MS?
  1. EAMS 16-17 Data and Goal Review: EAMS bridge. What’s important? Maintaining the bridge. Goals: Strong Relationships, Rigorous Academics, Supportive Culture. Focus on the 4 A’s: Arts, Athletics, Academics, Altruism. Double blocks are in place to try to help students, particularly in ELA. More writing. Collins workshop provided ELA teachers with some ideas to incorporate more writing in class. Want to work on writing in all content areas. Economically Disadvantaged Students: makes up about 30% of our student population. Trying to support those students. These students are failing at a higher rate than other students. Last year we had 10 failures in the MS; of those 10, 8 of them were from ED families. That is 80% of our failures who are ED. First step is to identify who the ED students are. Trying to reduce the unlawful absences. Many of our failures had truancy issues. Consequences are in place for students who are chronically absent. Working with faculty to provide additional support to truant students to help them with school work. Science PSSA scores have been pretty stagnant. 21st century learning and the 4 C’s: District push for Communication, Collaboration, Critical Thinking, Creativity. Project Based Learning.
  2. Bears Who Care – Recognizing positive behavior. PBIS: Positive Behavior Intervention Support
  3. Classy Wednesdays
  4. Spirit Days
  5. Class Meetings: Huge leap from BC to MS. Students are trying to figure out who they are, what they want, what their interests are, etc. 7th grade-Growth mindset. Praise the effort not necessarily the intelligence. Study skills, organization. 8th Grade - 7 Habits of Effective Teenagers modeled after the 7 Habits of Effective Leaders
  6. Other? Communicate to families about scheduling – request to allow 7th grade students in extended math to choose which of the specials is more relevant to their individual needs. Parents’ Night: What do parents do when they have a 7th and 8th grader in the building?
  1. Next meeting: October 26, 2016

* For information on all of the great things happening at EAMS, please visit the EAMS website at etownschools.org and click on “School News / EAMS News Blog” or follow @DrNateFrank on twitter; @PericciMike on twitter

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