MINTUES FROM PHSPC STEERING COMM. MEETING, 7/28/08
Meeting Notes 07/28/2008 Next Meeting: TBD SEPTEMBER
ATTENDANCE: Alison Andreasen, Sue Korobkin, Tina Mikkelsen - 2010; Barbara Peisner; Helen Ward; Diane O’Kelly - 2012; Sarah Thompson
TECHNOLOGY: Bill Wilson and Ann Weber (baskahegan@yahoo.com / aweber@maine.rr.com)
Tad Macy REPORT: Tad met with Erica Winship-Lee and Michelle Tucci just before July 4th. They are doing intern work in the office this summer. They should be very helpful, as they want to be the contacts within PHS for coordinating changes such as the education and training of staff; defining content areas/needs; and locating resources. Together, they made a list of things to take care of including the definition of a role or roles for teachers or administrators who will be keepers or “webmasters”. As they are also anxious for a change and are looking to a mid-September rollout, so they offered to take on a review of the existing content and content areas to see what is current and what should be kept, etc. No point in moving materials that are unused or out of date. They also wanted to create a priority list for sections so that we can get the most important materials up first. They were both scheduled for vacation until mid-July. Tad will get in touch with them during the week of July 28th. Tad expects to be able to get back to the conversion of the current site content later in the week. He apologized if progress seems slower than expected.
BEAUTIFICATION:Jane O’Connor (joc13@gwi.net) Faculty member (Tory Tyler-Millar millat@portlandschools.org) said that the Art club was “defunct” due to lack of funds. We discussed possibly “jump-starting” this club in the fall by contacting local business and asking for supplies (donations). Barbara Peisner to contact Artisans & Craftsmen (they have a daughter at PHS) to see if they would be willing to donate some supplies for the Art Club and/or materials for updating bulletin boards etc.
Jane to work on with Martha Crockett and complete over the summer a “Parent Testimonial” bulletin board. Using Helen Ward’s parent-quotes and contacting Photography Club advisor (Deborah Keyes keyesd@portlandschools.org) for some new photos. Status?
New business- The Lowes Toolbox grant program provides parent groups with financial tools to help improve their children’s schools. Grant awards of up to $5,000 support school improvement projects at public schools nationwide. Alison to send a request to teachers to see if there is a specific cause to champion and apply for this grant. Some suggestions were the refurbishing the lecture hall or courtyard area. Deadline is October 15th…but will stop accepting applications after they have received 1500.
SPECIAL EVENTS/SPEAKERS:Barbara Peisner and Sue Russo (bpeisne1@maine.rr.com / srussso@yahoo.com)
Barbara working with Portland Partnerships to bring a performance to PHS in the fall: You The Man. This program deals with unhealthy relationships and domestic violence. October date to be confirmed.
Barbara to “track down” Mitch Murdock to find out status of new PHS video for Freshman B-B-Q possibly.
Barri Lynn Moreau (Director of Education PCA Great Performances) would like to attend our next meeting to discuss a parent liaison (Sherrill Weisman volunteered) with PCA for professional development opportunities, thematic tie-ins with Africa and Canada, school-time performances, and in-school workshops.
PUBLIC RELATIONS: Sue Korobkin and Helen Ward (skorobkin@unifirst.com / hward@usm.maine.edu)
Updating PHS Club Descriptions and Advisors Sue Korobkin to edit long descriptions so that Alison can work into a handout available at Freshman B-B-Q (Date is 09/03/2008 from 4:00PM – 7:00PM)
We discussed what we could do to get something out to incoming Freshman….PHS is very late to send schedules Kim Wike told Alison that in August PHS will send home a letter to Freshman parents inviting them to the B-B-Q. Schedules will be given to those who attend that evening. Schedules for Freshman will be given again on 09/04 (first day of school). Student schedules will not be finalized for another week or two. At that time, parents will be able to have access on Power School in order to view ahead of time.
Open House is scheduled for 09/16 at 6:30 PM. We will need volunteers to man our table. We are also going to suggest to PHS to have “guides” roaming the halls and greeting parents to direct them to classrooms.
Contact Class Advisors to ask them to act as Parent Connection liaison to PHS
Building the e-mail list.
Fall pre-season sport schedule was published and e-mailed to parents.
Drafted a handout to be included with the Fall Information packets distributed to ALL PHS students (first day of school) requesting contact info from parents. Steve Rogers accepted, copied and it is ready to be inserted. Will need parent volunteers to assist Carol Tomshick in preparing (stuffing) packets.
Sarah Thompson addressed the following processes:
Ocean Ave School Naming
Superintendent search – any interested parent who would like to be involved in the search committee should forward their interest to Sarah Thompson thompsa@portlandschools.org
FUNDRAISNGAlison Andreasen (aandreas@maine.rr.com)
Note Card sales at Freshman B-B-Q and Open House
“Klinck” bottle drive going strong to build cash reserves (over $100) for 2009 Project Graduation. Details of program will be posted on the Parent Connection website. Talk is being made of creating a student liaison to the downtown business community. Students working on Project Grad would ask local businesses to fill the bags and call PHS when they needed a pick up (and new bag). Students would be responsible to complete this cycle.
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MINUTES FROM JUNE 1, 2008 STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING
NEW MEMBERS: 2009Sharon Ultsch , 2010: Vivian Nappi, Tina Mikkelsen; 2011: Sherrill Weisman, Mavoureen Goodman; 2012: Diane O’Kelly, Sarah Thompson
TECHNOLOGY: Bill Wilson and Ann Weber (baskahegan@yahoo.com/ aweber@maine.rr.com)
New PHS website --Tad Macy to gave update on website. Prototype available at http://london.bowdoin.edu:8000/dev/phs/drupal)
He is at a “fork in the road” and we need to get clearance to use a content management system that will allow roles that can be differentiated and assigned to different people. His clear choice is Drupal but the PPS wprefer WordPress. Alison to e-mail Jeanne Whynot-Vickers to get us action on this. Alison to ask Tad when he wants to get content to start updating the site.
BEAUTIFICATION:Jane O’Connor (joc13@gwi.net) Faculty member (Tory Tyler-Millar millat@portlandschools.org) said that the Art club was “defunct” due to lack of funds. We discussed possibly “jump-starting” this club in the fall by contacting local business and asking for supplies (donations). Jane to work on and complete over the summer a “Parent Testimonial” bulletin board. Using Helen Ward’s parent-quotes and contacting Photography Club advisor (Deborah Keyes keyesd@portlandschools.org) for some new photos.
SPECIAL EVENTS/SPEAKERS:Barbara Peisner and Sue Russo (bpeisne1@maine.rr.com / srussso@yahoo.com)
Barbara working with Portland Partnerships to bring a performance to PHS in the fall : You The Man. This program deals with unhealthy relationships and domestic violence. Barbara to “track down” Mitch Murdock to find out status of new PHS video for 8th Grade Orientation
PUBLIC RELATIONS:Sue Korobkin and Helen Ward (skorobkin@unifirst.com / hward@usm.maine.edu)
Updating PHS Club Descriptions and Advisors . Many teachers have responded...but still have 21 to go. Alison to keep e-mailing the teachers to get them by June 15th. We want to get a flier out to incoming Freshman welcoming them to PHS in July (if possible). Helen and Sue to contact Portland Partnerships to get the e-mail addresses of multi-cultural leaders/representatives/outreach workers so that they can communicate PHS events to non-English-speaking parents.
Contact Class Advisors to ask them to act as Parent Connection liason to PHS
Building the e-mail list. Lee Crocker (Lyman Moore) added note in last week’s e-mail alerting incoming Freshman . san Carlson (King Middle School) sent an e-mail out to parents . Alison to contact Lincoln Middle School . (To date 6 parents of in-coming freshman have contacted me...so it is working) .
Sue Korobkin drafted a flier – Alison to print out to have ready for King’s 8th Grade info night on 6/17 (Sarah to take)
Contact Fall coaches to find out when 8th grade students should sign up for Fall sports
Need to draft a handout to be included with the Fall Information packets distributed to ALL PHS students requesting contact info from parents Be at freshman B-B-Q to do sign-ups
FUNDRAISNGAlison Andreasen (aandreas@maine.rr.com) Note Card Update
Class of 2008 (250) sold out . PHS Folded Note cards available (Pack of 8 for $5.95) ;
Class of 2009 (750) received and ready for sale (Pack of 8 for $4.95)
Post It Notes ?
Fall Bulbs in “Blue and White” color theme – e-mailed Jeff Tarling (city arborist) for ideas
MINUTES FROM PHS PARENT CONNECTIONS FORUM ON 2/26/08
Panel included: Interim Superintendent Jeanne Whynot-Vickers ;
Director of Educational Planning for PPS, Tom LaFavore;
PHS Principal Michael Johnson
Jeanne began by stating that she was very pleased to be meeting with our group and that she is energized by what we are doing. She encouraged us to continue to use our “lens,” our perspective to help give the school and district insight and feedback and to help support the school. She stated that PHS is known around the state as the school which best meets the needs of the diversity of kids it serves, and she wants to continue high standards.
Regarding the budget, Jeanne stated that she inherited a very difficult situation with a great deal of infrastructure already sliced away. Her approach to dealing with the budget shortfall has been that whenever a position has become empty, she has tried to look at whether or not that position has needed to be filled or whether that service can be provided another way. Consequently, she has come into this budget process having eliminated 28 positions without layoffs. She stated that she is looking to build back infrastructure, including maintenance and technology. She is planning on hiring an extra technology person with expertise in web design to update web sites for the district. The district is looking to take advantage of a bond with the city for technology. Mike Johnson stated that there has been a collaborative effort between the school and central office in these areas.
The next part of the meeting was question/answer format with discussion. The following issues were raised:
Weighted grades – All panel members agreed that they wanted to recognize rigor. Jeanne talked about the idea of having 3 levels of acknowledging achievement, a high bar for the top honor, a middle bar, and rewarding effort regardless of level of rigor in a class. Mike stated that he understands the need is to recognize rigor and represent it accurately to colleges. He is working with the principals of Deering and Casco Bay to develop a fair system across the 3 high schools using the Latin honors language (summa, magna and cum laude). When the plan is formulated, a forum will be held to present it. Mike talked about continuing the Brown Medal and having criteria, such as being in the summa cum laude tier and then looking at unweighted GPA’s. He is looking at how past Brown Medal winners would compare with the new system, i.e. would they be included. There was parent discussion around this subject, with varying opinions. If you’d like to give input to this issue, you can look on the Portland schools website for information about how to do so. http://www.portlandschools.org/News/PolicyCommittee/policycommittee.html
Also, after you read the following information about the proposed Latin system, found at the link below, if you have comments to share with Mike Johnson, you can send him an email at johnsm@portlandschools.org.
http://www.portlandschools.org/News/PolicyCommittee/Wgtd.grades.graphics12.19.07.doc
Addressing needs of different students - This was connected to recognition of students, as above. A few items mentioned were the gender differences in learning, and that the organization Boys to Men in Portland has resources to help teachers understand these differences as they relate to educational approaches which may help engage boys in school. Their web site is www.boystomen.info. Mike stated that he would look into it and perhaps get a study group going among some teachers. We also talked about the need to continue challenging courses, such as AP, for those students who seek them. This is a challenge with budget issues, but Jeanne is hoping that teachers and administration can be creative and find ways to make this happen.
Distribution of student population between Deering and Portland and image - We discussed the issue of the differences in population between the schools. Jeanne talked about a variety of reasons why differences exist, including the fact that more off peninsula students go to Deering due to proximity and other factors, the number of at-risk students is growing, and a greater percentage come to Portland, more ELL students are at Portland, but that population is growing and the program is growing at Deering. This raised the issue of an image battle at PHS, a need to dispel myths and get the word out about the positive things going on at PHS, the “fear factor” of parents about Portland being in the city. This led into a discussion of the need to continue excellence at all levels, doing what we do well, creating programs perhaps that incorporate being in the city, linking to city businesses, etc. Discussed the “tipping point” phenomenon and that we need to pay attention NOW to the perception of PHS and what’s going on with PHS so that we don’t continue to lose students.
Service Learning – A question was asked about incorporating service learning (volunteer work) as a requirement for graduation and/or incorporate it into the curriculum/culture of the school. All panel members agreed that it was a good idea and worth pursuing. The first step is for parents to write to school committee members suggesting that this be part of our children’s school experience. Tom LaFavore mentioned that it connects to the Maine learning results in the section about “involved citizen.” If this is an area you’d like to see pursued as being part of the curriculum or requirement for graduation, as it is in many schools, please send an email to members of the school committee about service learning.
State funding formula – This has been an area of a great deal of work and frustration for Jeanne. We seem to be entitled to be getting more money for ELL (English Language Learners) than we are getting. There are programs which are mandated for which we aren’t receiving federal or state funds. Jeanne gave information about this, and it is very complicated. Stay tuned and check the web site for more information.
Thank you to Jeanne Whynot-Vickers, Tom LaFavore, and Mike Johnson for coming to PHS on a snowy night for an open discussion of issues important to parents.
Apologies again to those who missed this meeting due to the concert at Deering. We discussed communication briefly at this meeting, and have learned that a district wide calendar is in the works.
SAVE THE DATE: April 1st at 7:00 p.m. at PHS: “What parents need to know about teen mental health” (more info to follow)
Respectfully submitted,
Barbara Peisner
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MINUTES OF PHS PC MEETING, NOVEMBER 13, 2007
To: Parents and Friends of PHS From: Alison Andreasen
Re: Summary of November 13, 2007 Meeting
NEW BUSINESS:
The steering committee identified 5 areas of concern and set up sub-committees to lead each group. All attendees chose one group to brainstorm with. We can STILL USE YOUR HELP! Just contact the sub-committee chair and ask what you can do! Here are the summaries of the night’s efforts:
BEAUTIFICATION:Carol Schiller (772-3243 schiller@maine.rr.com)
Attending: Jeri Chapman, Nancy Litrocepes, Jane O’Connor, Cathy Peabody, Carol Schiller, and Judy H. Violette. The Beatification Committee group decided to focus their attention on the exterior campus. They discussed ways to make the PHS campus friendlier and more accessible to students, faculty and the community. They envisioned an open green park like setting that makes a visible statement that PHS students are apart of a community that cares about them and generates community pride. The group developed the concept to create Community Parks and or Green Space Community Centers around the PHS campus including the front, back and interior courtyard. The green user friendly environments will serve as outdoor classrooms, places where students can relax, enjoy lunch, get closer to nature, and enjoy entertainment and educational events, etc. In addition the group discussed funding sources including Lowe’s Grant, Portland Trails, and the City of Portland’s Community Development Block Grant Program. The group talked about developing a vision, moving forward and brainstormed the following ideas:
Build collaboration and community ownership by involving students, faculty and community stakeholders.
Organize design charrettes.
Create a sense of place using Portland’s historic elements such as bricks, cobblestones; Plant trees, shrubs and flowerbeds; Install lighting, sculpture, murals, art; Design seating to accommodate a variety of uses including outdoor classrooms, social, entertainment and academic events. Create quite seating spaces for lunch and relaxing and for nature appreciation. Design colorful banners/flags to celebrate PHS’s diverse student community.
Remove cement barriers and replace with large plant containers and relocate wrought iron fence.
Install movie projector & audio system for movie nights, concerts and dances.
Next Steps:
Carol Schiller will meet with Mike Johnson, PHS Principal and Amy Grommes Pulaski, HCD Program Manager this week to review City of Portland Community Development Block Grant Program. Anyone with Grant writing experience is encouraged to contact Carol Schiller!
Wednesday, November 14th the Beautification Committee planted 150 daffodils and tulip bulbs in front of the school. Thanks to Jane O'Conor, Cathy Peabody, Gail, and Carol Schiller as well as Jeff Tarling (City of Portland) and Skillins Greenhouses who donated the bulbs.
SPECIAL EVENTS/SPEAKERS:
Barbara Peisner and Sue Russo (bpeisne1@maine.rr.com / srussso@yahoo.com)
Attending: Barbara Peisner, Sue Russo
Our committee included Sue Russo, Sarah Thompson and Barbara Peisner. We are working on two separate meetings for parents and students. The first will be the end of January or beginning of February and will be on the following education-related topics: the budget process, school consolidation and how it affects PHS, and the state funding formula. We will be inviting school administrators to help us learn about these issues and how we can be involved. The second meeting will be in March or April and will be about identifying signs of depression, anxiety, suicidality, and other mental health concerns in our youth, and how to deal effectively with these issues. Information about specific dates and speakers will be made available as plans are made.
PUBLIC RELATIONS:Sue Korobkin and Helen Ward (skorobkin@unifirst.com / hward@usm.maine.edu)
Attending: Sue Korobkin, Jana Curran, Martha Crockett, Helen Ward, Mike Kane & Chris Hillman
Ideas were brain stormed to come up with possibilities to promote PHS positively in the community.
Work with the Middle School administrators to promote PHS in a positive way.
Use clubs at PHS to go to the middle schools, such as Big Brothers/Big Sisters & speak to 8th grade classrooms about PHS (small class intimate settting, rather than large auditorium, so kids may feel less anxious to ask questions)
Have a Middle School night at a PHS sporting event, so middle schoolers could get in free with a student ID.
When students shadow at PHS, work with teachers to engage the students, so they feel important & not just follow a student around from class to class.
What is administration currently doing at PHS to promote the school, so we don’t duplicate efforts? Seek Sue Doyon’s assistance along with Mike Johnson.
Come up with a video created by the students, interviewing them & asking why they chose PHS. Interview teachers as to why they love teaching here.
It was decided to have Martha Crockett use her son’s services to ask senior Mitch Murdoch if he’d be willing to put together a light & humorous Video for Incoming Freshmen Orientation on December 11th.
*update 11/16/2007
Mike Johnson is enthusiastic about this and Seth and Mitch are starting work on it!
Sara Thompson, School Committee Member, gave us ideas on what resources we can use to promote PHS
Channel 3 - The Forecaster - Press Herald - Neighborhood Organizations Newsletters: Munjoy Hill Neighborhood, Island Times, North Deering Neighborhood, West End News (Ed King), Bayside (Dory Waxman), Building Bridges (Peter Eglington)
TECHNOLOGY: Bill Wilson (baskahegan@yahoo.com)
Attending: Bill Wilson and Ann Weber
1. Powerschool initial Pilot Project: Mike Johnson and Donna Crook report that the Powerschool "parent portal" will debut on a small "pilot basis" in mid November. Fifteen parents will be chosen to participate, and will have one classroom teacher with whom to communicate through that Parent Portal. (This will allow access to the student's grading and attendance data, among other things.) The plan is to "work out some kinks" over the next couple months, and to fully implement the Parent Portal for all parents - assuming all goes well in the Pilot - by Second semester in January 2008.
2. Wireless Airports for PHS: We are refining an estimate for equipping the entire PHS building with "routers" ("airports") which will provide wireless communication capability for the new Mac laptops which the faculty has received in the last month. Our intention is to explore avenues for raising money to fund the purchase of that equipment. (A very rough estimate is that it might cost $10,000.)
3. New PHS website help/funding: We are assessing Donna Crook's suggestion that the PHS website be entirely replaced with a new one, and are actively seeking suggestions/names of IT-knowledgeable people - either parents or members of the Portland business or other community - who would be willing to help with building such a new website, and perhaps donating some software to accomplish that. Please contact Bill Wilson at baskahegan@yahoo.com with any suggestions or volunteering notions.
FUN - RAISNGAlison Andreasen (aandreas@maine.rr.com)
Attending: Alison Andreasen, Diane O’Kelly, Ann Marie DiMillo; (absent but relying on: Anita Tomascak and Sue Bowden)
Discussed different ideas on raising money in order to finance some of the Parent Connections projects.
Discussed both long term (on going) items to sell as well as special (seasonal) fund raiser ideas:
High quality PHS Beach Towels (D. O’Kelly to research)
Etched PHS glassware (A. Andraesen to research)
Spring Annuals in “Blue and White” color theme (A. Andreasen)
Fall Bulbs in “Blue and White” color theme (A. Andreasen)
Stadium Seats and Blankets (A.M. DiMillo to check on status of cheerleader re-order first)
A HUGE Lawn Sale in the Spring
Parent Connections Website: (http://phsparentconnections.weebly.com). Let us know what else you would like to see on the website.
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To: Parents and Friends of PHS
From: Alison Andreasen
Re: Summary of October 2, 2007 Meeting
NEW BUSINESS:
Alison Andreasen, Barbara Peisner, Sue Russo, Bill Wilson started this parent group due to concern regarding the Portland Public Schools in general and Portland High School in specific. There seemed to be needs but no group to join to make a difference. We stated that we are not a PTO or a PTA, we are not subjected to any National organization’s dues…we are simply a parent group (not a gripe group) that wants to affect positive change for PHS. We talked about developing interest in a Steering Committee and encourage people to offer to serve on that committee. The following people have expressed interest and we appreciate that: Carol Schiller, Sue Korobkin and Helen Ward. We are hoping to have (at least) one parent representing each grade. PLEASE consider volunteering.
There is no set agenda. We want the parent community to fully participate in setting that agenda over the coming months, and hope that many can pitch in with support and action.
We distributed a survey (attached) asking parents to prioritize topics that they envision this group to examine and address. Those results will be tallied and distributed as soon as possible.
POWER SCHOOLS: Donna Crook from Portland High’s Technology Department talked about and David Smith from Portland High Faculty demonstrated the PowerSchool program. Mr. Smith demonstrated how the PowerSchool program will allow parents to access (through a Parent Portal) records pertaining to their child’s attendance, grades etc. posted by teachers.
Although a valuable tool for parents to have, we began to discuss the basic lack of information currently available. Parents stated, and there was a consensus about the need for daily web postings of school events and activities. It was decided that this would be a good first priority for the group. Several parents have come forward and volunteered to research how other schools are successfully handling the website input and upkeep. (Jana Curran – King Middle / Mike Kane – Lyman Moore Middle). Bill Wilson is checking with the city’s technology department to see if there may be some assistance/direction we can get from them.
Several parents stated that they would offer offsite assistance (once trained) to do data entry (Cathy Peabody, Alison Green Parsons, Susan Hanley and Alison Andreasen ).
PORTLAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS BUDGET: We also talked about the upcoming budget process for the school. We must work to educate the public that in order for the school budget to be approved; the public must vote it on for the first time. If rejected, it goes back to committee and goes up for another vote. This cycle is re-played (at a cost of $50,000 per public vote) until it is passed. We hope to get the new Interim Superintendent, Jeanne Whynot-Vickers at the next (Nov TBD) meeting to discuss this issue and brainstorm on how we can help.
COMMUNITY OPEN HOUSE: We talked about having the community aware of PHS needs.…..getting a grant (Lowes Hardware) to “beautify” the grounds and outside of the building, hosting an Open House to the surrounding community (Residential and commercial) to “show-off” the school. Possibly working with Bayside Association to help.
WAYS TO BE INVOLVED:
Join the Communication Committee Assist in building a better website. We need parent volunteers that have some technical ability or who may work for a company that would donate some time to help with updating the current website to make it functional.
Volunteer to be a data entry person….it would be great to have 5 people who know how to do this
Join the Steering Committee to help direct the path of the group. We are not sure exactly what this involves….maybe just helping to get smaller groups going on different objectives (as listed above) for now.
Give Feedback on the Parent Connections Website: We are posting on a new Parent Connection website (http://phsparentconnections.weebly.com) some informative documents that were handed out at the meeting on PHS Demographics, PHS ESL Education, PHS Alternative Education, AND PHS Building Maintenance/Appearance. Let us know what else you would like to see on the website.
We realize how busy parents are…but if we all do a little we can accomplish a lot!
Those that missed the meeting, we want your input on these and any other issues, PLEASE PROVIDE IT BY EMAIL TO THE ADDRESSES BELOW:
Contact Information: Alison Andreasen 878-3940 (aandreas@maine.rr.com)
Barbara Peisner 756-3028 (bpeisner@maine.rr.com); Sue Russo 774-6325 (srussso@yahoo.com); Bill Wilson 450-2160 (baskahegan@yahoo.com)
*Please spread the word to all parents and friends that the Thanksgiving Dance for Portland-Deering is being resurrected on Nov 23! All proceeds to be split between PHS and DHS athletic programs. See flyer attached. Tables (of 8) should be purchased soon as there are only a limited number of tables available. To purchase contact Alison Andreasen 878-3940 or aandreas@maine.rr.com
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