Updated: April 14, 2006
 
DPC Minutes
 

 

Recent minutes will be posted as they become available


DISTRICT PARENT COUNCIL
MINUTES OF THE MEETING
District Parent Council
Minutes for April 5, 2006


NEW BUSINESS

Massachusetts Leadership Project
Two consultants, hired by the DOE to help schools with leadership challenges, came to get input from the DPC. Gene Thayre, a former school administrator, and Bob Gass, a former school committee member, asked the group a number of questions. They have also interviewed all school committee members and administrators. Based on the interviews they will work with Haverhill’s leadership team (school committee and administration) to support effective leadership.

Kidsfest
Warren Gerety from Pentucket Pan discussed Kidsfest which will be held on Saturday May 6, 2006 from 10 am to 4 pm. There will be many fun events including a doll parade, some Haverhill musicians, chalk walk and a youth idol contest (pre-registration required)

SUPERINTENDENT’S UPDATE
Steve O’Brien gave the update for the superintendent who was away. He gave a handout on the Virtual High School (VHS) program. One teacher at the high school will be offering a course through this program next fall and in turn, Haverhill High students will be able to take other courses offered online.

The district is also looking into a gifted and talented program for high school students that is offered at UMASS Lowell.

The district recently attended a job fair that went very well. Many resumes were collected.

OLD BUSINESS

Write Away Contest
A list of the Write Away winners (including honorable mentions) was handed out. Bradford has nine students on the list. The awards banquet will be on April 26th at 6:30.

The foundation that was originally set up to fund the Write Away is not providing the money they had promised and the DPC is covering the expenses that total over $2000 (including the prizes). Again the DPC is asking for the PTO’s help in covering these expenses. They are asking each PTO to give $100 to $200 dollars. Four schools have given so far.

DPC Officer Elections

Elections for the DPC Officers will be held at the May meeting. Anyone who is interested in running for an office is welcome to attend.

NEXT DPC MEETING IS SCHEDULED FOR WEDNESDAY, MAY 3 AT 9:15 AM
PLEASE ATTEND OR HAVE SOMEONE FROM YOUR SCHOOL ATTEND.

District Parent Council
Minutes
March 3, 2006

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

• Nettlefest, Sturday, March 25, 9 to 2:00

• Golden Hill auction at American Legion on Friday, March 24

• HHS Musical “Once Upon a Mattress” will be the same weekend, March 23 to 25th, 4 performances.

• Community Service task force is forming. Anyone who is interested in being on the task force should contact Beverly Cassano at 978-374-3405 or Kerry Fitzgerald at 978-771-9914.

• School Communications Task Force is forming. Please contact either Beverly or Kerry if you are interested in participating.

NEW BUSINESS

International Baccalaureate program -- Dr. Steve O’Brien

One of the goals of the superintendent is to bring an International Baccalaureate program to Haverhill High School grades 11-12 within 3 years. It looks like we are on track to do that. Some background information about ILB:

Philosophy: Every child can do the International Baccalaureate program

Idea was started in the 1960s when companies began to be international. People wanted to do something to convince families to go overseas with the employee. Excellent schools were what was felt to be the most important factor for families. Since people moved around a lot, the system needed to be worldwide and the student should be able to move at anytime during the year and be in the same place curriculum-wise and otherwise.

There was a summit to determine how to do structure such a program. The International Baccalaureate program was what they came up with. Conventional wisdom is that this is the BMW of educational programs for any child, but it is often used for gifted and talented programs. It is ideal for students to meet the requirements they need to get into an top tier colleges and universities. It looks at what colleges want and try to structure a curriculum that will get the child there by the time they go to college. They use an assessment that is international and colleges who receive test scores from the International Baccalaureate program know what they mean because they are compared to students internationally.

We were asked to brainstorm things we would like students to have at the 11th and 12th grades (and earlier). This is the list that we came up with in just 5 minutes.

• Best science and technology labs fully equipped and staffed
• Teaching materials
• Professional Development for Teachers
• Vertical articulation K-12
• Foreign Language
• Fine and performing arts
• Core Academics 9-12
• CAS (Creativity, Activity and Service)
• TOK (Theory of Knowledge)
• Extended Essay (problem solving)
• Standardization of teaching and evaluating

If you Google International Baccalaureate, there are 3 programs in Massachusetts, all charter schools – Springfield, Hyannis, Malden/Medford which has just been started.

In order to be able to do this in the 11th and 12th grade we will need to eventually begin the program earlier. Although it is officially for 11th and 12th graders, the middle schools will need to begin thinking about how to prepare their students for the program.

Implementing the program would require that we enhance our primary and middle school programs by adding some of the programs they will need to know by the time they get to HS.

Children will self-select the International Baccalaureate progoram. It would be a learning community within the HS and not a separate school.

What kind of support system would be in place to help kids that want to do it but are feeling losts: An International Baccalaureate coordinator will oversee the program. It would be a teacher who gets a stipend to coordinate the program. He or she would be charged with finding creative and fun things to do to help the children who are having a difficult time keeping up.

It takes two years to get a program like this running within a school system. First, we would need to design the program then it needs to be evaluated and certified by the International Baccalaureate Organization based overseas. There’s an office in New York.

Service component helps students see that they are part of a larger community and not just thinking of just themselves.

The exams are international exams but the testing is just for the students in the program and there are only about 180,000 students worldwide taking the test annually (only take it in 12th grade). Outside evaluators are brought in to score the tests; even in fine arts.

It was suggested that parents would like to know about this program as many have children who would opt to participate. Parents at the meeting were very complimentary.

School Handbooks – Sue Danehy

Several handbook issues were brought to Sue’s attention and she wanted to share them with the superintendent and the DPC

The HS handbook does not have the school address in it. After some discussion, it was recommended that the issue be brought to the District Steering Committee with the recommenditon that all handbooks should have a standard front page that included the school name, address, phone number, key administrators and staff along with contact information.

Dress codes – Many parents have concerns about the way dress code policies are communicated and enforced. Concensus is that there should be dress codes and that those dress codes should be uniformly enforced. There was also conosensus that dress codes must be included in the school handbook so that parents and students are aware of the code and it’s requirements as well the consequences for breaking the dress code.

Since school Handbook issues are site council issues, it was suggested that these issues be brought to the attention of the District Steering Committee for the next meeting.

Another School issue that was discussed is that some schools have and use answering machines before and after hours and some do not. It was suggested that every answering school have an answering machine so that messages can be captured and calls returned.

HPS Good News

• The superintendent is looking at the possibility of doing a printed newspaper that would come out quarterly to all parents that will have all of the district news. He is trying to find a company or organization that would help get this done.

• Also a spot will be on the website with monthly postings on good news about the school district.

• Gold Card for senior citizens that get seniors into ball games and fine arts performances for free will be proposed and developed

OLD BUSINESS

Write Away Contest

Write Away reading is completed and the semi-finalist packages will be prepared and given to Judges this Friday.

The Awards Ceremony, Wednesday, April 26 at 6:30

The number of entries was much lower this year than in past years. A number of people indicated that they received a great deal of complaints from teachers who thought it was too early in the year. It was explained that the principals, along with Mr. Quatrale developed the schedule and promised that the DPC and Write Away contest would have the full cooperation of the school system and all of the principals. Concerns were expressed that notices of the contest were not distributed at least one school and possibly more. Concerns were also noted that some teachers do not distribute any notices home but will instead tell students to take a notice off his/her desk. Parents agree that many students would not do that and therefore parents don’t get notices home about Little League, Soccer, and other important events.

DPC Membership

It was brought up that the DPC membership has declined recently. Point was made that in the past the DPC representative was chosen at a PTO or site council meeting and it became an official volunteer position and representatives were asked to report on the DPC meetings periodically. Sometimes responsibility was shared by more than one person and sometimes more than one representative attended meetings from each school. Dr. Buchanan was asked to speak with principals who don’t have a parent representing their school to help recruit a parent or more to do that, even if on a rotating basis.

FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS

How parents can help ensure that students are working up to their ability and how they can participate in the process of raising the bar for all students

NEXT DPC MEETING IS SCHEDULED FOR WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5 AT 9:15 AM
PLEASE ATTEND OR HAVE SOMEONE FROM YOUR SCHOOL ATTEND.


October 5, 2005


Announcements:

The high school senior class is having a number of fundraisers. Mums sales went well. Next they will be selling candles and coffee cakes. Call the HS for more information.

The high school site council is sponsoring a PowerPoint presentation on Oct 25th at the high school to show middle school students the benefits of HHS. Flyers will go home to middle school parents and ads will be on TV and in the paper.

Site council training is October 18th at 5:30 at High School; dinner at 5:30, meeting starts at 6 pm.

Middle school band is back up and running.

Superintendent’s Update

Calendar folks stopped by and left their flyers again. These calendars could be offered district wide or school by school or not at all. A decision was made not to distribute to Principals at this time while DPC considers taking this effort up again.

Class sizes are fine everywhere except at the High School where foreign language and social studies are the biggest (some classes around 40 students). Need the mayor to release the $200,000 before any teachers can be officially hired.

High school renovations are going well. The pool was up and running earlier than expected.

Rumor Control

There are now three superintendent candidates and the school committee is trying to narrow it down. Tuesday Oct. 11th at 6pm at community television studio there will be a special school committee meeting on this topic.

On the school committee web site some of the links to access district policies are down. A suggestion was made to approach the principal level first and if that doesn’t work to go through the district to get copies of these policies. Now that Chris Hottel has left, Cori Mason is the person to contact about technology issues.

No technology curriculum in middle school is an issue of money rather than curriculum. A suggestion was made to reopen dialogue with colleges as a way to get potential technology volunteers to help in this area.

There was also a discussion about grants with a suggestion that HPS contracts people to write grants on commission basis.

New Business
Meet the Administrator – Steve O’Brien, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction

Steve showed part of a video on Jakarta International School in Indonesia where he was Principal of the High School. Next he was a Principal at the High School in Pittsfield, MA. He came to Haverhill because he wanted to get back to an urban setting (and for personal reasons).

Steve shared some thoughts on immersion for ELL students. He believes full immersion is a very difficult way to learn but thinks our teachers are trying to use student’s language to help ease the transition and that is more effective. He does believe that the goal is to get these students into English classrooms.


Write Away:

Tentative Write Away Banquet date is May 18th but Principals are concerned that MCAS tests are going on during that timeframe. Next Write Away planning meeting is Tuesday 10-11-05 at Cogswell at 9:15 am

9/11 Annual Ceremony

The student council and national honor society president will organize the 9/11 Annual Ceremony. They will ask about getting the chorus and band. The goal is to have students from each school do a reading.

Evening DPC Meetings

The next evening DPC meeting will be Navigating the Haverhill Public Schools will be held on Wednesday November 9th around 6:30 pm.

Next planning meeting is scheduled for Tuesday October 11th as part of the 9:15 write away meeting at Cogswell.

Sponsoring City Council Candidate and School Committee Candidate Forums

Frank Novac has agreed to be mediator for a School Committee round table on October 26th and the City Council round table on October 20th hosted by the DPC. We need to be clear that the DPC is sponsoring this as a service to inform the community about the candidates’ view on education. We will advertise this by putting info on cable TV and on the DPC flyer that will be sent home with all students.

September 7, 2005


Announcements:

The high school is having a fundraiser this week. They are selling mums and coffee cakes. Call the HS for more information.

Program to promote the Haverhill Public Schools has started and already 5 students have come back into the district.

Opening of school went well. Superintendent said that he hasn’t heard anything from any parents, students, principals or elected officials to the contrary.

St. James – Programs are successful. Some students are here from other districts but the benefit is that we are keeping our own students within the district. It saves us money, allows us to provide customized services in-house and saves transportation time for the students.

Other program at St. James (Teach and Reach) is for kids with behavior issues, school phobia, attendance issues, etc. 52 students are currently in the program. This program has had success with students who have not been successful in a traditional program. Suggest that if anyone wants a tour of either of the St. James programs they should call Maury Covino

Rumor Control

St James School

We are looking at alternatives to St. James because of the problems we are having with the lease.

High School

High School high enrollment – have additional teachers been hired? Student class sizes are good; we have hired a math teacher and are looking for a Spanish teacher. Had one teacher resigned one week before school started who went to Whittier Voc Tech. That is the teacher who is being replaced.

HS Renovation is going well. They are working on the science rooms and the K-wing. The science rooms in the K wing are scheduled to be complete in December. The other science labs will be worked on starting in January and should be done by the beginning of school in 2006. The HVAC system is also being worked on.

Maroni Construction provided a cleaning crew for the HS to get it read for the start of school. They worked in conjunction with the custodians. It looks clean and organized. Lines were drawn in the parking lots. Looks good.

More than 400 people attended freshman orientation before school started.

Computers throughout the district

We are still short on new-ish computers in elementary and middle schools.

School Security

Photo IDs – Staff who travel to many schools are trying to wear photo ideas so they can be easily identified. Some of the schools have them. Custodians will get them. Schools that use Lifetouch will get them. All staff at all schools get their photos taken but all do not necessarily get photo IDs. School security, which will include photo IDs will be a future DPC agenda item.

Middle School

Teaming and grouping at the middle school level is changing. We all agree that we should have a district wide discussion of what’s happening and why.

Class sizes

We were told that class sizes at the 4th and 5th grade level were going to be high this year. Here are the statistics:

Bradford Elementary Grade 4 = 22; Grade 5 = 25
Golden Hill Grade 4 = 24; Grade 5 = 25
Pentucket Lake Grade 4 = 25; Grade 5 = 27
Silver Hill Grade 4 = 24; Grade 5 = 25

Secretary

We need a secretary to take minutes. The role could be rotated. Minutes are important to let people know what we are discussing. Decided that we would rotate. Kerry will take September minutes, Janet will take minutes in October and Eric will take minutes in November.

Write Away:

Want to get started early this year for a variety of reasons. Meeting for next week: Tuesday at 9:15 at Cogswell. Herb will mail last year’s schedule to all DPC members for review and comment.

DPC Fall Event

We think it would be fun to hold an event with food, games and entertainment for children. The f all is too soon so we’ll schedule it for the spring, possibly on a Sunday. Potential venues: Winnekenni Castle, GAR Park, Riverside Park. Will discuss further at October meeting.

Trish will find out of the Italian Festival will have facilities for non-profit organizations to set up a booth and if they do, the DPC will get a table/booth.

DPC informational Flyer, Poster and Website

We will develop a flyer to send to all parents. Trish will talk with Gerry about getting the flyer out to parents. Last year Dr. Tate committed to sending a flyer about the DPC to all parents. We also think it would be important to make a contact with a parent in each school who will distribute flyers on behalf of the DPC.

Sue will develop a poster to put on bulletin boards at each school.

Decide what we will put on the website. Herb will update

Haverhill Goes Back To School

DPC will meet with principals designated by Gerry Q to plan Haverhill Goes Back to School. The meeting will be scheduled for sometime in October.

Sponsoring City Council Candidate Forum and School Committee debate

Meeting on Tuesday at 9:15 at Cogswell to discuss logistics of both.

9/11 Annual Ceremony

Herb and Trish will meet with the student council and national honor society president to ask them to organize the 9/11 Annual Ceremony. They will ask about getting involved with Chorus and band. Trish will talk with the mayor and ask him to mention the ceremony when he speaks at the Veterans Day parade. Herb will talk with the parade organizers about allowing us to follow. He will also check on a portable speaker system.

Potential Future Key Speakers and Topics

Sharing successes
Best Practices
Meet administrators
Meet Steve
Alternative School principal
Person who talks on getting parents involved (Janet)
John Collins writing system
MCAS preparation
Staff and school IDs
Middle School Concept

Evening DPC meeting Topics

Organizational meeting scheduled for Thursday, September 15th at 9:00 at Sue Danehy’s house

John Collins
MCAS preparation
School Security
Navigating the Haverhill Public Schools (series of meetings to deal with different levels/issues)

 


DISTRICT PARENT COUNCIL
MEETING MINUTES
MAY 7, 2003

Legend
FA: Future Agenda Item
NM: Needs a separate meeting or committee

Attendance: ??
Schools Represented: ??

I. Introductions and Announcements

The High School will be hosting a Pops Concert May 9, 7:00 pm. Tickets are $5.00. If you arrive early, dinner will be served. For more information, please call the HS Music Department at 978-374-5769...More

Archived Minutes
 
II. Superintendent’s Update
(Roger Young)

There is a $5.8 million deficit this year. Health insurance costs are expected to increase by 20% in the coming year. In school choice, Haverhill will be losing more than they will be gaining. This will be an additional approximate loss of $5,000 per student. As well, special transportation costs are also expected to increase. In the best case scenario, the School Department will be short $900K.

The budget cannot be finalized until the final numbers come in from the city for city charges.

Additionally, Mr. Young explained to us that the school department has a responsibility for maintaining schools. The average statewide for school maintenance is 10% above minimum requirements.


III. New Business

FA DPC Sponsored By-Laws for PTOs
There was great discussion on the finances of PTO’s. Many PTO’s carry over from year to year over $10,000. Why is this money not spent on the children?

A. Helping Our Schools/Sharing Fundraising Ideas
Kathy Wallace

The DPC discussed involving PTOs more and learning about fundraising ideas. We also discussed the benefits and resources of the PTO Today seminar which some of us attended. Kathy and Trish will work on this committee and host an evening meeting on the topic of “Global PTO”.

B. DPC Fundraising
Herb Bergh
Jennifer Priest-Insero

Jennifer Priest-Insero would like to start a committee and explore the possibilities of fundraising for the DPC. These funds would cover expenses for events the DPC sponsors.

C. Membership/Attendance
Herb Bergh

Ann Jacobson and Trish Shaw will work on DPC membership and attendance during the summer. We will also meet with Kathy Wallace on the PTO aspect.

D. DPC Tree/Bench/Yearly Event Planting
Herb Bergh

Kerry Fitzgerald will organize this. We will discuss this at the next DPC meeting.

E. MCAS Informational Meeting
Sue Danehy

This was an informational evening meeting for parents to attend to learn about MCAS and what it means. Unfortunately, it was not well attended. However, all agreed the information distributed was excellent. This was a citywide event. Perhaps the DPC can assist and we can sponsor this meeting again as an evening DPC meeting titled “MCAS Parent Information Night”.

IV. Old Business

A. DPC By-Laws
Trish Shaw
Trish Shaw will put together a committee with Jennifer Priest-Insero, Sue Danehy, Kerry Fitzgerald and Herb Bergh. We will meet over the summer and finalize the by-laws. These will be ready for review and approval in the September 2003 meeting.

B. Write-Away
Herb Bergh
The write away plans are being finalized. The ceremony will take place May15, 7:00 at the High School.

C. School Uniforms
Trish Shaw

A meeting will take place on May 7 to discuss the topic of School Uniforms in the Haverhill School system.
   

Archived Minutes

District Parent Council Meeting Minutes January 8 , 2003

Legend:
FA: Future Agenda Item
NM: Needs a separate meeting or committee

Attendance/School Represented: ?

I. Introductions and Announcements

Gwen Kearns discussed Haverhill High School fundraising ideas. She presented a letter detailing an Ad Program which local businesses and patrons may purchase. This program would then be distributed at the Talent Show and Senior Class Play. For more information, please contact Gwen Kearns. Ads must be purchased by January 8, 2003.

II. Superintendent Update

“Plan to Save Probation”
Dr. Tate discussed a year-by-year plan to save the Haverhill High School Probation. This is sponsored by Mayor Guerin. A public meeting will be held on January 8, 2003 @ 7:30 in City Council Office. In order to achieve this plan, the city must commit to $500,000 a year. This will be presented to NEASC.

The first budget workshop will be held January 28, 2003 @6:30pm in Room 301 at City Hall.

Bev Cassano is still out on leave. Please try to be accommodating, as the School Central Office is short on staff.

The Hispanic Coalition will meet January 8, 2003 @ 6:00 at the Nettle School. They will discuss math issues and middle school leveling. Herb Bergh will arrange an Evening DPC with the Hispanic Coalition. The Hispanic Coalition Group meets the first Wednesday of every month @ 6:00 at Nettle School. Ann Jacobson suggested that the District Parent Council present their monthly agendas.

2003 – 2004 Budget: The best case scenario that the School Department case is anticipating is a 10% cut in funding. This equates to a $9 million cut in Chapter 70 money(ies). “Level Funding” would translate to $5.6 million cut.

The Charter School (Montessori) has applied for a school in Haverhill. There would be 120 students in grades one through eight. The first year, 2004, would be their start up year, and the following year, 2005 would be the first year of actual operation. This would cost $6,700 per student.

III. New Business

Middle School Task Force: rescheduled to February, 2003

HHS Accreditation: rescheduled to February 2003

Write-Away (Herb Bergh)
The Write-Away awards ceremony has been scheduled to May 15, 2003. Herb Bergh is currently looking for a room that the Write-Away committee can work in. He will keep us updated. The District Parent Council has been asked to go to the PTO’s for donations to help fund the prize awards. We should publicize this event on the following mediums: Ch. 33, websites, principals/staff meetings, school intercoms, and calendars.

IV. Old Business

Helpful Budget Boosters (Patti Sullivan)
Patti discussed several wonderful, productive fundraising ideas her school has accomplished. For the school’s Halloween Event, each person was asked to donate a roll of paper towels for admission. At the Parent Teacher Conference, a “Giving Tree” was organized. This was very worthwhile! Since her school holds a monthly event (they are Title I), it is easy to get parents to attend these fundraising ideas.

DPC Web Page--Rescheduled

DPC ByLaws--Rescheduled

DISTRICT PARENT COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES February 5, 2003

Legend
FA: Future Agenda Item
NM: Needs a separate meeting or committee

Attendance:
Schools Represented:

I. Introductions and Announcements

The District Parent Council will be sponsoring an Evening Meeting on February 6, 2003 at 7:00pm in City Hall to discuss the budget cuts affecting the school system.

II. Superintendent’s Update

On February 28, 2003 @ 7:00pm, there will be a school committee meeting at NettleSchool. This will be a Budget Workshop. Parents are strongly urged to attend and to voice their concerns and opinions as the upcoming School Budget. It will be a public meeting.

III. New Business

A. Middle School Task Force
Jerry Quartrale
FA The middle schools have been hit particularly hard in relation to budget cuts and programs. The Middle School Task Force was formed with the School Committee approval. It was originally intended to be a one year term. There are now approximately 20 members. There is a representative from each school and one parent from each middle school. This group has performed scientific research on middle school education. Their meetings are extremely productive and worthwhile. This task force will be presenting a brochure to the school committee in March to outline what is important to the Middle School Education programs.

The DPC will sponsor an Evening DPC meeting in Aril to discuss middle school grouping.

B. HHS Accreditation
Kevin Soroghan, Principal
There are 7 standards set by NEASC. HHS is on probation for 5 of those 7 standards. All 5 of these standards are related to the facility. The City Council and School Committee jointly approved a plan to set aside $500,000 for each year until 2006 to provide funding for the HHS facility. This plan has been submitted to NEASC, but has not been received positively. They have verbally stated that more than likely the commission will not accept this plan. We can then have a “show/cause” appeal. There must be something new to present to the NEASC commission by March 6.

John Mitchison has presented a plan for Haverhill to apply for a 10 million-dollar bond. This would be used more than likely to address the Science Labs first. This would be considered something “new” to present to NEASC. The commission will meet again in March and will have their final decision in May.

C. Meet the Administrators
Al Powers, Whittier Middle School
Al Powers is the Principal of Whittier Middle School. Whittier has 535 students. When Mr. Powers accepted the position, he committed to a 4 year term. Prior to becoming the Principal of Whittier, he was at Roxbury MS for 15 years, North Andover for 6 years, Hudson MS for 6 years, and Gardner for 4 years. His current goal now is to improve the Math MCAS scores at Whittier.

D. Chartwell Food Service
Richard Medico
Chartwell Food Service took over the Haverhill School Department Food Program in December, 2002. The first two aspects that were reorganized in the cafeterias were the presentation and cooking of the food. The question the cafeteria now asks at the end of each meal is “How much is left on the tray?”. All the food that is prepared at the High School for satellite schools now leaves at a later time, so that it is fresh and warm when it arrives at the satellite school. They have creative posters in the school to encourage healthy eating habits. Some of the other changes noted were that more food is purchased in bulk, and daily money deposits are made. In a few months, Chartwell will start looking into Breakfast as well as two hot lunch choices. Lunch sales have increased by 6%. They are looking forward to March figures, since that will be their first full operational month

E. Uniforms in the Haverhill City School District
FA Rescheduled to March 2003 agenda, as well an evening May DPC topic.

IV. Old Business

A. DPC Web Page
Herb Bergh
Changes have been made to the Haverhill DPC web site. Please take the time to look at this improved web site and provide feedback.

B. DPC ByLaws
Herb Bergh
Rescheduled to March 2003.

C. Write-Away
Herb Bergh
An organizational kick-off meeting has been scheduled for February 11, 7:00 at Central Office

DISTRICT PARENT COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES MARCH, 2003

Legend
FA: Future Agenda Item
NM: Needs a separate meeting or committee

Attendance: Herb Bergh, Trish Shaw, Mary Phennicie, Sandra Sanchez, Michael Macdonald, Kathy Wallace, Shannon Hewey, Laura Archambault, Susan Danehy, Joan Becker, Terry Morose, Jennifer Preist-Insero
Schools Represented: HHS, PLS, Hunking, Golden Hill, Bradford Elem.,Knipe,Moody.

I. Introductions and Announcements

Shannon Hewey announced that the High School will be presenting Hello Dolly on March 6, March 7, and March 8.

II. Superintendent’s Update

Dr. Tate is working on the Golden Apple nomination. This is a program, which nominates a school business partner.

Approximately 25 – 30% surveys were returned regarding the topic of School Uniforms. The survey simply asked, “Would you be interested in discussing the topic of School Uniforms.

There will be a meeting on March 20, 7:00pm in City Hall Chambers to discuss the FY04 budget. This is a public workshop. It is being based on $0.00 budget and will work up from there.

III. New Business

A. International Parent Coalition
Sandra Sanchez/Raquel Hernandez

The International Parent Coalition is a group of parents who care and are involved in their children’s education. Most of them do not use English as their first language. This group which started last year meets on the 1st Wednesday of every month at 6:30 in the Nettle School. There is a translator present. The International Parent Coalition was originally called the “Spanish Parent Coalition”, however was changed to accommodate all languages. Currently, the “hot topic” to address in School Uniforms, especially in the lower grades. A combined meeting with the District Parent Council is being scheduled for April. They also are discussing the bi-lingual program which most of their parents describe as scary and concern. The Intentional Parent Coalition also is involved in the Haverhill Neighborhood Association. This meeting will take place on March 12, 7:00 – 9:00pm at City Hall.


B. HHS Accreditation
Kevin Soroghan, Principal

The High School is currently focused on getting the city’s bond vote to pass. It is described as a “community emergency”, not just educational, but community. All are encouraged to call their city council members and urge them to vote yes on passing the bond in order to save the accreditation of the high school.

C. Meet the Administrators
Euthemia Gilman
Assistant Principal, Golden Hill School

Mrs. Gilman has spent 30 years in Haverhill as an educator. Her mother was a teacher, and her father and grandfather owned a shoe business here in Haverhill. Currently, Golden Hill school educates approximately 600 schools, with 40% of them defined as low income making Golden Hill eligible for Title I funds. The Title I program will become effective for the 2003 – 2004 school year. Golden Hill’s MCAS math scores were lower than other schools, however that is attributed to a number of factors, and are being aggressively addressed by the school.

FA: As a joint conversation between Mrs. Gilman and the DPC, it was decided we should pursue the Teacher for a Day program again. The DPC will talk with Sally Cerasulo, the school committee, mayor and city council.

D. Uniforms in the Haverhill City School District
Dr. Tate

As mentioned previously, the International Parent Coalition and District Parent Council will present a joint meeting in April on this topic.

IV. Old Business

A. DPC Web Page
Herb Bergh
The web page is now blue and orange, much easier to read. Sue Finn has worked very hard on this.

B. DPC ByLaws
Herb Bergh
Rescheduled to April 2003.

C. Write-Away
Herb Bergh
The write away entries are currently being returned to Central Office. Reader training will take place on March 10 at 9:30am and 7:00pm. At that point the reading will begin with a deadline of March 24. We are still looking for volunteers. We are down $400 this year in donations, due to the banks not being as generous as in previous years. We are looking for corporate sponsors.

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