Oct 15th Association Meeting - Minutes

Agenda:

*Introduction to Parents' Association Mission and Projects

*Request for specific help/volunteers for Newsletter

*Open Floor for questions, comments

*Minestrone Soup and Baguette!

Minutes

*Introduction to Parents' Association Mission and Projects

Melodie Stenger clarified that the role of the Parents' Association is twofold:

1) To create a sense of community amongst the parents of Sunflower children, and 

2) To support the school as it pursues its mission.

The biggest obstacle to accomplishing both things is a lack of communication between the school and the parents and between the parents themselves.  Therefore, the current tasks of the Parents' Association are completely focused on surmounting this obstacle.

The Parents' Association is working to: 

• make Facebook and up-to-date and consistent source of information: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sunflower-Montessori-School/104267582941472 
• create a reliable monthly newsletter full of news about the school
• compile a directory of all Sunflower families to better encourage parent-to-parent communication  (if you did not get an email about this, please write to sunflowerparents@gmail.com)
• see what it can do to support a more informative Sunflower website 
• maintain a Sunflower Parents blog and e-mail address 

*Request for help with Newsletter

Melodie is asking for parents to sign up to serve as writers for the Newsletter.  A volunteering parent would be responsible for one of the following topics, below, and would write up a 2 to 3 paragraph article on that topic each month according to the schedule which is also below.  As of October 17th, more volunteers are still needed.

The Newsletter would also benefit from having a volunteer serve as the Sunflower Photo Historian.  This person would be responsible for archiving photos of Sunflower's community at a secure location (probably not facebook) that could store them at a high resolution, and then helping to select photos to round out the newsletter each month.  Attention would have to be paid to any children in photos whose families do not want their children's photos used.  This could be done in joint effort with Katie or Correy.

Monthly Schedule:

1st: Topic Assignments go out

15th: Articles due to me

20th: Draft given to Katie for review and printing

1st: Newsletter published in hardcopy and on blog

Meet-A-Teacher: Create a simple "interview questionnaire" to give to a different teacher each month.  Write up the results in article form.  Part of this is to ask that teacher for their favorite Montessori activity for families to do at home.

Meet-A-Family: Similar to the above.

Wish List: Work with Katie and Correy to consolidate a wish list and keep it up to date each month, perhaps including thank-you's to the folks who have provided requested items from the previous month's list.

Feature Topic (changes monthly)

Special Topic (changes monthly)

This Month At School (Curriculum Update): Work with Correy to create an article highlighting the themes and topics in the classrooms that month, complete with sample questions parents might ask their kids upon being picked up.

Hygiene (Correy has requested we focus on a specific practical life hygiene issue each month)

Parents' Association Update: Brief blurb

Reminders: Bulletted List of reminders

Calendar: um, a calendar of special events in the next two months

Montessori Holidays (ways to celebrate the holidays, Montessori style)

The Home Environment (ways to make your home a Montessori home)

Please write to sunflowerparents@gmail.com if you are interested in helping- specify which topics you are most interested in if you wish to write, and whether you would mind doing more than one article each month.

*Open Floor for Comments

Concerns were raised about the following:

• What a scrip account is at the GFS and how to begin using one.  Simply go to the custormer service desk at the GFS and ask to set up an account benefiting Sunflower.  It works much like a debit account.  You put a chunk of money in (any amount) and then use your account number when you go through the check-out.  A portion of the funds you spent on your purchase goes to the school.  When your account runs out, you add more.  It's helpful to the school, and a good way to keep your GFS spending in a set budget!
• Whether the menu could be made more accessible.  There are currently copies of the month's menu at the front door of Sunflower School.  We also hope to keep the weekly schedule on the blog, and the daily menu on Facebook each morning.  We had a parent volunteer to take the monthly schedule and turn it into a PDF so it can be put online. Stay tuned.

The next meeting has not been set yet.