Minutes of the November 13^th meeting of

The 19^th Ward Community Association Schools Committee

Attendees: John Boutet, John Laing, Deb Leary, Dan Ross, Jay Ross, Sarah Yaworski

Review of Action Items

• Generate a list of retired teachers/administrators in the ward and contact them – Dan Ross, in process
• Find a volunteer to run the spelling bee – John Laing and Khalid Hajj from Sigma Epsilon Phi fraternity are doing so far
• Set up a meeting with the RPH director, Matt Laniak and Jon Shull to determine next steps – John Boutet Jon Shull is working with school 17 and we’ll wait for that trial to be completed
• Check with McQuaid for potential volunteers – Mark Sweetland via John Boutet

Status of Spelling Bee

Although we are behind the process in previous years, the plan is coming together. Khalid Hajj from the U of R fraternity has met with John Laing and a tentative date of Saturday, April 26 has been set for the finals. A decision was made to have grades 3-7 from schools 10, 16, 19, 29 and 44 so that all 19^th ward schools are included and school 19 is grandfathered. Practice sessions will be held at the Arnett library starting January 18^th and will alternate between the fraternity and 19^th ward volunteers participating with the first session with the fraternity. The schools have been contacted and have the word lists and rules for the contest. Deb Leary requested a copy of the word lists as well. Most of the expenses will be borne by the fraternity and U of R.

Recruitment of Volunteers

We have become a partner of FREE (FRiends of Educational Excellence) and will be covered under their MOA with RCSD. The MOA has still not been approved by RCSD. John Boutet has reached out to the pastor New Life Fellowship for volunteers. There was discussion on how to deal with ineffective volunteers. There is a screening process from FREE but this may not be sufficient

Plan for the 19^th Ward Convention

We will have a table to talk to folks about the schools and solicit volunteers. In addition it was suggested that we bring information on the FMP and other issues to communicate to the neighborhood. John Laing was to bring the materials.

Feedback from Grad Nation – Dan Ross

The Grad Nation event was held October 30^th at the Convention Center and included about 300 movers and shakers. The focus of the morning was on improving the performance of the city schools, in particular on improving 3^rd grade reading as at that point reading becomes key to learning. The Raleigh school district was cited as an example of what can be done. We expect that more will come from this in the next few months.

Discussion of Drug Free Zone

We debated the proposal for drug free zones and could not reach a consensus.  There was acknowledgement of the difficulty in cleaning up  drug dealing  but this was tempered by a concern that youths would be placed into the justice system and never escape.  We encourage delegates’ council to ask Adam for more clarification of how it would work.

New Business

John Boutet had attended the open house by the state senator and raised the proposal to decrease the busing distance to ½ mile. The senator seemed responsive.

The Flint St recreation center is adjacent to school 19, and provides a model for school/community resource sharing for after school care. We should keep this in mind as the plans are developed for school 16 and 10 renovations.

John Laing reported that Superintendent Vargas stated that the overall enrollment in city schools increased this year due to a larger number of immigrants than anticipated.

Next Meeting tentatively Wednesday, December 11th at 7 pm in the 19^th ward association office. Other wise January 8^th.

Minutes submitted by John Laing