Minutes of the September 10^th , 2014 meeting of

The 19^th Ward Community Association Schools Committee

Attendees: John Boutet, John Laing, Deb Leary

Approval of August minutes

One addition to the minutes concerned our discussion about the potential for starting preK-1 or 2 in the fall of 2015 using a portion of the building, and then building out the school grade structure and the building at the same time.

Spelling Bee - Deb Leary

Deb has made contact with the fraternity brothers and will meet with them soon to work through the schedule that was laid out last spring. School 29 has committed to participate.

School 16 renovation

A meeting has been scheduled with Superintendent Vargas and Michael Schmidt next Wednesday, September 17 from 4-5 at central office. I will bring a copy of the survey for them and we can talk about the list of our priorities for making school 16 a community school. One additional thought was to propose a geothermal heat/cool system using a horizontal array in the yard. Feedback from a FREE volunteer survey made the point for quiet spaces for 1:1 tutoring which supports our request for such an area.

John B sent out minutes from a 2012 meeting with Ralph Spezio about establishing a community school at #17. John B took the action item to invite Ralph to our next meeting.

Volunteer Progress

As the schools settle down after the start of the year teachers should be making contact with last year volunteers. Now that the FREE website has an on-line application I will contact those folks who signed up at Square Fair and West Side market to get them to apply. John B asked about the status of the list of names given to Bruce Pollock, as John was on that list for school 44 but hasn’t heard anything as yet.

The ELA and Math scores for the schools were discussed. Copies of the data can be found in the attachment. It includes a calculation for the number of volunteers who would be required to move the school scores significantly.

School 29 staff will be at the WestSide market on Tuesday Sept 16 to recruit volunteers.

Encourage folks to write state legislators in favor of Senate bill S5227B which would change the busing limit from 1.5 to 0.5 miles.

New Business

Rev Michael Ford has moved into the house at the corner of Trafalgar and Rugby. He was on the team who went to Rayleigh to see their schools and would be a welcome addition to this committee. I will ask him.

John B suggested that Cecilia Golden might be a good addition as well, and she will be contacted.

Minutes submitted by John Laing

Next Meeting Wednesday, October 8^th at 7 pm in the 19^th ward association office.