Minutes of the February 4^th, 2020 meeting of

The 19^th Ward Community Association Schools Committee

Attendees: John Laing, John Boutet, Douglas Giebel, Joe Baldino

Guest: Joanna Slater

January minutes

Approved

Spelling Bee Status ( Douglas Giebel)

The fraternity is developing the schedule for March 28

Superintendent Dade is unable to attend but will send a message to be read by Dana Miller

Practice at the library on Saturdays has a small attendance – transportation is an issue. Some in-school tutoring is happening at school 16

Joe Baldino felt that the permission slips on file at the school will be sufficient

RCSD budget and plan

The budget shortfall is big, and is due to under estimating expenses and over estimating revenue. The superintendent has created a plan for matching expenses and revenues for next year and out. The number of students has fallen significantly over the past 5 years but the footprint has not changed. His plans include re-purposing schools 44 and 57 to be centers for pre-K . There will be meetings, including one on Feb 6 at school 16, so keep informed. This is an opportunity to start the movement to community schools, but we feel that the busing issue needs to be addressed. We need to remember the elephant in the room with respect to parents choosing schools not only for distance, but also the climates in the schools.

School Updates

School 29 is looking at ways to grow their enrollment and looking at ways to attract families.

MOU with RCSD and 19^th WCA Schools Committee

There is little upside to having an MOU for volunteers but we can just work with the district by funneling volunteers into the process without an MOU.

The next committee meeting will be Tuesday March 10^th at 7 pm in the 19^th Ward Community Association office.

Submitted by John Laing