Watershed Community Council

Nov 2, 2005

Present: Bina Nikrin (co-chair),  Andrea Bruner (co-chair), David Woolley (scribe), Paul Thompson, Victoria Woolley, Endel Kallas, Scott Cole (administrator), Ingunn Henrikssen (faculty), Karlie Schaaf, Kathleen Mathews, Michelle Van Ryn, and Ivor Matz.

1. Verse & introductions

2. Silent Auction – Victoria Woolley

The Silent Auction will be held this Friday, Nov. 4.  The event will feature entertainment including musicians, a tarot reader, and a fire dancer, a cash bar, treats, and an extensive list of items to bid on. Students who are helping with the auction will be let out of school at 2:00 pm Friday so they can help set up. Class Reps are requested to make phone calls to parents to promote attendance.

2. Communications Committee Report – David Woolley

The Communications Committee has been focused on producing and distributing the Snippets newsletter. Since we only have email addresses for about half of the parents, we have resorted to sending Snippets by postal mail. This week’s Snippets will include an insert requesting parents to contact Jane Landes to give her their email addresses. Snippets has not yet been posted on the web because we have not yet resolved how to get access to update the school web site.

3. SiPS Discussion

Parents raised concerns about the reliability of information on SiPS, including inconsistencies in how often different teachers update grades and status of assignments, and accuracy of attendance records. There was a general consensus that the high expectations parents have had for SiPS have not been met. Ingunn described the great difficulty the Main Lesson teachers have had in recording grades because SiPS was not designed to handle the unusual structure of Watershed’s Main Lessons. Scott Cole reported that the faculty is aware of the problems and is working toward establishing uniformity and minimum standards for SiPS updates, and a small group of faculty members are creating templates that all teachers will use.

The Communication Committee will begin to address these issues with SiPS. Endel Kallas has a particular interest in this and will be joining the committee.

4. Parent Handbook

Bina has circulated an updated draft of the Parent Handbook, and is seeking corrections and comments. The handbook should be available on the school web site by next week.

5. Board Update

Scott Cole reports that a successful board election was held.

4. Faculty Update – Ingunn Henrickssen

• Main Lesson:  The Main Lesson teachers have seen a huge improvement over last year in the number of students completing Main Lesson books.  Narrative evaluations will be given in place of letter grades starting with the current lesson block. Parents or students can request a letter grade by emailing their breakout group teacher.

• New Faculty Member:  Kent King has joined the faculty  

• Faculty Liaisons:  The class sponsors will act as faculty liaisons to the parent volunteers acting as Class Reps.

• Special Ed:  The Special Ed teacher, Bekki Bainville, has been in contact with the parents of all Special Ed students. She is planning a meeting for parents in December focused on Special Ed which will be open to any interested parents.

• Food Drive:  The annual food drive will be held Nov. 18, 19, and 21.  This event is organized by the faculty, but parent volunteers are needed to help with driving and unloading.  The food drive is one way in which students fulfill their community service requirements.

• School Culture & Events Committees:  These two committees were NOT actually combined, as was mistakenly reported last month. Theresa Hutchinson is the convener of the Events Committee.  The Culture Committee is apparently not very active yet, but Jamie (dean of students) is acting convener.  Parent volunteers are needed for the Culture Committee, which is meant to deal with issues such as smoking, substance abuse, and trust between students and faculty.

5. Administrator Update – Scott Cole

• Development Committee:  The Development Committee has submitted grant proposals and has met with development people from other schools. The Annual Fund request is in the works;  printing is being donated, and the request will be mailed out next week. All parents will be contacted by phone, as well.

• Enrollment:  There is a waiting list for all grade levels. Since the beginning of the school year, two students have withdrawn and one has been expelled.

• Medieval Feast:  An organizing meeting for the Medieval Feast will be held Nov. 3. The Faculty is responsible for the performance; parents are responsible for the food and décor.

• Restorative Justice:  A $5,000 grant proposal has been submitted to hire resource people to help with the Restorative Justice program, including trainings. The faculty is still learning how to (and how not to) conduct RJ circles – some have been very successful, others not so. A parent raised a concern that students are being pulled out of class to participate in RJ circles and hence missing out on academic instruction. There was agreement that (aside from spontaneous RJ circles that are held within a single class due to an immediate need) RJ circles should be held during lunch so that students will not miss classes.

6. Other Issues

• Open Mic Nights:  One parent raised a concern that on Open Mic nights there is a period of unsupervised time between when classes end and when the Open Mic event begins at about 6:30, and suggested that Open Mics begin at 4:00 instead.  There was some discussion about who is responsible for students during this time, and the consensus was that parents must be responsible. Mark Gutman, who leads these events, told us that moving the events to 4:00 would be difficult because of the amount of setup required.

• Student smoking:  A parent raised a concern that when teachers have taken their classes outside, some students have taken advantage of this by sneaking off and smoking. 

7. All School Meetings

We decided to hold an All School Potluck on Tuesday, Dec 13 from 4:00 to 6:00 for parents, students, and faculty. This will be a social event;  no specific program is planned.

Community Council meetings are held the first Wednesday of every month. The next meeting will be Wednesday, Dec. 7 at 6:30.  Parents are encouraged to come a little early for socializing.

Respectfully submitted, David Woolley, Community Council Scribe