Watershed Community Council

Feb. 8, 2006

Present:  David Woolley(interim-chair), Endel Kallas(interim-scribe),  Barbara Clarity, Paul Thompson, Scott Cole (administrator), Ingunn Henrikssen (faculty), Jennifer Young, Linda Weber, Ivor Matz, Victoria Woolley, Theresa Hutchison (faculty, events committee), Maggie Rozycki (faculty),

1. Verse & Introductions

2. Medieval Feast

After introducing themselves, attendees shared observations on  the Medieval Feast. Comments highlighted the quality of the production, the acting, the costumes, the volunteers,  Sheila Weidendorf's top notch efforts under challenging conditions, delicious stew and rice, Vikki Erdmann's magic with herbs, and how much the kids contributed and grew as a result of their participation. David Woolley shared selected items from a summary "in progress" submitted by Sheila Weidendorf. The need for more parents to fill leadership roles was particularly noted. A copy of this draft will be forwarded to council attendees under separate cover and the final event summary will be published in Snippets.

3. Events Committee - Theresa Hutchison

Theresa presented a brief overview of committee functions including planning the annual events calendar and the delegation of faculty responsibilities. It was noted that current committee membership included faculty only. General discussion following Theresa's remarks included:

• stressing the value of parental participation and the need for volunteers to join this committee
• the committee’s potential role in capturing, organizing, and communicating the requirements and best practices for producing events
• the committee functioning as the forum for reconciling and formalizing procedural issues such as the relationships between the events committee and individual event organizers
• the assignment of events to specific grades vs. the retaining the services  of organizers for an extended but specified term.

To facilitate these activities, it was suggested that the Events Committee membership include the active events organizers and measures were initiated to contact current organizers and arrange a meeting to develop and progress the committee's agenda.

4.  Birkebeiner Fund-raising/Earth Day Planning - Paul Thompson

Paul provided an update on fundraising and shared a press release citing his focus on underwriting compact florescent bulbs and an Earth Day celebration for Watershed. Paul underscored both the opportunity for additional pledges and contributions as well as the need for volunteers to help plan Earth Day activities and kids to participate in tying activities to the school's waste elimination grant. Possible ties to a plant sale were also discussed. A planning meeting was scheduled for Monday, March 6th at 3:45 PM.

5. Administrator Update – Scott Cole

· Pearson Centerpoint functionality has been 90% restored. Efforts are underway to update attendance information and restore other miscellaneous informational odds and ends. The communications committee will be undertaking an audit to review causes, impacts, and remedies to improve problem prevention, and protection and recovery from data loss. 

· The Annual Campaign and fund drive is moving slowly and we are still well short of our goals. Scott eloquently presented the schools funding situation and the arguments for supporting a "private school quality" education in an otherwise underfunded charter school environment. The school strives to provide high educational value while receiving a fraction of the financial support needed to effectively meet its objectives from "public" sources and must rely on the school community and other means to make up the shortfall. Meeting the goal of 100% participation helps support appeals for grants and other awards. Direct contributions from parents, friends. and extended family will remain an essential and vital component of the funding formula. Scott stressed the need for parents to become involved in articulating and communicating this message to other parents. Ivor Matz and Endel Kallas stepped forward to start addressing this need and make a presentation at the next all school meeting.

4. Faculty Update – Ingunn Henrikssen

· Ingunn reported that the faculty is involved in planning the budget for next year. Letters of Intent are being received from teachers indicating their interest in returning next year. There are no major curriculum or program changes anticipated for next year with only minor budgetary shifts foreseen.

· The move to narrative evaluations for main lessons is ongoing

· Yearbook and literary magazine will be offered as electives in the spring

· The 11th grade class sponsors report that 11th grade students will serve as mentors to new students arriving at the school the remainder of this school year.

5. Community Council Leadership and Recruiting Parent Involvement

Referring to Bina Nikrin's parting remarks from last meeting, David Woolley, recalled the "interim" nature of his role a meeting facilitator and opened the floor to a discussion on council leadership options. Endel Kallas informed the council that he has considered taking on a council leadership role and requested that a process be initiated to fill the co-chair vacancies to ensure that the Watershed community has an opportunity to participate. Endel expressed an interest in preparing a statement of his commitment and vision for the council and Scott agreed to prepare a general announcement opening up the process to the general community.

Last meeting's minutes were approved.

The next Community Council meeting will be Wednesday, March 1, 2006 at 6:30 PM.

Respectfully submitted, Endel Kallas, Interim Community Council Scribe