Meeting of January 17, 2005, 7:30 PM at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church

Agenda

Joseph Hinton, the principal of Glen Cove High School, will be the invited guest at this meeting. He is interested in ideas about how the high school can help to get the school budget passed next May.

Here are the suggestions that have been made so far of things that would improve relations between the schools and the community:

• Publish a list where recent GCHS graduates are now.
• Publish a list of colleges which have accepted this year’s graduates.
• Adult education courses bring people into the schools and can pay for themselves.
• Ask parents to write letters to the papers about their child’s experience with budget cuts.
• Involve the Spanish and black churches.
• Have performances or carnivals in each school on election day.
• Have a high school open house for eighth grade parents.
• Have a middle school open house for fourth grade parents.
• Ask club advisors to send press releases to papers.
• Encourage a HS newspaper.
• Hire one coordinator to organize and market public relations and adult education.
• Send a bulk mailing to all households when there is an issue that would benefit from community input.  Examples of current concerns are the movement of the fifth grade to the elementary schools and the upcoming community “roundtable” discussion of the school budget. This mailing should state in Spanish at the start…not in small print at the end…that Spanish translators will be present at the meeting.  Perhaps this service can be provided by students in the AP Spanish class.
• Have comments from the public at special school board meetings.
• Have a short section during special school board meetings during which school board members and members of the audience can contribute to the discussion.
• Allow factual comments from the public during all school board discussions.
• Provide a microphone for each school board member and administrator at school board meetings.
• Make sure that the school board agenda is posted in advance on the district website
• Have a one-sentence explanation of each item on the school board agenda.
• Take more detailed school board meeting minutes and post them on the district website.
• Present the annual school budget in a form that is easier to understand.
• Arrange to have district videos on cable channel 12.
• Use a monthly superintendent’s letter to the papers to explain philosophy of education achievements, new programs, and problems.
• Have a monthly PTA activities report in papers.
• Publicize activities of organizations that support the schools such as the Booster Club, the Music Boosters club, the Education Foundation, and the Scholarship Committee.
• Building principals could add to their monthly newsletters to parents a list of items their schools have lost because of the budget defeat.

Should the Coalition take ads in the papers giving elected representatives addresses and asking people to write to them about school aid and certs?

Dan Russell is the new public relations person for the school district. He has website design experience which should help a lot.

English Coordinator Susan Breen will be the guest speaker at the February Coalition meeting.