School Council Notes 11/16/16

School Council Minutes 11/16/2016

Attendance

Kristen Gleason
Marcus Dahllof
Sarah Arcese
Kate Blanchard
Mark Nardelli

Old Business:

Blue Zone - Mark learned that many other schools in Newton assign teachers duties. Horace Mann will explore assigning any staff who don’t currently have a duty to help out with the blue zone during dismissal only.

We discussed a few ideas about how to more consistently communicate school values to families.  
  • Ideas included posting video of our all-school assemblies.
  • Hosting smaller (grade based?) assemblies and inviting parents.
  • Creating monthly values based themes that would include a home reading/assignment

New Business:

Election - Acknowledged that many staff, students and families have differing opinions about candidates.   Talked about the fears that some students have about a variety of issues that came up during the campaign, including family members being deported, building walls, etc.  Talked about the challenges and importance of promoting values of inclusion, kindness, respect.

Character Education Planning - The bulk of the meeting was spent reading several folktales/stories/fables.  We selected one theme (Empathy/Kindness) and one story for the first home discussion assignment.  We then created discussion questions.  The first story will be shared at assembly and sent home Thanksgiving week.


January Meeting:  Week of January 9th: Potential school council meeting in Boston and invite both Newton and Boston families.  Agenda TBD.