PTO Meeting Dec. 5 2013

PTO Meeting Dec. 5 2013   Summary of discussion

 

1.        Talked about DEAR:  we need some more readers!  Please contact   marquettepto@gmail.com if you have a friend, neighbor, acquaintance or family member who’d like to do some engaging reading/actor’s theater for a half hour.   Date:  Jan. 24 1014   6-8 pm.      BWB is providing 2000 books to be given away that night; it should be a really fun event!

2.       Upcoming schedule:

a.       Candy Grams Dec. 6-20^th  (help needed to put the candygrams together! marquettepto@gmail.com)

b.      DEAR:  Jan. 24 2014  6-8 pm

c.       Valentines Candy grams:  Feb. 1-14

d.      Movie Night:  mid  February, 2014

e.      All school gym event:  early March 2014

                                                               i.      One idea:  arrange to use Adams’ High School pool for the evening, with HS student volunteers to help supervise

3.       WRITE to your legislators!

a.       The SBCSC, the School Board and the state Dept. of Education have all confirmed that the most powerful tool for getting legislation that is favorable to Public Education is for parents and other voters to contact their legislators and tell them how you want them to vote. 

b.      So DO IT!   The flyer and contact information are included in this document and are on the FB page of the PTO. 

4.       Upper Elementary Expansion Campaign

a.       Thanks to everyone; Phase 1 was a huge success.  We raised about $3000.00 and involved about 580 separate donations.  This is powerful information that shows how deeply committed the Marquette community is to the future of Montessori education for all children in South Bend.

b.      We reviewed the history of our work with the SBCSC on this project, identified supportive forces in the SBCSC and the Board, and talked about Marquette community connections and resources who/which might be useful in the next Phase of this campaign.

c.       We agreed that we want to take the campaign public

                                                               i.      By building a partnership with local supporters for Montessori, specifically Upper Elementary

                                                             ii.      And by telling the story of an outstanding curriculum achieving successes in the community for a diverse portion of the public school population.

d.      We need to design “The Story” in a really effective way before we go public

                                                               i.      We need to articulate our goals

1.       Frame the story in a positive way—not so much ‘we have a problem (overcrowding) as we have a huge success story (many children clamoring to be part of the school) that needs to be well managed for continued development and growth

2.       Frame the story with some drama to catch the attention of the super, the Board, and SB community

                                                             ii.      Collect our success stories

                                                            iii.      Coordinate our actions, so that we are ‘all on the same page’ working together, not on separate perhaps contradictory tracks

                                                           iv.      Ask for another meeting or brief consultation with the SBCSC to confirm progress, communicate goals, coordinate actions, and plan for future Phases.

1.       It’s important that we maintain a clearly articulated support of the SBCSC and that we do our best to determine the agenda of the SBCSC and try to match it.

e.      So we are creating a set of Google docs in Google Drive for brainstorming about ideas and stories.

                                                               i.      Anyone is welcome to contribute

                                                             ii.      Anyone with skills to help produce the finished story is invited to volunteer!

1.       We need writers, photographers, videographers, graphic designers, PR , marketing,

2.       We need volunteers to help with the support tasks as well

3.       marquettepto@gmail.com

f.        We identified some people in our community who have skills we need.

                                                               i.      We will contact these resources

                                                             ii.      We need to identify other people with skills we can use—Spread the word!

1.       Anyone with connections in the business community

2.       Anyone with connections to local non-profits who might support our work

3.       Anyone with connections to PR, marketing, fund raising, grant writing resources.

4.       Anyone with ideas for connecting to the Mayor’s office

                                                            iii.      Contact marquettepto@gmail.com

g.       We want and need all good ideas from every part of the Marquette Montessori community—so please get involved, online and/or in person!

                                                               i.      Ideas suggested:

1.       Silent Auction of donated items for fund raising –to take place at DEAR and the Feb. Movie Night

2.       Sell popcorn at Feb. Movie Night for fund raising

3.       Organize a neighborhood walk of students to ‘advertise’ the school and promote its role in the Marquette and SB community.  Get news coverage

Attend a School Board meeting to talk about what we are doing, our progress, and our hopes for our kids and SB kids in general