PTA

9/16 Meeting Minutes

Spirit of North PTO 

First meeting minutes 9/16/19

These meetings are for parents and staff to have an open dialog and respectful discussion about what the administration and families want from Spirit of North. Such as volunteer/chaperone needs, help with activities/events, and fundraising to substitize for field trips. 

We want to help everyone feel welcome and to provide information to stay connected. Spirit of North is a resource for parents along with being a place to support the students and the school.

Parents can find out about school needs and become a member of the PTO through filling out the blue membership form and joining the Spirit of North PTO group on Facebook. 

Here is the FB link Spirit of North PTO and here is the email Spiritofnorth678@gmail.com.

There are concerns that the welcoming of diverse student needs aren’t being met. Another concern is that parents are feeling overwhelmed. Moving from elementary school to Junior high is a big step and parents want to have all the knowledge they can about the school so they can help their child feel comfortable with the transition.This is something that Spirit of North can help with by getting feedback from parents on how effective they think things are working at North. As well as finding out solutions to concerns parents have. There is one goal setting conference with the Advisor who sees the students 15/20 minutes a day. At goal setting conferences maybe teachers can have a sheet for all parents that has their best contact information, what they are teaching and classroom expectations. This way parents know how to feel connected with their student’s teachers. There are students with different special needs that can’t come to goal setting conferences for multiple reasons and the special education staff isn’t required to be there per the district. Having an open house in the Spring for parents and students where you can have all staff there for meet and greets to get a better understanding of how the day looks, where classrooms are, and what proper expectations in school areas look like would only be beneficial. There should be a time when the up and coming 6th graders can come to North and have a tour of the building. 

North does have a WEB (Where Everyone Belongs) program that helps 6th graders on their first day. Eighth graders are paired with 6th graders for the day to show where classrooms are, to bring them to the bus area, cafeteria, media, and office to show how everything works. This is a great program for the students, but there is a disconnect with the parents. 

There is the question about how to get in touch with teachers. It’s not clear about the best way to contact teachers. They don’t have a scheduled return time for email responses, and it’s hard to find out about assignments. It is teacher dependant on how and when they let parents know about assignments, happenings in the classroom, etc. Some teachers go through Skyward to respond to emails, but some don’t. Some teachers use Schoology for assignments and tests. There isn’t anything stating that teachers are the same across the board in responding to parents. Maybe this is something that Spirit of North can help with in voicing concerns to teachers about not getting timely information about their children. If you are having trouble with responses from teachers you can also contact Mr. Nutter. 

On October 10th there are conferences for all students. There isn’t going to be a sign up sheet for teachers this time, you will just go into classrooms. Math and Language Arts teachers tend to have the longest lines. 

October 15th is Grade Level Meetings. There will be presentations for about 30-45 minutes long with 1-2 slides of information about what is being taught in the three trimesters, and contact information from the teachers. Each grade will have their own presentation for the night. Spirit of North’s suggestion was to send it via Skyward for the people that aren’t able to make it that night.

There are 3 6th grade Advisors that don’t have iPads for their students. There are iPads, just no chargers. Principal Nutter apologized for not keeping parents informed about this situation. They have ordered chargers and hope to send everything home with students soon.

Did you know that the counselor your child has in 6th grade follows them to 7th grade and 8th grade? That is wonderful for our children to have at least one staff member constant while they are in junior high. There is also a Dean of Students for each grade. These staff members are specifically for children that need extra help with social emotional learning.

Conferences are in October and Spirit of North typically covers the cost of food for the teachers. There was a suggestion to look into local businesses like Little Caesars, MT’s, and $5 Pizza for sponsorships. 

Parent volunteers are needed for Motivate and Move day. Contact Katie Schnider at katie.schnider@isd742.org for more information.

In talking about what parents needs are we mentioned having a meeting before January. November 19th from 5:30-6:30 in the Media Center is going to be the next meeting. We will be able to talk about the questions that were brought up, and how to navigate Skyward and Schoology. 

We want Spirit of North to grow into some great. 

Be involved, Be informed.

We added another meeting date which is Tuesday, November 19th 5:30-6:30 in Media Center.