The Parent Circle Kick Off Meeting Follow Up
Hello! Thank you to the awesome parents who came to our kick off meeting this morning for The Parent Circle, and for those who emailed and expressed interest but could not make it. Here are some things main take aways from our meeting:
Check out our Event Calendar, in which parent support might be helpful/needed (more detailed version available on Slack!). Please look ahead and mark your calendars. The process will be: Staff has a need, makes a request for Volunteers with scope, we sign up and deliver more volunteers with the help of some friendly social pressure. Please remember that ALL volunteers must fill out this Volunteer Clearance form YEARLY.
The Slack Workspace is for Parent Circle Organization. The Parent Circle is for all parents/guardians of enrolled students that want to support the school, staff and students. With that being said, other official communication will still come in the form of weekly Laternlein email and web newsletter, our voted in facilitation team members, board meetings, and teacher emails.
Our immediate ask is for parents who want to serve as Class Reps! This role is a bit vague by design, so you and the classroom teacher you support, can choose a communication system and support style, that is a best fit and most effective and efficient for you both. Whether that is a monthly email, a weekly in person check in, or other. If it works for you and the classroom teacher, then we are happy to have your help! Link available in Slack, or email me your interest.
The other immediate ask - is to look over the Roles & Responsibilities doc (in Slack) and get the word out to your fellow parent friends! We have a space for all! There is a Volunteer Interest Form they can fill out. Oaks Park Oktoberfest is looking for parent help Friday and Saturday, and Fun Run is starting to organize volunteers as well!
A few random notes to not forget: 1) to clarify, The Parent Circle does not have direct access to the board. The Facilitation Team Chair has a seat at the board meetings, but not as a voting member. For any questions we have for the Board as parents, our Facilitation Team will direct it to our Head of School, Bettina Gregg, who will then reach out to the Board with our question. It is a process, it is intentional, and it is how we will ensure clarity of communication and information. 2) The Parent Circle does have a school budget to work with. But we have to create it this year (with meticulous bookkeeping!) so we know what that budget needs to be for future years. It will be a bit tedious, but worth it.
Still with me? Good - We have our candidates to vote on!
Chair: Kerensa
CoChair: Elizabeth
Treasurer/Secretary Jon
Voting will be the week of 9/29 (stay tuned for details).
Here are their platforms that they are campaigning on:
