UPG Report to the School Board - September 2009
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UPG Cheltenham
Sep 20, 2009, 9:57:24 PM9/20/09
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As presented by Jim Butt, Co-President, UPG:
UPG Report to the School Board - September 2009
Good evening! I’m Jim Butt, Co-President of the United Parents Group. For reference, I have one son -- a freshman at the high school.
With the development of our first operating plan last year, UPG put into practice the notion that if we plan our work and share those plans with the community and our leaders, we would provide the foundation for better long range planning and more effective communication. The result, after numerous discussions with the Administration, was the first joint strategic planning discussions held last June. Together with Dr. Davis, I had the pleasure of reviewing the many activities undertaken by the District and UPG, and we carried that discussion forward with presentations on strategies for the coming school year. Many in the community attended, asked questions, and I hope, came away more informed and more engaged in the plans for the District. The presentations are on our two websites for those interested.
Most significant about all of this is that through these discussions, I believe, parents have been able to provide a more effective input to the plans being implemented by the District on issues of interest. This was illustrated most directly by the presentation Dr. Davis gave just this past Thursday when she provided an overview of the action plans for the coming school year -- many of which directly reflected issues parents expressed to UPG in our Operating Plan review and which we passed on through open discussion with the District. This is real progress and I'm pleased to have the support of the District in this way. UPG will certainly do everything we can to encourage parental awareness and support of the District plans, and parents will be able to find a summary of those plans in the minutes of last Thursday's meeting to be published soon. The new UPG operating plan is also online for everyone to see, comment on, and act on as they see fit.
Moving on, of course, I would be remiss in not mentioning the significant improvement in the PSSA scores for 2009. Our students AND teachers are to be warmly congratulated for their hard work. While there is always more to do, removing the immediate danger of missing required milestones allows everyone to balance priorities and resources effectively across all of the needs of the district.
Considering all that is on our plate, here are some of the significant plans for UPG this year:
So as I said, you can read all of this in the current UPG Operating Plan on our website at www.upgct.org, and I hope that you and other parents will do so soon.
With that, of course, the big events for our schools in the coming weeks are the Back-to-School nights where parents can meet their children’s teachers and administrators. The elementary schools will host parents on Wednesday, September 16th, followed immediately by the Back-to-School event at Elkins Park on, Thursday, the 17th. The high school event takes place a week later on Thursday, September 24th, followed by Cedarbrook's parent night on Wednesday, September 30th. Since these are such important events, I'm going to trust that the district will be sending out reminders using the NEW email system and urge parents to visit the new District website and sign up.
At the High School this Friday, September 11th, [Now changed to the rain date of October 2nd] everyone at the school will celebrate their 50th Anniversary, and our entire community is invited to participate in the festivities, dedicate the NEW football field lights, and participate in the official start of the CHS football season UNDER THE LIGHTS! Dr. Kiefer will be speaking at their next PTO meeting on September 21st, and upcoming meetings will include a roundtable discussion on Universal Acceleration, strategic planning reviews, and instruction on navigating the college application process. Of course, the Post Prom Party committee will get started soon, so watch for announcements.
Finally, and mainly for our parents, children do better in school when they have parents who are involved in their schools. When you show that school matters, they learn that school matters. So when you attend your child's back-to-school night this month, please join your PTO and please consider joining UPG, as well. You won’t be disappointed. Even more than your money, we need your involvement and your time to make our schools the best they can be. Get involved with your PTO today.
The next UPG meeting is Thursday, October 1st at 7 PM in Room 102 of this building. At that meeting, Chris Barone will give us an update on the many new things happening in Technology for Cheltenham and we hope lots of parents and teachers join us. After Chris we will also discuss school climate in Cheltenham.
That’s it! Thank you very much!
UPG Report to the School Board - September 2009
Good evening! I’m Jim Butt, Co-President of the United Parents Group. For reference, I have one son -- a freshman at the high school.
With the development of our first operating plan last year, UPG put into practice the notion that if we plan our work and share those plans with the community and our leaders, we would provide the foundation for better long range planning and more effective communication. The result, after numerous discussions with the Administration, was the first joint strategic planning discussions held last June. Together with Dr. Davis, I had the pleasure of reviewing the many activities undertaken by the District and UPG, and we carried that discussion forward with presentations on strategies for the coming school year. Many in the community attended, asked questions, and I hope, came away more informed and more engaged in the plans for the District. The presentations are on our two websites for those interested.
Most significant about all of this is that through these discussions, I believe, parents have been able to provide a more effective input to the plans being implemented by the District on issues of interest. This was illustrated most directly by the presentation Dr. Davis gave just this past Thursday when she provided an overview of the action plans for the coming school year -- many of which directly reflected issues parents expressed to UPG in our Operating Plan review and which we passed on through open discussion with the District. This is real progress and I'm pleased to have the support of the District in this way. UPG will certainly do everything we can to encourage parental awareness and support of the District plans, and parents will be able to find a summary of those plans in the minutes of last Thursday's meeting to be published soon. The new UPG operating plan is also online for everyone to see, comment on, and act on as they see fit.
Moving on, of course, I would be remiss in not mentioning the significant improvement in the PSSA scores for 2009. Our students AND teachers are to be warmly congratulated for their hard work. While there is always more to do, removing the immediate danger of missing required milestones allows everyone to balance priorities and resources effectively across all of the needs of the district.
Considering all that is on our plate, here are some of the significant plans for UPG this year:
- To continue our support for academic excellence;
- To support the District in conducting a quality climate survey and using the results to guide future plans related to student life in our schools;
- To support the District in holding a wellness or bullying workshop this coming Winter (helpers needed, of course);
- To continuing our support for the implementation of Restorative Practices and closely related diversity programs such as No Place for Hate and Rainbow of Friends;
- To supporting the expanded use of technology for communication with the community;
- To supporting a review of the high school GPA and Class Ranking strategy with an aim of aligning CHS with expectations of our nations colleges and universities;
- To piloting a new Parent-to-Parent discussion prior to each Educational Affairs meeting -- an event where parents can work together to understand and answer questions ourselves; and finally,
- To again welcome leaders within the District to each of our monthly meetings to update parents on activities in their departments.
So as I said, you can read all of this in the current UPG Operating Plan on our website at www.upgct.org, and I hope that you and other parents will do so soon.
With that, of course, the big events for our schools in the coming weeks are the Back-to-School nights where parents can meet their children’s teachers and administrators. The elementary schools will host parents on Wednesday, September 16th, followed immediately by the Back-to-School event at Elkins Park on, Thursday, the 17th. The high school event takes place a week later on Thursday, September 24th, followed by Cedarbrook's parent night on Wednesday, September 30th. Since these are such important events, I'm going to trust that the district will be sending out reminders using the NEW email system and urge parents to visit the new District website and sign up.
At the High School this Friday, September 11th, [Now changed to the rain date of October 2nd] everyone at the school will celebrate their 50th Anniversary, and our entire community is invited to participate in the festivities, dedicate the NEW football field lights, and participate in the official start of the CHS football season UNDER THE LIGHTS! Dr. Kiefer will be speaking at their next PTO meeting on September 21st, and upcoming meetings will include a roundtable discussion on Universal Acceleration, strategic planning reviews, and instruction on navigating the college application process. Of course, the Post Prom Party committee will get started soon, so watch for announcements.
Finally, and mainly for our parents, children do better in school when they have parents who are involved in their schools. When you show that school matters, they learn that school matters. So when you attend your child's back-to-school night this month, please join your PTO and please consider joining UPG, as well. You won’t be disappointed. Even more than your money, we need your involvement and your time to make our schools the best they can be. Get involved with your PTO today.
The next UPG meeting is Thursday, October 1st at 7 PM in Room 102 of this building. At that meeting, Chris Barone will give us an update on the many new things happening in Technology for Cheltenham and we hope lots of parents and teachers join us. After Chris we will also discuss school climate in Cheltenham.
That’s it! Thank you very much!
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