UPG Monthly Report - May

[UPG]

[The following was presented to the District Board on May 12th, 2009.]

UPG Report to the School Board - May 2009

Good evening! I’m Paula Barvin, Co-President of the United Parents
Group.

In his book, The World is Flat, Tom Friedman writes about America’s
challenges for education in the future and the need of our students to
compete in a global skills marketplace. He notes that America’s great
strength has been the incredible creativity of our population.
Despite adding millions of scientists and engineers to their local
ranks, foreign countries still struggle to match our level of
creativity for new technologies and products.

In the book, Friedman makes a special note of the efforts of Dr. G.
Wayne Clough, then President of Georgia Institute of Technology
(“Georgia Tech”), who, when he recognized the challenge of maintaining
a high degree of competitiveness and creativity for his students, took
the time to study his student population to determine what made
certain students more creative and effective.

The outcome of his study was a recommendation for significant
increases in the number of courses in the arts as well as an increase
in the weighting of admissions for students with a background in the
arts. The result has been a significant improvement in the level of
diversity, of creativity, and in the quality of graduates with a
commensurate increase in their ability to attain top positions in
industry. In Dr. Clough’s words, “the arts humanize technology and
technology enlivens the arts.”

As we all know, April and May are prime months for Cheltenham as we
come together as a community to witness the results of hard work by
our administration, teachers, and certainly our students to show off
their talents in music and the arts. The myriad plays, concerts, and
art shows reflect on a critical and often unique strength for our
school district. Thus, we are propelling bright, well-rounded, and
creative students on to college and out into the world.

As the world “flattens out” through the leveling forces of the
Internet, the creativity and diversity of Cheltenham’s students will
be a critical feature to be marketed and promoted to colleges and
universities, and UPG believes that these programs must be preserved
through continued support for the arts in our schools.

With that, we also want to highlight some special events at our
schools:

Wyncote Elementary PTO is exhaustively working towards the end of the
year - they are busier than mid-year! After a successful and loving
Teacher & Staff Appreciation Week, they forge full steam ahead with
both an Ice Cream Night Out (at The Hungry Heart in Elkins Park on May
14th) and their Inaugural Wellness Night on Monday, May 18th! Throw
in a Kindergarten Open House, final PTO meeting & Field Day and you
have some very tired yet devoted volunteer parents! Their culmination
is Fun Fair on June 5th - students, parents, teachers and staff come
together for a night of fun and festivity. They welcome you to all
the above activities - Wyncote truly loves its community!

The CHS PTO had its last meeting of the 2008 – 2009 school year on May
7th at which time five members of Dr. Lewis’s administrative team
presented a report on Universal Acceleration. They engaged in a dialog
with the parents and guardians in attendance. UA will be moving into
the ninth grade next year and the high school is preparing the staff
through professional development, bringing experts in, and creating a
schedule that will best meet the needs of the students and give staff
time to review the progress of the students on a weekly basis.

The school year is winding down quickly but there is a lot going. On
May 13 and 14 the CHS Spring Music Festival will take place in
Stretton Hall at 7:30 P.M. and on May 15th and 16th the CHS Eastern
Standard Theatre will present Paradise Park, a performance fully run
by students performances that will take place in the Little Theatre at
7:30 P.M.

Commencement is on June 17th and the PTO would like to congratulate
all of the graduating seniors for this momentous milestone in their
lives. We wish them the best of luck as they move on to their post
high school lives.

And finally, on a personal note, Peggy and Lise had a wonderful year
serving on the board this year and would like to thank all of the
phenomenal volunteers for their commitment to our students. They also
give their best wishes and congratulations to the new PTO Board
members and UPG Board members.
As we mentioned, all of our schools are holding their end-of-year
concerts, performances, and shows. We hope that parents take the time
to attend and participate in these proud and valuable events.

Finally, we want to thank Dr. Davis for giving her time this morning
to discuss communications in the District. The next UPG meeting is
Thursday, June 4th at 7:15 PM in this room. At that meeting, UPG and
the Administration will hold a joint discussion on strategic planning
for the next school year. We’re sure that parents will want to attend
this final meeting for the year.