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Jen Havenner
Oct 13, 2011, 8:11:28 PM10/13/11
to salsa...@googlegroups.com
Hello all,
Thank you for the productive if short meeting on Tuesday. I feel like the year is off to a good start and look forward to working with everyone.
I had a meeting with Mr. Whitman on Wednesday following the SLC meeting but he was out on an appointment so Lisa from LA's Promise was there in his stead to take notes for Mr. Whitman. I communicated to Lisa the questions and concerns that people left on the notecards and also communicated to me via email and in person following Tuesday's meeting. Among the topics discussed:
1. The lock on the gates that no longer responds to the C key (or the frustration that the big security lock is used instead): This frustration was universal among all the lead teachers and Lisa promised to address it with Mr. Whitman and Mr. Piper. As of now, according to David Piper there are no more C keys to be distributed - not they would do much good at this point anyhow if they don't work in the lock. I will keep following up on this issue and communicate its resolve to all of you as soon as I hear anything.
2. Parent Night: The student cafeteria has already been spoken for so I planted our flag on the faculty cafeteria. While smaller, I find it to be less echoey and easier to communicate in. It also provides us with a place to serve food. Lisa confirmed that we can use some of our funds to pay for the cooking club's catering efforts. Mr. Nakila had a wonderful suggestion that we create a slide show of SALSA teachers and students. He also suggested that the students take the photos for this. I like this idea very much. I will look into using the limited supply of school cameras, if not available, I will use my own camera. I will present this idea to my homeroom and see if anyone is interested, please ask your homerooms as well. I am happy to design the slideshow unless the students would like to do this as well. I like the idea of a student created effort. I would very much like to display some student art work, maybe even the band could perform? We can discuss this at our next meeting on November 1.
3. Funding Questions: Lisa was unsure if the $3,000 allocated for field trips was $3,000 for each SLC or school wide. There was some discussion that that amount was only for busses and was not intended for any ticket costs to various venues. Either way, it's not a lot of money to play with. Lisa told me that LA's Promise is pursuing a grant that would greatly increase the amount of field trip money for the school. I will update you all as I hear word.
4. Discipline Plans: SMART and the 10th Grade House are implementing organized discipline strategies. If this is something that SALSA would like to try, I will do some homework and we can decide at our next meeting if this is something we would like to pursue.
5. SALSA identity: We discussed various strategies for creating SLC identity, especially SALSA and SMART. What I would like to do at our next SLC meeting and over this email chain is to share and discuss best practices of the various SLC's that merged into SALSA. I want to create an SLC that reflect the strengths, values and identities of all members. I think with this discussion we can better create Service Learning Projects and Community Service efforts that reflect our values and goals.
6. Mr. Nakila also had a wonderful idea for SALSA banners and other identifying visual material in our classrooms. Another fantastic idea. To do this, I would like to create a new SALSA logo. I would like this new logo to reflect elements from all the SLC's that were merged into SALSA to show that we are a culmination of all SALSA members, stronger now for our new members. If anyone is interested in spearheading this project, or just contributing to it, please let me know. My husband is a graphic designer, so I can tap that resource (with a little sweet talk), but I would prefer that our new logo come from our efforts. If you know of students with art abilities or design abilities who would like to participate, please approach them and tell them about this idea. We can order t-shirts or patches for the collared shirts with our SALSA money with our new logo if we decide to do so.
7. Due to our still limited SLC meeting time, I propose that we organize some bi-weekly (or weekly) lunches together where we can talk about SLC issues or informally chat about kids, classes, etc. I know our lunch time is precious, but this might just serve to alleviate some of that stress if we can connect with each other periodically and communicate our concerns and successes. I propose Tuesdays at lunch? That way any conversations that start can potentially be carried over into the SLC meeting.
8. Meeting protocol: In order to best use our time - I ask that if you have any agenda items that you would like to add to the upcoming meeting on November 1st, please let me know by Friday October 28th at the latest. I will ask respectfully that if any new business is introduced during the course of the meetings that it be shelved till the next SLC meeting or I will stick around after the meeting is over to discuss one on one. I can safely stay until 4pm or shortly thereafter most days. If I can't stay and you have an issue to discuss, I promise to find you at your convenience during the next school day.
I think that's about it! Please feel free to contact me here, or privately if you prefer at JHav...@gmail.com or text or call me at 310-469-4352.
Thank you!
Jen Havenner
Thank you for the productive if short meeting on Tuesday. I feel like the year is off to a good start and look forward to working with everyone.
I had a meeting with Mr. Whitman on Wednesday following the SLC meeting but he was out on an appointment so Lisa from LA's Promise was there in his stead to take notes for Mr. Whitman. I communicated to Lisa the questions and concerns that people left on the notecards and also communicated to me via email and in person following Tuesday's meeting. Among the topics discussed:
1. The lock on the gates that no longer responds to the C key (or the frustration that the big security lock is used instead): This frustration was universal among all the lead teachers and Lisa promised to address it with Mr. Whitman and Mr. Piper. As of now, according to David Piper there are no more C keys to be distributed - not they would do much good at this point anyhow if they don't work in the lock. I will keep following up on this issue and communicate its resolve to all of you as soon as I hear anything.
2. Parent Night: The student cafeteria has already been spoken for so I planted our flag on the faculty cafeteria. While smaller, I find it to be less echoey and easier to communicate in. It also provides us with a place to serve food. Lisa confirmed that we can use some of our funds to pay for the cooking club's catering efforts. Mr. Nakila had a wonderful suggestion that we create a slide show of SALSA teachers and students. He also suggested that the students take the photos for this. I like this idea very much. I will look into using the limited supply of school cameras, if not available, I will use my own camera. I will present this idea to my homeroom and see if anyone is interested, please ask your homerooms as well. I am happy to design the slideshow unless the students would like to do this as well. I like the idea of a student created effort. I would very much like to display some student art work, maybe even the band could perform? We can discuss this at our next meeting on November 1.
3. Funding Questions: Lisa was unsure if the $3,000 allocated for field trips was $3,000 for each SLC or school wide. There was some discussion that that amount was only for busses and was not intended for any ticket costs to various venues. Either way, it's not a lot of money to play with. Lisa told me that LA's Promise is pursuing a grant that would greatly increase the amount of field trip money for the school. I will update you all as I hear word.
4. Discipline Plans: SMART and the 10th Grade House are implementing organized discipline strategies. If this is something that SALSA would like to try, I will do some homework and we can decide at our next meeting if this is something we would like to pursue.
5. SALSA identity: We discussed various strategies for creating SLC identity, especially SALSA and SMART. What I would like to do at our next SLC meeting and over this email chain is to share and discuss best practices of the various SLC's that merged into SALSA. I want to create an SLC that reflect the strengths, values and identities of all members. I think with this discussion we can better create Service Learning Projects and Community Service efforts that reflect our values and goals.
6. Mr. Nakila also had a wonderful idea for SALSA banners and other identifying visual material in our classrooms. Another fantastic idea. To do this, I would like to create a new SALSA logo. I would like this new logo to reflect elements from all the SLC's that were merged into SALSA to show that we are a culmination of all SALSA members, stronger now for our new members. If anyone is interested in spearheading this project, or just contributing to it, please let me know. My husband is a graphic designer, so I can tap that resource (with a little sweet talk), but I would prefer that our new logo come from our efforts. If you know of students with art abilities or design abilities who would like to participate, please approach them and tell them about this idea. We can order t-shirts or patches for the collared shirts with our SALSA money with our new logo if we decide to do so.
7. Due to our still limited SLC meeting time, I propose that we organize some bi-weekly (or weekly) lunches together where we can talk about SLC issues or informally chat about kids, classes, etc. I know our lunch time is precious, but this might just serve to alleviate some of that stress if we can connect with each other periodically and communicate our concerns and successes. I propose Tuesdays at lunch? That way any conversations that start can potentially be carried over into the SLC meeting.
8. Meeting protocol: In order to best use our time - I ask that if you have any agenda items that you would like to add to the upcoming meeting on November 1st, please let me know by Friday October 28th at the latest. I will ask respectfully that if any new business is introduced during the course of the meetings that it be shelved till the next SLC meeting or I will stick around after the meeting is over to discuss one on one. I can safely stay until 4pm or shortly thereafter most days. If I can't stay and you have an issue to discuss, I promise to find you at your convenience during the next school day.
I think that's about it! Please feel free to contact me here, or privately if you prefer at JHav...@gmail.com or text or call me at 310-469-4352.
Thank you!
Jen Havenner
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