October 2007 Minutes

CHS School Library

Tuesday, October 9, 2007, 7 pm

Meeting Minutes

What you need to know:

Next CHSPO meeting will be Tuesday, Nov 13, 2007 at 7 p.m. in the library. Diane Dominiak will be our guest. Diane facilitates many of the extracurricular activities for CHS and is a wealth of information.

Deadline for educator grants is Nov. 1.

Volunteer opportunities

Judge at debate tournaments. Training available. There are about six tournaments a year on Fridays and Saturdays. The first tournament is in Gig Harbor on Oct 25/26. Most events involve listening to one or two students and giving feedback. Contact Jim Anderson at jvanderson@osd.wednet.edu

Help with Literature Circles. Volunteer would read the same book as a group of about five students and then would facilitate discussions about that book. Contact Mr. Anderson at jvanderson@osd.wednet.edu

Bake for teacher happiness. Baked goods are needed the first Friday of every month for the teacher gathering in the staff room. Next gathering is Nov. 2 at 7 a.m. Goods can be dropped off the day before. Contact Marnie Buckland at 596-8038 or Kathie Ketcher at kat_ketcher@yahoo.com

Lunch time Supervision. Contact Teri Weaver at teriweaver@comcast.net for training and a job that suits your nature. Teri reports fewer off campus visitors and better atmosphere on campus this year. Littering continues to be a problem.

Skewering Eyeball of Doom. Please speak to your student about not littering.

Newsletter Contributor. Contact Elizabeth Asher at elizasher@comcast.net with your material for the CHS newsletter.

Father/Daughter Dances will be Saturday, Jan. 26 and Feb 2, 2008. Contact Debra Miles at debrasmiles@earthlink.net to assist. This is a great thing to do with a friend.

Special Thanks To:

Many thanks to Kathie Ketcher for the baklava, carrot cake and fabulous cookies. What a fabulous addition to our October meeting.

Minutes of the October 9, 2007 meeting.

The meeting opened at 7:02 with a presentation from Jim Anderson, English teacher, debate coach and club sponsor of the Improv Group, Covered in Bees. Jim spoke about the wide range of activities available through the debate club and noted that debate activities tend to increase SAT scores. Debate club meets after school on T/W/Th and the Improv group meets on Mondays, all in Pod B.

Nancy Faaren reported that Family Access is up. Parents are asked to be patient as it can take some time to post grades, particularly if a long report is being graded.

Beth Schilling reported on grocery rebate work. Beth agreed to look into a rebate program from Amazon.com.

There was not a treasurer’s report but Ed Thorpe said the only major recent expenses were the PE clothes and school supplies for needy students.

Teacher Appreciation work has started. Kathie Ketcher is the chair. Kathie can be reached at kat_ketcher@yahoo.com Kathie is working to host a gathering for teachers on the first Friday of every month at 7 a.m. This gathering helps facilitate communication between the staff. The first gathering was well received. Teri Weaver made a motion to allocate up to $400 for Teacher Appreciation work. Seconded by Cynthia Wolfe and carried by acclamation. Binda Douglas suggested that local vendors such as Batdorf & Bronson be supported with our purchases.

Class reports were minimal. The Junior Class reps will meet Oct. 16 at 1 p.m. at Starbucks.

Paddy O’Brien spoke about WASL pathways.

Cynthia Wolfe ( cncwolfe@comcast.net ) volunteered to chair the grant committee.

There was a brief discussion about building escrip sign ups.

Cynthia Wolfe gave the dates for the Father/Daughter Dances. They will be Jan. 26 and Feb 2, 2008. We are expecting some 600 people per dance. Debra Miles has prepared notebooks delineating the preparations for the dances. Linda Sulenes has contacted a photographer for the events.

Ed Thorpe encouraged all to submit news to Elizabeth Asher ( elizasher@comcast.net) for the CHS newsletter.

Stu Henderson spoke about the Olympia School District Strategic Plan. Parents can give input to Peter Rex at prex@osd.wednet.edu

Superintendent Bill Lahmann was introduced.

Teri Weaver took ideas for future Parental Forums. Possible topics include Anger Management, Self Defense, Prevention of Sexual Harassment, Communication with teens, Dating, Cars/Cops/Kids, Gang Awareness and Brain development. Meghan Goodman requested programming for strong students, such as college planning.

There was discussion on behavior at dances. Larry Walsh is to have a handbook addition on dance behavior but it was unclear if this was published as of yet.

The first topic chosen was Teen Socialization. This will include information and insights on dating and curfews.

There are some parents who are not receiving CHSPO emails. Ed Thorpe thinks this may be due to spam blockers. Contact Ed at ed.thorpe@comcast.net if you need to update your email address.

The meeting ended about 8:40 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Ellen Rice