CPA General Meeting 3/9/2010  7:30 p.m. Terrace Park Commons

In attendance: Dr. Tony Byrd, Kevin Allen, Ginger Everhart, Sue Wilson-Schmitz, Megan Hicks, Tania Klippert, Tracy Hannuksela, Tina Marohn, Mary Freitas, Kari Potter, Michelle Toshima, Kristin Merrill, other parents, Denise Schmitz (youth organizer), 20 adults in attendance, with one child.

Introductions

Secretary’s report – Tina Marohn. Recap of October 13th general meeting minutes. Minutes approved.

Principal’s report – Mary Freitas.

She discussed the success of having the recent District Maintenance and Operations Levy pass. Thanks went out to all parents for supporting the funding. Mary Freitas and Kevin Allen sit on a task force together for bridging continuity of gifted education across all grade levels in the Edmonds School District.

Gifted Education Day was a HUGE success. Gifted funding is still in the current house and senate budgets with a final version due to the governor by March 11, so we are still waiting to see the final approved budget. She thanked all parents and students who were able represent our programs at Gifted Education Day.

Mrs. Freitas also thanked parents for the support provided to Mrs. Hall during this time and everyone was very happy to see her at our recent Science Night event.

Reminder that the auction is coming up on April 17th.

Superintendent Dr. Brossoit is speaking to parent groups and she encourages parents to go to the March 24th meeting scheduled for our quadrant of the district.

Sock Hop & Art Display on April 9th. Edmonds Art Festival entries will be selected from the student work displayed.

New Business

Ginger – Request for new participants on CPA Board. We need volunteer names by the May 18th general meeting. We are looking to fill both Co-Vice President positions for next year.

Sue – Next general meeting on May 18th moving up to 6:30 p.m. to accommodate time for our meeting and for speakers Drs. Fernette and Brock Eide. Free event and all parents are encouraged to attend.

Sue – Our next parent coffee chat is this Saturday, March 13 at 10:00 a.m. at the Corner Coffee Bar and Cafe in Perrinville.

Ginger – Thanks to all who participated in this past Gifted Education Day event. We had an amazing turnout!

Tina – Recap of our family field trip event to the Tacoma Museum of Glass.  We want to plan more events in the future and encourage parents to contribute ideas and spearhead events. Ginger suggested setting up a tour of the Tulip fields around Mt. Vernon over Spring break.

Budget review – Tracy

Our Fall and Winter fund drives have brought in $8,270. Our goal is to raise $10,000 for this year. We have one more fund drive this Spring.

The IRS confusions with our name change, etc. were finally settled about a month ago, allowing CPA to now accept matching company funds. Tracy has only received two matching funds request so far. Parents need to make sure they are matching funds for the “Challenge Parents Association”.

WAETAG conference food ($50) & materials ($100) stipends were offered to teachers.

Pacific Science Center demonstrators came to Terrace Park and conducted activities for the students. PTA and CPA shared the cost for the event.

Classroom grant money is still available. There have only been a few requests so far and we expect  more teachers to make requests as we get closer to the end of the year.

PTA is now managing all Terrace Park student scholarship money.

Kevin Allen – Principal, Brier Terrace Middle School

Kevin Allen gave a recap of how the highly capable program is going at Brier Terrace this year. He feels this year has gone very well with the transition. He gives a lot of credit to Dr. Tony Byrd and parent groups that helped to guide this process. He noted that the most significant challenge has been the number of 8th graders, as it was much larger than expected. They had 38 kids in total which was about a class and a half. The students were split up unevenly due to schedules, but the classes seem to have worked out just fine.

Mr. Allen was most concerned about having a divided community that was highly capable and the rest of the school. But as time has progressed, students are mixing in, and having highly capable students in regular classes (PE and electives and in some cases for math– about half their day) as well is helping students to intermingle. He is seeing the kids from the various programs intermingling at lunch time.  He also said that the highly capable program teachers took yesterday to visit Terrace Park classrooms and the IB classes at EWHS to observe the continuum of education in practice from both ends.

Mr. Allen’s own son was a Challenge student and that has used that as a meter to evaluate the right teachers for these students. He feels the contingent of teachers is really strong and through research of other programs, they are growing stronger and more knowledgeable.

He loves to give families and students tours of the school. He encourages families to call anytime to schedule a tour. Debbie is the contact at 425-431-4100.

Kristin Merrill mentioned how it has been a great experience so far this year. The focus this year has to been make it a “Middle School” community without the division between highly capable and the rest of the students. She feels it has been very successful so far.

One parent asked Mr. Allen about what some of the key differences between highly capable and honors classes were. Mr. Allen said he does not have the same teachers teach both at the school. He said for highly capable program classes the depth of learning is deeper and teachers have more flexibility to branch out in their lessons. They are not as controlled or structured as honors classes. Teaching highly capable students can be both exhausting and exhilarating for teachers. He feels the teachers are learning and growing through this process as well.

Michelle Toshima commented on how the program has been a success because of the leadership at the top. We all thanked Dr. Tony Byrd and Kevin Allen for their continuing support!

Dr. Tony Byrd – Assistant Superintendent

Dr. Tony Byrd thanked Kevin Allen for taking on the formation of the highly capable program at Brier Terrace Middle School and also acknowledged the hard work that Michelle Toshima, Kristin Merrill, Mary Freitas and other parents did to help make it all happen.

He mentioned how the economy is a contributor in making it very challenging right now for students to reach “21st century skills” (defined by Edmonds School District as communicating, collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving, initiative, and creating new ideas and products in jobs that do not even exist today). He feels that the students in the Challenge program are very fortunate and are able to meet these goals. He would like to see these same opportunities and high quality of teaching available for all students. The middle school part in this highly capable education was kind of a hole and had been addressed by putting highly capable students in honors programs, but the reality is that honors classes and gifted classes are taught differently and do not meet the same needs.  He’s very excited about the Middle school program and recognizes the Task Force has helped meet the needs this year.

Regarding the budget, if the Levy had not passed, Edmonds District would have been forced to make an additional $32 million dollars in cuts. It would have been a disaster for all of us. He doesn’t like how we have to keep going back to the community for financial support and mentioned the NEWS lawsuit and the recent favorable ruling. Everyone is waiting to see what actually happens as a result of this verdict, and with the current climate, it may not happen for a long time. This year we are facing $6 million in cuts. Superintendent Dr. Brossoit is very supportive of highly capable programming and is working hard to keep the funding in the budget it. On March 11th we will learn the final state congressional budget. Dr. Byrd doesn’t expect huge cuts for this year, but we may see cuts in professional development. IB, Brier Terrace Middle School and Challenge at Terrace Park are still continuing. We have lots of support and one big key in that, according to Dr. Byrd, is mainly due to the voices of the community. Communication is key. Huge thanks to all.

One parent had a question for Dr. Byrd about transportation. Dr. Byrd doesn’t know at this point if any cuts will happen. He will email us specifics on Highly Capable budget for posting on the Challenge website. Dr. Byrd stressed that he is very open to parents contacting him anytime.

Next General Board Meeting May 18th:

New board nominations and election of 2010-2011 CPA Board

Presentation by Drs. Brock and Fernette Eide

Meeting adjourned 8:10 p.m.