Leadership
Minutes
School Leadership Team Minutes
September 3. 2009
Present: Lisa Brody, Maria Cognata,
Tricia Kampton, Jeanne Kwok, Martha Mayorga, Barbara Martin, Liz
Morrow, Lois Olshan, Liz Schneider, Reva Schneider, Liz Spears,
Kathryn Thome, Amy Weiss, Amy Woo.
Agenda Items: Principal’s Update,
Our Progress Report, Swine Flu Plans, Future Meetings.
Meeting was called to order at 6:18 p.m.
Progress Report - P.S. 144 received
an Overall Grade of A- on the DOE Progress Report for
2008-2009. We received an A in
Student Progress with room to grow in the other areas. We
received a B in those areas (School Environment and Student
Performance).
Quality Review- The last Quality
Review of P.S. 144 was completed in November 2007. The school
is due for another Quality Review this year. It is currently
uncertain when the new review will occur. The rubric for the
reviews is being changed and there are reports that if a school
received an A on their Progress Report and the previous Quality
review was “Well-developed”, a new Quality Review would not be
done this year. This is the case with P.S. 144. When Ms.
Schneider receives more specific information, she will share it.
Swine Flu – There has been no
written information received from the DOE yet about whether
vaccines will be given in schools (given with parental
permission only). Discussion was held about ideas for
encouraging good hygiene among the students. Plans include:
Notice about when to keep your child home from school will be
added to the PA Welcome packet, Poster contest for the students
will be held by Liz Schneider, Reva Schneider will talk with the
custodial staff about keeping the bathrooms stocked with soap
and paper towels and have them look into purchasing wall hand
sanitizer dispensers for key areas of the school. Further ideas
included teaching children in the lower grades the routine for
hand washing and having Student Council address the issue of
promoting good hygiene.
Playground – The school has received
a grant of $250,000 for renovation of the schoolyard. The
organization Out2Play will be doing the renovation. The
planning for the yard will occur this fall and construction will
begin in the spring. Most of the money will go to resurfacing
the large yard and areas, such as track lanes, will be
designated with paint. The rest of the money will go to redoing
the surfaces in the locked part of the playground. In a
partnership with Asphalt Green the school aides will be given
training in how to enhance the recess program. Exude will
donate $500 for balls and other playground equipment. The issue
was raised about what the children will do while the playground
is closed for renovations. Tricia Kampton and Kathryn Thome
will investigate the option of closing off the block, similar to
what Our Lady of Mercy does. Other ideas about how to raise
additional funding for the playground renovations were
discussed, including asking for donations from the community and
elected officials.
Auditorium Renovation – A grant was
previously submitted to Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi’s office for
renovating the small playground. $50,000 was approved but was
insufficient for the job. The grant was resubmitted to use the
money for replacing the auditorium seats. It was approved and
the $50,000 will cover 188 chairs. The chairs cost $265 each.
A discussion of ways to raise money to replace additional chairs
was held.
Partnership with Queens Museum of Art –
This year the school will have a partnership with Queens
Museum of Art for Parents as Art Partners. Events will occur
after school. The first event will be a reception at the QMA on
9/16 from 4:00 – 6:00 for the artwork by Dorothea Rockburne
commissioned by the Foundation for Art and Preservation in
Embassies (FAPE) honoring General Colin Powell. The QMA will
provide one school bus to transport 6th grade
students to the reception.
Comprehensive Educational Plan – The
CEP now can be done online. The CEP’s for all schools will be
able to be viewed online. Work on the CEP for PS 144 began in
May 2009. The draft of the CEP is due on 9/30.
Future SLT Meetings – The schedule
for the SLT meetings for 2009-2010 is as follows: 10/5 at 5:30
pm, 11/2 at 7:00 am, 12/7 at 5:30 pm, 1/11 at 7:00 am, 2/8 at
5:30 pm, 3/8 at 7:00 am, 4/12 at 5:30 pm, 5/10 at 7:00 am, 6/14
at 5:30 pm. Agenda items will be requested one week prior to
the meeting. Meeting will be held in the school library.
Meeting adjourned at 7:30 p.m.
Submitted by Lisa Brody
