PTA TOWN HALL MEETING
THE FUTURE OF ROSA PARKS ELEMENTARY
AND TWO WAY IMMERSION IN THE DISTRICT
Thursday, November 17th, 6-8 pm

The Rosa Parks PTA will be hosting a Town Hall Meeting on Thursday, November 17, from 6–8 PM, about the future of Rosa Parks Elementary and Two Way Immersion in the District.
Please come to this PTA meeting to take part in a town hall conversation and express your feelings about some of the proposed future changes to our Immersion program and our school.
Dinner, child care, and translation will be provided.

Dear Rosa Parks families,

Greetings in this fine fall season here in the East Bay. Parent teacher conferences are over and we are looking forward to the Thanksgiving holiday. It was wonderful to meet with you over conferences and to talk with you about your children and their progress here at our school. We hope that this is one of many opportunities that we have this school year to meet with you to talk about your children’s progress.

On November 3rd we had our disaster drill. All of the students practiced getting under tables and covering their heads. We then proceeded to our field and all teachers assumed their roles in our disaster preparedness plan. Our school is part of the National Incident Management System (NIMS). We have received training and have adopted their command structure in order to meet the needs of our students in a crisis.

In the event of an earthquake we have a supply shed that is equipped with tarps, water, food, medical supplies, and rescue equipment. Each one of our staff members has a job to do in the event of a quake.

We have staff responsible for student supervision, search and rescue, first aid and student release.

In an earthquake situation, the school will be locked from the outside and the only access point will be on the side of the field on 10th. Parents and or guardians will be able to pick their students up from our student release personnel.

We thank our PTA and a number of parent volunteers that helped us purchase our earthquake preparedness materials.

Best wishes,

Paco Furlan

Rosa Parks held its second Family Math evening last Wednesday, Nov. 2, with over 160 people attending (close to 100 kids)! Families went to 15 different “stations” of fun math- and logic-based games and puzzles, which included Ken Kens, toothpick puzzles, making tetrahedrons, and balloon “rides”. At the end of the evening, six prizewinners, ranging from kindergarten to 5th grade, came closest to estimating the number of beans in a jar.

Family Math was developed 20 years ago by members of the Lawrence Hall of Science to develop, facilitate and promote diverse math-based activities. Lynne Alper, grandmother to two Rosa Parks children, was a contributor to that curriculum and has helped bring it to Rosa Parks.

The evening was funded by the PTA and completely organized and hosted by parent volunteers. We may hold another next spring.

Thursday, October 27, 2011
Rosa Parks Elementary, Berkeley, CA

CALL TO ORDER
The association meeting was called to order by Maya Karpinski, president, at 6:42 PM. The attendance sheet is attached.

PRESENTATIONS

• Susan Silber, Rosa Parks parent, and Green Team Coordinator, introduced a program through Energy Upgrade California entitled Energize for the Prize

• Sharon Danks, Green Schoolyard Project Coordinator, informed the audience about an international conference that took place on Sept. 18th of this year, and featured a visit to Rosa Parks.

• Susan Ingley, Science teacher at Rosa Parks, gave an overview of the Science curriculum at the school for all grades, K-5.Full Option Science System (FOSS) is the curriculum used at all grade levels.FOSS uses an inquiry based approach – start with something to experiment with; observation is very important in this process; hypothesis, prediction, conclusion are major steps involved in the approach.

  FOSS website is excellent resource for parents, students, teachers: access it through “FOSS – CA” search entry.

  Volunteering is encouraged for any parent who is available, even for short periods of time, or with only sporadic visits possible.

• Farmer Tanya, gardening teacher at Rosa Parks, presented a proposal (overhead map design passed around) for a redesign of the Rosa Parks back play yard area which would involve the removal of some asphalt, and the planting of trees in its place. These would then yield a sufficient number of citrus and other fruits to allow all students at Rosa Parks, through their gardening class, to sample them fully.Tanya has started a petition to gain the support of the Rosa Parks community.
• Chef Carrie (sp?), cooking teacher at Rosa Parks, spoke of the need for all parents to fill out the Free/Reduced application for School Lunch program.

PRINCIPAL’S REPORT
Principal Paco Furlan presented on the future of the TWI program in Berkeley USD.

He is part of a task force of himself, two teachers, and two parents at Rosa Parks (and representatives from other schools) that meet approximately every month to discuss issues related to a potential consolidation of the TWI program to one site in the district.

The impetus for this is evidence, including a report called the Rivera Report, that has shown a true need to improve the language services to the English Language (EL) population in Berkeley. Many EL students are not achieving at as high a rate as desired.

Once they are finished, they will submit a list of recommendations to the Superintendent. The Superintendent then will submit a recommendation on this issue to the School Board, who have ultimate decision-making power on this.

Timeline: There will be no changes at Rosa Parks due to the potential consolidation for this year and for next year.
They are only at the inquiry phase in the task force meetings. Possible consolidation sites they are considering: Rosa Parks, new Adult School site, LeConte, Thousand Oaks, and Cragmont.

The entire PTA meeting for November will be a Town Hall type meeting, which will feature more updated information, and small break-out groups, on this TWI consolidation issue only.

MOTION: Maya Karpinski motioned to give a gift certificate worth $200 to Al (our daytime custodian) who is leaving Rosa Parks and moving to another school in the district due to health concerns.

Adopted

ADJOURNMENT
Meeting was adjourned at 8:05 PM

Jeff Bruno
Secretary