CHPSPO Meeting Notes – September 15, 2015

Capitol Hill Public Schools Parent Organization
Stuart Hobson Middle School

September 15, 2015

1) Discussion about CHPSPO’s nomination to the Cross-Sector Task Force

• Issues we think are important for the Task Force to address
  • Planning: # of seats, site selection, curriculum
  • Grade alignment (consistency around at grades are included in middle school)
  • Financial transparency
  • Long-term à amend the existing laws
  • Ways to foster stability throughout the school system
  • Ways to foster collaboration not competition
• Discussion with people interested in serving on Task Force
  • Caryn Ernst (Capitol Hill Cluster School parent and former PTA president) and Sandra Moscoso (Capitol Hill Montessori at Logan & former LSAT Chair/BASISDC parent)
• Voting on CHPSPO’s nomination
  • Caryn Ernst was selected to receive the CHPSPO nomination.

2) Discussion about educationdc.net blog, Valerie Jablow; http://educationdc.net/

• Follow the blog via email, disseminate it into your communities and reach out to Valerie to contribute posts

3) Upcoming DC Council Education Committee hearings and events. Laura Marks

• Visit here for calendar of Education Committee hearing dates in September and October 2015 and instructions for submitting testimony

• Public School Food and Nutrition Services Programs and School Food and Nutrition Services Contract Requirement Act of 2015 – public roundtable. Wednesday, September 30, 2015, 10:00 a.m., Hearing Room 412 http://bit.ly/1KrvZx0

• Early Learning Quality Improvement Network Amendment Act of 2015 and Higher Education Licensure Commission Amendment Act of 2015. Thursday, October 1, 2015, 10:00 a.m., Hearing Room 412 http://bit.ly/1WyW0nw

• Public Charter School Fiscal Transparency Amendment Act of 2015. Wednesday, October 14, 2015, 1:00 p.m., Hearing Room 120 http://bit.ly/1NATvuJ

4) CHPSPO visits to Wilson Building, Ivan Frishberg.

In process of scheduling group visits with councilmembers on education committee.

5) DCPS Library Resourcing. Peter MacPherson.

• Proposal to advocate for adequately resourcing DCPS libraries (recommended is 20 volumes/student, which is not currently the case at many schools). Idea is to apply the $13.7 million settlement from Chartwells towards funding volumes in schools without adequate collections.
• Surveys were distributed to CHPSPO librarians to collect information about individual school collections. Please return completed surveys to Suzanne Wells.

6) Walk-to-School Day Planning, George Blackmon

• Wednesday, October 7, 7:30-8:30 AM @ Lincoln Park
• Schools are encouraged to hold their own events, if the distance to/from Lincoln Park is inconvenient.
• Speakers; draft agenda:
  • 7:30: Arrival/Snacks and American Parkour Academy demos
  • 7:45: Ward 6 CM Charles Allen welcomes everyone
    • NOTE: Charles give a shout out to Mark Toorock and Matt Caraballo from American Parkour Academy (they won’t speak, but will be leading demos on the park).
  • 7:48: Maury ES Cheerleaders perform
  • 7:53 Miriam Kenyon, director of health and physical education at District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS)
  • 7:56: Tommy Wells, Director of the District Department of the Environment
  • 7:59: JO Wilson ES Cheerleaders perform
  • 8:04: Fitness celebrity Gabriella Boston leads yoga stretch
  • 8:10: Charles Allen sends everyone off to school

7) American Parkour, Mark Toorock and Matt Caraballo info@americanparkour.com

• http://americanparkour.com/
• Contact Mark and Matt about after school programming which can be brought to schools

Next CHPSPO Meeting:  October 20, 2015

Upcoming Events

September 30 Education Committee hearing on DCPS Food & Nutrition Services Program, 10AM

September 30  DCPS State of Schools with Chancellor Henderson, Dunbar HS, 7-9 PM

October 4        Brent Fall Festival

October 7        Walk-to-School Day (register your school at www.walkbiketoschool.org)

October 8        Jefferson Academy vs Stuart Hobson (6-8 PM @ Coolidge HS)

October 10      Capitol Hill Cluster School PTA Renovators Tour Fundraiser

October 17      Capitol Hill Community Foundation’s A Literary Feast (http://www.aliteraryfeast.org/)

October 21      Education Committee hearing on issues facing youth

October 24      Capitol Hill Montessori at Logan’s Haunted Harvest, 6-9PM

October 24      Maury Elementary’s Fall Festival

October 24      Tyler Elementary’s Harvest Festival, 11AM-3PM

November 8    JO Wilson’s Taste of H (http://www.tasteofh.org/)