Teachers' Meeting: The Report

I should start by saying I had to leave a touch early so there will be more information coming from the latter part of the meeting from another parent. This meeting was held at the Washington Elementary Library. Dr. Aleman led the discussion. In attendance were about seven parents and the following teachers: From Preschool — Ms. Pearson and Ms. Laurie; from elementary —Ms. Colleen, Ms. Moser, Sra. Foletta, Mr. Graham, Mr. Jufiar, Antoinette Crivello (who was hired from Preschool to be the new 2nd grade teacher before "Black Friday"), Ms. Witham; and from Middle School Ms. Moses and Ms. Schneid. Ms. Hetrick was represented by one of the other teachers (she's out of town) as was Preschool Asst. Teachers Carey Johnston and Kristen Bernard. Ms. De La Pena was out of town, but has met with the District. In fact all of these teachers have either met with the District's HR Dept. or are scheduling to do so very soon. In addition to these Teachers and the parents, Mr. Edele was also in attendance.

As a side note, it was lovely to see Dr. Aleman respond to Ms. Pearson's question with a "I've heard so much about you, in fact I've never heard so many wonderful things said about any Preschool Teacher - You're very popular." That made the room smile.

He said they have 75 or so District papers signed and turned in thus far and a few more trickle in every day. There has also been some interest from parents who have heard of the program (probably from our own parents.) In total, he feels confident there could be 100 in the end and he said they would have been happy with 30. So to quote him, "We have the numbers to support this."

Here are the big important general things you should know:

* Dr. Aleman is sending out a letter to all the parents on Monday regarding the green light on the move.

* Dr. Aleman said next week he will be able to tell the teachers, each one specifically, where they are in the process and if the District can offer them the contract. They will not receive the contract then, but they will be assured at that point that one will be there for them for Fall.

Now on to the details and specifics that we got.

As you may or may not know, Washington does not currently have a permanent Principal. Dr. Aleman said they were hiring someone by end of June (early July at the latest.) It is believed this person will come from inside this District but no more information on that topic has been given.

Dr. Aleman has asked for information on materials and instructional aids that would be needed for our program so that they may figure out what they need to order. Mr. Edele said he would take care of providing Dr. Aleman with that list.

On the Middle School front he said, "I don't know yet the numbers for 6th, 7th, and 8th. Not yet." He said he was looking for 15 per class in Middle School, but we know we didn't have that at Harborside (Ms. Moses or Ms. Schneid pointed that out.) He said that there are a few possibilities-- he said there could be mixed age groupings (where they do some combine classes) or there could be recruitment from outside Harborside. District philosophy is to add a grade a year, starting with 6th, but that is not how it has to be done. Figuring out Middle School enrollment is a priority. He encouraged everyone to tell Middle School parents to sign the forms if they are interested. It doesn't mean you're committed, it means that you are interested. This way they can see how many MS students they potentially have. And this makes a difference in the hiring of those MS teachers. Yes folks, it's a bit of a Catch 22. But the forms do not commit you or boot you from any "back-up" options, so please fill them out if you think you would sign up if all goes forward to your liking.

Dr. Aleman had many answers for those teachers who are shy some of the requirements for credentialing. He said they could hire the teachers as "Permanent Substitutes" to "place hold" their position at Harborside. They can therefore teach while they finish credentialing. And for the middle school teachers, he said there were ways to making them "full time" even if there were not enough classes-- by adding tutoring, making them multi-level resource teachers that teach in the "upper" lower grades. He didn't make any guarantees, I want to make that clear. But he did say they were looking to find solutions and make sure they got all the teachers aboard who wanted to come, one way or another. They would be "creative." One thing he did guarantee was that our teachers had first priority to be hired over other teachers for this Harborside program, no matter what our teachers' or the other teachers' credentials.

Admission came up. Harborside students are automatically in if they want to be. As for filling the rest of the seats, this is still a bit gray, although this is another priority. Dr. Aleman explained that bi-literacy programs and dual language programs in the District have admissions policies. Basically it goes like this: parents have to show interest, the school explains the programs to the parents, parents can choose it and then they wait on a list that is chosen by lottery. In G.A.T.E. and Seminar programs students are chosen by Raven test scores. He said he is absolutely open to hearing whatever our admission policy was or what we wanted it to be. The teachers are going to be discussing this with Mr. Edele. It was brought up that our school has used the ERB test as well as teacher assessments but ultimately let's most kids in.

Dr. Aleman clarified again that this is not a Magnet or a Charter School. This is a program offered on the campus of Washington. Magnets are tied to specific public funding and this particular program isn't getting specific funds earmarked from the State so it isn't a Magnet. But he did note that about 75% of the current student body doesn't live in the area (like a Magnet.) They choose this school, often because their parents work in the area. And there currently is a G.AT.E. Program at this school.

A parent did ask about the fear that there may be an unwanted separate "elitist" feel to our program, what with a formerly private school coming on the campus of a public downtown school. Dr. Aleman's response was that there are other programs that operate on schools across the District like the G.A.T.E. and Seminar programs, the Dual-Language Programs and the International Baccalaureate Programs. These programs don't include all the students on campus, just some and he says it works just fine. He felt that ultimately it depends on the parents and then he praised the Harborside parents and the Washington parents he's met with as being very accessible and friendly. Marianna Moran has been in contact with the Washington PTO president and would like very much to get together with her and their organization over summer and really "make friends" from the get-go.

The District's media person will be getting in touch with this Parent-Teacher Group (yes, the Action Committee) to get the word out. The more it's written about, the more real it becomes.

Lastly, we need more parents to be involved. We're going to meet next week and we encourage anyone who wants to be a part of this parent - teacher group to join us. We especially NEED to hear from Middle School parents, but again, we really want to hear from anyone who wants to participate. It's tentatively scheduled for Monday after-work but more specifics will come soon. If you want to be included please email Marianna Moran at moranrealtyinc@hotmail.com

Hope this helps, more to come, I'm sure. -- Clea
(And I apologize for my typos.)