General Nash Home and School Meeting - Minutes
Tuesday, December 13, 2016; 2:00 p.m. Nash Cafeteria
President's Welcome
Approval of November H & S meeting minutes
Upcoming Dates:
December:
20 Nash/Walton Farm Band Assembly at Nash at 9:15 a.m.
22 Walton Farm/ Nash Band and WF Chorus Assembly at WF at 8:50 a.m.
22 AM & PM Kindergarten Holiday Parties
23 Holiday Sing-a-Long at 9:30 a.m.
23 Grades 1-6 Holiday Parties 26-31 No School (Winter Break)
January:
1-31 Snowball Fight (Box Tops)
6 Nash Spirit Day - Pajama Day
12 H & S Meeting - 7:00 p.m.
13 School Store for 4th-6th grades
13 Geography Bee (4th-6th grade students)
16 No School - Martin Luther King Jr. Day
17 Social Media & Internet Safety Night - 7:00 p.m. (Adults only)
20 School Store (2nd-3rd grade students)
24 Wendy's Dining Night Out - 5:00 to 8:00 p.m.
27 School Store (K-1st grade students)
31 Family Activity Night - Drums Alive at 6:30 p.m. (free event)
Notes on upcoming events:
-The assemblies and holiday sing-a-long are open to parents and families to attend.
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-We will be recognizing our custodian Mr. Lee's, retirement at the Holiday Sing-a- long.
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-The Snowball Fight will run through the month of January. This is a fun opportunity for our Nash families to collect box tops to help fund all of the activities we have! For every 25 box tops that a student turns in, they will receive a paper snowball to "throw" at the teacher's snowmen hanging in the cafeteria. There are box tops collection sheets on the Nash website that can be used. The teacher with the least number of snowballs on their snowman is the winner.
Treasurer's Report
-The report was presented with no changes.
Principal's Report - Mr. Winkle
-Mr. Winkle talked with us about the co-teaching that was implemented at Nash this year. This is new to Nash. The teachers who have special education degrees are working directly in the regular education classrooms. This has been successful so far this year, but the school district will be monitoring the data that they will collect on it. He shared that the student to teacher ratio has been cut in half. The co-teaching partnerships were developed over the summer in cooperation with Ashley Bennett who is Nash's special education supervisor. The district will be looking for opportunities to possibly expand this program by adding staff and adjusting schedules. The district just discovered a glitch in the progress report computer program and therefore the co- teacher's name will not appear on the upcoming reports next week.
New Business
-Survey results: Laura presented the results of the survey that was done on the parent drop-off and pick-up. There were 66 parents who completed the online survey and the results were shared with Mr. Winkle and Mrs. Koch. The Nash staff will continue to address issues continually throughout the year, but some of the questions that were raised at today's meeting were: are parent's IDs being checked consistently by staff members; there is a concern with parents dropping their children too early in the morning; concern with possible winter weather issues such as, will the lower parking lot be plowed properly so that all parking spaces will be cleared of snow; suggestion that Mr. Winkle communicate directly with parents who are not following the arrival and dismissal procedures; suggestion that Mr. Winkle make himself present at other locations of the school during arrival and dismissal times and not just being at the front door.
-Spring Fundraiser: Due to the success of the March-a-Thon fundraiser, we will not be holding a spring fundraiser this year.
-Valentine's Day Kindness Rocks project: We would like to continue our Kindness Rocks theme for the year by doing something kind for the community. The students will be making cards in February and these will be distributed to our community's first responders (police, firefighters, EMTs) and will also possibly be given to nursing home residents. More information will be coming soon about this activity.
Previous Business
Coordinator's Reports
Jumpin' Jacks (possible spring and summer dates): We are going to have another event in March and possibly one over the summer months. We may put out a survey on the Nash Facebook page to see if families would prefer to do an event at Jumpin' Jacks right after school lets out in June or in August right before the new school year starts.
Science Explorers: In the past, Nash has run an after school science program featuring Engineering For Kids. We are using a new program this year called Science Explorers which will be held in the spring. There will be two groups: a third through sixth grade and a kindergarten through second grade. More information will be available on this later.
Open Forum Q&A
-Laura reminded us that NPSD School Board member Josie Charnock will be attending our January H & S meeting.
-A question was asked about who will be Mr. Lee's replacement and when will that person begin at Nash.
-The Nash Winter Carnival is coming up and we are still looking for volunteers for this fun event. There will be sign-ups coming home soon for volunteers to help set-up, run the different carnival events and make cakes and other baked goods.
Our next Nash Home & School meeting will be held on Thursday, January 12 at 7:00 p.m.