President's Message
Below are some of the big "Take Away" items from our meeting this month. Please communicate these Take Aways to your school community. Thank you.
During the February Pre-Meeting on Middle School Block Scheduling, Margaret Gihooley presented updates to the process. The power point she used to present these updates can be found on the APS Middle School Design Team webpage under "Recently Posted Posted Information". A summary of updated feedback has also been compiled under this page under "Feedback"
During the official CCPTA Meeting we heard a great presentation fromSamantha Hall, Student Advisory Board. The SAB provides an important student perspective on current issues to the School Board. After the her presentation there was some discussion about how school based PTAs could involve the perspective of their own students - perhaps by inviting representatives of the schools student council to PTA executive meetings or full PTA meetings.
Mary Hynes, County Board Chair presented on her initiative - PLACE (Participation, Leadership and Civic Engagement) which is defined as "A County government initiative to update the "Arlington Way" by expanding the ways in which our residents engage with each other and our government to enrich Arlington." Mary encouraged members of the school community to attend the Civil Engagement Open Houses at the Artisphere on either Thursday, March 15 or Saturday, March 17. Go to PLACE website (http://arlingtonplace.us/) to learn more about the initiative and to sign up for the event.
Last week, the Superintendent presented the proposed 2013 APS Budget to the School Board. There are several public hearing regarding the budget in March and April. The School Board is scheduled to adopt the 2013 on April 26, 2012. The Superintendent's proposed budget, the budget calendar and other budget related items can be found at: http://www.apsva.us/budget
An updated Community Update regarding capacity and enrollmenthas been posted to the APS website http://www.apsva.us/capacity. The presentation includes options that have been eliminated from consideration. The next School Board work session will be held Wednesday, March 21 at 7:30pm at Kenmore Middle School, Black Box Theater.
And finally - I am looking for a topic for our next Pre-Meeting in March. These meetings have been very successful and have helped us identify ways to capitalize on the experiences of others and where appropriate elevate concerns in a thoughtful manner. Send me an email if you have an idea or concern that can be more fully explored in a brainstorming/information sharing environment with other school community representatives.
Laura Novak
|
|
Last Updated on Friday, 02 March 2012 10:12 |
Welcome to the Arlington County Council of PTAs (CCPTA). The CCPTA comprises local PTA units from 22 elementary schools, 5 middle schools and 3 high schools located in Arlington County. Organized under the authority of the Virginia PTA, our mission is to promote the goals of PTA - supporting and speaking on behalf of children in our schools, helping parents to be effective guardians and role models for their children, and encouraging greater parental involvement at the school level.
Subscribe to RSS Feed