As McDonald Elementary School gears up to open this fall, local parents are getting out the word about ways that families in the school’s attendance area can get involved before the door even open.
Sarah Koch, who’s on the Design Team for the school and will have two children start at McDonald in the fall, filled us in on the most immediate needs and opportunities.
McDonald Elementary School will be housed at Lincoln High School for the next two years while the permanent building at N. 54th St. and Latona is being remodeled.
First, the PTA is forming. “This is an unusual situation where we’re coming together as parents and starting the PTA before the doors open,” Koch said. In particular, she called on parents who will have children at McDonald next year: “We’ll really need kindergarten parents to step up and be leaders,” she said. She also stressed, though, that this is a great time for parents of younger children to start participating as well.
A group of 18 parents met last week and came up with five PTA committees that need members now:
1) Steering Committee (maximum commitment of 3 months to help file McDonald’s PTA application with the state, write bylaws, form a nominating committee for potential board members and organize our first charter meeting). This committee is holding its first meeting this Thursday evening at 7:00 pm.
2) After-School Enrichment Activities
3) Grounds Beautification
4) Fundraising & “Resources” Drive
5) Summer Play Dates & Opening Day CelebrationIf you’re interested and willing to serve on one of the above committees, please email me at sarahekoch@gmail. com. If you’d like to join the PTA and haven’t yet signed up at one of the McDonald events, please email Libby Chapman at libby.chapman@ gmail.com.
Parents are also welcome to participate in the teacher hiring process for McDonald teachers, as long as they’ve had the Seattle Public Schools’ one-hour training session. Koch shared details about this:
If you are interested in serving on an upcoming interview team, but have not yet been trained, please plan to attend the Site-Based Interview Training session on April 15 from 6:00 to 7:00 (JSCEE, Auditorium). Please be aware that all persons involved in the screening and interviewing must have attended this training. To register, email Regina Redmond at rredmond@washingtonea.org or call 206-283-8443. To ensure space for everyone, pre-registration is required.
Hiring committees will be formed the week of May 3-7. If there are more than eight volunteers, participants will be selected by lottery. Please email Cheryl Grinager, principal of McDonald Elementary, by Friday April 30, 2010, if you would like to serve on these committees and have taken (or will take) the training before May 14. You may reach Cheryl Grinager at cagrinager@seattleschools.org.
The Seattle Public Schools haven’t opened a school in decades, so even in a time of budget cuts, “there are all kind of exciting things happening because we’re a new school,” Koch said.
