MPC meeting minutes 9/28/17

MPC meeting minutes 9/28/17
Welcome and introductions, several new members present!
Sierra, co-chair, facilitated meeting
Parent Profile forms -encourage all to fill out annually so parents can identify their areas of interest in collaborating with MPC

Committee reports:
School Site Council: Alicia (parent and site council member) reported that they are looking for additional members of Vietnamese or Haitian Creole background to better represent the diversity of families at the Mather
Health and Wellness: Randal (parent) raised concerns about the temperature in the building on hot days and lack of ventilation. Potential solutions reviewed including fans (some concern they may stir up dust), opening windows, HVAC (larger more expensive solution which would require BPS buy in). Katie and Lynne (wellness council members) will review this with the council at our first meeting of the year and consider prioritizing it as a focus for the coming year.
Fundraising: Mather has obtained its own 501c3 status and bank account is in process of being set up.

Volunteer Opportunities/Events:
Brown Fund outdoor renovation project update, from Katy Gall (parent,excerpted from her MPC Facebook page update): I wanted to provide an update about the Mather Green Space project. Many of you will remember that last year we had a small grant to solicit designs for this little patch of grass alongside the back of the school. Parents and community members voted on the design options, and the winning design highlights the history of the Mather with a lovely walkway and community table. AND if we are able to get this project built, we will also have a fully accessible walkway to the back school yard! The estimated cost of construction is about $200,000 In the spring, we applied for and received $140,000 from the Brown Trust that covers much of the cost of construction (we will receive the actual money when we begin construction, we don't have it in hand). Over the fall I will be applying to a few more foundations that fund public art projects. I'll be at the Parent Council meeting tonight and if anyone is interested in working on this project, DM me. We'll be organizing meetings with foundations and some corporations to solicit donations. Many thanks to Sierra Rothberg and everyone else who has brought us so far. You can see a little overview of the process and the winning design at this link - http://www.urbancultureinstitute.org/mather-school-green-sp…

Katy also notes they are looking into other grants and fundraising to cover the $60K of funds still needed to finance the remainder not covered by the Brown Trust (such as the Henderson Foundation, application due in 2 weeks, can provide up to $40K). Suggestion made by Laura (parent) that we could consider looking into grants for wheelchair accessibility, and Katy noted that since this project is considered “public art” rather than infrastructure project, that may limit our ability to be considered for accessibility grants.
Any parents interested in participating in school/parent council committees (Family Engagement, School Site Council, Health and Wellness, Communications, Fundraising) can email matherparentcouncil@gmail.com and will get you in touch with other members of the committees.

Brainstorming session for this year meetings, schedule being coordinated by Alicia and Liz, interest expressed in having some meetings more informally (such as an outdoor cleanups):
Transportation, drop off and pick up, traffic patterns
Pathways, middle school options
Testing/assessment: explanation of tests given to grades and their purposes
Before and after school options - Ms. Marshall; question about whether any of these programs could be attended by children not in the after school program
Recycling/waste
Service/volunteerism within school: school yard cleanup in November, One Boston cleanup in April

January meeting: summer camp, include scholarship info (e.g. BMC has scholarships, DDS and DMH have scholarships - program called Flex Funding)
Homework (norms, policies) and ELT (extended learning time) considerations- plan for review via School Site