Minutes of Student-Parent Representatives’ Meeting
Browning School
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Guests: Chris Lambiris, President of Browning Parent Association, and James Reynolds, Head of Browning Upper School
Special Guest Speakers: City Year Planning Group -Dana Lachenmayer; Service Leaders - Kadeesha and Phuong
Carmen Knoepffler, President: Welcomed parents and students to the joint meeting.
Helena Park,Treasurer: Balance is $16,534.93; dues from 15 schools have been received. So far expenses submitted for the Winter Carnival are $208.46. Marymount reps were thanked for their $200 fundraising effort through candy-grams.
Colleen Pike Blair, Calhoun, “Independent Voices” 2010: Feb. 5 is the deadline for poetry submissions. Copies of the mailing to the faculty will be emailed to parents for information purposes only, no action is required. Students’ submissions are selected by teachers, are printed in the anthology, “Independent Voices.” Invitations for the April 23rd, 6:30 pm at Barnes & Noble, Lincoln Center, will be emailed in February.
Independent Visions: Tamarind Gallery, owned by a Marymount parent, has offered their space for the weekend of May 22, 2010. Details will follow.
Haitian Relief Efforts: Calhoun students, Ben and Aiyana led a discussion regarding the school’s efforts to help Haiti. Calhoun formed a group after the earthquake which intends to continue long-term relief efforts for victims. They would like to coordinate this long-term effort with other JSA schools; announced a concert to benefit Haiti, January 29th . Proceeds will go to Doctors Without Borders. Sacred Heart students announced they are buying medical supplies, while Brearley is focused on raising and sending money.
Colleen Pike Blair/Calhoun suggested everyone look at websites of organizations that have been in service a long time as potential partners for a joint project, such as Doctors Without Borders, PIH.org, and the AFSC (American Friends Service Committee). Students suggested JSA may want to plan an annual event to help the crisis of the year.
Martha Leitner, Community Service Coordinator, Winter Carnival 2010 (Jan 9th, 1-5pm), Chapin and Sacred Heart Organizers: The annual carnival, benefiting the Mission Society, was a success again this year, with 40 guests attending, and 70 volunteers, who manned 9 booths. Carnival highlights included Sacred Heart, which was cited for ingeniously turning their cupcake booth into a karaoke/dancing booth when cupcakes were finished. The attending Mission Society kids loved it. Collegiate was cited for ending the carnival with a giant game of musical chairs. Grace/Chapin photographed the event. Thank you, all, for a well-executed and successful Winter Carnival!
New JSA Arts Project
Kathy Soll/Browning, Mural Painting in Conjunction with City Year to Benefit New York City Public Schools, Saturday, Feb. 20, 1-5 pm at Browning Gym: JSA student rep leaders Ben/Calhoun and Elizabeth/Hewitt and three representatives from City Year discussed ideas for this new project, which student reps selected to help public schools. Event flyers have been emailed and should be posted in schools. Students attending should sign up with their JSA reps. Sign-ups will be on a first-come, first-served basis and volunteer lists should be emailed to Monique Pettit. Final volunteer counts by school are due by February 12.
City Year reps gave a brief overview of the non-profit organization, which is comprised of 17-24-year-olds who come together for a variety of community services. All proceeds benefit public schools, grades K-12. Details at www.cityyear.org/ny.
City Year Civic Engagement Team will run this event as a service day which they are used to providing to their corporate sponsors. Ten corps members will be on hand February 20 to help out and be leaders of teams.
Murals – will be brought to the event ready to be painted. Quotes and themes will be sketched and canvases prepped. STUDENTS ARE CALLED TO SUBMIT DRAWINGS FOR SIX THEMES. DEADLINE FOR DRAWING SUBMISSIONS: February 10. An email soliciting painting themes will be sent to student reps. Completed murals will be donated to elementary and middle public schools in New York City.
Donna Ullman/Collegiate suggested mixing up student groups at the event so students could get to know each other. Student reps’ opinions differed: some agreed while others did not. Students could vote on the issue.
Next meetings at Collegiate: Parent Reps – Wednesday, Feb. 24th at 8:30 am
Student Reps – Thursday, Feb 25 at 4:15 pm
Note location change: March meetings at Dwight and April meetings at Brearley. Last meeting is in May at Chapin.