Minutes
Communications Committee
Communications Meeting
May 13, 2009, 3:00 pm
MINUTES
In attendance: Terry White, Gary Lanoie, Mary Page, Jeff Shedd, Lisa Derman, Mary Townsend
Review of 4/28 Meeting
As a group we discussed the top school websites and members agreed to take some time to review these sites and provide feedback about design and content. We also discussed schools that have integrated communication technology (such as Twitter and streams of video productions) onto their sites.
Review of Vision and Goals
We spent some time going over the Vision and Goals that was developed last year (attached). Feedback is as follows:
Lisa mentioned that school “achievement” is traditionally what we communicate to the public. Day-to-day issues/activity should also be reported. An example from last year’s
‘View” being “teachers’ day-to-day struggles with budgets.
When we discussed whether or not to continue the “View”, Terry suggested we should with the costs. It may be more effective to submit articles/letters to “The Courier” on an ongoing basis. One idea that was suggested was having a teachers’ column to address issues current to education today.
Mary Page suggested having Dwight write an article about new demands placed on teachers this decade: for instance, teachers are not only responsible for teaching students and grading papers, but for writing first-rate college recommendations, which can be very time-consuming. Mary T. will check with “Courier” about the possibility of such and article being submitted and published.
Lisa also suggested tapping into public access TV to air student productions or student produced videos—an idea that has come up in the past. Mary T. will check into available airtime for airing such productions.
We discussed community outreach and the value of actually getting the community into the physical plants (schools) to see the work that is being done. While we have sent representatives to the senior citizen luncheons hosted by community services, it would be nice to offer the opportunity for senior citizens or other interested community members to quietly look in on classrooms and then attend a coffee hosted in the cafeteria.
A senior citizen appreciation dinner was suggested. (Terry mentioned that Bonnie Eagle used to host such dinners.) Parents’ organizations could provide food and the band could provide entertainment. Student and parents could serve as hosts.
With regard to sharing professional development members suggested polling teachers to see which teachers have attended which trainings and culling a list to post on the website. Another possibly for sharing experiences or thoughts is to exchange ideas over a meal on a teacher workday.
Communication Committee Members
The committee will remain Mary Page, Lisa Derman, Terry White, and Debbie Butterworth.
Next Steps
Communication committee members will review top school websites and give positive and negative feedback to Mary and Gary.
Mary and Gary will meet to go over the feedback and work toward developed an updated (modernized) website. Steps will begin this summer.
The committee will meet again in early September.
Respectfully Submitted,
Mary Townsend
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