District Parent Advisory Council

April 2005 Newsletter

The District Parent Advisory Council (DPAC) which consists of all the site council and PTO chairs in the district as well as administration and staff members, met on April 19th. This group is a way for parents to learn about district happenings and share ideas with other schools. Highlights of the meeting include:

District Web Page: The introduction of the new slpschools.org web page. This new and improved site will be launched in May and will provide more timely information than the previous site.

Parent Portal: Another technology improvement anticipated for this fall is the Parent Portal. This new web-based feature provide up-to-date information for parents regarding attendance, homework, and grades. Junior and senior high parents will have access beginning in the fall and elementary parents beginning in January 2006. More information will be given at Back to School time.

IB Program: Barbara DeMasters, Director of Curriculum, gave an update on the district's efforts to begin an International Baccalaureate program in the elementary schools. The plan is to initiate the program at Aquila and Peter Hobart in grades K-3 beginning in Fall 2006 with the other schools following later. Toward that goal, the district is sending 16 people including teachers, principals and administrators to a training session this summer.

SAC report: Prachee Mukherjee, the District Statistician, reported on a draft of a document that will go out to all district residents. This document, called a SAC report, is required under the No Child Left Behind Act. The report includes the MCA, NWEA, and BST test data for all schools in the district. Look for it in your mailboxes at the end of the summer.

Volunteer Organization: Finally, a true highlight for PSI was the praise received for our outstanding volunteer organization. Carrie Jennissen along with site council chairs from Aquila, Cedar Manor, Susan Lindgren, and Peter Hobart had previously put together a meeting of each school's volunteer coordinators. By all reports, the meeting was a huge success--everyone enjoyed the chance to share their triumphs and failures with regard to volunteer organization. At the DPAC meeting, those same site council chairs openly praised our well-honed system for both recruiting and utilizing volunteers. This system has been developed with hard work by the PTO volunteer coordinators over the years. And continues to be a work in progress. Thanks to all past and present coordinators: Rachel Richardson, Carrie Jennissen, Carolyn Coleman, Kirsten Brekke-Albright, and Karla Wolgemuth. May the tradition continue!

Rachel Richardson – Site Council
Katherine Cramer - PTO