Date:  

March 12, 2009

Facilitator:  Courtney Lamport

Location:

3 Blue Streak Blvd., 2^nd floor, School District Administrative Offices

Recorder: Robin Ambrosino

Attendees:

Materials Distributed:

PowerPoint slides and other data for survey presentation

Overview

Discussion

Decisions/Actions

News and Announcements

·  The Prevention Council's 25th Annual Safe Spring Conference took place today at Skidmore College. Workshops that give high school students the skills to become or stay alcohol free went very well.

·  Mike Laudicina is now working at the Ballston Area Community Center. He's starting a youth group and looking for teens interested in getting involved. Will be doing a Saturday night program for MS kids and HS kids. There will be sporting events and games every other Saturday for each age level. Teen group will be called ROCK -- stands for Responsibility, Outreach, Community, Kids.  50% of the BACC kids are Mike's kids from the YMCA.  Mike will be going to speak to PTAs, the probation dept. and other organizations to let them know about his programs.  The teens' first organizational meeting will be on Thursday, March 26^th. For more information, please call Mike's cell at 421-4012.

·  The Shen Coalition will host a Party Patrol training for law enforcement on March 25^th and 26^th in Albany. (Training is the same both days -- pick one.) The coalition is looking for youth to attend to participate in a mock party at the end of the training. There's been great feedback from police departments around the county: Sheriff’s Department is sending 9 people, State Police are sending 20 people, Saratoga Springs is sending 12 officers, and Mechanicville is also participating. They will learn how to constructively break up parties and handle arrests. Training is 4 hours, then there will be a mock party where kids will help participants practice what they’ve learned. Contact Robin Lyle for more information.

·  YMCA is still doing Girls on the Run  very successfully. Partnership should get in touch to ask for numbers of participants to use in its grant progress reports.
 

Partnership Updates

·     Robin Ambrosino gave a PowerPoint presentation about the most recent Youth and Parent survey results. Results will be publicized more widely in April.
 

Committee
Updates

·   Transition Committee
Transition committee met on Tuesday night, 3/10/09, with two members of the Lions Club and a parent. Lions were interested in having 9^th graders do community service days, similar to the service day that National Honor Society students do. Lions would be willing to supervise if we can identify community service activities for the kids. Parent suggested bringing 8^th graders to HS, pairing with an older student mentor through the day so they can help with their daily schedule. Since there are 4 different houses, could happen without disruption to HS school days. 8th graders from different houses could visit on different days. Suggested training the older kids so they are not giving out incorrect information.

Committee will meet again at 6 p.m. before April break to solidify what to ask of the service clubs and how to get families and community members more involved in the transition process. Josh Walker also put together a 1-page newsletter for guidance counselors, who are now meeting with 8^th grade parents in preparation for next year. Want to get parents and kids thinking about the change. It would be great to get parents involved in this committee, too. For more information, contact Josh Walker.
 

Parenting Committee
Parenting Wisely has been put on hold. Concept of Parent University is now on the front burner, in which parent-based workshops at all buildings are open to all district parents and catalogued in one place. District administrators are working to collect information about what resources are available at each building, at what time of year, where there are the gaps and overlaps, and what categories of parent education they fall under.

The Parent University program will be developed with existing activities as the foundation, but will also have other education opportunities available to parents. The goal is to raise awareness about resources that already exist, provide information that parents think is important, make them aware of what’s available, and make it available more than once. A school district in Charlotte, NC, has a similar model, including a booklet of course descriptions for parents, all free.

Concepts in development include a 19-minute tutorial about how to use the Edline system, which will be available on district website, and live video streams. This committee needs a parent steering committee to take ownership of Parent University – it’s for parents and should be developed with input from parents. To get involved, contact Courtney Lamport.

Community Laws & Norms Committee
No update available.

Youth Empowerment Committee
Meeting time has recently conflicted with rehearsals for the school musical. Musical is March 24-27, so they will be full speed ahead after that. Student artwork is up at the library, and the kids are starting to plan the spring summit. Next Saturday, March 21, a group of kids will go out into the community to shoot video for their documentary about the messages our community sends about substances. For more information, contact Becky Black.

 

Next Meeting