I was thinking after the meeting last night that we should create a list of our talents and/or what we are willing to volunteer for and provide this to the board, teachers, and Sherri. This way, they can decide what is needed and ask for assistance where needed. Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2014 09:59:18 -0500 Subject: [familyschool] Re: Monday meeting - 7pm at 4200 Cedar Ave From: lschoenrich@xxxxxxxxx To: familyschool@xxxxxxxxxxxxx I'd like to offer a suggestion of where to go from here. Let's figure out how to keep all this wonderful energy going and put to productive use going forward. Let's not be deterred by the legal mumbo-jumbo at the board meeting suggesting that parents couldn't be involved. As I understand it, there are already a few parents on board committees and it sounded as though the board just needed to figure out the right structures to make sure that their legal authority remains clear to the state, authorizer and MACS. Just to start the conversation, here are some specific suggestions: * Start a PTO. There seem to be several people interested in this. We don't need anyone's "permission" to do this. Put heads together, envision what you want, and get it going so that it is up and running by next fall. * Volunteer in the office. There is surely lots of work to be done since the office is short staffed. Sherri may not be used to coordinating volunteers, but perhaps a couple of parents could set up a regular schedule and people could volunteer and show up. Anyone with specific skills could perhaps take on a specific project. Maybe the math lab computers need a work over. Maybe the fundraising database needs an overhaul. Maybe teachers need help cleaning their rooms and compiling the curriculum that VOA suggested they'd be looking at. I have no idea what needs to be done, but surely there is work to do. * Volunteer for a committee. We could suggest committees or work groups that people want to be a part of. These come to my mind: Possible committees or work groups. There might be others or these might not be the right ones. But just to start the conversation: 1. Nomination Committee for the fall board elections2. Management structure3. Hiring -- I think that this has always been done by board with staff input, and maybe a couple of parents could join in 4. Compliance -- while the board is ultimately responsible, some of you are very knowledgeable and interested in this. Why not volunteer to come to the table to help Lola On Tue, Jun 3, 2014 at 10:57 PM, Jess Sundin <jess.sundin@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: Where do we go from here? Please join us Monday evening for a meeting with Southside families - 7pm at 4200 Cedar Ave S, Minneapolis. Jess