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CHPSPO Meeting Tuesday, May 21 at Tyler
The Capitol Hill Public School Parent Organization will meet on Tuesday, May 21, at Tyler Elementary (1001 G Street, SE, Art Room, 1st Floor) at 6:30 p.m. Matthew Frumin who recently ran for an at-large city council seat will attend our meeting to discuss efforts to form a city-wide parent organization that will work to support matter-of-right neighborhood schools. We’ll also get an update on the school library efforts, and we’ll discuss what we want to do to support the top 2013 CHPSPO priority to work jointly to support our neighborhood middle schools.
Congratulations to Sandra Moscoso-Mills for a terrific Bike-to-School Day on May 8. Of the 17 schools in DC that registered for Bike-to-School Day, 11 of them were on Capitol Hill!
If your school has held its PTA elections for the 2013/2014 school year, please let me know who was elected to be your PTA president. Many thanks to all the outgoing PTA presidents for all your hard work!
Suzanne Wells
CHPSPO Priorities-SurveyMonkey-Results 031713.xlsx
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Update on Librarians – Still need your support. By Peter MacPherson
Dear Friends:
For the past 14 months we’ve been involved in a long and difficult battle with DCPS over school libraries and librarians. Thanks to your efforts we’ve made real progress in getting librarians back in the schools. Unfortunately we have to fight about a longer. The chancellor has said there will be a librarian in every school this fall. That promise, however, comes with a significant caveat. Schools with under 400 enrollment will only receive a part-time librarian, which is 61.4 percent of DCPS campuses. There is no money currently in the FY14 DCPS budget to buy books and other materials for the libraries. There is no plan in place to deal with the fact that Anacostia High School has no library book. That H.D. Woodson has only 400. That Dunbar and the new middle school at McKinley Tech will open with no new books. What the chancellor has offered relative to a spectacular degree of advocacy is pretty paltry.
Almost every school community is in a fight with DCPS over some aspect of the budget. But the library issue effects us all, either in staffing terms, the absence of resources or both. This effort desperately needs you to raise your voice yet again and tell our city’s elected leadership how critical you view school libraries to be.
Best,
Peter MacPherson
—Every school, regardless of size, should have a full-time librarian.
—Funds need to be allocated so that schools get a yearly per-pupil allotment to buy books and other library materials. We recommend $25.
—All school libraries that are going through modernization must have an opening day library collection purchase for them. The size should be 20 volumes per student enrolled. That needs to begin immediately.
—All remaining high schools and middle schools should have their collections brought to that size as well.
—All schools, regardless of size should receive 30 magazine subscriptions.
—DCPS should buy 1,400 e-readers and assemble a 40,000 volume e-book collection.
—DCPS students should have access to at least 10 databases for research.
—And all schools should have at least 10 computers bought and available for student use in the library.
—All these things should be in place by the beginning of the 2013-14 academic year.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )CHPSPO meeting on April 16, 6:30-8PM, Riverby Books
| The Capitol Hill Public Schools Parent Organization will meet on Tuesday, April 16 at Riverby Books, 419 East Capitol St., SE. Attached is the agenda for the meeting.One of the things we will discuss on Tuesday is the testimony CHPSPO is scheduled to deliver at the DC Council hearing pn April 17 on the DCPS SY14 budget.Suzanne Wells |
At-Large Council Candidates Forum at Eliot-Hine
Candidates forum on education and youth issues was a success. Thank you to all of the organizers and sponsors. See Twitter recap: http://storify.com/CHPSPO/at-large-council-candidates-forum-eliot-hine-ms
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Congratulations to Eastern High School on becoming International Baccalaureate!
Photo credit: DC Public Schools
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )At-Large City Councilmember Candidate Forum – Tues April 9: Education and Youth Issues
Please save the date, Tuesday, April 9, 2013, 6:30–8:00 pm, at Eliot-Hine Middle School, for a candidate forum for the upcoming April 23rd At-Large City Councilmember special election. This forum will focus on education and youth issues.
The candidate forum is being sponsored by the Eliot-Hine Middle School Civics Club, Stuart Hobson Middle School, Jefferson Academy, Defeat Poverty DC, and the Capitol Hill Public Schools Parent Organization (CHPSPO). This non-partisan forum will be co-moderated by Elliot-Hine Middle School students, and a member of the DC media.
- What: At-Large City Councilmember Special Election Candidate Forum
- When: Tuesday, April 9, 2013, 6:30-8:00 pm
- Where: Eliot-Hine Middle School, 1830 Constitution Ave, NE (Stadium/Armory Metro; D6, 96, 97, & B2 Metrobus; BikeShare at Stadium/Armory Metro; on-site parking available)
Letters to Mayor Gray Regarding Randall Recreation Center and KIPP
Letter from ANC6D
Letter from Capitol Park IV Condominium Association
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Register for Bike to School Day, be entered to win a bike rack!
Register for Bike to School Day, be entered to win a bike rack!
Are you planning a National Bike to School Day event? Be sure to register your event at www.walkbiketoschool.org by noon on Wednesday, March 27, to be entered into the first drawing for a Saris bicycle parking rack.
Additional drawings will be held each Wednesday up to and on Bike to School Day, Wednesday, May 8, with three special drawings held on Monday, June 3, to cap off National Bike Month. All events registered before each drawing will be eligible to win an eight-bike capacity Saris Racks bike rack. View the contest rules for more information. Thanks to Saris Racks for co-sponsoring this contest again in 2013.
Bike to School Day registration is free and open to all individuals and/or organizations planning a 2013 Bike to School Day event in the United States. Registering provides organizers access to a variety of downloadable materials, including stickers, certificates, badges and classroom activities.
Nearly 950 schools across the country participated in the inaugural national Bike to School Day in 2012. This year’s celebration on Wednesday, May 8, is expected to be even bigger. With six weeks to go before the day, events are already registered from 46 states.
Register now at www.walkbiketoschool.org and stay tuned!
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )CHPSPO March 19, 2013 Meeting at Stuart Hobson – 6:30PM
The Capitol Hill Public Schools Parent Organization (CHPSPO) will hold its March 19 meeting at Stuart Hobson Middle School at 410 D Street, NE at 6:30 p.m. We will be discussing the upcoming at-large city councilmember candidates forum and the recently released SY14 proposed budgets. The agenda is attached.
CHPSPO is one of the sponsors for the upcoming at-large city councilmember forum that will be focused on youth and education issues. We would appreciate it if individual schools would co-sponsor the forum, and help spread the word among your parents about the forum. You can let us know at our March 19 meeting, if your school is interested in co-sponsoring the forum. A flyer will be available in the near future to use to advertise the forum.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to vote on CHPSPO’s 2013 priorities. Attached are the results of your voting.
Suzanne Wells
CHPSPO Priorities-SurveyMonkey-Results 031713.xlsx
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )CHPSPO Meeting Notes – February 19, 2013
Capitol Hill Public Schools Parent Organization
JO Wilson School Library
February 19, 6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m.
1) At-large City Council Candidates Forum (Bonnie Cain, Councilmember Wells’ Education Advisor)
CHPSPO to host forum focused on education and youth issues.
When: Tuesday April 9 at 6:30
Where: Eliot-Hine Middle School, 1830 Constitution Ave NE
Civics club (students) from Eliot-Hine will come up with questions. Will invite other Ward 6 middle schools to participate.
Action: Suzanne Wells to reach out to middle school principals.
2) Bike to school day
May 8, 7:30-8:30 AM at Lincoln Park. All schools are invited.
Register your school: http://www.walkbiketoschool.org/ (especially so DDOT’s Safe Routes to School Coordinator can track – last year, reflectors were distributed to participating schools)
Please get the word out and find coordinators for your school. Contact sandramoscosomills@gmail.com for details.
Can you help w/ the following?:
- Coordinate on behalf of your school (mostly making sure folks know what’s going on)
- Find parents or teachers from your school to lead Bike trains from park to your school
- Map (safe) Bike routes from Lincoln park to Schools
- Reach out to MPD to see if they can participate
- Find someone to donate coffee (BYO reusable cup or $1 for paper cups)
- Reach out to local bike shops to participate, lead bike trains
- Clean up (if necessary)
- ACTION: Sandra to get permit for Lincoln Park (need to confirm construction won’t interfere)
3) Priorities
a. Collectively advocate to DCPS on agreed upon issues
b. Engage with Councilmember Catania on what is working/isn’t working in Ward 6
c. Working jointly to support our middle schools
d. Identify best practices to support math proficiency so students entering Eastern are prepared for high school math
e. Promote vertical articulation and horizontal integration through supporting a program, e.g., Robotics, debate clubs, GeoPlunge, Street Law
f. Promoting more events at individual schools that are open to all schools, e.g., Maury’s Think Tank, Cluster’s Family Game Night
g. More cross-school collaboration that is led by the schools
h. Promote cross-school events, e.g., a Ward 6 field day, music festival, art show, Jumprope for Heart, school zone at H Street Festival
i. Promote Class of XX events to build community; use existing events when possible
j. Promote innovative summer programs at the Hill schools
k. Advocate for open data and more transparency from DCPS, OSSE, and PCSB
l. Support extended day, extended year, summer bridge programs
m. Support building skills
n. Finalize CHPSPO’s 501(c) 3 application
- ACTION: Suzanne will circulate the priorities before the next meeting, and ask everyone to rank the priorities. We will discuss the priorities at the March meeting, and reach agreement on how we want to move forward.
4) 501c3 – Sherry Trafford
- Members in attendance voted to adopt the conflict of interest policy that is listed in the appendix to the 501(c)(3) application
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