As may know, Chancellor Crew issued mandate last fall that every NYC public school form leadership teams made up of staff, faculty, and parents. The teams are planned to work in a collaborative process to guide the schools, and will be responsible for planning and budgeting. The guidelines were published and distributed last spring.

The Manhattan School for Children has always had inclusive management structure from the start. It founded by parents and has run through joint efforts of faculty, staff, and parents. Our Steering Committee, Family Meetings, along with the volunteer efforts of parents and teachers in our committee structure has relied on a strong sprite of collaboration and shared leadership.

NEEDED Childcare Coordinator To arrange childcare for community events (Call Robert Stuchiner) 362-8560

We are reviewing our bi-laws as well as the Chancellor's Plan. While the intent and spirit of the Leadership Team idea is consistent with MSC's founding principles and many of its current practices, the guidelines put forward by the Chancellor include some structural and procedural differences from the way MSC now manages itself.

We decided in our last Steering Committee Meeting to form a Study Group composed of a small group of parents, staff, and faculty. Their work will be to develop a proposal to the MSC community on how we might adapt our current governance structures to meet more fully the requirements of the Chancellor's plan.

This group will have at least four meetings, (once or twice a week), with homework in between. This work will include careful reading and analysis of Chancellor's Plan, study of current MSC structures, procedures, and by-laws; comparison of both systems.

They will then reach consensus with concrete recommendations for how to incorporate Leadership Team requirements into MSC governance. I was asked to facilitate the Study Group and will be available for comments from all members of the MSC community. I will be at the Family Meeting or leave me a note at school.

This meeting was re-scheduled from the original date (9/16) due to Hurricane Floyd. 19 parents attended. No staff was present and the agenda was shortened.

Childcare for Family Meetings: Currently there is no coordinator for childcare during Family Meetings. Best efforts will be made to provide coverage for the first meeting, September 23rd. A parent coordinator for future meetings is being sought.

School Leadership Teams: In accordance with a 1996 state mandate, all public schools must have its School Leadership Team in place by October 1999. Copies of the document "The Chancellors Plan for School Leadership" were offered at the meeting and are available in the school office. The School Leadership Team is responsible for developing the Comprehensive Education Plan (CEP) and the Board of Education budget. Per the Chancellor's document, the School Leadership Team must be comprised of a minimum of 5 parents (inclusive of the PTA chair) and 5 staff members (inclusive of UFT representative). Members, other than those noted, must be elected to serve on the Team by staff and parents, respectively. There was a brief discussion of how School Leadership Teams differ from MSC's Steering Committee and how the transition from one to the other can best serve the school. A motion was made to form a Study Group that will review the Chancellor's document and MSC's By-Laws and Handbook. It was recommended that it be a small group of staff and parents. A parent, Polly Runyon, volunteered to chair the group. Plans for the study group will be announced at both upcoming Family Meetings (Lower School-September 23rd , Upper School-September 30) to allow parents the opportunity to become involved in the planned activities. The motion to form the Study Group was passed.

Time and Location of Steering Committee Meetings: A suggestion was made to continue alternating meeting time and location each month. Last year on alternate months, meetings began at 4PM rather than 6:30PM. This change took place in an effort to encourage teacher attendance. It was noted that at the first meeting held at 4PM many teachers attended. At subsequent 4PM meetings staff attendance was at the level that occurred at 6:30 meetings. In the absence of a staff opinion at this meeting, the decision to continue alternate meeting times was tabled. Robert Stuchiner will follow up on this issue with Susan Rappaport.

Diversity at this Meeting: Parent Neal Hurwitz, attending his first MSC Steering Committee meeting, expressed disappointment in not seeing diverse ethnic representation among the parents in attendance. It was pointed out that parent involvement at MSC takes many forms, including helping at each site during school hours, and that he would be likely to see diversity among helping parents at those times. Mr. Hurwitz was advised that contrary to his assumption, there were parents in attendance at the meeting who in fact are members of ethnically diverse families. Additionally, it was noted that efforts to increase involvement among parents that is representative of all MSC students is an on-going process.

Parent Volunteer Form: The form distributed to parents during the first week of school is starting to be returned. A parent volunteer is needed to create a database of the information.

Lower School Family Night (September 23): There are plans to provide parents with an overview of volunteer opportunities during this meeting. Since the PTA committees do not currently have Chairs, specific parents will serve as the "point person" at this meeting, primarily to provide information about the committees.

PTA Budget: At issue is whether it is a good decision to create a budget committee that will oversee how PTA money is used. It was agreed that the PTA should develop a budget for funds that are raised. There was a brief discussion of a proposed "direct solicitation" letter. The letter will be revised and discussed next month.

Other Issues:

Class Size: MSC class size went up this year.

-The next Steering Committee meeting has been re-scheduled for October 14th at 6:30 PM, at the Upper School.
There is a conflict on October 7th, the originally scheduled date—it is Middle School Fair night.

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