Manhattan School for Children Newsletter September, 1999

Dear MSC Families,

Welcome back to school! We know that the first days and weeks of the start of school are busy ones and that you have already received a substantial amount of school-related paper work. This letter is to let you know about several important school issues that we are facing this year:

Developing our School Leadership Team
Improving and directing our PTA Fund Raising
Understanding how to improve our Volunteer Program

Time to Volunteer

Now is the time to think about how you want to volunteer to help the MSC community.

Follow an enthusiasm of your own (reading support, math help, art room, dance, communications, and so on). Or, if you need ideas of what to do, come to the Family Meeting, talk with a teacher or class parent, and join a committee. Whatever your choice, join in. Be an active part of a very special community

Interested in Books?
At MSC So Are We!

Please Come forward and help organize the classroom libraries and the books in the Reading Room. This can be a one-shot deal, or ongoing support.

Talk to your classroom teacher or our reading teacher Claudine (who deserves many thanks for taking on the books as well as everything else she does).

Help Wanted
Come help out with
The MSC Newsletter
Come Join Our Committee

(We need help writing, selling advertising to pay for copying, getting calendar info, working to inform the school, distributing and so on)
Call Lucy Wicks 666-2768

Each of these topics requires prompt attention and will be discussed at upcoming meetings. Remember September 16th is the Steering Committee Meeting, September 23rd is the Curriculum Night, and September 30th is the Upper School Curriculum Night. We want to remind you that all MSC meetings are open to all parents and teachers. We strongly encourage you to attend meetings throughout the year. There is a lot of information there for you

The development of the MSC Leadership Team needs to be addressed this fall. Since the details of School Leadership teams are new to most parents, the purpose of this letter is to provide a brief overview of the Chancellors's Plan for School leadership. A copy of the complete document describing the Plan is available in both the Lower and Upper school offices. We encourage you to read it.

In December 1996, the New York State Legislature mandated that the Chancellor of the New York City Public schools develop a plan for ensuring that every New York City School have an effective school leadership team in place by October. The School Leadership Team is responsible for developing the Comprehensive Educational Plan (CEP) and the budget that supports it. The CEP budget pertains to money received from the Board of Education, not funds raised from PTA-initiated activities. The School Leadership Team will not be responsible for the hiring or firing of school staff. In many ways the MSC Steering Committee has fulfilled this mandate. The Steering Committee has provided a collaborative approach to making decisions about school-related issues. There are some differences, however, particularly with regard to the formation of the teams.

Historically, the MSC Steering Committee has been comprised of Susan Rappaport, several teachers, the PTA Executive Board and the heads of the PTA committees. Participation in the Steering committee has been completely voluntary. Apart from Executive Board members, who are elected to their positions, participants in the Steering Committee were not elected. Also, the committee has not consistently had an equal ratio of staff-to-parent participation. The group has worked collaboratively, with small groups and the committees developed for special issues. For School Leadership Teams there are specific guidelines for the composition of the team which requires equal number of parents and teachers on the committee, each chosen by their constituent group. Our first steering committee meeting this year will focus on the similarities and differences between our Steering Committee and their definitions. We need to work together to understand how meshing the two will work best for us.

We look forward to seeing you at this month's meetings.