PTSA General Meeting Notes - Feb. 4, 2015

Dear QAE Community,

I’d like to thank all the parents and QAE staff who attended our mid-year QAE PTSA General Membership meeting. We welcomed over 120 parents, nearly 100% of our staff, and special guests from Seattle Public Schools and the City of Seattle as we addressed 2015-16 facilities issues and as the QAE Staff and students rolled out our One to World program. 

Facilities. As a school with growing enrollment we’re aware of the facilities constraints. In 2013-14, we converted our Tech Lab into a classroom and this school year the staff lounge was converted into a classroom. The last spaces available for classrooms are the portables where our Music Program, Learning Lab, and Onsite Childcare reside. We are actively working with the district to mitigate the current proposal, which would result in either the loss of over half our childcare seats or will displace Music, the Learning Lab, or both over the next two school years.

The QAE PTSA has prepared a response to the district and is working with QAE staff to outline concerns and ready our parent community. Our top priority is to find solutions to preserve onsite childcare while also developing plans to support families should we lose onsite childcare.

Technology at QAE and SPS. Two weeks ago, on Friday, January 23rd, Superintendent of Seattle Schools Dr. Larry Nyland, Chief Information Officer Carmen Rahm, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Learning Michael Tolley and Mr. Jim Lengel, author of Education 3.0 and technology consultant to SPS visited QAE to see our One to World program in action. I was able to observe their reactions to seeing teachers and students using digital tools: they were excited, delighted, and asked thoughtful questions. They were energized to see our teachers integrating tech tools into the classroom and to see how students were responding. 

The following day, Seattle Public Schools hosted their Teaching & Learning Technology Vision Summit. I attended this event with Ms. Meck, Ms. Smith, and Mr. Elliott. Fifteen different groups mapped out ideas about what integrating technology into learning should look like. As each group presented how they want to see technology working in the future, I was seeing examples of things our teachers are doing every day in their classrooms. It was incredibly exciting to see how far along our school is in this process.

It was a pleasure to open the second half of our meeting to QAE staff so they could present One to World to families and outline the resources that will follow. As this program has rolled out, I've been able to see that we're not handing over devices to our children, we’re giving them opportunities to become journalists, musicians, researchers, scientists, writers—we're giving them powerful tools that support their learning, ability to collaborate, and to solve complex problems. 

I would like to thank the following distinguished guests for taking time to attend our meeting, learn more about technology integration at the elementary school level, and their willingness to support our students, teachers, and families in Seattle Public Schools. 

• Council Member Tim Burgess, City of Seattle, Chair, Education and Governance
• Carmen Rahm, Chief Information Officer, Seattle Public Schools
• Colleen Halvorson, Manager or Tech Support Services, Seattle Public Schools
• Eric Caldwell, Manager of Library Services & Instructional Technology, Seattle Public Schools
• Gary Cranston, Instructional Technology Specialist, Seattle Public Schools
• Sarah Pritchett, Executive Director of the Central Region, Seattle Public Schools
• Heather Johnson, Principal, Catherine Blaine K-8, Seattle Public Schools

 I would also like to thank the following teachers and students who presented their work:

• Ms. Meck & Ms. Smith (First Grade) with students Noam & Itzel – Bird Unit, Project Based Learning; 
  Marin & Brooklyn – Non-Fiction Reading and Writing; Ruby – Math 
• Ms. Colando (Fourth Grade) with student Scout & Gray – Mystery Skype & Out of Eden, Project Based Learning,
  Tyler and Henry B – Live blogging and Live Tweet 
• Mr. Liner (Third Grade) Blogging, Student Work

The QAE PTSA will continue to partner with QAE staff and communicate information about the One to World program and Facilities.

In service,

Amy Janas
PTSA President
Queen Anne Elementary