Orchard Ridge Neighborhood Association

Schools Action Team: Purpose and Goals

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March 2009

April 2009 (PDF or read below)

Purpose Statement

To continuously engage the residents of the Orchard Ridge neighborhood and the parents of students at Orchard Ridge Elementary (ORE) and Toki Middle School with school personnel, students, programs and activities in a way that keeps the neighborhood and the school as close as possible, and improves the learning environment for neighborhood youth.

Primary 2009 Goal

Guided by the survey of Orchard Ridge Neighborhood Association (ORNA) during the fall of 2008, the ORNA Schools Action Team will identify (and facilitate when possible) neighborhood communication opportunities with and support for ORE and Toki Middle Schools.

Secondary 2009 Goals

There are three (initial) avenues to aid our primary 2009 goal:

A. Coordination and leadership (work with other local neighborhood groups, advocacy groups, Alder Thuy, and the other ORNA action teams, etc.). Potential Activities include:

1. Maintain regular communication among key school personnel, parents, students and neighbors through: (1) interviews with parents, teachers, administrators, and Parent Teacher Organizations (PTOs); (2) surveys of parents; and/or (3) meetings and conversations with other school districts, neighborhood associations, and other groups.

2. Establish a liaison to the ORE and Toki PTOs.

3. Have at least one Schools Action Team member at every Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) Board of Education (BOE) meeting and provide a summary at each Schools Action Team meeting (or print off and summarize online minutes from each MMSD-BOE meeting…if they are online).

4. Identify a chain of communication between ORNA, schools, and MMSD-BOE.

5. Develop suggestions and action items for ORE, Toki and MMSD-BOE personnel to pursue.

6. Encourage BOE and MMSD to facilitate improvements through resource allocation.

B. School Assistance (recruit tutors and mentors to supplement student instruction and improve student interest, aid with communication, or identify other ways to “fill in holes that are beyond the schools’ reach”). Potential Activities include:

1. Help ORE and Toki recruit tutors, mentors, and other volunteers, through personal conversations, posting of requests to ORNA website or ORNA yahoo group.

2. Post ORE and Toke school newsletters to the ORNA website

3. Actively post Schools Action Team meeting announcements and minutes online or through ORNA yahoo group for neighbors to stay informed about our conversations and progress

C. Recruitment (recruit and retain additional team members from the Orchard Ridge neighborhood)

1. Retain 7 to 10 active team members by the fall of 2009. Active does NOT mean members need to be at every meeting, but that they participate when able and contribute by performing tasks. An ideal team member would attend at least every third team meeting and stay connected through emails and phone calls.

2. The Schools Action Team does not discourage participation by ORE and Toki PTO members, however the Team and the PTOs have different purposes. The Team recognizes the need to coordinate the organizations’ activities, and proposes that a Team member serve as liaison between the organizations.

3. The Schools Action Team recognizes the benefits of living in a racially, ethnically, and culturally diverse neighborhood, and will actively seek a diverse membership on the Team by contacting the principals at ORE and Toki, ORE and Toki PTO leaders, and the staff at the Meadowood Neighborhood Center for ideas for potential members.

2009 Efficiency and Quality Goals

Efficiency and Quality Goals (the metric by which we measure our progress)

1. Count # of positive contacts with ORE, Toki, BOE, etc. Goal: 1 per month minimum

2. Number of Secondary Goals achieved during the year. Goal: 3 (communicate, assist, recruit)

3. Evaluate school improvements based on annual changes to open enrollment requests into or out of ORE and Toki, and/or transfer requests to Spring Harbor Middle School, and/or other measures of school improvements that may be discerned from the Team’s information gathering activities.

Tasks (some ideas provided below)

What By When By Whom

Obtain copies of MMSD, ORE, and Toki academic,

behavior, discipline, and other relevant policies and April? ?

procedures

Identify liaison(s) between the Schools Action Team

and ORE and Toki PTOs April? ?

Publicize tutoring, mentoring, and other volunteer

opportunities to Orchard Ridge residents April? ?

Develop a list of interview questions for parents,

teachers, principals, BOE liaisons, others April? ?

Identify potential interviewees and conduct interviews April-June? ?

Interview MMSD Superintendent Nerad ? ?

Invite Superintendent Nerad to speak to ORNA about

support and improvement plans for ORE, Toki ? ?

Generate list of suggestions and actions for ORE and

Toki principals (see note below) ? ?

Generate list of suggestions and actions to support ORE

and Toki for BOE ? ?

Attend BOE meetings and advocate for implementation

of ORNA suggestions, with appropriate funding ? ?

Note: Possible suggestions for ORE and Toki principals and BOE include:

1. Post curriculum and schedules (general weekly topics) to school websites for all classrooms

2. Encourage the BOE to require use of “Infinite Campus” at all high schools by 2010 (?), all middle schools by 2012 (?), etc.

Members So Far: 5

Because some neighbors have voiced concern about students’ preparation for high school and about safety and behavioral problems within and outside of Toki Middle and Orchard Ridge Elementary schools, we will work with the schools and the other neighborhood committees to address these issues. We need volunteers to help us define our scope and goals. Early work will likely include talking with parents, neighbors and teachers to clarify some of the problems and possible solutions, as well as talking with other communities to learn how they've effectively worked with local schools.

Our team is a work-in-progress. Our challenges right now:

 Recruit more committee members

 Determine the scope of our committee:

 Which areas should we address?

 Should we strive to improve communication or include additional challenges?

 How much of an impact we can expect to have in these areas?

 Should we limit ourselves to interactions between OR and the nearby schools or extend to include other factors affecting local youth (shopping center, community center, libraries, etc.)?

 Should we focus on the schools that are within OR’s boundaries, or include Memorial High School, which our schools feed in to?

 Determine if our committee can help fill voids in what the schools, PTOs and other organizations can do, such as helping to obtain tutors, mentors and other volunteers.

         To do that, we intend to interview a broad array of key players/stakeholders (parents, school principals, teachers, students, neighbors, etc.)

         Our determinations thus far:

 Improved communication (for example, between the neighborhood and the schools and other youth-related organizations, as well as more personal communication between parents and teachers) would help with other challenges, such a behavioral issues.