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Attending: Marcie Lapido, Brooke McIlvaine, Tricia Vanacore, Rita Kruk, Judy Straight, Moira Hintsa, Karen Mascarenhas, Cathleen Morgan, Bettina Reynertson, Bonnie Hirschfield, Susan Doelp, Monoo Saghri, Wendy Nixon, Nancy Saipe, Alison Lew, Anita Mattoo, Lynne McAlevey, Molly McGrath, Jane Preiser, Mary Jo Romano, Lisa Rintoul, Beth Forfang, Mary Vickery, Liz Moley, Lynne Laukhuf, Bevo Tarika
The first order of business was a vote which approved the November minutes.
Next on the agenda was Alison Lew and the treasurer’s report. She said there was not a lot of new information since the last meeting. The book fair numbers were confirmed and will be discussed in Marcie Lapido’s discussion of the book fair. The directory expense and other expenses were in line with expectations. The book store is doing well and expects to increase its contribution this year. There has been good expense reduction by Molly and Lynne.
Molly mentioned that there were some calendar changes. The Diversity potluck has been moved to February 19 from January 22. The crossover lunches for the board and class parents will not be lunches but instead will be a meeting on May 20 at 10:00. Also mentioned was approval of the new hospitality policy which involves cutting back on food at meetings. Molly said she hopes this sensibility filters down to committee meetings. April 14 will be an Eyes Wide Open presentation underwritten by the PA and the speaker will be Michael Thompson, author of The Pressured Child. Also, on June 4 or 5th will be the book swap which Wendy Nixon is championing. Today is the last day to be measured for a class ring.
Given that the nominating committee is getting into full swing, Molly mentioned that everyone should take a look at committees and think about how they want to be involved.
Marcie Lapido gave a report on the Book Fair. She thanked everyone who volunteered. She mentioned that GFA attendees spent approximately $21,000. The profit was $4396 and $800 of that was from other Barnes and Noble stores. The teacher wish list needs work and they will work with Lynne Laukhuf on this. One popular table had a suggested reading list from GFA school administrators. They will be looking for volunteers to help with next year’s fair.
Janet Hartwell then spoke about the new program ‘World Perspectives: An Interdisciplinary Approach to World Issues’. This has been in the works for some time and really started with student trips a few years ago as well as by broadening existing programs with global issues. Now GFA is ready for a full global curriculum in K-12. She did intensive research to see what programs are out there. This program will build upon the current science, history and literature programs. New programs take about 3 years to develop so what is being presented is the framework which will evolve over time. In the Lower School, in addition to global awareness in social studies, there will be an added emphasis on renewable energy and an annual renewable energy fair will be held. Also, 5th grade will work on Project Seed which will bring student conducted research to world food problems. Middle School will further expand on global studies in social studies and environmental issues in science. In 8th grade, there will be a UN conference in which students will adopt a country and study global sustainability issues- climate, water shortage, HIV. In Upper School, in 9th grade, the topics of climate, health and population will be incorporated into biology and history. 10th grade will have a new English course called World Literature and Cultures which will thematically link texts from France, Japan, Nigeria, South Africa and India. In 11th and 12th grade there will be a required international relations course. Other requirements would include choices in history, English, languages, science and math. In Upper School if kids are really passionate they can apply at the end of 10th grade for a diploma with a concentration in World Perspectives. There would be a set of strict requirements for this including a language through level 4; a senior thesis on climate, population, health or global literacy which would be presented to the head of global studies; participation in a service learning trip. This would be a rigorous program with perhaps fifteen students involved. The new World Perspectives curriculum will be rolled out to Upper School at a curriculum assembly on February 9. Current juniors can do the thesis, but they wouldn’t be able to obtain the concentration as part of their degree. Over time the hope would be to include more courses on India and China.
Jane Preiser then talked about the Westport Playhouse event on May 7. She said the committees are up and running but they could still use more people talent. The goal is to sell 200 tickets for show, “She Loves Me” at $100 per ticket. The cost is about $36. They are still working on the details for catering for a cocktail hour in the barn next door. A committee member has offered to supply wine. The goal would be to donate about $25 per ticket to the PA. A ‘Save the Date’ will go out at the end of February via e-mail. They are looking for people to donate dessert and water. There will be a giving tree at the event. The Spring Party on the Farm has been merged into this event for this year.
Bonnie Hirschfeld discussed the 3rd annual Valentine’s Day cookie exchange on Friday, February 12. Last year 45 or so people donated dozens of cookies. A $20 donation gets you a box filled with cookies. They can pre-order and deliver to someone that day.
Java Jam is April 17. It is an evening of a cappella entertainment during which returning GFA alumni come back and sing with their school a cappella groups. This year will include groups from Princeton and Skidmore. The proceeds benefit teacher enrichment. Kristen Nimr is the point person.
Alex Lunding, the new director of Horizons, spoke about the program. His background was Fairfield Country Day, Brunswick, Bucknell. After college he ran after-school learning centers in underprivileged New York City neighborhoods for 8 year. He then was a training teacher for the Teach America program. While doing that he got his MBA at Columbia. He is very excited to be at Horizons. He mentioned that the program celebrated its tenth year at GFA this past summer. It was modeled after the Horizons program at New Canaan Country Day. Last year it had 148 students in the summer program. Horizons and the GFA program were featured in a segment on NBC nightly news with Brian Williams last summer and Alex showed that segment. He said that Ct. has the 2nd largest achievement gap in the country. Kids in affluent communities have resources in the summer not available to kids in an area such as Bridgeport. Alex said he likes the fact that Horizons focuses on the whole child by including activities such as swimming, gymnastics as well as academics. The program also runs for 5 dates in the Fall and Spring. In-kind resources are provided by GFA. This summer 14 of the 16 staff are returning. GFA students and alumni participate, too. Bevo Tarika mentioned that the Read Alouds continue in Bridgeport. Anyone interested can sign up with her as well as to volunteer at the June 14 Horizons golf and tennis fundraiser which provides 20 % of the Horizons budget.
The meeting concluded a little before ten.
Submitted by Mary Jean Koster