Minutes of QSI Planning Meeting of February 14, 2005
Present: Elizabeth Ophals, Tom Strekas, LeeAnn Truesdell, Carol Rhodes, Monica Casco, Cass Conrad, Daniela Francesco, Jim Moore, Jennifer Eddy, Arthur Goodman, Kim Hirsch, Ilana Block, Marten denBoer
Site
Elizabeth and Sue Henderson met with the Borough President and Judy Chin, superintendent of Region 3.
A likely new site is IS 168, on Parsons Blvd; near Union Turnpike.
Judy Chinn liked it, so did Borough Pres.
The area appears to have favorable demographics
Another school may go into IS 25.
We will meet at the site with the principal, LIS, and PTA. A Building Council will be established.
Teacher Recruitment
QSI must not be seen as a hot potato. It’s a gift to the community and must be seen as that.
We’ll develop talking points so we can all be on-message
There’s a new draft of the teacher flyer - flood the world with it!
We should all send to people we might know at local schools, including Bank St and Teachers College.
Hiring of teachers will proceed via 18G process: search includes 2 UFT members chosen by borough UFT rep. Positions must be posted centrally. Interviews late March - early April. Probably can't make offers till mid-April.
Elizabeth has a possible coordinator or liaison, who will be invited to the next meeting.
The hiring committee will need to develop job descriptions.
Student application
A draft student application form was discussed
Questions were raised about whether we can get information on economic status. Free lunch info may be confidential.
The priority should be on making sure parents are not discouraged from applying.
When student application is ready, we'll post it on website.
The question of how to select students was left open.
Calendar
A draft calendar for teacher recruitment and student applications was reviewed.
The deadline for applications might be extended, but there needs to be time for the District/Region to process applications.
Elizabeth will attend Parents Nights at district schools; a Queens College faculty member should also try to participate.
Sunday April 3, there will be an information meeting for parents, at the college. There will also be one in the evening at the school. Spanish (and other language?) translators will be needed.
There should be information on the facilities at Queens College, as the college resources are a major draw.
During March we will need to develop selection criteria for students. These are needed soon since opportunities arise at parents meetings.
The next meeting is Tuesday, Washington’s birthday.