Full-time Faculty Meeting Notes 8/26/15
Faculty agenda posted at: https://odysseycommunity.org/blog/full-time-faculty-meeting-82615/
Password: &DU9AB12Y*#o
Reflections on the Pool Party:
- “Reunion” energy was positive.
*Faculty enjoyed having the whole school community together and the opportunity to check in with new families and returning families.
*There was a sense that the pool party was celebratory and fun.
*Students from multiple classes/age groups were able to interact.
. *All of the families who attended walked away thinking it was great.
*As Odyssey Community School, it was great to focus on the larger community.
*Older students able to relax more since the energy were not exclusively about the older students.
- Reflections and Suggestions:
Schedule/logistics:
*Consider how to schedule the pool party for “more hands on deck” for prep work and cleanup. When we are planning as a group, we need to plan for the ending and the closing.
* There was some confusion as to where to find tables, chairs, etc.
*There were quite a few faculty members who felt really exhausted heading into the pool party and felt that the 11 hour day was challenging. Some faculty members wanted more time to swim, decompress between the work day/ pool party, or informally socialize.
*Clarify the schedule for set-up planned into the workday and clarification for the location for each of the grade level stations.
*Could we have prepped and opened the pool an hour earlier to accommodate older students and teachers?
*Could we have a period of transition or food already ready for teachers or break-time in between?
*Perhaps faculty could come in for a late start for the day after the pool party.
*Provide a clearer understanding of where and how parents were to meet in grade level groups. Provide a clearer sense to the faculty of what was to be covered in the grade-level parent meetings.
*The upside of the informality is that it gave parents a recreational/socializing focus.
*The meetings could have been staggered to deepen teacher/parent/ kid relationships.
* In terms of the scheduled flow, it was unlikely to have a full group get-together in terms of space for all of the families and for directors to be heard by everyone in terms of volume level.
*When we are planning as a group, we need to plan for the ending and the closing.
- Food:
*People were waiting for pizza and we had hungry kids, hungry parents, and hungry faculty.
*Could we add a potluck component, so that other types of food/drinks would be available?
*Several teachers had the experience of getting little or no food or having to “grab a piece of pizza on the run.” Several teachers described a sort of “shaky” experience of hunger/exhaustion.
*The pizza ovens were making as much pizza at a time as possible. *Appreciations were offered to Steve and Chelsie.
*Could we consider having the pizza party be earlier in the day?
Founder’s Day: Glad we walked through Founders Day. Founders Day went very well. Our take-away is that the more we walk through an even the more smoothly it goes. Consider a walk-through for parent orientation
Parent Orientation: We will meet next week. We will meet for about 10mminutes that day so that teachers can
Opportunities Assignments will be posted by Megan.
Next meeting, September 2nd, is an all-faculty meeting!