Maury PTA Full Meeting Sept 15 2022
In Person at Maury Elementary School Multipurpose Room, 6 p.m.
88 in attendance.
Introduction of the Executive:
Co-Presidents: Shavanna Miller (SM), Amy Toner
Equity Co-Chairs: Sandro Peretti, Talia Dubovi
Co-Parliamentarians: Kathryn Wright, Karli Maloney
Vice President: Lora Nunn
Treasurer: Clark Bosslet (email us if you’d like to be a co-Treasurer: maury.pta.president@gmail.com)
Secretary: Elizabeth O’Gorek
Maury Community Commitment
SM explains the Maury Community Commitment. We are asking every single family at Maury to help keep this community great in whatever way works for your family. Are you more comfortable giving time, funds or both? You can donate to give a particular item or you can commit your time. Email sandy Lawrence to give an hour or two of your time. “We need to raise a lot of money and do a lot of things.”
Community Chairs Introduced
Maury at the Market: Karli Maloney
Communications: Corey Langley
Operations: Kathy Loden,
Events: Katie Coester
City Advocate: Melissa Hoppmeyer
YARD SALE
Caitlin Warsaw and Amy Toner talk about the Yard Sale, which is expected to raise $10,000 for the school. The sale is set for Saturday, OCT. 1 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. with deals, hot dogs, bake sale.
Donate Thursday, Sept. 29 and Friday Sept. 30 from 3:15 to 6p.m. at the Constitution Ave entrance.
Sign up: Volunteer at the checkout table at the yard sale Volunteer at the bake sale table
Fall Fest
Grade 5 (and 2) student parent Liz Lyons tells us about Fall Fest, happening 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22.
It’s a fifth grade fundraiser and they put it on themselves, hosting all the activities.
It’s a fundraiser for their end of year, end of elementary celebrations! There are only 2 grade 5 classes (versus 4 kindergarten), so it’s a small group celebrating what for some of them is 8 years here. (They will also put on their famous talent show in spring).
Get bracelets for Fall Fest Sat Oct 22, 10-2. Face painting cake walk bounce house. Fundraising for end of year trip. https://mauryele.ejoinme.org/fallfestival2022 More info list serve. Kids run stuff. Haunted House with variety of levels.
Q: space camp will ever happen again? Space camp costs $3-4K per kid —its a bit pricey, says LL: so classes haven’t decided yet on the end of year event.
Principal’s Update
Introduction of new teachers by Principal Payne Chauvenet. Present are:
Ms. Lyman Spec Ed 1-3 grades
Ms. Mina, music
Also introduces AP Mr. Andrew Lardell and
Mr. Patrick Koontz, manager strategy and logistics
On Specials
This year, the specials classes will meet with students on an A-B-C rotation. This will allow students to have fewer specials per term (with the exception of PE, which is year-round) and to have the classes more frequently within the term. Instead of waiting seven days to have a special again, they will meet every third student day. For example, when it is an “A” Day, a student might have Music with Ms. Mina. Their “B” Day will be a different special, such as Library. The “C” Day will be a third special. Students will continue the pattern throughout the term. Click here for the ABC calendar. Each classroom will have different specials based on the term.
Terms 1 and 3 will be the same specials for students. Terms 2 and 4 will have the remaining specials. PE is offered year-round and will be the only special where students will have some extra classes on a Monday-Friday schedule. Students will have opportunities to check out library books year round.
Some are 1/2 time position. Hard to fill; Extra physical activity and For library
Q: Language is also a special?
A: PC – Yes;– there is an off time, so fluency is not the goal rather it is exposure, PC says.
Workbooks for Spanish, are delayed in shipment so when received you can do them in off-time.
Conferences
PreK through 1 grade is 1-1 conferences scheduled by teacher whenever, whenever they want. Can be in person, virtual, phone. options.
2-5 APTT: group sessions for 2-5 where teachers discuss class work; folders is given to parents with student data is. You will have your child’s data and grade-level expectations.
APTT: equitable concern to know if kids are performing at the same way as their peers? The expectation is what is shared. The reality is that piece of data is why parents didn’t come. That’s why we’re trying. From a parent advocate lens —how do I know where my kids is? PC says, contact your teacher.
PC said PARCC results help set goals. Is my child able to compete? Is a tricky question anyway that should be brought to the teacher itself.
On Crossing Guards
PC gives background on crossing-guards. When they are absent, she said, we could do parent volunteers but there are no spare staff. This is a matter for the city, not the school in terms of hiring.
According to DDOT’s map of School Crossing Guard placement, Maury should have two crossing guards total; 1 at the intersection of 13th and C St. NE; 1 at the intersection of 13th and Constitution Ave. NE. [1/2 a mile away, Eliot Hine has one, at C St and 18th St. NE; there is supposed to be one at 12th and E Sts NE. Stuart Hobson has one; Center City PCS has none. Appletree is .1 mile away and there are none between ours and Stanton Park; most schools have 2; Watkins has only one, at 12th and E Streets SE. The exception on the Hill seems to be Friendship which is near the crazy 15th/Potomac/Penn intersection, where there are two and a third at 12th and Potomac]
Requests from crossing guards come from school principals or AP. There is an application process during which DDOT asks the school to count student pedestrians and cyclists crossing at the desired location for one hour. The location must be. Crosswalk serving a minimum of 20 students during the hour. It has to be within a 1/4 mile of a public or public charter school with students in sixth grade or under. They won’t put them at uncontrolled intersections or at high risk sites where both student and crossing guard are in danger (such as streets with no signal or sign, or have many lanes and heavy traffic). DDOT would prefer students cross elsewhere.
We did that last year, and Principal PC put in the application.
However, DDOT is very understaffed and is prioritizing crossing guards (or traffic safety officer) roles where they are felt to make the greatest impact. They give a numerical score to each request and give guards to the highest scores first.
So we were rated, but not highly enough to get an available crossing guard. Remember, we are competing with other schools who want them all over the District.
Factors include: crossing difficulty (traffic speed, volume, lanes), number of schools affected (more schools within 1/4 mile is best), distance to next crossing guard (farther is higher), pedestrian volume, reported pedestrian crash history over last three years.
Q (KL): Is there a way to know ahead of time if there is no crossing guard? We could rally the troops.
PC: Can ask DDOT if they can provide this info but don’t know if they’d commit to it. PC suggests if kids are walking alone they join a walking bus. Also teach your kids how to cross the street safely as early as you are comfortable.
On Lockdowns
RK: asks about lockdown and shootings.
PC: There was a shooting overnight in the triangle park [ed: on Sept 1 there was a shooting at 2:45 a.m. in the triangle park across from Maury, the one with the statue on the 200 block of Tennessee Ave NE].
PC: If a shooting happens at night it won’t trigger a lockdown; in the day it would; if they know about it first, police give orders. If they know it is happening, they’d shut the school down. Notification will happen through communications, probably not even through PC. Some of this stuff does follow a process. DCPS has a police force of its own.
PC: notes on locks. 2 classrooms with electronic problems with locks. Sometimes its batteries; sometimes its more; then it has to go through DGS. There are back up plans.
Q: GB: can the electronic locks be manually over-ridden?
PC says there are system overrides for locks and there are things you can do outside the building from a different location.
On Afterschool Clubs
Q: Renee: asks about after school activities. Who is responsible, when they begin. They are a combo of places —teacher-based clubs that can happen from students, ie last year’s newspaper cub. Ms. Mina also leads other clubs. For teachers its often lunch or recess. After school clubs are often sports related or girl scouts; scouts are adult sponsored off-site, organized by parents. PP has programming as well. There’’s a lot of opportunities; we’re flexible. Its always about student interest and what students want to contribute.
SM: comments that it is hard to know what opportunities there are. Erin Hurley later volunteers to collate a list and post to list serv.
Q: TH: Polite Piggy’s is full and I need after care. Is there anything that parents can do to get that list moving? What can we do as parents or whatever —
PC suggests we talk to other PTAs to add additional services. CHAW and Hill Center. This is the first year we have a waiting list that long that they couldn’t staff. This is the first year I’m seeing the squeeze, she said. We could come up with a community benefit. We need to pool resources. PC said she will raise it to polite piggy’s. SM notes that Polite Piggy’s is invited to speak at next meeting.
C Street Roadway Improvements
Liz updates school on C Street improvements in light of safety concerns, citing info from ANC 6A.
DDOT issued a notice in August, presented at the August meeting of ANC 6A, that they are installing Safety Enhancements along C Street NE from 11th Street NE to 15th Street NE. I asked; construction crews are already being engaged and DDOT told me they are hoping to get work underway in the next few weeks, before it gets cold.
The enhancements include the following:
- Installation of “No Turn on Red” restrictions at 11th Street, 13th Street, Tennessee Avenue, and 14th Street intersections. DDOT said “this will include all approaches where a right-turn maneuver is feasible (i.e., both from C St and onto C St).” (15th Street is excluded due to the on-going C Street reconstruction project and will therefore be addressed separately)
- Adjustments to parking restrictions to allow for intersection clearance and sight distance (e.g., within 25’ of a marked crosswalks).
- Relocation of the westbound and southbound bus stops at 14th Street and C Street NE intersection, from near- to far-side of the intersection. This will allow for the southbound and westbound approaches to be reduced to single lanes with curb extensions and eliminate the opportunity for aggressive drivers to pass stopped cars.
- Installation of traffic calming devices at the following locations: – Raised Crosswalk at 14th Place NE – Speed Table at Warren Street NE – Raised Crosswalk at 12th Place NE
These come after DDOT did a review of field conditions, previous traffic studies and data collection conducted by the DDOT Traffic Engineering. The primary safety concerns include traffic speed, red-light and stop sign compliance, aggressive and reckless driving behavior, crash history, and pedestrian crossing. They are also adding enhanced signing, pavement marking, and traffic signal equipment will be installed. DDOT has also recently adjusted the signal timings in this corridor to improve multimodal mobility and reduce pedestrian wait times. All comments on this subject matter must be filed in writing by Sept. 16: District Department of Transportation (DDOT), Transportation Engineering and Safety Division at 250 M Street, SE, Washington, D.C. 20003.
New! Volunteers Recognized with DIO award
SM annouces that the PTA will present a volunteer with a “Doing It Ourselves” award, recognizing contributions that make the Maury Community Great. You can nominate a winner who has contributed to the school by volunteering or making an extra effort by emailing maury.pta.president@gmail.com
The inaugural winner is George Blackmon, for being our resident juggler, sorter of lost and found, repository of knowledge, reminder of events and omnipresent volunteer and joker.
Call for Volunteers:
If you can help with this event, please email:
Picture Day Sept 30 (lora_nunn@yahoo.com)
Yard Sale (maury.pta.president@gmail.com)
Meeting adjourns at 7:15p; SM notes this is later than is typical.
The next meeting of the Maury Full PTA is Oct. 20 at the school starting at 6 p.m.