Meeting of Tuesday 10 October 2000 at St. Paul’s Church
We would like to thank Father Hutchings for providing the Parish Hall for the meeting.
The next meetings of the Coalition will be the third Tuesday of each month to try to avoid conflicts with the meetings of the City Council, Booster Club, and other organizations.
Janet Bates-Wilkins has arranged for Senator Marcellino to meet with the Coalition on Wednesday, October 18, 2000 at 6:30 PM at City Hall. The Senator will discuss education issues and charter schools. Please e-mail questions and topics for the Senator to Janet Bates-Wilkins.
Janet is trying to arrange for Larry Silverman, the Senator’s opponent, to meet with us the following week.
It is important that both candidates know our issues and for us to receive publicity. It was mentioned that the email announcing Senator Marcellino’s talk might have been interpreted as an endorsement of the Senator by the Coalition. In fact, the Coalition is not endorsing any candidate and is trying to treat each candidate equally.
Don has sent invitations to 400 local teachers asking them to join the Coalition. They do not all work in the Glen Cove School District. About 21 teachers have joined the organization.
Mary Mapleson, Toni Rokos, and Jean Kuttruff have met and discussed what organizations they should target for the visitations in the schools. They will meet with Dr. Freeley to set the dates and times. Dr. Freely said four or five people in a school for about an hour visitation would be acceptable.
Kim Ravener has established a Cambridge Chapter of the Coalition for Glen Cove. She has e-mailed her friends and students from Glen Cove asking them to e-mail letters that can be sent to the Record Pilot. She asked them to write about a teacher that they enjoyed, an activity, or something that made their time at Glen Cove High School memorable.
Chris Swirnoff could get forms from the Board of Election for all last year’s seniors so that they could vote in the School Board Election. It was suggested that the forms be sent to the students’ homes at the end of December.
“A Sense of Community” was stressed and it was asked that Mayor Suozzi when he has his information meetings in the next three to four weeks also stress the sense of community.
When students go to the Senior Center and the Nursing Homes, at the end of the programs it was suggested that a statement be made about the students giving back to the community.
Free tickets are presented to the Seniors for the Middle School and High School plays and again it should be noted that is giving to the community.
Dr. Freeley said that four Curriculum bulletins will be mailed to the community during the school year. This is in place of School Scenes.
Leslie Whitely will work on a bookmark titled “101 Great Things About Glen Cove Schools.” The students will write the statements and the best ones will be placed on the bookmark which will be distributed to the Nursing Homes and senior Centers. Leslie and Lori will come up with a form that will be sent to Dr. Freeley for distribution to the students.
It is rumored that as many as eight people are planning to run for the Board of Education next May. Don will invite these people to a meeting to discuss the problem of too many candidates diluting the vote. The meeting will also discuss the criteria that the Coalition thinks important for prospective candidates and will attempt to persuade the candidates not to belittle or disparage the Glen Cove schools during their campaigns
Gail Nedbor-Gross suggested that the Coalition draw up a budget for the coming months so that we know what we plan to spend on mailings and advertisements. We will do that.
The next meeting will be on Tuesday, November 21, 2000 at City Hall.
Natasha Price and Ronnie Lavine
12 October 2000