Town Meeting is an important part of Project Learn School’s (PLS) identity, and has been happening since PLS first started in 1970. This whole community meeting is held eight times a year on the third Wednesday of each month, except for December and June. It’s a time where the parents and teachers of PLS’ students get to meet and talk about important issues.
Eric Moore, a PLS Jr.High parent, says, “I like to be with the other parents of the school and get to know them all. I think it’s helpful to know all the faces behind the children’s faces.”
Jordan Shapiro, the lead parent of PLS says, “My favorite part about town meeting is that it gives the families an opportunity to have an impact on the education of the children.”
During Town Meeting, there is an educational portion, where the parents learn what is going on in their children’s classrooms. They then all meet in the Community Room, where the parents and teachers talk about important issues. A recent discussion, at the November, 2014 Town Meeting, was a proposal for having a loading zone in front of PLS for drop off and pickup. The decision was reached that it would not happen without further investigating; some worried whether it was illegal or not. There were also concerns that the people living around the school might object to it. In this case the person who brought the proposal was asked to revise it and bring it back to Town Meeting, but some people don’t go any further with their idea.
Each March the school budget is decided on which is presented by the budget committee that anyone can be on if they want. In November all the budget changes that happened over the summer are approved.
Often there is a Town Meeting where everyone meets each other, a community night, and everyone talks about their hopes for PLS. The topics brought up are then written down and used to further enhance the school.
To reach decisions, the school uses something called the “modified consensus process.” Everyone gets four different ways to express their opinion: yes, no, no with blocking, and abstention (the “ I don’t have a strong opinion” vote). If everyone chooses either yes, or abstains, then it is called a “unanimous decision .” If the choices are yes, abstention, and no, the proposal still passes. However, if even just one person chooses to block, though, the proposal is stopped and further discussion happens. Through these discussions proposals can be revised and decided on later in the meeting or reintroduced at a future Town Meeting.
In past years, Town Meeting has been run by the lead parent. The lead parent’s job also includes signing important documents and checks with the lead teacher. This year the Project Learn Administrative Committee (PLAC) is trying something different: each time two people from PLAC runs the Town Meeting. Ten parents, four staff and one or two alumni parents need to be on PLAC each year. There needs to be at least ten people at each meeting. There are two PLAC meetings a month. It is at PLAC where the agenda is decided on for the month’s Town Meeting.
Since Town Meeting is from 7:30 PM to 10:00, kids don’t usually come, and if they do, there is someone who takes care of them while the adults have the meeting. Jordan Shapiro says that he would like it if the kids had more of a part in town meeting, though, and if they came.
Town Meeting really makes PLS what PLS is. It helps parents be part of their child’s education.
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