Edison Preparatory School

Minutes of the

Class of 2011 - Parent Meeting

February 13, 2007

 Roberta Clark called the meeting to order at 5:45 p.m. About 50 parents were in attendance.

Secretary’s Report:  First, Jennifer Buttram and Stacey Vernon, Edison Assistant Principal of Curriculum spoke about the upcoming enrollment process for ninth grade.  Ms. Buttram is the Edison high school counselor who works with the magnet program students for grades 9, 10, and 11.  Ms. Buttram and Ms. Vernon explained that there will be another meeting regarding the enrollment process for all parents of eighth graders on Tuesday, March 6 at 6:30 p.m. in the Middle School Cafeteria.  Your student should come home with a pre-enrollment form and booklet on Friday, March 2.  Enrollment will take place March 6-9.  Ms. Buttram will meet with small groups of students from Ms. Broughton and Ms. Dry’s classes to discuss her suggestions regarding course selection.

All ninth graders in the magnet program are required to enroll in three pre-AP classes or one AP class and one pre-AP class.  All eighth graders currently in the middle school magnet program will be allowed to enroll as though they will be enrolled in the high school magnet program, even though decisions about acceptance to the high school magnet program won’t be mailed to parents until April. Ms. Buttram and Ms. Vernon explained that the magnet program is not all-inclusive for high school as it is for middle school.  There are no teams of teachers, and students generally will take some classes in the pre-AP or AP sequence, but many classes that are part of Edison’s general curriculum.  They explained that it would not be a good idea for students to take all of their coursework in pre-AP or AP classes.  

Ms. Buttram and Ms. Vernon also discussed how to plan high school courses in order to maximize your child's eventual options for college.  One of their hints was the list of the top 5 things that a college looks at, in this order:

- Course selection

- GPA of the courses the college recognizes (probably not PE, Drivers Ed, etc.)

- Test results

- Recommendation Letters

- Essays

We appreciated Ms. Buttram and Ms. Vernon coming to the meeting and giving us their valuable input.           

President’s Report:  In eighth grade news, the PTSA newsletter that you probably received in the mail last week had an error. The eighth grade is not going bowling on Friday, March 2.  This is a sixth grade activity that was accidentally given the wrong headline.

Important Dates for Parents of 8th Graders:

Wednesday, February 28 – Applications Due at Service Center for High School Magnet Program (if your student didn’t turn in an application in January at Edison)

Tuesday, March 6 – Eighth Grade Parent Meeting - 5:45 p.m. in the library

                             - 6:30 p.m. parent meeting on enrollment in MS Cafeteria

Tues.-Fri., March 6-9 – Pre-enrollment for 9th grade of current 8th graders 

Tuesday, April 3 - Eighth Grade Parent Meeting - 5:45 p.m. in the library

Friday, April 6 – Volunteer Service Day  (Tentative –day may be used to make up a snow day)

Tuesday, May 1 - Eighth Grade Parent Meeting - 5:45 p.m. in the library

Friday, May 4 – Eighth Grade Dance

Friday, May 11 – Eighth Grade Graduation

Friday, May 18 – 10:40 a.m. – 2:40 p.m. Eighth Grade Fun Day 

Committee & Rep. Reports:  Parents volunteered to head committees for the eighth grade dance on Friday, May 4.  Laura Keck and Casie Lewis will head up the food committee.  Stephanie Shaffer, Teri Goza, and Julie Green will lead the decorations committee.  We also need a volunteer to lead a committee to organize parent chaperones.  Please contact one of these committee chairs if you can help with these areas, or contact Roberta Clark if you can lead the chaperone committee.  

Old Business – Parents discussed the possibility of having a fun night activity in early April, but it was decided not to have this activity so that parents can focus on the many May activities that will be coming up for our students. 

New Business:  Jill Parr is working on a service day for the eighth grade, which she is tentatively scheduling for Friday, April 6, which currently is scheduled as a conference day with no school (subject to change in TPS changes the school calendar).  The idea of this service day is that the students can get together in groups to do a project for a charity, with a parent (or parents) providing transportation and supervision.  Students will get service hours for this work.  Jill is making contacts with charitable organizations and will have more detailed information soon.

The meeting was adjourned at about 7:30 p.m. 

Submitted by:  Barbara Woltz

       Edison Preparatory School
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