White Wing School Board Committee
Annual Report
2002-2003
The White Wing School Board
has had another challenging, yet rewarding year. At the end of last year, our Office Manager resigned her position
in order to be with her newborn daughter full-time. Anna Knight, a former White Wing parent, stepped in to finish the
year and was subsequently hired for the 2002-03 school year. Anna's assets include her familiarity with
the school and staff, a degree in elementary and special education, and being
bi-lingual in Spanish. All of our
teaching staff returned for another successful year. During the summer of 2002, three Board members resigned for
personal reasons and the Board began the school year with five returning
members. In October, church member and
White Wing parent, Kathy Pelletier joined the Board. The Parents Association of White Wing School (PAWWS) officially
began operating in the fall of 2002.
Highlights of the school year included:
- WW parent and Board member Karen Rutherford
stepped into the Treasurer position and oversaw the successful transition
to QuickBooks for tracking tuition payments, scholarships, etc., which
interface with our Quicken banking records. Our old database, which attempted to combine relational
database information with financial information, was failing us. So, we successfully separated our
childcare database (carpool number, health records, etc) from the
financial records using QuickBooks.
- As Director, Laurie Conrad successfully guided
the school through the accreditation process, renewing our excellent
standing with the NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young
Children).
- The newly formed PAWWS, ably led by WW parent
Elaine Sojka, took over responsibility for fundraising, social events,
milk delivery, office assistance, and recycling. A hugely successful Pancake Breakfast was held in the fall
for WW families, and a joint clean-up day/BBQ with the church's property
committee was held. The
fundraising committee held numerous fundraisers throughout the year and
raised approximately $2000. These
funds were used to fulfill the teacher's wish lists including playground
trucks and snow shovels, a new portable convection oven, three new
playground trikes, new instruments for the music program, and a communication
system which will link the playground to the rooms downstairs.
- In February, the school chose the Nashua
Pastoral Care Center for their month of caring and sharing. Through donations from White Wing
families, the students and teachers delivered over 250 needed food items
to the center.
- Thanks to the Church's Outreach Grant, a
majority of the White Wing staff spent three days focusing on developing
culturally responsive and inclusive programs for children and families at
WW. The training was well received
and developing strategies, action plans, etc., to attend to children from
diverse backgrounds and differing ability emerged as a growing need. The Board also benefited from two
sessions devoted to this topic as it applies to the White Wing's philosophy
and mission. These sessions
resulted in a "Values Statement" which is currently being
refined for publication in the 2003-2004 student handbook and faculty
manual.
- Facility improvements included the addition of
bulletin boards outside of every classroom and storage cabinets above the
toilets in the downstairs rooms.
The Church's property committee repaired the roof on the storage
shed.
- Scholarship monies of $3700 assisted four
families with children attending White Wing. The Church's line item scholarship provided full tuition for
a neighborhood child.
- Enrollment was affected by the poor
economy. Our Kindergarten program
was especially affected (enrollment was at 31 out of 36 possible
students). Overall enrollment was
at 95% of capacity. UU Church
members represented 3.25% of the student body (4 out of 123). Changes to classroom offerings and
tuition have been made to improve our enrollment numbers for next
year. Tuition increased 12.5% for
all five-day programs.
- A non-profit Board self-assessment kit was
purchased from The Corporate Fund.
This tool will be used next year to further the Boards goal of
honing our focus.
- The Nashua Police observed carpool line and
also reviewed our evacuation plans.
Improvements were suggested and we are incorporating them into
current procedures.
In May, the Board and Staff
met together for a goal setting session.
Three areas were identified as high priority goals: clarifying the kinds of programs White Wing
will offer in the future to maintain its viability, clarifying and improving
the school’s response to children with special needs, and creating time for
teachers to interact with each other during the work day. A need for long-term planning was also
identified.
Thank you to Board members
Lisa Law, Kacey Graham, Kathy Pelletier, Michelle Rourke, Karen Rutherford,
Laurie Conrad and Donna Purkhiser.
Lisa, Kacey, Kathy, Michelle, and Karen have all managed the difficult
task of wearing two hats, that of "Board member" and of
"parent". All of these dedicated
ladies have said they will return to the Board next year. We look forward to adding a few church
members as well.
It's hard to believe that
next year will be White Wing's 45th year. We will continue to strive to do what is best for children and
their families.
Respectfully,
Lori Lerude, Chairperson Kathy Pelletier
Laurie Conrad, Director Kacey Graham
Karen Rutherford, Treasurer Donna Purkhiser, Executive Board
Liaison
Michelle Rourke, Secretary
Lisa Law