I apologize our notes are not up to date. Please reach out to us at hello@novaroots.org to get the most recent information about the NOVA community. — alicia, current parent and website content manager
Meeting Notes January 4, 2023
Meeting Notes 9/26/2022
Nova Roots tasks and notes from 9/26 Roots meeting
Advocacy (Tor expressed interest)
Organize students and families to advocate for Nova to the school board
Attend school board meetings, coffees
we should collate a group of staff/parents/students in each school board director’s district and have it ready to go if funding on 10/1 is inadequate
Food pantry (Deilyn and Jessica to lead)
Work with Byrd Barr Place to get food to stock Nova’s pantry
Run food and grocery card drives
Involve students
Connect with other non-profits (local farms, other food banks and kitchens) Veronique volunteered to connect with Bridges.
Fundraising
December craft fair and silent auction (art sale rather than silent auction for logistics)
Seek out, apply for grants
Plan other fundraisers, working with student fundraising committee
Attend budget/fundraising committee meetings monthly
Lance is looking for band equipment - going to have a Donors Choose set up for this
help with set up for events (Tor was interested), provide potluck food, use connections to get donated art for art sale
Budget
Work with Nova’s financial specialist Susan and Alliance for Education to manage the Nova Roots account
Create a working budget
Attend budget/fundraising committee meetings monthly
Teacher appreciation events
Start of year breakfast
Thank you events (coffees, lunches, etc) throughout year
pies for teachers for Thanksgiving
would be nice for staff to have a Nova Roots point person they can approach with needs and requests. I think I can be that person if needed. This is a duplicate of #8 below but I am too lazy to delete and renumber. (Deb Z)
Communications and publicity
Update Nova Roots website, newsletter, social media accounts (Newsletter: Hafidha)
Create flyers, signage for events
Answer hello@novaroots.org email messages
Tech support (Ashley volunteered to do back end tech support; Jen doing website updating)
Renew Nova Roots domains, etc (Squarespace, Google Workspace)
Renew Zoom account
Troubleshoot web and email issues
Set up access to website and email as needed for other Roots folks
do we want an interactive family forum eg a FB page or ?? I seem to recall SPS has rules around this but as long as it’s through Roots and not the school could be ok?
Point person for communication with staff
Point person to run Nova Roots meetings (Hafidha)
Set up the space/Zoom
Create and publish an agenda
Facilitate during the meeting
we need to figure out a meeting schedule that works for Nova staff. ?3rd or 4th Mondays?? Sounds like we decided on Zoom format rather than in person?or maybe alternate in person meeting with Zoom meeting?
Teagan volunteered to bring snacks to meetings, moot point if we do Zoom
Record and publish Nova Roots meeting notes (Laurie)
Overall volunteer coordinator (yay Amy!!)
Lots of other possibilities… Specifically, recruitment? Of students to Nova (though there is apparently no shortage) and of families to Roots?
there was interest in building some regional connections, eg. neighborhood get togethers, ride share. We discussed possible regional breakout rooms during meetings. Also may be helpful to try to collect zip codes for our list so we know who is where??
The following volunteer positions were filled at the meeting
Volunteer Coordinator: Amy.
Keep track of needs and recruit volunteers
Advocacy: Chair (Carol; Tor).
Coordinates Advocacy Efforts, Point Contact with NOVA Staff. Go to School Board Meetings, District Coffee Mornings, Advocates for NOVA.
Volunteers: Region Rep District VII (Jim)
Volunteers needed: Region Rep District I; Region Rep District II; Region Rep District III; Region Rep District IV; Region Rep District V; Region Rep District VI;
Food Pantry: Chair (Deilyn; Jessica).
Coordinates Food Pantry and Volunteers: Work with Byrd Barr Place to get food, Run food and grocery card drives, involves students, connects with other non profits to get food donations.
Volunteers: Amy, Veronique, Ane, Anne, Brandon, Carlos, Jessica, Kristi, Mariah
Fundraising: Chair (TBD).
Attend budget committee meetings monthly, works on fundraisers and works with student committee
Volunteers: Craft Fair (Doree, Katie, Wendy); Grant Writing (Gabriel, Veronique, Jessica)
Budget: Chair (TBD).
Works with Nova fiscal specialist: Susan and the Alliance for Education to manage the account. Creates a working budget, attends budget meetings
Volunteers: Needed
Teacher Appreciation Events: Chairs (Jessica, Deb)
Coordinates Teacher Appreciation events: Start of year breakfast, Thank you events (coffees, lunches) throughout the year
Tech Support: Chairs (Ashley, Randy, Bill)
Update Nova Roots domains (SquareSpace, Google Workspace), Set up/renew Zoom account, Troubleshoot web and email issues, set up access to website and email as needed for Roots volunteers.
Communications and Publicity
Update Nova Roots website, social media accounts. Create fliers and signage for events, answer hello@novaroots.org email messages
Website updates: Jen
Social Media Accounts: ???
Newsletter Editor: Hafidha
Meeting Coordinator: Hafidha
Point Person for Staff Communications: Deb
Note taker: Lorie
Roots Events Snacks: Tegan
Meeting Notes 1/18/2022
Nova Roots Meeting
January 18th, 7pm
Follow up on issues from past meetings
The December thank you coffee/pastry for staff went well; there was an e-card for families to write messages of thanks and support to staff. We will do more of these in future if budget allows. Thanks to Deb!
Eyva requested that we disable the old Google doc that used to list teacher requests; they are not using it anymore, there is a new process; Wendy will disable links to it on Nova Roots website.
Open house dates: 1/12 6-7pm; 1/22 4-5:30pm; all via Zoom; there is a Nova open house web site that recruitment committee and others have created:
https://novaopenhouse.wixsite.com/virtualopenhouse/nova-online
Nova Roots presence on social media: Eyva suggested we keep the Nova Roots website up to date and not start new social media channels. Wendy is on this.
Wendy would like to update the front page of the Nova Roots website with a donate link and more, https://novaroots.org. Anyone have ideas?
The group hopes a student could act as a liaison with Nova Roots; Eyva is happy to put out a request for this. What would this look like? What would we want this person to do? Attend the Nova Roots parent meetings; we’d need someone who’d know what the students want, and can be a source of information about the school, events, etc. It’s difficult for us parents to know much about what is going on in the building, and having student connection could help bridge this, since teachers and staff are maxed out!
We should advertise the monthly-or-so principal office hours in the regular Mailchimp messages, as well as the intergenerational book group. More discussion on a newsletter: Who is our audience? (Parents, alums, people who want to donate money!) Can we send more targeted messages? How can we better connect? Erin had many good ideas: have a specific goal for each message rather than a laundry list of things all in one message, one specific thing per message.
Could we text people? We’d have to have people opt in with their phone numbers, like they opt in for the newsletter with their email addresses.
Idea: virtual bake sale; people could pre-order baked goods.
Is there a priority funding goal, something more tangible? Erin had lots of specific suggestions for this and for fundraising.
Idea for online auction; art auctions were popular at Nova in the past.
And we need more info from Susan Watters and Eyva about priorities, how much is needed?
Tutoring website wants to partner with us somehow for fundraising (and presumably business from Nova students); https://www.bansho.com/ What are the ethics around this? Discussion, we’d have to run this by Eyva. Are there SPS rules? Caitlin will forward to Eyva. Maybe they could “sponsor” an event by paying a certain amount of money; this is something that happens all the time in the school fundraising world.
Food bank stuff: Nova is now on the Northwest Harvest advocacy team’s list (thanks to Caitlin) to potentially get grocery store gift cards in the future. We don’t know how this will pan out, we’ll have to see; it could be really good. Byrd Barr food bank continues to donate food weekly to the Nova pantry, which is open to all.
Nova is not yet ready for in person volunteers; folks can still do all the SPS online volunteer forms, background checks, etc to get ready for when it does become possible.
Still on the radar for the future: having neighborhood-based Nova family gatherings, as was done in the past, as a way to create community; maybe next fall?
When is the next meeting? Feburary 15th. Third Tuesday.
Coming up for next meeting: figure out timeline for fundraiser; if online art auction, we’ll need to do planning, connecting with students and staff about the art; marketing; we’d have to get on this soon to make it happen in the late spring. We should divide and conquer; would be great to have at least one student, one teacher on this project. Caitlin will reach out to Eyva and Lance about feasibility of art auction, teacher coffees, and more.
Meeting Notes 12/7/2021
Follow up on the November staff appreciation pastry/coffee event:
Cost was approx $146 for coffee/food from the café, and $20 for fruit; DZ was reimbursed by Nova Roots for this. It was much appreciated by staff! We hope to do it again.
“Thanks for the goodies last week. I always soooo appreciate
the gluten-free inclusion and labels.
Y’all are the best—what a team we all make!!
YEAH for Nova” —Debbie K.
Can we set up another pastry thing? Yes, DZ is on it for last day of school in December. Would be nice to coordinate a thank you poster or card or something… maybe we could email school staff to ask for some ideas. Teacher appreciation activities are still limited due to pandemic restrictions. What else can we do? Notes of gratitude? SR to check on this.
Fundraising: Fundraiser mailing went out, hoping for an uptick in donations. Will know more after Alliance for Education sends our Nov/Dec report. Are there other fundraising possibilities, given current pandemic restrictions?
Food bank stuff going okay. There was talk of a plan for bags of food for kids to take home on weekends, holidays. CT to follow up with CS, Nova staff about this.
Do we have a student liaison for the Nova Roots group? CT will reach out to school staff about this.
Nova families connecting with each other: how do we do this? Difficult with pandemic. Families used to host gatherings at their houses in neighborhoods all over the city, maybe once or twice a year. Not feasible at this time, even outdoors (brr). Something to revive in future when possible. For now, can we get geographic info on where families are? Not from school directly, they cannot give this info out. For next year, we can send something out in first day of school packets, an opt-in thing where people consent to give address, maybe volunteer to host a gathering in their neighborhood. We could also consent to give our own names/numbers to Karen in the Nova office, to connect with other families, prospective families. CT will ask about this. Could we do this now, not wait until next year, in a mailing or something? CT will ask school staff about this again. Could there be something like this linked to when people sign up for a tour/open house?
GoFundMe: Nova alumni raised a bunch of money in the past for specific things via GoFundMe. Do we need to do something like this again?
Facebook page for Nova exists! But looks like not actively updated since last spring. CT to look into it and see if we could use for fundraising, etc. Could we do other things on social media?
Questions:
Is there a library at school? There are books lining the halls for kids to peruse and take home, but no teacher/librarian in charge. Parent interest in getting involved with this when pandemic allows.
Is there a way to volunteer in the building? First step is to do all the things here:
https://www.seattleschools.org/departments/volunteer/volunteer-application-process/
CT to check with staff to see if they want us to do that, if they have things we can do.
What’s going on with the health clinic? Up and functioning in new space, doing well. Open to students from Garfield too. There is a form to fill out, to access services there.
Virtual open house to be in January.
Meeting Notes 11/9/2021
Gratitude: Ellen E acted as meeting leader. Thank you, Ellen, for your service to Nova over the years and for so generously helping us new parents this year! You have gone above and beyond.
Introductions: There were 7 folks in attendance, one parent of a recent Nova graduate, most others new to Nova over the last two years, and one looking to perhaps attend next year.
Fundraising:
About $14K in bank right now
There’s a near final draft of the upcoming snail mail fundraising letter.
-Kathy to add something about possibility of corporate matching donations.
-Also will be sure to say it’s the only big fundraiser of the year.
Deb Z volunteered to help stuff envelopes for this fundraiser.
Nova Roots website has links to our Alliance for Education donation page so folks can donate any time.
Ellen told us that in past there have been other fundraisers, including an arts fair. She suggests we talk with staff about other possibilities.
Is there a goal? In the past we’ve tried to raise approx $125 per student per year, which totals about $25K.
This year, we’re suggesting $100 per student, which is more like $20K.
A few years back: alumni held a GoFund me campaign to fund money for the salary of a much needed staff member; this raised $30K in a short time. Targeted social media campaigns seem effective; we should probably try something along these lines?
General discussion about how some things at Nova work:
Reminder to access Schoology, especially for the group Nova Announcements and Opportunities, to hear about things going on at school.
Stay in touch with your student’s coordinator (aka “Coor”): they can give you info about what’s going on at school and with your student; some parents have set up regular check in times with the Coor and student. Sorting out this communication is part of what the student is learning at Nova.
Question about electives and what is available: there are many electives at Nova, and many classes span multiple areas of study (e.g. Environmental Justice class is science, history, and more).
No sports teams at Nova.
You can see current course listing here:
http://nova.tinysis.org/catalog?category-id=9&facilitator-id=-1&term-id=-1%5D
Discussion about how to connect families:
Nova Roots families used to host get togethers in their neighborhoods at the beginning of the year, to welcome new families and help them learn about Nova. It seems too soon for this due to the pandemic, however would be a nice tradition to revive when the time is right. We could create a regional map of Nova families; would have to be opt-in. Does someone want to set this up?
Upcoming open house?: Don’t yet know the day/time, likely in January. It will be a virtual open house this year, not in person. Last year’s open house was run by the students; there was live chat time to talk with students and it was great! Very helpful.
Questions about how we can support Nova’s teachers. This would be a great project for the parent group to take on.
What would teachers appreciate?
How do we make this happen?
Connect with Annie vice principal, Susan, about what the teachers might need/want and about how to get money for it.
Notes of gratitude from families would be nice, could someone organize that?
Individualized gifts are always appreciated (Not generic stuff like Starbucks cards…)
Could we bring coffee, pastries etc to school? They have done this in the past. Keep in mind dietary restrictions (lots of those at Nova).
Idea for a pie drive! Each staff person at school would get to take home a pie! Fun idea that one of the attendees had done at another school. Deb Z will take on the pie thing if someone will help her. Both Doree and Kathy said they could help.
How many staff in building? About 25 total, teachers and otherwise. How many vegan, GF, etc? Would have to research dietary stuff.
Remember you can ask your student’s Coor: what do they want/need?
Question about volunteering at Nova now: parents still not allowed in building at this time, due to pandemic.
(Used to be able to volunteer in office helping Karen; field trip help; lots of other thing in building support possibilities before the pandemic, here’s hoping those return some day soon.)
What else can we do?
Other to-dos:
Remind staff about the Google doc list where they can put their needs!
Get in touch with Cindy S about her plan to help Nova address food insecurity.
Put all the meeting dates up on the website.
Next meeting: 7pm 12/7.
Meeting Notes: Oct 23
Key Decisions/Project Updates:
· Coffee Sponsorship: We’re in communication with Kaladi Coffee (https://kaladicoffee.com/) on sponsorship, details to follow.
· Alumni Outreach: We used our time as a working meeting and completed the following:
o Created working Nova Alumni Database and Form: https://novaroots.org/alumni-survey
o We made an Alumni page on the Nova Roots website: https://novaroots.org/alumni
o Wrote a draft of an email we’re reviewing. The plan is to send out to alumni to ask them to complete the survey, and pass it on to their fellow alumni friends and family
o We’d also like to send an email to the teachers to ask if they could pass on to the alumni they’re in touch with
· Novaplosion Community Art Share
o We’re going to make a sign up form and page on the website to track contributions and performers
o We’re exploring alternative venues to give us more space
· Legacy Documentation:
o We have a copy of the Nova norms and will put up on the website by our next meeting.
o We’d like to start working on the legacy documentation, including a set of rules for engagement and Nova Roots Norms. We need to create rules of engagement for parents from a student perspective, focusing on how best to support students. This info could also be useful from a parent ed perspective.
o We’ll also ask Nova Knows if they’d like to put them up on the blog.
Meeting Notes: Oct 9
Key Decisions/Questions/Project Updates:
Coffee Sponsorship: We’re working on a sponsorship for Nova from Kaladi Coffee (https://kaladicoffee.com/)! This means a year of free coffee for events, teacher appreciation weeks, etc. Kaladi also has a community center space we can use for events. If we’re approved, we’ll get a contact name that we can use to reach out when we have a need. Just need to give them a week or two of notice.
Alumni Outreach: We have a plan! Our goal is to complete the following in the next two weeks by our next NR meeting on Wednesday, 10/23:
o Create a Google database and form we can send out to alumni.
o Write an outreach email for alumni members.
o Make an alumni page for the website and put the form up there too. We could send the web link out to alumni to get them engaged with Roots.
o We can ask all the alumni we know to fill out the form and pass the email on to any of the Nova alumni they’re still in touch with – let’s talk more about how to do this at our next meeting.
o How do we compile a list of known alumni to send the email to and ask them to pass it on?
Novaplosion Community Art Share - Tuesday, 12/10
o We think the event should be called “Novaplosion Community Art Share”
Questions:
Concerned about the acoustics in the cafeteria, wondering if it would be better at an outside venue?
Should we put a flyer for Novaplosion in each Coor teacher’s box and ask them to make the announcement in the next week?
Send out the invitation to perform in the newsletter
Event Elements
Visual Art Share
Performance
Art for Sale
Craft Tables
Snacks
Merch
Collecting donations through A4E website
Legacy Documentation:
o Students report being trepidatious about getting involved because they’re unsure about working with parents
o We’d like to start working on the legacy documentation, including a set of rules for engagement and Nova Roots Norms. We need to create rules of engagement for parents from a student perspective, focusing on how best to support students. This info could also be useful from a parent ed perspective.
o We’ll also ask Nova Knows if they’d like to put them up on the blog.
o Get Nova Norms and put them up on the website.
Agenda for next meeting:
Steering Committee
o Legacy Documentation
o How to recruit students and staff?
Community
o Alumni Outreach
o Novaplosion
Communication
o Login options for next evening meeting – 2 way call or video?
Support
o Family Consent Workshop on 11/14
o Food Bank check in
Giving
o Check in on Kladi Coffee sponsorship
Meeting Notes: Oct 1
Key Decisions & Announcements:
· Hold evening Roots meetings at Nova with 2 way conference call dial in option
· Halloween Dance on 10/25
· Family Consent Workshop on 11/14
· Novaplosion Art Share/Craft Sale moving to Tuesday, 12/10
· Roots would like to hold family education workshops – follow up at next meeting
· Roots wants to survey teachers to find out what would be meaningful for Teacher Appreciation days. Would this best come from Mothership?
Monthly Meeting Times:
· Meet at Nova and broadcast so people can join:
1:45pm T/Th Committee Meetings
4pm Wed Meetings at 4pm 2 x a month,
6pm meeting at Nova 1st Tuesday of every month
Meeting Notes:
Intros with names, pronouns and favorite dessert
Need to have evening meeting over Zoom or other real time technology to dial in, Jerry may be able to advise.
What Makes Nova Different?
· Nova is a democratic school
· Decisions are made via a system of committees in charge of the decisions in the school
· Governing Committees
o Mothership is responsible for overseeing the Committees and Roots
o Decision-making matrix is used for all choices
o Every decision about the school goes through the committee system
o This system makes it easy for students to get involved and have their voice heard
Nova Roots Overview:
· History
o Disconnect between students and traditional PTSA model
o This structure wasn’t working for Nova for a wide range of reasons
o Last year was first year without formal PTA
o Feedback received from families and students – not strong enough connection with families, different ways to connect
· Intentions
o Democratic
o Serve as a root system for the Committees and students
o Focus on supporting Nova Committees
o Interactive - hope adults from Roots will come to Nova and interact with Committees, and students will come to the evening meetings when they can
Structure:
· All $ raised by Nova Roots will go into Alliance for Education account
· Student budget committee determines how the money will be spent
· Mothership Committee will connect with Committees and get back to us with information and/or next steps
· Mothership student liaison will attend Roots day and evening meetings when available
Key Positions on Steering Committee needs:
· Newsletter: Send out weekly email using MailChimp, automated system
· Advocacy and relationship building with School Board, City Council
· Finance: track statements, Alliance for Education, working with Budget Committee
· Fundraising, Grant writing
· Front Office volunteering
· Tech Committee – Need an adult to help run it, 1 x week (T or Th) – 1:40 to 2:30 or 2:30 – 4
· Novaplosion – move to December 10th
Consent Day – Nov. 15
· Hoping to have students and providers facilitate Consent workshops for families on Nov. 14th
· Medical consent
o Mental Health
o Reproductive Health
o Drugs and Alcohol
o Gender Care
Want to offer additional parent education opportunities throughout the year to provide support and communication skills
Upcoming Events and Projects:
Halloween Dance – Friday, Oct 25th
Novaplosion - December 10th
Teen Health Center
Experts will be able to come in and facilitate communication
Will start as part time clinic for Nova students, evolve into evening clinic for students