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.