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.