MEETING                                                      AGENDA

DATE:    Wednesday, 24 March 2010                                               1. Call to order

TIME:      4:30 pm                                                                              2. Chair's Report

PLACE:   Northridge Academy High School  (Rm 103)                       3. New Business:

                  9601 Zelzah Avenue                                                               a. Education Forum: Action Items

                  Northridge, CA 91325                                                            b. Academic Contest

                  Info:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it                                                    4. Other

                                                                                                             5.  Adjourn

                EDUCATION   FORUM   2010                   

On behalf of the Education Committee, we wish to thank you all those who participated in the EDUCATION FORUM 2010 that has opened a dialogue which, hopefully, will lead to a better understanding of the needs of our local schools. From this dialogue, eight Action Items were identified (see below).

We wish to particularly thank our host, Ms. Karen Matsui, Principal of Northridge Academy; our keynote speaker, Dr. Greg Vallone, Principal of Holmes Middle School; Mr. Mitchell Englander, Chief of Staff for Councilman Greig Smith; Ms. Ani Okkasian, Field Director for L.A. Board of Education member Tamar Galatzan; Officer Dan Del Valle, Los Angeles Police Department; Mr. Melvin Canas, Department of Neighborhood Empowerment; Mr. Joel Lipin and the Boy Scouts of America, Troop 911; Mr. Louis Pugliese, California State University at Northridge; Ms. Addy Gonzalez, Arts in Education Aid Council; Ms. Kathy Arnos, Director of Whole Children, Whole Planet; Ms. Virginia Ghonier, Principal of Darby Elementary; Ms. Martina Turner, Communications and Outreach Director of Highland Hall Waldorf School; Dr. Celeste Nguyen, Andasol Elementary; Ms. Helen Kamenos, Principal of St. Nicholas School; Ms. Pam Norberg, Weekday Preschool; Ms. Raquel Avila, Director of the Parent Center at Northridge Academy High; Ms. Sheri Herson, Andasol Elementary; and the parents, students and community stakeholders who were present.

Special thanks also go to Education Committee members Ms. Karen Green and Ms. Jeanie Mortensen, responsible for helping organize the forum; and the members of the Northridge East Neighborhood Council who participated of this event: Mr. Thomas Baker, Mr. Peter McCarty, Mr. Steve Patel, Mr. Kelly Lord, Mr. Steve Ramirez, and Ms. Robin Kellogg.   

Nestor Fantini, Chair of the Education Committee

ACTION ITEMS PROPOSED BY EDUCATION FORUM 2010 PARTICIPANTS

These are the Action Items to improve the neighborhood involvement in achieving and sustaining excellence in the education of the children in Northridge through the active involvement of neighbors working with teachers, administrators and students in Northridge Schools that were proposed by stakeholders attending the Education Forum 2010:

1. School Administrators, teachers, parents and students create a list of the un-met needs in their schools.
2. The school administrators and teachers gather the generic student standard evaluations and inter-semester standard reports and create strategies to get every student to be above the average in math and literacy scores and to establish the goal of 100% graduation so that by the time a child graduates from high school they are prepared and motivated to lead a self-sustaining life.
3. The Northridge East Neighborhood Council canvasses the neighbors to inventory the time and talents that can be matched to the needs of the schools.
4. The NENC Schools write up job descriptions for the volunteers that state the amount of time, and what talents are needed.
5. The NENC Education committee working with the schools will match volunteer jobs with the volunteers and conduct an interview process to qualify and place the volunteers.
6. NENC will invite the Sherry Lansing Foundation to pay for the screening of the volunteers to make sure all the legal and education appropriate evaluations of volunteers are appropriate and properly vetted.
7. The NENC Education committee will identify NENC areas of educational concentration to consolidate resources and leverage strengths and weaknesses of schools.
8. The NENC will conduct a workshop of best practices to increase the active PARTICIPATION and LEADERSHIP of all stakeholders.

                        2009 HIGHLIGHTS                        

-The Education Committee provided funding for educational programs and materials at public and private schools.  With funds from NENC, we partially funded the YMCA Physical Education program at Andasol Elementary, helped fund the "On the Ball! For Healthy Bodies and Healthy Minds, on the Playground and in the Classroom" program at Darby Elementary, and funded the purchase of Spirit Listening Centers at Weekday Preschool.

-The Education Committee also funded the purchase of 50 Emergency Preparedness kits to ensure that every classroom at Northridge Academy High School is ready for an emergency.

-The Education Committee recognized the academic achievements of schools such as Holmes Middle.  Assistant Principal Ted Yamane attended the November 18, 2009 meeting of the Northridge East Neighborhood Council where NENC's President Steve Patel acknowledged Holmes'progress with a plaque.

-The Education Committee supported Northridge Academy's request for funds to be able to add a mural to the school.  The mural would be designed and painted by CSUN and Northridge Academy students.

-In August 2009, the Education Committee decided to create a more solid organizational structure to help spread the goals and objectives of the committee.  Thus, a schedule of meetings for the year 2009-10 was established, and new Rules of Operation are being discussed by the committee.

                                  ABOUT US                               

The goals of the EDUCATION COMMITTEE of the Northridge East Neighborhood Council are to support the academic and extracurricular activities of students, teachers, parents, and administrators of public and private preschools and K-12 educational institutions located in Northridge East, and to promote partnerships and common interests among stakeholders as they relate to education.

All preschools and K-12 educational institutions located in Northridge East are automatically members of this committee.  Each educational institution has one vote.

The EDUCATION COMMITTEE meets the fourth Wednesday of every other month.  Thus, the meetings for the current year will take place on January 20, March 24, May 19, July 21, September 15, and November 17, 2010.  The meetings take place at Northridge Academy High School, Room 103, at 4:30 pm.  The address is: 9601 Zelzah Avenue, Northridge, CA 91325.