School Councils
Each of our six schools has a School Council. The state legislature established in the Education Reform Act of 1993, that school councils shall be established in each school to advise the principal in specific areas of school operation. Each school principal has primary responsibility for management of their school. Any decisions which are made at the school level, must be aligned with the budget, policies, curriculum, and long-range and short-range goals adopted by the School Committee.
Additionally, any decisions must comply with state and federal laws and regulations and with any negotiated agreements of the school district. The principal, except as specifically defined in the law, shall have the responsibility for defining the composition of and forming the group pursuant to a representative process approved by the Superintendent and School Committee.
Parent Guardian Organizations
Parent guardian organizations are established at each school to foster the relationship between parents and schools. These relationships seek to encourage the home and school to work together to establish and achieve common educational goals for students. To that end, the Superintendent and the professional staff will:
- Consult with and encourage parents to share in school planning and in setting objectives and evaluating programs.
- Help parents understand the educational process and their role in promoting it.
- Provide for parent understanding of school operations.
- Provide opportunities for parents to be informed of their child's development and the criteria for its measurement.
To accomplish the above and to enhance communications between parents and school officials, the Committee encourages the maintenance of formal parent organizations at each school building. For this purpose the Committee will officially recognize a parent organization at each building. These procedures will be observed:
- Upon request, organizations will be officially recognized by the building Principal who will notify the Superintendent.
- A vote, open to all parents of children enrolled, will designate the organization to be recognized if more than one organization makes the request.
Parents and guardians are encouraged to participate in the organizations and volunteers are always welcome. Most PGO's have monthly meetings.
Parent Resources
VINS Volunteers in Northampton Schools (VINS) is a private, non-profit organization, founded in 1981, whose mission is to provide volunteers in all of Northampton's public schools. An application for volunteers appears on the site as well as a "wish list" for some of the Northampton schools
Official City Website - This site contains just about every aspect of the city's government as well as links to the various organizations and institutions that exist in the city
Teen Safe Dr. John Knight is the founder and director of the Center for Adolescent Substance Abuse Research (CeASAR) at Children's Hospital Boston and an Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School. This website will help you learn how to protect your teenager's life, health, and future in only 15 minutes.
Parent Involvement When parents are involved in their children's education, kids do better in school. This site from the NEA offers practical and "doable" tips for parents who want to help kids with homework and tips about how to make the best use of parent-teacher conferences.
US Dept Of Education Questions parents ask about schools. Tips for parents that provide both practical guidance and valuable information about a range of topics including: preparing your child for school; knowing what to expect from your child's kindergarten teacher; monitoring school work...and more
Sylvan Learning Center This is the site of the Sylvan Learning Center whose purpose is to offer individualized help in tutoring students (PreK-12 ) who are having difficulties in math, reading, writing or study skills in school. The organization reports that tutors can accommodate every family's needs and even offers some online tutoring programs. Help with SAT preparation is also offered.
Family Education Network If you can tolerate the ads and pop-ups of this commercial site, there is some good material to be had here... like helping your kids protect themselves from being bullied.
Internet 4 Classrooms Although this site advertises itself as a site to help teachers use the internet, it is a site for parents also. Full of links (140) to just about any imaginable topic from helping kids learn math to using “positive discipline.” There is also a link to seven weeks of daily activities designed for the summer months.
Internet 4 Classroom--II Nicely set up to focus on the various elementary grades from K-8 and the skills and concepts that are likely being taught at each grade. This is a site that will save hours of Google searching if you are looking for both entertaining and useful skill building activities.
MCAS This is the page about the state test and answers questions one might have about what the test is like, what subjects are tested and when the test is administered.
Parent Guide To Internet Archived info from the Office of Educational Technology at the U.S. Department of Education. This is a basic primer for those who are totally unfamiliar with internet usage or lingo.
Beginning Readers Primarily designed for first grade, this site is also useful for pre-kindergarten, kindergarten and second grade. The site's graphics resemble those of Sesame Street and similar web places.
Invention at Play This is an absolutely fascinating, imaginative site where kids (and parents!) can invent things by tinkering around with objects, shapes or words.
PBS Advice Reasonable, practical discussions and advice about things that all parents of preschool and elementary school kids are likely to encounter (like a child's "meltdown")
Yahooligans Search Although this is a kind of "limited" search engine for kids, it does allow them to search for music, games and sports.
Encyclopedia Plus If you are looking for some encyclopedia help on a given topic, this Columbia Encyclopedia is free. The site also hosts a dictionary, thesaurus, World History Encyclopedia, Bartlett's Book of Quotations and much more.
PBS Kids First of all , this is the site for interactive activities of some of the kids' programs on PBS: Maya & Miguel, Berenstain Bears, Clifford, Arthur, Dragon Tales and Curious George. Perhaps more importantly this is a powerful site for both kids and parents to explore issues involving kids. Typing in “bullying” in the "Find It" blank, for example, might bring up an activity for kids to engage in that has anger as a theme but also lists articles for parents to read about the subject.
American Library Association This is another good web site for kids and is filled with links to the arts, sciences, history, social sciences and animals. What is helpful about the links on these pages is that the articles are coded (by colored pencils) as to their appropriateness for pre-K, elementary school, middle and high school.
Museum Page This is the museum site of ALA Association. It's a quick way to get directed to some famous museums like the Smithsonian, Museum of Modern Art and the National Gallery of Art for Kids for a start.
Internet Public Library The value of this site is the comprehensive list of links to numerous subject areas. Included are links to almanacs, encyclopedias and other reference tools like periodical directories. The Internet Public Library (IPL) is a public service organization and learning/teaching environment at the University of Michigan School of Information.
