NOTE: THE COLLECTION HAS ENDED FOR THIS YEAR.

Thank you to all our very generous families. Each staff member will receive a $60 gift card this year!

Dear ECS families,

The PCO Staff Appreciation Committee is excited about giving winter holiday gifts to the teachers and staff of ECS once again. The plan is to have one comprehensive collection. You won’t be asked to make another financial contribution through your room parent. The total amount collected will be divided among homebase teachers, specialists, E-Day, and general staff in the form of gift cards. Consider this your one stop shop if you are interested in participating in a seasonal gift giving staff appreciation gesture.

Contributions can be made via the PCO’s PayPal account by clicking the link below or by check. We’re sorry, but cash cannot be accepted. Checks should be made payable to “ECS PCO” and sent to Jill Farringdon, 5539 Pocusset Street, Pittsburgh PA 15217. If you send a check, you will receive an email confirmation that the check has been received.

The deadline for making contributions either via PayPal or by check is Wednesday, December 7th. A suggested donation is $15-$20 per student attending ECS (remember, this is to be split among approximately 250 staff members), but we are so very grateful for any amount you can comfortably give; no amount is too little (or too much!)!

Many thanks,
PCO Staff Appreciation Committee

We are now accepting advertisements in the 2022-2023 ECS School Directory. Please see our ad rates and instructions for submitting your advertisement by September 19, 2022.

Click HERE for details and payment. Thank you for your support!

Thanks to everyone who was able to attend our August 25 meeting!

You can review the video recording here. Some of the audio cuts out, and minutes are here for you to get the TL;DR.

Meeting Minutes

1. Welcome
2. Introductions
   • In attendance: Marie, Lou, Tia, Liz, Lauren, Margot, Alexis, Molly, Anne Marie, Becky, Kevin, Addy, Jill, Sarah Bartholomew Fisher, Bradley, Jennifer, Carol Ann (a chance I’ve left someone off!)
3. Activity
   • An Ideal School & Community
     • We went through an activity together where we listed what attributes make up an ideal school, or what we like about ECS
     • After making that list we sorted through all the suggestions and organized them (see photo 1)
   • Barriers from making that School & Community
     • Then we went through a similar process, this time listing what barriers exist to seeing the ideal school.
     • Again, we organized them (photo 2).
   • How we can help address those barriers, or where PCO can step in
     • We began discussion on how we can help, including asking teachers what effective help would look like, how we used Grade Reps in the past, possibly providing spaces for support to families who require accessing special needs, and having quarterly all-school-sessions.
   • note: this activity was intended for full participation, but without enough planning to do a great job of incorporating remote attendees. We will make more concrete plans in the future to ensure we can include all attendees.
4. We reviewed current and vacant positions on Steering Committee, members in bold volunteered to fill the positions during the meeting:
   • Chair: Kevin Chung
   • Secretary: Addy Lord
   • Treasurer: Anne Marie Rizaldy (pending)
   • Vice Chair, Intermediate School: Becky Marinov
   • Vice Chair, Primary School: Molly Watterworth
   • Vice Chair, Middle School: Vacant
   • Vice Chair, High School: Vacant
   • DEI: Tania Green
   • Board Representative: Heather Szabo Rogers
   • Communications: Vacant
   • Volunteer Coordinator: Becky Marinov
   • Fundraising Events: Lauren Thompson
   • Non-Fundraising Events: Vacant
   • Community Appreciation: Carol Ann Welsh
   • Members at Large: Sarah Bartholomew-Fisher, Margot Haden, Tia Chutz
5. Went through committee reports
   • Fundraising Events
     • School wide fundraiser (Friendsgiving) will be the Month of October
     • Beginning to think of Blooming Bash for next spring
     • Was a comment or ask about the Holiday market like Montessori does (volunteer families make gifts to be sold in the market, no item is more than $5
   • Volunteer Coordinator
     • Volunteer lists are filling up
     • Need Mum Sale Volunteers for September 23
     • we have an Ice Skating Chair, those in attendance suggested two separate days for Primary and Intermediate and another for Middle and High School
     • Have parents looking to plan a fall social
     • Volunteer Fair will be paired with Uniform Sale, Bake Sale on Sept. 7 in the Intermediate School Back Lot.
       • Collection for Uniforms August 31
   • Intermediate School Vice Chair
     • Date for Fall Festival will Be in October, After school, working with Mrs. Williams
   • Primary School Vice Chair
     • Planning to meet with Mrs. Bergman
6. Other Questions & Business
   • Should future meetings have pizza/childcare? We say yes to pizza and if possible, childcare. When we can, could be good for steering committee to bring our kids, even with an activity on the side, to normalize having kids at these meetings.
7. Next Meetings
   • Volunteer Fair, September 7, 6:00pm — Intermediate School Back Parking Lot — Pizza Provided
   • October 18, 6:30pm — Middle School & Virtual — Pizza and Conversation between 6:00pm and 6:30pm

Questions & Answers

I’ll try to list questions asked in each meeting to provide answers for anyone with similar questions in the future. Please feel free to send an email to meetings@ecspco.org or parents@ecspco.org with questions prior to the October meeting.

Question: How does the Gifted Program Work?
Answer: Students are selected to be screened for a Gifted IEP in 3rd grade, largely as studies have shown that by 3rd grade, many external factors from early childhood begin to equalize. Parents are encouraged to speak to their teachers with questions.

Question: How are meetings typically organized, what sets the Steering Committee apart?
Answer: Meetings have historically been organized where 5 of the annual meetings are for Steering, and 4 are for the entire PCO. Last year, we merged the two. Often we have time for open comment, and then we will go through Steering Committee business. All of this is open to changing in order to meet the community needs.

Question: How do I find another way to get involved in the PCO?
Answer: You may sign up for other volunteer opportunities at this sign up sheet. And we’ll be aiming to communicate as well as we can in the future about new opportunities.

We have our first PCO meeting of the new school year tonight!

Intermediate School & Google Meet
6:00pm–8:00pm
meeting starts at 6:30pm, from 6:00–6:30 is social time

Agenda

• Welcome
• Intros
  Name, relationship(s) to the school—parent, teacher, PCO, board member, etc.
  • Steering Committee Members
    • Chair: Kevin Chung
    • Secretary: Addy Lord
    • Vice Chair, Intermediate School: Becky Marinov
    • Vice Chair, Primary School: Molly Watterworth
    • DEI: Tania Green
    • Board Representative: Heather Szabo Rogers
    • Volunteer Coordinator: Becky Marinov
    • Fundraising Events: Lauren Thompson
    • Community Appreciation: Carol Ann Welsh
  • Other Participants, Addy to call on folks online & in person
• Current Steering Committee Vacancies & Interested Folks
  nomination and vote at end of meeting after discussion and questions are answered
  • What is the Steering Committee? What sets us apart from other PCO work? Co-leading a position is a possibility!
    • Treasurer
    • Middle School Vice Chair
    • Communications Vice Chair
    • Non-Fundraising Events
    • 2 At-Large Members
• Discussion: Hopes & Intentions for the PCO
  • How would you like to get involved?
  • What do you need to feel included and engaged?
  • What do you hope PCO is able to do for the community?
  • How can you help make that happen?
• Steering Committee Member Reports & Question/Answer – for any updates
• Nominations & Votes for Vacancie
• Additional Information:
  • Jumping In Throughout the year: send email to volunteer@ecspco.org for opportunities
  • Next Meeting: September 7, Volunteer Fair @ Intermediate School

Friday, June 17 —Tickets are available NOW!

ECS discounted tickets are: