The mission of the ECS PCO, as a model of sound environmental practice, is to build and support positive relationships between families, staff, the Board, and the community.
Objectives
1. The ECS PCO will provide opportunities for all families to become involved, connected, informed, and valued.
2. The ECS PCO will enhance the educational experience and personal growth of families and staff.
3. The ECS PCO will engage in innovative and effective fundraising activities.
Objective 1 Strategies and Activities
1.1 – The PCO will provide a forum for parent concerns, school wide issues, and celebrations.
1.1.a Grade reps will act as a PCO committee – Grade Rep meetings will be held regularly and will be an opportunity for parents to voice concerns, have questions answered, and learn about grade specific happenings.
1.1.b Grade reps will present at general PCO meetings
1.1.c PCO will host open forums and will facilitate conversations between parents and school representatives when school-wide issues arise.
1.2 – The PCO will be an equitable and welcoming entity of the ECS experience.
1.2.a PCO meetings will be light-hearted, engaging, and informative events.
1.2.b PCO meetings, events, and volunteer opportunities will be well advertised to the broad parent community with equity and accessibility in mind.
1.2.c The PCO Steering Committee will work to encourage new families to participate in PCO related events.
1.3 – The PCO will be a source of information for families.
1.3.a The PCO will host several informative school and/or parenting related events throughout the year.
1.3.b Announcements and sharing of PCO related news will be communicated to parents through consistent and reliable channels – Monday Blast, PCO Facebook page, PCO website, flyers, etc.
Objective 2 Strategies and Activities
2.1 – Staff Appreciation- The staff appreciation committee will plan thoughtful activities and gestures to make the staff feel supported.
2.1.a There will be a year round staff appreciation committee and a committee to plan activities during staff appreciation week (1st full week of May).
2.1.b The staff will be encouraged to contact the committee whenever they feel a pick me up is needed and the committee will respond.
2.1.c The committee will use a variety of surveys to determine what the staff needs and wants.
2.2 – Events- The PCO will plan a variety of events for our families. The activities will serve to meet at least one of the following needs: fundraising, community building and education.
2.2.a A variety of committees will create thoughtful events that take into account the interests and diversity of our families.
2.2.b The PCO will evaluate how well events fit into the PCO’s mission.
2.2.c The committee chairs will have access to resources and support to enable consistent successful execution. Each committee chair will be required to maintain resources notes for future event chairs.
2.3 – Mini-Grants – The PCO will offer mini-grants of money to help with various efforts, activities, and innovative ideas suggested by teachers, staff, parent or other.
2.3.a A committee will promote the mini-grant application process, evaluate grant applications, and make recommendations to award grants that demonstrate and promote ECS values such as innovation, sustainability, etc.
2.3.b Committee members will work with mini-grant recipients to help them through the process of requesting funds and submitting funds.
2.3.c The committee chair will evaluate the effectiveness of the mini-grant process and make recommendations for improvements, such as methods of communicating the mini-grant program and its successes.
2.3.d The committee chair will work with the treasurer to ensure accounting of mini-grant funds is accurate.
Objective 3 Strategies and Activities
3.1 – The PCO will plan and execute fundraisers that generate enough revenue to support PCO activities according to the annual projected budget.
3.2 – The PCO will develop and maintain a fundraising committee that oversees current fundraisers, removes inefficient fundraisers, and develops new fundraisers.
3.2.a The committee will identify and expand fundraising opportunities that allow the PCO to reach the larger community and diversify sources of income.
3.2.b The committee should identify fundraisers that require specific expertise and find
people to fill those vacancies. Each committee/subcommittee will have two chairs,
so one volunteer can leave without interrupting the fundraiser/event.
3.3 – The PCO will expand fundraising communication.
3.3.a Communication about specific fundraisers will include the specific objective of the fundraiser so contributors know where their money is going.
3.3.b A quarterly report detailing the outcome of each fundraiser that took place in the quarter will be generated and shared.
3.4 – The PCO will allocate fundraisers to specific expenses in the budget.
Proposed PCO Structure
The PCO will be governed by a Steering Committee which will consist of nine to thirteen seats. The composition of the Steering Committee will strive to reflect the diversity of the school population. The six officers are the Chair, Lower School Vice Chair, Upper School Vice Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, and Technology Officer of the PCO.
Job Descriptions
See Appendix A in the PCO By-laws for committee member responsibilities
PCO Meetings
Monthly PCO meetings will alternate between PCO meetings/special events and PCO Steering Committee meetings. The approximate annual schedule is:
August – Steering Committee
September – PCO special event (ex: PCO kick-off/committee sign-ups)
October – Steering Committee
November – PCO special event (ex: school transitions)
December – no meeting
January – Steering Committee
February – PCO special event (ex: film screening)
March – Steering Committee
April – PCO special event
May – Steering Committee
June – no meeting
Steering Committee meeting agenda will include:
- Review of strategic plan objectives
- Treasurer’s report
- Budget review (Sept, Jan or March, May)
- Board representative report
- Grade representative report
- Mini-grant solicitation and review
- “Bring an idea” discussion
- Brainstorm about PCO communications/social media announcements
- Recruitment of new Steering Committee members