One of the goals of Go Portola is to identify areas in which we, the present and future Portola community can have a positive impact on the school. These areas of interest will be identified through communication with Portola faculty and staff and by the comments generated on this webpage. We will create new pages/blogs within this webpage as information is generated. If you are looking for ways to get involved, we encourage you to take and issue and run with it!
Here are some potential ways to get involved:
- School Board Liaison – Scan the School Board meeting agenda for topics pertinent to future, potential, or current Portola families. Attend the School Board meetings. Create a School Board blog and update the website regularly. Find meeting information here.
- Facilities Committee Liaison – Attend facilities committee meetings related to the construction of the new building. Update the website with all new information. Find meeting information here.
- Contact School Board members to advise them about this group and learn more about The Middle School Initiative and how its implementation might affect Portola. Find School Boar contact info here.
- Learn about a district online program called “Power School”. This tool may be useful to Portola students and parents if fully implemented. Update the website regarding any further actions which may be desired if the program is not already fully implemented. Start your research here.
- Attend meetings of the Academic Subcommittee of the School Board and update the website with any new information. Find meeting details here.
- Connect with the Portola Middle School Librarian, Ms. Bogey to see if parent help is needed. Find her blogs about books and the Portola library and report back. Start your research here.
- Volunteer with the Writer Coach Connection. This program is being implemented at El Cerrito High School, with hopes to expand into Portola Middle School. There is a volunteer training at the end of August! Go to www.writercoachconnection.org for more information.
- School Site Council Liason – Attend School Site Council meetings. Update the website with new information. The 2010-11 School Site Plan can be found here: Portola School Site Plan and Test Scores 2010-11.
- Join the Parent Academic Rigor Committee. For further information contact Sally Fraser: Home 510 528-8353 Mobile 510 295-8041 sally@sallyfraser.com.
Other ideas? Interested in taking on any of these tasks? Post your thoughts in the comments section, or e-mail us at goportola@gmail.com.
I will Contact School Board members to advise them about this group and learn more about The Middle School Initiative and how its implementation might affect Portola.
-Susan Riggle Waterson
Want to see what campus life is like at Portola? Volunteer! Parent Safety Patrol volunteers are needed (see portolanews.org) or become a Writing Coach (email volunteer.ecwcc@gmail.com or call Todd Groves at 558-8018). There’s a new article about the Writer Coach Connection on The Patch http://elcerrito.patch.com/articles/writercoaches-give-guidance-gain-understanding.
Is Go Portola thinking about incorporating to become a 501c3? Maybe this is already in the works? Just wondering how to leverage the energy into something like the KEF is for KHS.
–Bobbie Dowling
Bobbie – We’re still in a formative stage, and so have not given much thought to applying for 501c3 status – but maybe as we grow and transition into a more permanent group this is something we can work on.
Interested in academic issues in our local schools? Join the Parent Academic Rigor Committee (PARC)! During the 2010/2011 school year, the Portola parent group historically known as GATE (Gifted and Talented Education), expanded. At one of the earlier parent GATE meetings of the year, the GATE parents, in concert with the principal and vice-principal, decided that GATE students would benefit more if academic achievement was encouraged for all students at Portola Middle School. The GATE parents group was renamed Parent Academic Rigor Committee or PARC. This group, whose purpose is to support a demanding curriculum for all students at Portola, invites parents of students in advanced classes, parents of GATE students, and all parents striving to attain academic rigor for their kids, to join. There is a PARC meeting Monday evening, September 19th, 6:30 pm, Portola Room 7. Any GoPortola community members are welcome.
Any questions about PARC, please contact Sally Fraser:
Home 510 528-8353 Mobile 510 295-8041 sally@sallyfraser.com
Hi Everyone — I just read through some great materials about middle school parent involvement and want to share:
1. This link speaks to the special challenges of getting parents involved at the middle school level: http://www.ptotoday.com/pto-today-articles/article/85-middle-school-finding-a-role-for-parents
The links at the bottom of this page are all worth-while.
2. This link describes a Portland middle school’s turn-around from low parent involvement to high. It give LOTS of details about how they pulled these things off, and I found it personally inspiring:
http://www.ptotoday.com/pto-today-articles/article/266-middle-school-magic
My hope is that a few others who take some time to read through these become equally inspired. Particularly, anyone currently in the Portola PTSA. Because there are some great ideas here.
Bobbie Dowling
This is inspirational!!! Thanks!
I’m so thankful you all put this together!
Is a future mtg scheduled?
Thanks, also, to EC Patch for update!
Martha
Yes we are ironing out the final details for our meeting in November. We tentatively have it scheduled for Wednesday November 2nd at 6:30 pm in the Fairmont Elementary multipurpose room. We’ll post soon with the actual final details.
I’m thankful too about this group pulling together. It’s a great group of committed and active parents who think our children deserve a high quality middle school which we can help create!
Sent this to all the principals of feeder schools and principles of Portola and El Cerrito High today:
Thank you Principals of elementary schools that feed into Portola and El Cerrito High.
Just wanted you all to be aware and involved with a group to support families to transition from elementary to middle and onto high school and hopefully keep them in our public school system.
Please read the below and please forward to your PTA heads and cc me as I would also like to work with them on A Portola Panel that we do at Kensington Elementary that bring elementary graduates back from Portola to discuss what they are doing, experiencing, liking and such with 5th and 6th graders to get them ready for middle school and help parents feel comfortable with the future for there kids. We would like to help get this started at all of your schools this year and hopefully in January so people hear information before they make any other decisions. (You can look at the attachments w/ inform the teachers and an invite for the students and families)
Also please attend the meeting next Wednesday-see below letter
This is a letter that has been sent to some local publications (including El Cerrito Patch):
The ground breaking to build a new Portola middle school is scheduled
for early 2012. This is an exciting time for the soon- to-be middle
school children in the community. In addition to the new physical
building, parents from the Portola “feeder” schools are working to build
a new community around Portola, to support academic improvements and
build on its success, and to create new connections between the
elementary schools to support Portola.
The group, “Go Portola” has established a website at http://www.GoPortola.org
which is self described as “An inclusive
forum for potential, future, current and past families of Portola Middle
School to share information and foster long-term community involvement
in Portola.” The group’s goal is to identify the most pressing concerns
for Portola and the feeder schools and to determine what can be done to
make Portola one of the best schools in California. We would love more
parent/guardian and community input and involvement. Let’s come together
as a community to embrace the new Portola!
Go Portola Meeting
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Fairmont Multipurpose Room
6:30pm
The next Go Portola meeting will be held on Wednesday, November 2 at 6:30 pm in the Fairmont Multi-Purpose Room. Join us in our efforts to build a great community school!
I just got off the phone with the district a short while ago about the Portola plans. I called Andrew Mixer just to see where everything is.
Here’s the gist:
1) They are truly in the last stages of final approval for the project (egads I thought this for sure had been done), but evidently not. He said he does not foresee any issues and he is ready to do the next stage;
2) This is the stage where the project is being put out for bid. Evidently it hasn’t gone out yet;
3) He says that ground breaking is to begin at end of third quarter or at least by December (although he said that there could be something that comes up that may stall this… I told him I’d keep calling to find out how things are progressing – talk about a threat!);
4) I asked him about incentives – such as does the construction company get a bonus if they finish early. He said no – it is not written into the contract. He did say that there are disincentives to completing the project late (a liquidated damage clause is in the contract); and
5) Finally I asked when did he think the project would be done – he said 2 years from ground breaking is the time frame (in calendar days) put into the contract.
So, let’s just keep moving forward.
All my best to all,
-Susan