June 2005
As each and every parent at
Thank you, Thank you
First, we would like to take a minute to thank all of you for your support and involvement with the Parents’ Association this year. In addition, the Executive Board would like to extend a hearty thanks to the enthusiastic and capable volunteers who contributed in so many different ways to making this year a success.
A dedicated core of committee chairwomen and men, class
representatives and officers gave considerably of their time and talents. But
it takes dozens and dozens of parents to make a successful association, and we
thank each of you for your efforts and participation. We have all enjoyed the
chance to work together, as we strive to foster the sense of spirit and
connection that makes
We are particularly grateful to the many, many -- parents,
faculty, administrators, students and staff -- who worked hard to organize our
varied and successful undertakings:
In addition, we are tremendously grateful to the members of
the faculty, staff and administration who so cheerfully said, “Yes,” when asked
to lend a hand or give us advice. They are too many to name, but their wise and
respectful assistance smoothed the wrinkles as we planned our many events.
Speaking of wise and respectful – we are deeply appreciative of the time Dr.
Robertson has dedicated to our organization this year, and for all that she
does to make
Parents’ Association 2004-2005: Update & Challenges
Over the last five years, thanks to the very hard work of those who have overseen a re-organization of our association, the Parents’ Association has a set of priorities for its funds, time and energy. The list of events has become consistent from year to year, as we aim to include as many parents as possible in our programs.
At the same time, the Parents’ Association must continue to
evolve along with the school. For example, helping to ease the transition to a
community with a 50/50 ratio of boarding and day students is an ongoing
challenge for our organization. We need to continue to try to think creatively
about ways to help parents from further away stay more connected to the
Additional updates and challenges from this academic year:
Budget: We
improved our Budget process; worked more efficiently with the Business Office
and FLIK; reduced expenses; created the opportunity to facilitate payment of
dues through students’ IA accounts; and systemized the processes of dues
request, receipt, and acknowledgement. Overall, however, our organization faces
serious challenges to its fiscal health. We have been carrying a budget deficit
for the last two academic years and have now set in place a process to
eliminate the deficit by reducing costs and seeking additional sources of funds.
Our reliance on voluntary dues and the income from the Summer Opportunities
Fair is unlikely to continue to support the cost of hosting dinners for the
parents of each class, hosting a dinner for all parents on parents’ weekend,
attracting interesting guest speakers for the parent body and doing many, many
other important tasks to keep parents at Milton connected to the school and to
each other.
Athletics: We
re-defined the role of our athletic committee; increased involvement with
Communication:
Student
Connections: In the interest of giving parents an opportunity to
experience some of the richness of the performing arts at Milton, we
established what we hope will be a new tradition of opening our general
meetings with short student performances. Don Dregalla and the music department
have been wonderful to work with; we hope to coordinate with the performing
arts department and the Milton Paper as well, next year.
Admissions: We
initiated a new program of PA support for the Office of Admissions -- our role will be to facilitate
connections between parents of interested students and current parents at
Parent Support: We
assisted out-of- town parents by creating a list of local resources, available
on the Web site; arranged a system to insure that all parents receive a copy of
the indispensable faculty and student directory beginning next fall; addressed
transportation issues for both boarding and day students; arranged lodging
discounts for out-of-town parents during school events.
Diversity: The Parents’ Association continued to strengthen
its role in fostering and celebrating the diversity of
Mechanics: We
aimed to provide more parent-friendly scheduling, with joint board meetings
held before general membership meetings and opened to all Parents’ Association
members; clarified and simplified involvement of PA in students’ spring events;
worked with committee chairs and class representatives to make their jobs more
efficient; changed the location and expanded the scale (and the income) of the
Summer Opportunities Fair.
Flexibility: As with many organizations, setting an agenda and a
calendar early in the school year is deemed a worthy goal to ensure solid
communication and increased participation. At the same time, this organization
needs to maintain some flexibility in its programs, given the changes that are
a normal part of every school year. The Parents’ Association will continue to
work with the administration and faculty to try to be a stronger facilitator of
conversations when events, needs and parental concerns dictate.
The Year to Come:
2005-2006
Next year’s Executive Board was introduced at our final
meeting on
Executive Board
Co-President (Boarding): Louisa Paige (617) 542-4430
Co-President (Day): Patti Salem (781) 259-9700
Vice-President (Boarding): Rosemary Stutz (203) 452-1307
Vice-President (Day): Ayca Gazelle (781) 740-0565
Treasurer: Barbara Hawkins (Day) (617) 566-2436
Recording Secretary: Maria Sebastian (Boarding) (508) 485-9313
Corresponding Secretary: Carol Flynn-Rice (Day) (617) 282-6287
Staff Liaison: Hilary Wirtz (617) 898-2386
Cheers to a wonderful summer, and we all look forward to seeing and working with you in the fall!
Susan Littlefield and M.E. Malone, co-presidents
Julie Rinaldini and
Ayca Gazelle, treasurer
Carol Flynn-Rice, corresponding secretary