Administration Board Meeting 27th January 2011 (PA summary web report)

Part 1 - Enlarged Meeting

Mrs Christmann welcomed everyone to the meeting. Mrs Dengler (Eu Commission) and Mr Kuhn (Board of Governors) were also at the meeting.
The agenda was approved.
The minutes up to page 11 was approved.

Mr Hoyem announced -
the city of Karlsruhe and Baden Wuttemberg have decided not to cut the budget for ESK. Even though Germany has the strongest economy in Europe, some families have been affected by the current financial situation.
the cooperation between the school and ITU and EIFER continues to be strong.

Mr Pialoglou announced -
ESK have had some very successful events such as the rugby tournaments, and the “authors’ night”.
the problem of the heavy snow before Christmas meant that some exams had to be re-scheduled for the beginning of the Spring term.

Mrs Pavlicikova announced -
there has been good cooperation between the Oberschule (OS) and the Grundschule (GS)
a new summer camp offering child care is being organised for this July.
successful implementation of the GS anti-bullying policy. there are many projects underway that contribute towards the key competencies for the pupils such as the music band, ESKfilm and ESK pupils’ newspaper.
There is now new library software.
The GS reporting system needs to be revised and brought up to date.
The official opening of the KITA will take place on 27.1.11

Mr Dannenmaier announced -
New space has to be found to house archive, data-protected information.

Mr Hermsmeyer (pupil rep) announced -
students are very happy with all the activities that are taking place at school.
there concerns about the OS library and working conditions.

Mr Bourjois announced -
All teachers are concerned about the budgets for European schools.

Mr Kuhn said that the decision about the 2011 budget is still waiting to be approved by the Board of Governors.
Mrs Cindy van Velzen (PA) announced -
the PA is continuing with their efforts in building community spirit, and promoting good communication.
Mr Bourjois and Mrs Spenle were asked to make every effort in persuading teachers to come to the PA party on 11.2.11.
Thanks were given to ESK management for their continuing cooperation and support.

Dr Tamborini (ITU) announced -
There is good collaboration between KA, ESK and ITU.
ITU is currently re-developing their site and this is nearly completed.
The organisation of teacher visits to ITU have been very welcome by all.
There is an information evening planned for 14.3.11 for all ESK teachers.
The ITU is very active with the ES Science Symposium as ITU provide jury members for the competition.

Mrs Gorey (Etoile Education) announced -
Etoile Education is still very active at local and European level.
On 10.2.11 the Council of Europe have invited 17 schools to attend an information day.
The planned boarding facility would be very welcomed by many of the Strasbourg families, and travelling to and fro from school is a high price to pay for the pupils.
Category II fees were still a huge concern. This is an important issue for all ES as the cat II income affects the whole system.
Etoile Education is happy to support MEET, the European-wide citizens initiative for European education.

Mr Pialoglou presented the Annual School Development plan (ASDP).

Mrs Christmann said that the ASDP was a requirement of the school reforms. She was very glad to see that the SAC was working well everywhere. Mr Pialoglou said that good practice and good document structures should be shared between school.

The ESK 2011/12 ASDP presented at this Administration Board meeting is approved subject to budget. Mrs Gorey pointed out presently there was no opportunity for review etc, before the start of the new year. Mrs Christmann agreed that the timing of the Admin Board meeting needed to be addressed soon.

Part 2 - Restricted meeting.

Mrs Christmann asked for approval of the restricted meeting minutes.

The PA said that retrospective decisions to close classes half way through the school year was regrettable as this is a very unstable situation for pupils and parents. Mrs Gorey said that all children should be treated equally in ES.

Mrs Gorey pointed out that the well-being of the child must be kept at the forefront of all decisions.

The request for a new administrator’s post, which was approved in 2009, but was subsequently overruled by the Commission, was again rejected at this meeting because of the imposing budget cuts.

Mrs Dengler said that the Board of Governors still has to adopt the new budget for 2011. Mrs Gorey said that the very philosophy and core values of the ES as well as the principles of the system should not be compromised. Mrs Christmann said that the schools have to fit into the budget they have been given and is obliged to stick to the current rules on class sizes and courses.

The provisional school start date for September 2012 is September 4th.

The PA requested that the school calendar be fixed 2 years in advance. Mrs Christmann agreed to take this proposal back to the Board of Governors.

Mr Villain (PAS rep) thanked Mrs Christmann for the amendments that have been made to the statues for the employment of PAS. Their employment position has been greatly improved.

Certain parts of the meeting have been omitted in this web-report owing to confidentiality.