PA Committee meeting 14th April 2010

Cindy van Velzen welcomed everyone to the meeting and the agenda was adopted. She introduced a round table for all present to give feed back from the various working groups and activities.

After-school activities
All the AA accounts have been checked and are in order, but the actual final list of courses that have taken place is still incomplete and there are still course fees outstanding. Due to the extensive choice of courses this year, the organisation of these activities has been enormous and it was suggested that more parents volunteer to help out in the busiest stages.
There was one specific area of concern. The allocation of rooms is often problematic and sometimes rooms, such as the Aula, are taken by teachers, half way through a course and the AA course leader has no redress. It was requested that Frau Pavlicikova and Herr Hoyem be asked if the school could take over the allocation of rooms.

PA Finances
The new spreadsheet layouts for the various budgets of the PA have been ready for a while. The next meeting of the finance group is scheduled for 17th April and the current figures will be transferred to the new system.

Kindergarten
“Miss Christine” will be leaving at the end of the year, and the parents of the Kindergarten pupils are very sorry to see her leave. However this decision is out of the PA’s hands, but request that the direction let the parents know as soon a new teacher has been appointed.

Bullying in OS
It is regrettable, but many parents have the impression that bullying is increasing in the OS. It was requested that any anti-bullying programmes be run in each class to reinforce the idea of respect and consideration for others. This also underlines the urgent need for a comprehensive school bullying policy and the PA will bring this issue to the next Educational Council meeting.

French Section OS
Parents are very concerned that there may be a possibility that the BAC subjects (especially in Sciences and Maths) will not be offered to the new 6 Class FR as mother-tongue subjects in September. This will severely affect the possibility of those students who wish to follow a science subject at University. The school is urged to resolve this problem as soon as possible as such limitations in the French section will cause unrest and may influence future French families from choosing this school with mother-tongue teaching.

School student Newspapers
The first issue of the OS student newspaper is now available, but the students would welcome any help on the production or printing of the newspaper. It was brought to the committee’s attention that there was an association for young “media makers” (Verband für junge Medienmacher) for Baden-Württemberg, and this might be of interest to students and teachers in ESK.

The PA is to investigate the current situation of the EuroJunior (GS student newspaper). As Mme Ravidat is leaving at the end of the year, it is not yet know who will be taking this worthwhile project over, especially as it is currently part of the European Hours.

Fasching 2011
Parents are requested to take note that the German Faschings week in 2011 does not coincide with the Spring mid-term break. The PA and the School are not able to change this decision.

Open Day
The final decisions for the PA’s participation for Open Day were made. The main points were:
As the canteen will now be free all morning, the International Café will open from 8.05 for parents who have brought their children to school and do not wish to return home immediately. This will replace the planned “coffee corners” in Bau A and Bau B. Volunteers to help in the canteen would be very welcome and can either register on-line  or contact Anja Bühner or the PA office.
The EuroBoutique and the PA Info Booth will be found in the entrance of the Canteen
Our sponsor InterSport Hoffman, will have a stand, just outside the Canteen. They will be offering waveboard and in-liner skate instruction, info on Summer holiday camps, special customer discount cards, and run a basketball competition for tickets to the next KBV game.
In order to promote membership of the PA, parents will be offered 1 free drink and 1 free cake per family, for signing up to be a member.

Plan of the Canteen - where everything will be positioned (not yet ready)
Parents will be emailed again at the beginning of the week and further details for Open Day are on the PA website.

Late request for Project Day funding
Mr Morgan has requested money towards his project for Project Days. His request was a week late, but in his defence, he was very busy organising the Haiti Bowling event, and he completely overlooked the emails. In light of this, it was agreed by vote, that 100 Euros be given to his project. However, it was pointed out that under normal circumstances, this would not have been possible as the deadline was given in order to treat every request fairly within the limited budget of the PA.

Kangaroo Maths Competition.
It was confirmed that the 352.45 Euros will be given in support of the Kangaroo maths competition 2010.

Mathletics GS
The PA will support the Mathletics project for the Grundschule by contributing 214 Euros towards the registration fee.

Book Prizes for OS students
Unfortunately there has been a very poor response for the awarding of book prizes to OS students. The deadline for the submission of winners has past leaving very little time to order the books. The decision for the book prize giving event will be taken next week.

Karlsruhe Rally.
The French Section parents have requested funding for a rally being held in Karslruhe. This event has been held now for 10 years and involves the whole of the French community in KA. There are usually around 130 participants. After discussion is was agreed that the PA was unable to support this event because it was not felt that this was something for the students of ESK. PA Budget is limited, and it was pointed out that money should be allocated for the support and promotion of the school community.

OS Educational Council
The Oberschule Educational Council is next week. Cindy requested any points to be urgently passed to her as she has to submit them on Thursday morning (15th April). Most of the points already on the list have been taken from those issues raised at the last Parent Class rep and PA Committee meetings. (please refer to meeting report on the PA website).
Lost hours (teacher absenteeism)
Issues arising with BAC choices for the French section class 5
Late information from school
School policies (bullying etc)
Maths’ calculator
Book lists for next year
School lockers
Role of pupil class reps
Choices for class 3 and 6 school trips

Category 3 School fees.
Mrs Christmann, the Secretary General of the European Schools, has informed the school of the category 3 fees for next school year. The Committee found it difficult to understand the numbers given in light of what was written in the text of the letter. Cindy was charged with requesting that Mr Hoyem explain the figures.

The meeting was brought to a close by Cindy van Velzen.

Present:Cindy van Velzen, Barbara Bellosa, Barbara Weiner, Debjani Basu, Letizia Dalle Donne, Anne Sierig, Anja Bühner, Madeleine Kock, Kevin Barber, Sarah Winthrop.