The Cottonwood Valley Charter School (CVCS) Parent Association (PA) is a self-governing volunteer group comprising all parents/guardians of CVCS students. The CVCSPA is committed to fostering the academic, social, and emotional development of CVCS students by working to build and maintain partnerships with the CVCS Governing Council and with the school's administration.
The primary purpose of the CVCSPA is to support the school community, including teachers, administration, students, and parents. This includes, but is not limited to, recruiting parent assistance for school activities, organizing events to show parents' appreciation of the CVCS faculty and administration, and promoting communication between parents and other members of the CVCS community by providing a welcoming forum for the exchange of information and feedback.
The CVCSPA has no membership dues. Regular meetings are held when school is in session, on the first Wednesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. in the CVCS multi-purpose room. Meetings are very informal, to provide a comfortable setting for questions and discussion. Meetings generally last about an hour and include updates on what's happening at school as well as a focus topic which will be announced in advance. A member of the CVCS Governing Council is designated as the PA liaison and attends meetings regularly to improve communication between the Governing Council and parents at large.
A preliminary list of tasks appropriate for the Parent Association
was developed at the March
2005 meeting and was extensively revised in 2006 to
clarify which items are tasks the
Parent Association could usefully carry out, and which are interests
that parents have expressed. Please review the
mission and tasks document and
send your comments to the
CVCS Webmaster.
Agendas and, where available, Notes from Parent Association meetings
2011-2012
September 7, 2011 (Testing results and plans for current-year assessment)
2010-2011
April 6, 2011 (USES AND ABUSES OF EDUCATIONAL TESTING - Dr. Robert Cormack, Dr. Mark Samuels)
(March meeting unable to proceed due to equipment problems)
(February meeting cancelled due to snow)
(No January meeting; school holidays)
December 1, 2010 (SPECIALTY CHARTER HIGH SCHOOL CHOICES)
November 3, 2010 (MATH NIGHT)
(No October meeting - parent-teacher conference day)
September 1, 2010 (Testing results and plans for current-year assessment)
2009-2010
(No May meeting)
April 8, 2010 (Facilities update with multi-purpose building project architect)
(No March meeting)
February 3, 2010 (Technology resources at CVCS, including new grant funding)
(No December or January meetings)
November 4, 2009 (Preparing for Fall Festival)
October 7, 2009 (Testing results, plans, new report card layouts)
September 2, 2009 (Review of parent survey results, alternative school calendars, Q&A)
2008-2009
April 29, 2009 (The Development of Thinking in Children - Dr. Mark Samuels)
April 1, 2009 (Bike Safety - Wes Young)
(No March meeting)
February 4, 2009 (Best Practices in Math - Barbara Trujillo)
(No January meeting; school holidays)
December 3, 2008 (Charter renewal: goals, objectives, comments & future ideas)
(No November meeting; fall break)
October 1, 2008 (After-school program and school discipline guidelines and procedures)
September 3, 2008 (Developing an effective Personal Learning Plan; facilities update; feedback on new student agenda books)
2007-2008
May 6, 2008 (Proposed calendar change for 2008-2009; facilities update; Fine Arts program review)
April 2, 2008 (Parent involvement at CVCS; review of draft Family-School Compact document)
March 5, 2008 (New Mexico Standards-Based testing, fledgeling local educational resource guide)
February 6, 2008 (External "character-building" programs at CVCS)
(No January meeting; school holidays)
December 5, 2007 (Karin Williams, CVCS Administrator, Q&A)
November 7, 2007 (Kim King-Wrenn, GC Vice-President, on school projets and priorities; Nancy Engler, CVCS middle-school teacher, on understanding your child's standardized-testing scores)
October 3, 2007 (Don Weinkauf, CVCS Facilities Committee, with an update on planning for permanent facilities)
September 5, 2007 (An evening with Ms. Karin Williams, our new Administrator)
2006-2007
May 7, 2007 (SPECIAL MEETING: Mary Nutt and parents: review of the proposed dress policy for next year, and of the Spanish program at CVCS)
May 1, 2007 (Mary Cox, CVCS Business Manager, on the CVCS budget for next year; and Mary Nutt, CVCS Administrator, on the CVCS homeschooling policy)
April 3, 2007: Meeting replaced by a "Meet the Administrator Candidates" potluck dinner and conversation evening
March 6, 2007 (Mary Nutt, CVCS Administrator, and Richard Sonnenfeld, GC President, on the role of the Administrator and the search procedure)
February 6, 2007 (Jim Shepherd, Governing Council community member and Facilties Committee chair, and Kim King-Wrenn, GC parent member, with a facilities update)
(No January meeting; school holidays)
December 5, 2006 (Dr. Lisa Grover, Executive Director, NM Coalition for Charter Schools, on facilities funding options for charter schools)
November 7, 2006 (Jack Hibbs, CVCS PE teacher, on the PE program and NM state Health & Wellness curriculum content requirements)
October 3, 2006 (Richard Sonnenfeld, CVCS Governing Council President); Richard's very useful slides are also available [1.4MB PDF]
September 5, 2006 (An evening with the CVCS Administrator)
2005-2006
May 2, 2006 (Association activities and organization)
April 4, 2006 (CVCS Library resources)
March 7, 2006 (revised dress policy and other topics)
February 7, 2006 (dress policy review)
(No January meeting; school holidays)
December 6, 2005 (Spanish program)
November 2, 2005 (Bullying and Gifted programs)
October 5, 2005 (PLPs)
September 7, 2005 (testing results and curriculum changes)
2004-2005