The Agnes Irwin School Parents’ Council
7th and 8th Grade Middle School Parent Coffee
Wednesday, January 20, 2021


The purpose of the Agnes Irwin Parents’ Council is to foster a positive spirit withing the Agnes Irwin community, and to provide financial support for education facilities, opportunities, and enrichment. The Agnes Irwin Parents’ Council communicates with the school’s administration to ensure that all activities and financial contributions support the school’s mission and create the best possible environment for all Agnes Irwin students to grow and thrive.

The meeting was held virtually using Zoom.

I. Welcome, Opening Remarks – Cintra Horn, Head of Middle School
Thank you for attending, we are halfway through our year.

II. Middle School Update
Fall overview:
Girls have done a good job adapting to this school year. They have done a great job with adapting to all the PPE, the biggest challenge is socially distancing, which is the one thing that needs a constant reminder.

Winter Service Bazaar was in December just before classes closed.
Girls did an excellent job staying in cohorts.
First time it sounded like a regular Middle School, with the excitement and giggling in the halls.
Baskets were stunning, thank you to the parents for contributing to and organizing them.
Girls were so happy to participate in something that was tradition.
About $1,700 was raised, the most since Cintra has been at Agnes Irwin, and almost double the amount from a few years ago.
We appreciate your support.

Reminders
Online etiquette
Use first and last name on all sites.
Camera on and faces on! Please make sure the camera shows your face so that the teachers can see how you are doing.
Limit distractions.
Be respectful.
Cold weather wear
Girls will be outside for snack recess and lunch recess, please make sure they are prepared with warm clothing for cold weather.

Corey Willingham, 7th and 8th Grade Dean of Students
Girls have really been a bright spot this year, a year where there have been a lot of changes to what classes look like, and our physical space changes. They take everything in stride – their optimism and positivity is great. Thank you for encouraging them to be positive and roll with the punchs.
Exams
At the end of every year in May the 7th and 8th grades sit for final exams.
Last year we did not have them since we had transitioned to online learning, so for this is their first time sitting for exams.
Teachers are starting the process to tweak the exams to match the content that we have been able to get through this year.
The exams are cumulative.
The exams may look like a project, presentation, or a traditional sit-down exam.
It is good practice for the type of exams they will sit for in Upper School.
Anxiety
Please de-escalate the stress and anxiety your daughter may feel.
Place emphasis on this being a way to show what they know, and that it is practice for upper school exams
We are working at school to de-escalate the anxiety and stress they may feel about this.

7th Grade annual field trip
Due to COVID we will not be taking our annual and traditional overnight trip to Washington DC.
We are brainstorming for a community event for the 7th grade to do together in lieu of the trip that we usually take in March.

8th Grade
Working on safe and memorable ways to celebrate the wrapping up of their Middle School experience.
Looking at Hershey Park, which is open with mask mandates.
Moving Up ceremony – also brainstorming ways to celebrate the girls ending this chapter, and possibly including parents too.

Cintra Horn, Middle School Head
Social & emotional well-being
The girls’ brains are all going under rapid transformations as they grow.
What are the impacts of a pandemic on a middle schooler’s brain?
Anxiety, new and age appropriate/typical.
Routine disruptions.
Disrupted sleep patterns.
Friendship fragility.
Missing social cues with masks on faces.
Social distancing.
Social independence from teachers and adults.
School is working to try to be sensitive to this and give them space.

Group participated in Mentimeter – an online, interactive group polling platform. Questions asked of parents were:
On a scale of 1-5, 1 being strongly disagree to 5 being strongly agree -does your daughter:
Have opportunities for privacy and freedom?
Able to maintain social connections?
Able to manage schoolwork?
Sad about cancelling trips/events?
Sleeping well?
Next slide asked to put in words about what your daughter is missing to create a word cloud.
Input from the parents showed words such as freedom, normalcy, new friends, sports, hanging out with friends, regular programming, field trips, family, group get togethers…
This helps parents to feel a little more at ease that others are seeing the same things with their daughters, that they are not isolated in these feelings.

III. Parents’ Council and Events Update
Nissa O’Mara, Parents’ Council President
Thank you all for attending today.

Nominations
If you or anyone you know of is interested in getting involved next school year, please nominate yourself/them
Email pcnominations@agnesirwin.org
There are several positions you can volunteer for – from class parent to chairing an event. You can visit the Parents’ Council tab for more information.

Erin Hinckle, Events Coordinator
Thank you to everyone who supported our virtual events in the fall.

Upcoming events will continue will be virtual.
Faculty & Staff Appreciation lunch
Mid-February
Most likely a grab and take individual mean instead of a group gathering.
We also gave the faculty and staff Amazon Gift Cards this past December to show our appreciation of how hard they are working this year to juggle the new platforms and learning/teaching environments.
rAISe
Our biggest fundraiser of the year
Usually held in the spring as a large cocktail party, sit down dinner, and auction
Working on changing this to interactive social events that people can attend virtually.
Hosting a planning get together on January 26th at 8pm. If you would like to participate in planning rAISe this year please reach out to Cathy Ferguson (cferguson@agnesirwin.org) and she can send you the link for this planning meeting.

Spring Market
Our spring shopping event of the year.
Working on switching this over to a virtual shopping event this year. More information to come.

Mimi Greenly, Middle School Coordinator
Question for Cintra from a parent:
Lockers – any idea of revisiting the opportunity to use lockers this spring?
Cintra – we do not anticipate or expect to use lockers this year at all to stay within our COVID precautions.

Thank you all for joining us today. Breakout rooms to begin with your class parents.

Please follow us on social media:
* Instagram: @AISParentsCouncil (https://www.instagram.com/aisparentscouncil/)
* Facebook: Agnes Irwin Parents' Council https://www.facebook.com/AgnesIrwinParentsCouncil/