Marylhurst Early Childhood Center

Archive for the ‘News from the Board’ Category

Hello MECC Families,

Thank you to all of you who took time out of your busy schedules to complete our community surveys this year! Almost 70% of our families completed the survey; and, the results were helpful and informative. Overall, we found out that everyone really loves this preschool and being part of our community is important to all of us! Most of you choose MECC because of our staff and faculty as well as referrals, so keep getting the word out and invite prospective families to campus for a visit.

We also heard your concerns and we’re working to address them. For example, we understand that our facilities need to be updated – that’s why we’ve worked so hard this year to have work parties and raise money through our paddle raiser at our auction to build a more beautiful, usable, sustainable, outdoor area for our children. We will keep working on our facilities as time and finances allow.

Also, parents raised a point about MECC’s need to provide extended care to meet the needs of families who do not have child-care before and after school. We hear you! Sheila is working hard with the staff and board to create an option that is both genuine to MECC and affordable for our families. Please reserve your extended care spot by filling out your registration forms you received in the mail last week, or talk to Linda about obtaining a form.

Finally, people who took part in our enrichment programs loved them, but the schedule was not always conducive to attending. Thanks for letting us know this – we will work hard in the future to make attending more possible. However, for the first year of enrichment in some time, we feel Teacher Dana was a huge success!

We will continue to author and distribute a spring survey and hope to have even more participation next year. Again, thanks to all of you who took time to complete this survey. 

On another note, the MECC Board is working hard to wrap up our year as well! Kim Hill (mother of Liam, Bears) is taking over next fall for Teresa Mihalik (mother of Lauren, Frogs) in the role of Vice President on the Board. We are so fortunate to have Kim and yet very sad to lose the Mihalik Family at our school. Teresa Mihalik has been instrumental in moving the MECC Board forward and critical to the financial underpinnings that allow our school to operate so seamlessly. We will miss her incredibly. Thank you Teresa! Your hard work and dedication have not gone unnoticed.

That’s it for this spring! As usual, do not hesitate to contact me or any other board member if you have questions about the board or the school. Hope to see you all at the Ice Cream Social on June 16!

Warmly,

Amy Stoeber,   MECC Board President

Hello MECC Families,

I want to begin by congratulating our auction committee, our school, our staff and all of you for an incredibly successful auction. As many of you know, our school auction is our biggest fund raiser and how our school operates depends on this event. We increased our attendance by almost 50% and had one of our most successful paddle raisers in history! Thank you so much for your support.

Two other topics also need to be addressed and your participation is needed in the upcoming weeks. The first event is our spring survey and the second opportunity is upcoming nominations for board positions.

Spring Survey

The first upcoming event is our school’s spring survey. This survey is a board sponsored survey, and it is how we learn about your perceptions of how our school is running. Your feedback is anonymous, critical, and highly sought after. The board has not conducted a survey in several years and we are attempting to increase our communication this year – the survey is one way we can hear from you as well. Please find the link to the survey in this newsletter. If you have already completed the survey, many thanks to you. If you have not, please complete the survey by April 15. We truly look forward to your feedback.

Board Nominations

Board nominations represent the second upcoming opportunity to get involved with MECC. Board nomination forms will be placed in your cubbies the week after spring break. Board nominations are open to the entire MECC community – we welcome any person to apply or to nominate an individual in the MECC community or the community at large to serve on our board. More information will be included in the nomination forms, but in the meantime, I encourage all of you to begin thinking of serving on the MECC board, or nominating someone else to be on the board. Serving on the MECC board is a gift to our community and a great way to serve our wonderful school.

As always, please do not hesitate to contact me or any board member with questions you may have.

Warmly,

Amy Stoeber,   MECC Board President