My name is Gail Y. Paskind and I am the President of Niles North Fine Arts Parents (at www.nnfap.org) and also a Board member of the Parent Advisory Council-NNPAC (at https://sites.google.com/a/d219.org/parent-advisory-council---pac/) . I am contacting you regarding our upcoming event; the Freshman Activities and Curriculum Night on Tuesday, February 5th, 2013 at 6:30pm. We are interested in reaching out to all our feeder schools who have incoming students to Niles North High School. We are asking all the 8th grade parents to stop by our tables that evening so they can learn how to become more involved in their student's life at the high school. Since Old Orchard Junior High has the largest number of fine arts students in their programs coming to Niles North, and the only orchestra, we want to welcome the students and parents as they continue their interests. Our fine arts teachers do a wonderful job with the Junior High schools already, and we are the organization that supports their efforts and endeavors.
The Parent Advisory Council has monthly meetings with Principal Dr. McTague and guest speakers on vital topics such as district curriculum and policies, navigating your student's education and the numerous activities the students are engaged in. Both parents and students benefit greatly from being informed and involved. This year, we planned a Town Hall meeting with district administration about potential District 219 programming changes and sponsored a speaker from the Anti-Defamation League who presented Anti-Bias Training to parents to go hand-in-hand with the Freshman NAMES assembly.
Parents are so often influential in their students' early choices, and we'd like them to know there are parent places where they have a voice, can learn more about "how things work" and meet other parents in our community.