Parents' Representatives' Typical Tasks
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- Published: 01 March 2011 01 March 2011
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During the first class parent meeting organized by the school at the beginning of each school year, the parents of each class elect among themselves a Class Representative and a Deputy Class Representative. This is in accordance with the School Statutes.
The following is a summary of the typical tasks of the Class Representative. It is intended as a guide line in order to clarify the expectations of the role. It is designed to be a helpful aid to new and current Class Representatives, other parents, teachers and the School Administration.
It is not intended as a list of binding rules, rather more, a framework in which to operate.
Procedure in the first class parent meeting of the year:
2 parents are elected as Class Representative and Deputy Class representative by majority of the parents present in the meeting. The relevant protocol provided by the class teacher is signed by all parents present and is subsequently handed back to the class teacher. The Class Representatives will later share out the various tasks according to their interests or skills.
At this first meeting, money is collected from every family for the class fund, this is usually around 50 Euro per child. This money is managed by the Class Representatives and used towards expenses incurred by the class such as outings, class purchases or presents. (This is a common practice in the primary level but happens less in the secondary level due to the mix of classes, lessons and teachers).
Family addresses, telephone numbers and e- mail addresses are collected for later circulation amongst the class. Some Class Representatives also include the children’s birthdays.
Class teachers will inform the Administration of the e-mail addresses of their Class Representatives. The school Administration establishes a contact list of Class Representatives. This contact list is also sent to the Parents Association (PA) for the dissemination of information amongst the school community.
Main Tasks of Class Representative:
The Class Representative network is the channel through which information is shared. Because of the close contact between the Class Representative and their class, the contact information collected on a local level is often more accurate than that held by the Administration, for this reason, the local Class Representative information network is key to the process of speedy and effective communication amongst the school community.
The Class Representative will gather, update and circulate the contact details of their class families amongst their class and with the class teacher. Class parents are encouraged to inform the Representative if there are any changes to their contact details. (The Class Teacher may also use the e- mail list gathered for the purposes of their own direct communication with their class.)
Class Representatives forward e-mails sent by PA and School Administration to the parents of their class as and when requested.
The Class Representative may organize social events in order to foster good contact between families. They may also choose to compile an “available to play” table which shows who is around and when. This has been very useful in the past to facilitate social interaction during the long summer holidays.
The Class Representative may choose to meet with teachers individually to get to know them and foster cooperation in case there is an important question to discuss during the course of the year.
The Class Representative is not expected to represent families on an individual level, concerning problems in relation to the school or an individual teacher. However, the Class Representative should be prepared to defuse potential problems and mediate between the class and school or teachers, should the situation arise. The main focus is to create an atmosphere of cooperation.
The Class Representative represents the class if there is a matter which affects the class as a whole. He/she may represent the views of the majority of the families in a constructive and objective way. To this end, a Class Representative, before making contact with the School on any important matter, is advised to get in contact with all families concerned. Any Correspondence they intend to send to a teacher or the School Direction on behalf of the parents should be approved by all parents.
The Class representative should inform the representative of the Section Pedagogical committee when they are not able to resolve important problems of a pedagogical nature.
The Class Representative can also contact the Parents’ Association on any policy, teaching, administrative or social matter which has not been possible to sort out at class or section level. Likewise, it is the role of of the Parents’ Association to provide, to the best of its ability, information and support to Class Representatives and families as and when it is able.
Note: A European School is not a self-governing body. It comes under a system run by the Board of Governors of the European schools, the majority of its teachers are public servants who are detached by the national authorities to serve in a European School. The host countries are responsible for providing and maintenance of buildings infrastructure. Consequently, many important matters affecting each School are not decided individually at the local level.
The Parents’ Association is a member of Interparents, the umbrella organization of the Parents’ Associations of all European Schools, which sets the Parents’ Associations’ policy on matters of common interest and makes proposals to the Board of Governors and its various working groups. Parent Class Representatives are the first link in the chain to encourage parents into making a positive contribution to life at the school.
Parking at ESF
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- Published: 01 March 2011 01 March 2011
- Hits: 13610 13610
After parking at the ESF has become more and more unruly and traffic highly dangerous for the children, the school has issued new rules for parking in December 2008. Parents have asked the Parents’ Association for a clarification, which we try to give here.
The PA was consulted by the school direction on how to address issues related to bad behaviour in the schools’ parking areas. This is following several complaints mainly from parents directly to the school and the school security.
Most problems relate to the parking of cars for the full day (which has never been allowed, even if tolerated) and to the lack of respect by some parents towards fellow parents and towards children’s safety during the drop-off and pick-up times. With the growing population of students and disproportionate growing number of complaints, and after looking at different possible solutions the PA agreed to the introduction of a parking permit.
Since this system is also used by non-members plus not all members necessarily park at the school, the PA could not underwrite it; therefore the cost of producing the permits has to be borne by those who need it. Considering the different options with respect to continued use of the parking area and extra costs of employing persons to control the parking (more than currently done by security/hausmeisters), the permit was seen as the compromise solution. It should be recognised that the parking area was never designed as a ‘Park and Ride’ system that some believe it should be. It is for persons to park whilst conducting business in the school, e.g. meetings between parents and teachers.
The reasons for the school to introduce the parking permits include:
1) Concerning the questionable behaviour of some users of the ESF parking facilities: In order to get a grip on unwanted situations, we need to know who these persons are, by registering them. The system with parking permits has proven to be helpful for that purpose in other schools.
2) The aim of the school is to bring the message across that it is not a right with an open ending to park at the ESF premises.
3) The ESF want to be able to control who uses the parking and for what purposes. In this respect, for parents who use the ESF parking for the whole day, will be warned first and finally will lose their permit to park when they would continue this bad habit. In addition it is possible that persons not connected to the ESF are also taking advantage of the current situation.
4) The ESF would like to underline that their objectives are in fact identical with the majority of parents and hope to improve the parking situation by this measure, which is certainly not meant as a ‘punishment’ for parents who behave in a correct manner; on the contrary, it enables the school to identify the persons who profit from their premises in an anti-social way.
Questions and Answers:
Q. We have a baby-sitter or relative who regularly picks-up or drops off our child, can we ask for an additional permit?
A. The 2 permit per family limit has already been lifted as long as it is known for what purpose the additional permit is needed.
Q. If we change the car and therefore the license number, do we need to buy a new permit?
A. No. The permit will have a number but the registration number is not included in the permit, therefore if you change your car(s) simply inform the security office who will update their records.
Q. From where do we buy the permit?
A. Directly from ESF Security in the Secondary Building.
Q. Do I need to organize a permit for the taxi/minibus which takes my kids to school?
A. No
Public transport
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- Published: 22 February 2011 22 February 2011
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Public Transport
The area in which our school is located is served by the bus lines 72 and 73, as well as the U1 and U9 at the Nordwestzentrum U-Bahnhof or the U7 at the Hausen U-Bahnhof.
Bus 72 goes from Rödelheim Bahnhof to the Nordwestzentrum, via Hausen and Praunheim. It stops directly in front of the school at Praunheimer Weg/Schulzentrum.
Bus 73 goes from Westbahnhof to the Nordwestzentrum, also via Hausen and Praunheim. It also stops directly in front of the school at Praunheimer Weg/Schulzentrum.
The U1 goes from the Nordwestzentrum to Ginnheim in one direction, and the U1 and U9 go to Südbahnhof (via Willy-Brandt-Platz) and Nieder-Eschbach in the other direction. It connects to both Bus 72 and 73. The walk from Nordwestzentrum to the school is about 10 minutes through a pedestrian zone and can be easily managed by older students. Especially in the afternoon it is a good and flexible alternative.
The U7 goes from Hausen to Enkheim, via the Alte Oper and Hauptwache. It connects to both Bus 72 and 73.
The Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV) can help you with preparing your specific journey. Please contact RMV for further details.
Canteen
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- Published: 25 February 2011 25 February 2011
- Hits: 24313 24313
Please note that the canteen is not organized by the Parents’ Association. However, a Board member participates in the regular meetings of the Canteen Committee which discusses canteen issues. For general comments to make about the food or the organisation, please email canteen@esfparents.org.
The Canteen Committee usually meets twice per calendar year, and the following groups are represented:
- The school by its directors
- The caterer
- The teachers (Primary and Secondary)
- The Parent Association
- The students and
- The administrative staff
The topics to be discussed are distributed in an agenda beforehand. Among others quality control, news, problems, and a general exchange take place.
The parents have the opportunity to submit proposals.
Since the 2013/14 school year the school has a new caterer, Menüpartner. If you have any specific questions about the canteen or menus, please contact them via email under service@menuepartner.de. The school are not able to help you with such questions.
Registration information can be found on the school website.
You can login to the ordering system here or you can use their application for smartphones Bestell-App
Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dedie.skitbs.mobile
Apple: https://apps.apple.com/de/app/bestell-app/id1534534856
History
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- Published: 22 February 2011 22 February 2011
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Transport to the ESF: a story that goes a long way back
Although a first schoolbus line only opened in September 2011, the PA had been consequent in the past in the area of common transportation. We wished to recapitulate here the heritage and the Parents’ Association efforts to address this issue so far.
Since its creation, the Parents’ Association has actively tried to address the very important issue of everyday travel to and from the school. Parents of older children would remember the shuttle bus, which used to run from the ECB to the school in the mornings. Unfortunately, this initiative proved to be non viable financially and had to be abandoned, because it resulted in sizeable deficits for the association, which was the transporter’s legal counterpart.
In 2007, the association circulated a questionnaire among parents, in an attempt to test the ground for the creation of a school bus network operated by a service provider who would enter into contracts directly with interested families, whereas the Parents’ Association would play a facilitation and co-ordination role.
Unfortunately, this first attempt failed due to various reasons. The three interacting factors, which prohibit the operation of a fully-fledged school bus network for ESF, are small numbers, lack of interest from local service providers and high prices.
The PA decided to give common transportation another try in 2010 with the aim to set up a school bus service in 2011. A review of the systems set-up in other international schools in Frankfurt and Karlsruhe was conducted to gain from their experience.
As a conclusion of an initial phase study, in which the PA was contacting various bus companies to investigate their interest, all parents were invited to a public presentation on 24/03/2011 to summarise the current status at the ESF, review what is implemented in other schools and propose a number of immediate and mid-term solutions for the ESF. The presentation was followed by constructive discussions with the parents present on that evening and with the directors of the primary and secondary schools. Both the presentation and the discussions are made available for those interested here.
Based on the population density of the PA members in the Frankfurt area, four bus lines were established for which, in a second step, the PA sent out registrations of interest to evaluate how many parents would be interested in using the school bus service. Two lines appeared viable (lines A and C) and the bus companies were asked to dimension their offers accordingly. The actual registration forms were made available to parents and the conversion rate was such that we could already start a morning service on the line A in September 2011. The interest for other journeys and routes is being monitored in order to operate any new bus line as soon as the critical mass is reached.