Midtown Parents

Please join us for an informal playground meet-up and spring garden cleanup at the Mount Royal School this Saturday, March 24 around 10 a.m. Bring your kids and gardening gloves and chat with other parents interested in supporting walkable public schools. Rakes and hoes might be handy too!

Hope to see you there!

Please join us for our monthly Midtown Parents meeting, to be held on Thursday, March 15th from 8-9:30 PM.  The agenda will include planning for our ongoing Greening and Healthy Eating projects, but is not limited to those issues.  We are particularly interested in hearing from folks new to the group who might be interested in leading or supporting any effort they feel passionate about.  E-mail us at midtown.mountroyal (at) gmail.com for meeting location info.

Please join us at the Mount Royal School’s monthly School Family Council meeting, this Wednesday, March 7th from 4-5 pm in the school’s library.

Monthly SFC meetings provide community members an opportunity to learn more about what’s happening at the school, meet the principal and other teachers, as well as provide input into future school planning.

Anyone interested in connecting up with other Midtown Parents members before the meeting should email us at midtown.mountroyal (at) gmail.com.

Interesting article in this week’s New York Times, about the higher percentage of affluent, foreign-born parents who choose to send their children to public school, rather than private schools in New York City.

“In interviews, affluent foreign-born New Yorkers said that like all conscientious parents, they weighed various criteria in choosing schools, including quality, cost and location. But many said they were also swayed by the greater ethnic and economic diversity of the public schools. Some said that as immigrants, they had learned to navigate different cultures — a skill they wanted to imbue in their children.

“When they go to public school, they’re in a whole new world, a whole world of different people and different values, which is what the world is like,” said Lyn Bollen, who grew up in Birmingham, England, and attended — and taught at — state-run schools. “Shielding them from that is doing them a disservice.”

See the link below for a flyer for the first public workshop/forum for the Choice Neighborhoods planning initiative.  Choice Neighborhoods is a collaboration between Jubilee Baltimore and the central west Baltimore communities of Madison Park, Bolton Hill, Eutaw Place, Reservoir Hill, Druid Heights and Upton.  Jubilee Baltimore was awarded a $213,000 grant from HUD to hire an urban planning firm to help create a strategic vision to re-weave our neighborhoods.  The firm is working with community stakeholders to help us design a plan for better housing, improved education, adequate neighborhood retail, and reduced crime and vacancy.  The finished plan will be submitted to the Baltimore City Planning Commission for adoption, making this plan the guide for the next generation of public and private investments in this important part of Baltimore.

As residents interested in strengthening public school options in our neighborhoods, this planning process presents a critical opportunity to share our ideas for viable, vibrant and sustainable schools.  I hope you will join us THIS THURSDAY, 2/23 for the first of three public workshops designed to gain input on the core themes of the Choice Neighborhoods planning initiative: People, Housing, and Neighborhoods. This meeting will focus on residential needs, workforce development, and education strategies.

Refreshments will be served, and childcare assistance will be provided.

6:00pm–8:00pm
AUDITORIUM OF EUTAW-MARSHBURN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL | 1624 EUTAW PLACE

More info about Choice Neighborhoods here.

Workshop Flyer (1)

UPDATE 2/8/12: February meeting has been canceled.  Next meeting is scheduled for March 14th from 4-5.  

All are welcome to attend the February School Family Council meeting at the Mount Royal School.  On the agenda this month: School Performance Plan, State of the School, Next Steps.  If you are interested in connecting up with other Bolton Hill/Mount Vernon parents before the meeting, e-mail us at midtown.mountroyal (at) gmail.com.

Midtown Parents is hosting a dessert potluck this Thursday, January 26th, at 8pm for parents in Reservoir Hill/Bolton Hill/Mt. Vernon who are interested in supporting and strengthening public school options in their neighborhoods. The potluck will be an opportunity to meet other public school minded parents and brainstorm about how to energize neighborhood schools. Email Elizabeth Kennedy: ekenned@gmail.com if you would like to receive the evite.