The second “Friends of Pitisuksa” meeting was held on November 20 at 3 pm. Board members and teachers were invited to attend the meeting. The meeting was attended by: Jeffrey Clair, Kn. Chayawat (Big), Jan and Ellen Smit, Ester and Chris Hoagland, Noi Wiriyasorot, Charles Gardener, Pongrat Chatchawarat, Jenli Phisitkul, Asucena Cohen, Harry Kievits, Willem van Benthum, Piyanoot Chairat, Mark de Beer, Anthony Lippmann, Richard Chase, Molly McKeithen, Parichat Boonjesne, Ron Barnett, Todd Berry, Anna Timmer, Yuliya Naumkina, Joh Giteja, Kanotwan Chaiwanichkul, Matthis Favoli, Jullapong Achalapong, Hans Verschuur, Kessuda Chatayanondh (Kade) (I apologize in advance for any misspellings or omissions. jc)
The meeting started with a brief introduction of Board Members who were present including Big, Esther, Champoo, Kade, Harry and Oy.
The first question asked was how a board could best help the school and teachers. Kroo Anna and Kroo Harry mentioned that it would help with dialog between the school and parents and seemed enthusiastic about the idea. There was much discussion about the idea.
Chris Hoagland mentioned that Board Members were wearing many hats that could potentially cause problems. For example it would be difficult for a board rep to parent rep and a foundation rep.
Kn. Oy briefly talked about the difference between the school board and the foundation. For the foundation there are five board members, Kn. Anan, Kn. Pattana, Kn. Chatayanondh, Kn. Susuma and Kn Som. Of the five, four are currently board members as well (except for Kn. Susuma.)
In order to create a flow of information from the parent group to the administration, two different ideas were discussed. The first was “what if most parents did not want ice cream sold on school grounds?” and the second was “what if parents wanted Chinese to be taught daily in the classroom?” These questions were posed to the board in order to understand the decision making process. Regarding ice cream it was determined that Kn. Oy would be responsible for a small issue like that. Regarding teaching Chinese in class it would require the board to discuss the issue after reviewing Thai laws, the financial requirements and the curriculum. Although technically speaking a majority vote would be enough pass an item Kn. Champoo volunteered that a simple majority typically was not enough as board members tried to reach a consensus before passing an item.
There was also consensus that more common or smaller problems/issues that only concern one child or its parents should be solved in a more direct way with teacher or school administration. But for more general issues that concern more parents a parent association will be a very helpful body to address parent’s wishes or concerns to the school administration and school board.
It also enables to survey whether a majority of the parents share the same opinion about an issue and it offers a structured way of communications between parents, teachers and school administration/board in both ways.
In the meeting it was generally agreed upon that the parent group needed to define itself. A steering committee to created for this purpose. The following volunteered to join the steering committee: Dr. Jullapong, Marc de Beer, Molly McKeithen, Nae, Charles Gardener, Richard Chase, Jeffrey Clair, Jenli Phisitkul and Willem van Benthum. The steering committee is working on the bylaws and will meet next Wed. to discuss ideas.
Regarding the pitisuksa.blogspot.com weblog, it was agreed upon that the blog should be private (i.e. only members have access to it) and whoever makes comments has to use their real name.
