We have an excellent first pass of a data download from the Ed Center. Arnold Sodder is working to organize the data so that we can contact families to verify data, gather email information, and create a better database structure going forward.

The www.NorthPTSO.org site is running in Drupal?. We are working to better organize the site. The new Newton North site seems to have a direct feed for North PTSO news.

The collaboration between the NPS? and PTSO has been developing. Teachers have identified two students who are interested in working with the PTSO for database development and Drupal models. PTSO is exploring the legal ramifications for supporting work study positions.

I am working with Lisa Cohen on developing the North PTSO web site with a google calendar and Constant Contact email signup. We are missing the WYSIYG editor which we need badly. We got the Google calendar in there. Take a look and let us know what you think. I have a bunch of Word docs for content, many of which are in table format. What is the best way to import that content into Druple? Do you do a Save as in Word? Please advise. Thank you.

I had a great conversation with my friend Jenny Gamson Jenny_Gamson@Newton.K12.ma.us who is the Executive Director of the Newton Child Care Commission. http://www.ci.newton.ma.us/child/index.htm 

The Child Care Commission is one of those hidden gems which could benefit from the organization of a community portal. Although Jenny claims not be be very technical, she is intrigued by the concept and would like to hear more.

 She has some excellent suggestions for potentially useful contacts at City Hall and I welcome her to the group.

In order to adopt the SCI model for a community portal, it will be necessary to recruit Local Leadership. Then Newton can craft a model which would suit the needs of our unique commumity. For example, one of the products of the portal would be a community guide. It is possible that by using one of the existing Newton Community guides could be produced in a more efficient manner using the technology afforded with the new portal system along with the technical support offered by the SCI team. All this can be shaped by the Local Leadership.

See the following web page for more information about what SCI has to offer.

SCI Network Communities

February 29, 2008

www.socialcapitalinc.org

These are my notes for the meeting embedded with my editorial comments.

The site now has a glossary which is slowly getting populated with terminology. Once a term has been entered into the glossary, it is automatically marked with a small red question mark throughout the site. If the user hovers over that symbol with the mouse, the definition pop's up.

In the FAQ's section, there is some overlapping definitions which are more geared toward how to use the content item.