Westside Superintendent Introduces Community Coffee Meetings

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Image courtesy of Westside Community School's Twitter

Westside Middle School students present ideas at Community Coffees.

Westside Superintendent Mike Lucas recently began hosting ‘Community Coffees,’ which are meetings hosted to bring the Westside community together and to share information regarding the district. These meetings are open-invite and parents as well as students are encouraged to attend. Each of the meetings are held at different schools around the district, and the meetings  serve as an opportunity to showcase the talented students and teachers at Westside. According to Lucas, these meetings are a great way to share information with the public.

“Community Coffees are opportunities for parents and patrons to visit a school and get an update on the school district [as well as] learn more about that school,” Lucas said. “It’s a way to get people in to our buildings and keep them updated on the great things students and staff are doing.”

Lucas said Community Coffee meetings tend to run under an hour and feature presentations from various students and staff members at the respective buildings.

“This past Thursday we had a Community Coffee at the middle school,” Lucas said. “I gave a five minute update on the different things that the district is working on, and then middle school teachers, principals and students gave presentations on things they are doing.”

Westside parent Ann Christiansen said she attended Community Coffee at the middle school on Thursday, Nov. 7. Christiansen said that she enjoyed hearing from all of the students at the meeting.

“The highlight [for me] was the student participation,” Christiansen said. “It was so much fun to hear from the students on the types of projects they are doing, the clubs, and all sorts of different activities they are involved in.”

Christiansen said she encourages parents to attend and learn more about the events occurring within the district.

“It’s a unique opportunity to interact with the students,” Christiansen said. “It’s just a fun experience to become more in touch with what’s going on at Westside.”

The next Community Coffee will take place on Tuesday, Dec. 3 at Oakdale Elementary.