"We’ve done amazing events and activities to keep in school despite the pandemic”

DIXON, CA (MPG) - The mother and daughter stand out in their bright blue collared shirts sporting a dragonfly emblem outside a coffee shop recently as they chat about Dixon Montessori Charter School activities. Michelle Salow is approaching the end of a 2-year stint as Parent Teacher Organization President over the 450-student school that took over the former Silveyville School facilities.

“It’s been a weird year,” sighs the long-haired brunette when 9-year-old daughter, Brynlie, overrides with: “I want to be in a normal year.” Parent organizations had extra tasks this year as never before have they had to bolster teachers past the usual “Teacher Appreciation Days.” These kinds of groups have always given parents and teachers opportunities to work together to supplement and enrich the educational experience for children but this year provided challenges to that end.

“We know how hard the teachers have been working,” Michelle said. “They had long hours planning lessons, preparing ‘near-pods’ which is like a YouTube for the students to watch on their Chromebooks, and creating content for those. We asked how we can support them. We didn’t want them to burn out.” She speaks with pride over the accomplishments of the group over the past pandemic year which included a well-attended work day geared to get their school ready for students after a year of pandemic-induced absence.

In the beginning of online teaching last year, teachers did come to the group of about 25 parents and asked them to pay for online subscriptions for educational sources that would help them with teaching over computers.

“That’s what we’re here for,” Michelle said so they obliged and they also gave a donation to the school to buy more student laptops.

There were so many activities that were cancelled because of COVID-19 that the group actually saved money from not renting equipment such as snow-cone machines or jump houses for events like their Field Day and that freed up funds from the prior year’s fundraisers.

“The cookie dough fundraiser was out because of too much contact plus with some parents not working, we didn’t want them to feel obligated to make a purchase--but we still used AmazonSmile, collected box tops, did a Baskin Robbins Drive-Thru Fundraiser, the Kona Ice Fundraiser, and even the ‘Love Bug Cupcake Craft’ Fundraiser through Every Baking Moment,” she said. Even with their donations to the teachers and the laptops, they were able to leave a “safe budget” for incoming leaders who are being solicited now for next year.

Michelle talked about an unexpected benefit of using Zoom for their online meetings saying they picked up parents interested in helping who had not ever volunteered before.

“We’ve had more volunteers than any other year,” she said. It also helped that the group teamed up with Patricia Guizar of the English Learner Advisory Committee for activities since they have the same goals, Michele explained. “Both of us gained new members,” she said.

Dads were also more prone to get more involved this year most likely because of working at home arrangements. The Site Beautification Chair, Charlie Baumbach coordinates campus clean-up days and built a hand washing station for the students.

“A lot of behind-the-scenes work is making sure everything gets done. Closing down never came up at a PTO meeting,” Michelle said. She attributes that good fortune to the weekly ‘Coffee with [School] Director,’ Ben Ernest, where people voiced their concerns throughout the school year and got answers directly from him.

“Some people and students struggled and some thrived,” she said. “People were honest and it was a huge benefit.”

One other surprise benefit of leading the school PTO for Michelle is how much her daughter automatically volunteers to help. She noticed other PTO volunteer’s children also do the same.

“You can see at our PTO functions that the children of PTO volunteers are the ones out there pitching in and taking pride in what they’re doing,” she said. They are learning to serve their community by example. “But, I want the parents and grandparents to know how appreciated they are. We’ve done amazing events and activities to keep in school despite the pandemic.”

For more information on the free public school or their PTO, call Dixon Montessori Charter School at (707) 678-8953. The school is located at 355 N Almond Street in Dixon and offers pre-Kindergarten classes through 8th grade.