January 15, 2009

PTA Meeting

Attending:

John Wong, Jim Thirtyacre, MJ Call, Brad Kaplan, John Olden, Gary Goldsborough, David McIlhenny, Meserve Platt, Robyn Lipsky, Nancy Sur

Absent:

Brad Kaplan, Cari Gennarelli, John Rothmann

Amanda Block: Administrative rep

Meeting called to order at 6:40pm

PRESIDENT’S NOTE

• John Wong announced that the school set a record for PTA membership this year.

-asked about additional opportunities to sign up members, possibly considering language barriers among some parents

-noted that there is a “silent minority” who does not participate at all

-several parents noted that there was some confusion as to what checks were for which purposes, e.g., classroom funds vs PTA funds etc., and requested that the solicitation letter be made even clearer in the future

Minutes from November read by Nancy Sur, Meserve Platt moved to approve, John Olden seconded, approved unanimously.

ADMINISTRATOR’S REPORT Amanda Block
• Things are going smoothly thus far this year, generally calm at both campuses.

• Busy tour season, at least 70 families a week touring Madison Campus, and the District is reporting a high level of Kindergarten applications in general

•Working to help 8^th graders and 8^th grade families negotiate the high school applications process

• New technology grant has been used to obtain a new color printer and will be used additionally to purchase document cameras, laptops for teachers, and projectors

• Green schoolyard plan is out to bid by District

• December’s Songfest was a big success

• Balanced scorecard continues progress – staff working on goals of access and equity and closing the achievement gap in professional development

• Staff planned to watch Inaugural during professional development day on Jan 20

• Several students have taken on community service projects – Henry Begler collected books for Mission Housing Center, Middle schoolers are tutoring in the elementary school classrooms. Gabe Gennarelli, Sophia Weiss and Abby Fuchs ran a toy drive across both campuses.

• Arts Education project in swing at Madison. Artist-in-residence program successfully completed.

• Hired crossing guard for Scott campus who was previously the noontime monitor at Madison, and fortunately, she has brought in a friend to replace her as noontime monitor at Madison.

• Jordan Hymowitz asked whether the school year would be starting earlier in coming years. Ms. Block noted that there is a strong suggestion coming from the District that school will open significantly earlier (early August), accompanied by a 3-week winter holiday break. She encouraged parents to address the school board if they have objections. John Wong encouraged parents to use the Google Groups board to rally support and air pros and cons.

SSC REPORT, Susan Burkhardt

• SSC has looked at social justice goals and has tried to break them down into more measurable, concrete action items for implementation at CL.

• SSC is moving towards a 3-year site plan, rather than a new plan every year, and will focus on measuring year to year progress.

• Two dates shared for community meetings:

- January 28^th (firm) 5:30-7:30

- March 26 (to be confirmed) 5:30-7:30

Meetings to get input from community on the SSC plan. All are encouraged to attend. Community input has been strongly included in the plan.

TREASURER’S REPORT, Dave McIlhenny

• PTA membership is above last year, and above budget, at $76K so far (vs. $45K last year), with additional installment payments to come.

• Gift cards program and fall fundraiser are on target.

• $140K in the bank currently, but next big income doesn’t come till Auction in March. $41K more income so far than last year, expenses down $7.3K.

• Noted that, given economic conditions, need to hold costs down as much as possible. $100K additional income needed for 2008-9, with Auction, MayFair and a Book Fair yet to go.

• John Wong noted that we need to be prepared to adjust expenses based on Auction results, which may be down significantly due to the economy and job losses.

AUCTION REPORT, M.J. Call

• Approximately $50K in donations thus far, slightly ahead of last year at this time.

• Phone bank team calling donors we haven’t heard from.

• Auction IT team ramping up.

• Evites will be used to the extent possible this year, to save invitation printing costs. Parents who have not provided an email address will be identified by room parents and will receive paper invitation.

• Cynthia Hogan has procured a professional auctioneer from Butterfield’s, working pro bono.

• There will not be a band this year, in order to cut expenses.

• We have a professional bar manager who will also work pro bono.

• Laurie Nelson is heading up the Wine Raffle and is seeking bottle donations from all parents.

• Quilt prints will be offered again, one of each quilt.

• Tickets will be $50, same as last year, includes dinner.

• Will open Silent Auction 30 minutes earlier than last year, to allow more bidding time.

• Goal is to get entire catalog online 2 weeks prior to Auction.

• Giving Tree will be done again.

• Looking at online bidding prior to Auction.

• 8^th graders are providing babysitting services.

• Jordan Hymowitz made a suggestion to Amanda to encourage teachers to create saleable events, e.g., student/teacher outings, etc.

• MJ noted that next year’s Quilt chairperson needs to be identified.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Technology, Vic D’Angelo

• School has received color laser printer and 21 new laptops from the District. This brings our total to 67 laptops. However, some machines are on their 4^th year and will need to be replaced..

MISCELLANEOUS

• John Wong noted that there should be an effort to bring new parents onto the Board in some of the key spots so that they are familiar with Board procedures, etc.

NEW BUSINESS
• Question was raised as to whether we have a Mayfair chairperson for this year. Last year Mylie and Aleeta ran Mayfair

• A question was raised asking if the PTA can support a District policy of no homework over winter break. Ms Block thought that the request should be handled by Mr. Hack and herself.

• A suggestion was made by Susan Burkhardt to have a separate PTA liaison for each classroom to be signed up at Back To School Night, in order to get broader PTA participation.

• Several Kindergarten parents attending the meeting felt that things were going well thus far, but asked that the calls to action for volunteers be more specific and provide more background information (e.g., what is Mayfair?)

Nancy S. called to adjourn the meeting at 8:00pm

Jim Thirtyacre seconded. Meeting adjourned at 8:00pm.