November
OPR PAC MEETING
Thursday, November 16th, 2017
7:00 All Welcome - Media Center
All Parents and Guardians are invited to attend the November PAC meeting at OPR.
7 PM: Meeting Agenda
●Acceptance of the minutes from October 2017 meeting – approved unanimously
●Treasurer's Report - see attached
★PY Cash Flows
★CY Budget
○Please remember to use Amazon smile for your online purchases! This quarter we received $36, which is lower than normal
○We will be offering a link for Shutterfly shortly – they will give OPR 13% back!
○Kids In Sports are giving OPR $250
○Jimmy’s restaurant night – went ok
○Providence Bruins – fan favorite
○Photo shoot – made $1,088,50 – set a record!
○Meadowfarms – netted $2,035!
○Battle of the books will start soon! We have bought the starter kits.
○Bought the gaga ball pit door
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●Current School Business- Mr. Barner
★Blue Ribbon Award Ceremony – plague presentation, banner was hung on the entryway and will be moved indoors once the weather turns. Entire event was recorded. Link to view it will be shared shortly by Mr. Barner.
★MCAS overview of school/district/state
○The state’s average for expectations is a score of 500. The state scaled down the ratings to create additional room for growth of learning by student. MCAS starts in 3rd grade. Grade 4, for Reading, we have 56% of the students above the state average. For Math, the growth is at 45%, which is below the expected 50% and is a focus for the district.
○Grade 5 – Math is at almost 60% exceeds.
○The School, overall is a 70% for English 4th grade vs 69% for the district and 4% for the state; Math 4th – 67 OPR/64 district/48% state
○Grade 5:
■English 68/63/49; (of which 4 exceed at OPR vs 7 district)
■Math 64/61/46 (of which 13 exceeds at OPR/15 for district)
○Grade 4
■English: 70/69/48; (of which 29 exceed at OPR vs 17 in district)
■Math 67/64/49 (of which 14 exceeds at OPR/8 for district
○Grade 3 Reading: 78/71/47; Math 81/70/49
○Areas of Concentration largely line up with the District.
○DESE website under school district profiles/school assessment – is where all of this information can be accessed. Mr. Barner will email it out as a PDF for parents.
★Junior Great Books- up and running grades 2-5 – Mr. Barner is asking for some new materials. The books are outdated, and there is a $300 budget line item to purchase the Great books online.
★Student Council Update – grade 4 and 5 student meetings – are separate during lunch time. There will be a spirit day, a Dr. Suess day, and a Patriot’s Day. The schedule for the spirit days should be set shortly. So far: PJ Day 11/16; All Sports Day: Random Act of Kindness Day: date TBD; Culture Day/Famous Historian Day: date TBD; Dress As What you want to be when you grow up; Dress like a decade (past or present); Show and Tell Day – date TBD
Student council also asked about a whole book swap program; a parent career day; a mystery skype day (connecting with another class somewhere in the world – and they do 20 questions to see if they can figure out where the other class is located.
★Reading Incentive Committee Update – met last week – Grades 3-5 are doing battle of the books;
○Working out logistics based on other school observations and details. Will likely finalize program details by end of January, 2018
○K-2 program will be broken into groups of 8 and partnered with a mentor to read as a group. Students can read any book with a positive message that relates back to the book “Filling the Bucket”, and they will have to use emojis to “rate” the book. Program is called LOL days. Kickoff is January 26th, and the expectation is 3 meetings in the second half of the year.
★Enrichment Programs ending, Start up again in Jan. New ones coming!
○One new program – lego Robotics – ended up with a waitlist this last time around, so any waitlisted kids will get it.
○Irish step
○Spanish language learning (HS teacher teaching) - and it will make OPR the first elementary school to offer a second language
★Cultural Arts
○There is one program for each grade
○December 21st – rhythm room – will be set up to talk about musical skills, instrument instructions, and cultural background. Will be super loud and fun!
○Brain Show – an interactive quiz game show that asks questions about the curriculum
○One more program that is TBD on topic
★Future need of 2 chrome book carts ($6,668.00 each) to reach a 1:1 ratio in grades 3, 4, 5
○24 or 25 chrome books are in one cart
○The students in grades 3,4, and 5 use them almost daily.
○School budget needs to consider budgeting for the replacement of them as they only last 2-4 years.
★Other topics
○Gaga pit – the floor of the gaga pit has been debated. A solution is the $2.63/square or $4.69 per tile and tiles are 16 x 16 in and are flagstone rubber pavers. They are ADA compliant and stay cool in the summer, and are good for harsh/variable weather regions. Price doesn’t include installation.
●PAC Business
★SOHD on Weds 11/22 – we have 55 kids so far!! We are closing sign up on Friday, the 17th.
★Gingerbread Festival- 8 volunteers still needed for various rooms
○Sign up genius will go out shortly
○Holiday gift store will need volunteers
○Cookie baking – can you help us by baking 50 cookies the night before? Using the Betty Crocker sugar cookie pouches as they are the most allergy friendly ones and we need to make 500 of the exact same cookie.
○Making holiday cards for the VA in West Roxbury and New Pond Village residents in the community service room
○Nail polish and tattoo room – looking for more volunteers. – HS National Honors Society may be a great contact.
○Set up on Friday, the 1st, after school- if anyone can volunteer
○Sleigh Rides are TBD (most likely not available) – back up option is antique firetruck, which adds a cost of $400-500.
○Does anyone want to have Santa available at the festival?
○5th graders want to bring back the cake walk. We would need 2 or 3 volunteers and cakes would need to be baked or made by parents. Get cupcakes from Twist as well.
●Recap of Events Held
★November 3rd Apple of My Eye Dance
★November 5th Providence Bruins
★November 9th Paint Night at Muse
●Upcoming Programs/Events/Fundraisers Dates
★Gingerbread Festival 12/2
★November 22nd SOHD
★Sing Along Dec 7th 5:45 and 6:45 – kids come in their PJs, sing holiday songs, and the groups are split by alphabet.
★Mother and Son night – there will be a karaoke room., and other events (inflatables, games, etc.) February 2nd. We will be looking for volunteers via Sign Up Genius in early January, 2018.
★Clothing Donations – Start saving those clothes for the March 3rd event (held at the Pancake Breakfast). Drop offs will start after the Gingerbread festival weekend in the lobby.
●Next Meeting: January 25th 7:00PM will be changed to January 17th.
Motion to Adjourn……8:15pm
Please call or email Liz Scott (781-354-7115) or
if you have any questions or concerns regarding PAC.