Anne Arundel County Public Schools

SUPERINTENDENT’S PARENT INVOLVEMENT ADVISORY COUNCIL

Meeting Minutes

January 14, 2016

Present: Arnilynne Tupas-Setser, Carol Streeter, Nancy Cahlink-Seidler, John McGrath, Susan Downey, Kerry Petz, Anna Smith, Teresa Tudor, Flo Kennedy-Stack, Laura Gardner, Anne Weaver

Welcome and family involvement activity reports

Carol Streeter called the meeting to order

-Flo Kennedy-Stack distributed Volunteer of the Month nomination forms and asked PIAC members to contact their schools and encourage them to nominate an outstanding volunteer (or group) to be Volunteer of the Month. One volunteer or group is selected each month and is honored at the first Board of Education meeting of that month. In addition to dedicated parents and family members, please don’t forget community groups, such as partners who run a Weekend Food Program or local businesses and organizations who provide volunteer services in the school. Applications can also be found at

-Nancy reported on several family involvement activities happening at the Judy Center this winter. First, the Judy Center will hold a Winter Blast at Marley Station Mall on Jan. 22, from 10 am until noon. Kinderman will provide entertainment; the county library will do read alouds and fingerplays; and there will be display tables from local organizations, including Head Start. Second, she talked about establishing Coffee with Cops for families at Belle Grove and Hilltop, in an effort to foster more positive relationships between the county police and residents. Finally, she reported on an Open Book initiative at the Ordnance Road Detention Center, a program that brings children and their dads at the detention center together to read together and maintain their relationships while the dads are incarcerated.

-John reported concern in the Annapolis cluster about ending the additional stipend for teachers in challenge schools. Teresa said that the stipend was originally put in place to encourage experienced teachers to teach in these schools and was never intended to be permanent. The County Council did not fully fund the teachers’ negotiated 2% raise for this year, so TAAAC members voted to use the challenge school money to be able to give all teachers a 2% raise. Second, John said there seemed to be misinformation in the community about the school start time proposal. There will be four public forums in January and February where the general public can get more information. The press release for the forums can be accessed at Online information on the start time initiative can be found at or via a link on the AACPS home page.

-Susan reported that Old Mill Middle North recently had a successfulcolor run which involved families. In addition, Rippling Woods expressed concern with parent participation in evening school events, most of which involved a fee. The

Superintendent’s Parent Involvement Advisory Council

Meeting Minutes – page 2

January 14, 2016

group gave her some suggestions for free events to take back to the school, such as a game night (bring your own game) or a pajama reading night, with teachers and/or parents doing read-alouds.

-Laura announced that applications for the 6th International Parent and Community Leadership Academy are available ( Please encourage your schools to distribute this information to help grow our pool of international family leaders.

-Kerry explained that she is a member of this year’s AACPS Leadership Development Institute (LDI) which grows leaders among AACPS employees and parents. Her group project is AACPS Cares, which they hope will be an online clearinghouse for school level “needs” and “leads”, i.e., ways can post their needs and other schools can respond.

-Anna reported that Jones ES is encouraging community members to come in and read to classes. In addition, preschool children (“Future Foxes”) and parents are invited to come to the school for read-alouds.

-Anne announced that planning is underway for a spring family involvement conference on Tuesday, April 12, at the Church at Severn Run. It will be a morning conference. More details will be announced at the February meeting.

Presentation, Matt Stanski, Direction of Financial Operations, “FY 2017 Superintendent’s Recommended Budget”

Matt discussed the budget process which began in September 2016 and will be finalized at the end of June 2017. His Power Point presentation is attached. You can read the Budget in Brief at Matt also distributed his business cards and invited Council members to call or email him with questions at 410-222-5095 or .

The meeting was adjourned at 11:35 a.m.

Upcoming meetings: 9:30 – 11:30 am

February 25 – Conference Room 2A
April 14 – Conference Room 2B
May 26 – Conference Room 2A