Approval of February PTA Meeting Minutes

Pasadena PTA Meeting – Thursday, April 14th, 2016, called to order at 7:33 pm.

Approval of February PTA meeting minutes

1st Motion – Lori Bornstein
2nd Motion – Sharon Levine

Welcome by Lori Bricker, PTA President

Membership report –currently there are 294 members, of which 269 are parents and 25 are staff. Membership is ongoing so please join!

Treasurer's report – there is a little more than $36,000 in the account but we still have some outstanding expenses such as the Field Day shirts.

Sharefolder contains information from the Superintendent's meeting (red folder). Please check out the PTA website ( which was revamped and maintained by Michael Rosenstein with eblasted news, forms, and flyers. The school website is also worth looking at ( There are links for the BOE, check out agendas, listen to recorded meetings, next year' calender, and school report cards. There is also a link called “Let's Talk” which connects you to Central Administration but you must provide an email address in order to receive a response.

Principal’s Report by Ms. Heitner

The book club meeting based on the book: “The One And Only Ivan” which provided a lot of interesting conversation. Many children are also reading this book as it was also sold at the recent Book Fair. The next book club meeting will be on May 18th. at 6:30. The two books we will be reading are: “The View From Saturday” (children's book) and “Fish: Fish Philosophy” (adult motivational book).

There were 70 parents here for the incoming Kindergarten Parents' Orientation. It was a great turnout. It was at the library and there was standing room only until we kept adding chairs.

Here is what the children are doing by grade:

1st graders are still learning about animal life cycles in their non-fiction reading and writing. In math, they just finished their measurements and now they are learning about time with the hour and half hour.

2nd graders are reading biographies and writing How-Tos. In math, they are counting money.

3rd graders are in their content literacy book clubs and literary non-fiction for writing, and in math they are learning about 2 dimensional shapes and their attributes.

4th graders are also studying content literacy book clubs in reading and biographies, in writing. In math, they are adding and subtracting fractions with mixed numbers.

Second graders went to the Long Island Children's Museum today in the morning and next week, the first graders are going to the Old Bethpage Village Restoration, as a part of STEAM, where they will compare life in the past, present and in the future. They will learn about how they used to plant, cook and live. All grades will have an experience with the Hecksher Art program, where they come to Pasadena and work in the art rooms. All grades are participating in LEGO projects where they are going to an empty classroom to engineer a solution to a problem encountered using LEGO bricks. The projects were designed by LEGO teams and brought to the school. STEAM teacher, Tara Finn, is working with the all of the classrooms with two lessons. This month, the POB JFK High School symphonic orchestra will be paying a visit on Thursday to play for the entire school. In June, the incoming kindergarten parents are invited to tour the building with their children. The incoming 1st grade students will also be visiting Pasadena in June and they will have a tour as well.

As far as the window replacement is concerned, I met with Andrew Ward and learned that the replacement process will begin in mid-July and end in August before the start of school.

President’s Report by Lori Bricker

Thank you for everyone's generosity and donations for Staff Appreciation Luncheon and we donated a big basket of books to the school on behalf of Pasadena PTA.

There are new start times to accommodate the 9-period day at the high school next year. So the start will be 9:20 am – 3:20 pm. Both middle schools will be from 8:40 am – 2:50 pm, and the high school will be from 7:25 am – 1:49 pm.

Last month, Sharon Levine met with you to speak about the 6-day Specials in the elementary schools, more specifically, the Mandarin Chinese program. I know that she went over all the options the committee had come up with and basically after 3 meetings, the committee makes a recommendation for the Board which states: “It's to enhance the current Mandarin offering by adding more purposeful and intentional integration of Chinese into the school culture,” by basically an immersion with more Chinese signage, morning greetings, etc. By bringing it more into the curriculum, it will be better retained. The Kindergarteners will continue to be taught American Sign Language.

The POB Athletics Booster club is having a fundraiser by asking people to purchase an 8”x8” brick for their “Hawk Walk”, the path beside the comfort station of the H.S. football field. Each brick can be personalized with an engraving and sells for $150. To show support, we would like to purchase and have engraved a brick that reads Pasadena PTA. I'd like for a motion to approve the purchase. 1st Motion: Sharon Levine, 2nd Motion: Melissa Prushik. Motion was approved.

On Monday, the candidates will be announced for the three open slots on the Board of Education. Please come out and meet the candidates on Tuesday, May 10th, at 7 pm, at the POB middle school. On Tuesday, May 17th, will be the budget vote from 6 am – 9 pm and you will be able to vote for the members of the BOE as well.

Fundraisers and Committees

Spring Book Fair – reported by Leslie Heichman. The book fair made about $1300 dollars.
Cosmo Soccer Game @ Hofstra – Chaired by Leslie Heichman. The game fundraised about $280 dollars.
Mixed Bag Fundraiser – reported by Leslie Heichman. It is still going on and we are taking orders through to April 22nd. Actual paper order reaps a greater percentage earnings than online purchases for the school's PTA.
Spring Pictures – should be sent home by now and purchases must be made. Sheets must be purchased in its entirety, especially the wacky page with bookmarks and door sign.
Schoolkidz Supplies Fundraiser – reported by Michael Rosenstein. Incoming 1st grades and even the incoming Kindergarteners, who are in Pre-K now, have received packets regarding the sale. One can order via paper sent home or online. Online orders must pay NYS sales tax. Paper orders must be in by Thursday, April 21st whereas online orders can be made until Friday, April 29th. The school supplies arrive in the school by the week of June 12th. We will set up evening and day pickup times and dates. Personalized stickers and school envelopes are included as bonuses.
Ducks Game – reported by Melissa Prushik. The game is on Saturday, May 14th. The firm deadline for ticket purchase is April 14th.
Parents Night Out – reported by Leslie Heichman. It is on Fri May 13th at 7:30 pm at the Holiday Inn in Plainview. It is $40 per person. Registration forms due by April 22nd. Registrations are coming in. If you haven't done so already, please fill out your registration form. We are still looking for donations for class baskets and are accepting donations for raffle baskets. We will be doing a pre-sale as well.It will be a great night!

* Budget Presentation by Dr. Lewis and Mr. Rich Cunningham, Superintendent for Business *

The budget supports the 1:1 initiative at the middle schools where 5th and 6th graders receive convertible laptop/tablet computers for learning. They are hoping to be able to continue this to higher grades. Budget accomplishments include the allowance of the two middle schools to have the same start time and for the Kindergarten grades to return back to their home schools. It also covers the addition of the 9th period for the high school.

Plant Sale – reported by Mira Lim. Plant order has been placed and we are now soliciting for volunteers to shop with their child's class or just to help out. Volunteers must email to be included on the list for security reasons.
Family Picnic – reported by Michael Rosenstein. Lori has booked the DJ (Hart to Hart) and the food (Dynamic events). I have booked the ice cream truck and Magic Jeff, the roaming magician. This year, we'd like a vote to book the magician for an additonal hour, making it two instead of one, from 6-8 pm, and hire an additional face painting artist, up from two last year, due to its popularity. The cotton candy vendor is also returning. These changes require that the budget for Family Picnic be increased from the original $1000 allotment to $1700. 1st Motion: Lori Bornstein, 2nd Motion: Melissa Prushik. Motion was approved.
Pretzel Sale – reported by Tracy Miniman. The next pretzel sale will be Fri., April 22nd for $2 or you can still prepay for the year by sending in a check for $4.50. Please put your child's name and class on the envelope so that we can identify whose pretzel money it is.
Cookies N Cream Fundraiser – reported by Tracy Miniman. Because of arctic temps during the previous fundraiser, Cookies N Cream are doing it again for Mother's Day, this time, extending it from the Thursday before Mother's Day all the way through to the Monday after Mother's Day. They are giving 15% off of total purchases and Pasadena PTA receives 15% of the proceeds from that weekend
Field Day Shirts – reported by Lori Bricker. For the 3rd year in a row, Pasadena PTA has been able to provide t-shirts to the entire school's students at no cost to the parents for this event. Thanks to Gena and Jessica, the Spirit Wear chairs for ordering the shirts and the classparents for getting the shirt sizes from the students' parents. The shirts will be given out a few days before Field Day.
Spirit Wear – reported by Jessica Corbett. We still have plenty of pajama pants and blankets.
Birthday Box – Chaired by Mira Lim. There have been 26 Boxes done with two additional orders put in this week making that 28 ordered. We have made about $360 dollars so far. Please give us at least a week's notice for your order.
Box Tops/Labels for Education – reported by Tracy Miniman. A check for $304 dollar's worth should be received this month.

Community Service – Chaired by Kim Berkowitz.

Little Doctor's Blood Drive @ POBMS will on Tuesday, May 10th from 4-9:30 pm at their cafeteria. Select 5th grade students in white doctor's coats will assist in the canteen, greet the donors, and make Thank You cards for the donors,

Pennies for Patientstotal for our donations will be completed next week.

Cultural Arts – Chaired by Jessica Corbett. The last event was Star Labs for 3rd graders that introduced them to astronomy with a portable tent Solar System for one period. The next cultural arts event will be to kick off Field Day with Spirit Week featuring a visit from the Harlem Wizards. At the end of the year, there will be Quiz Show, an annual event for 4th graders.
Curriculum – reported by Sharon Levine. Meeting next week.

Health – Chaired by Kim Berkowitz. No update.
Nutrition – Chaired by Sara Fins. No meeting this month.
Title IX – Chaired by Mira Lim. The 3 top nominees for the Yves LeMay-Diana Obey Watson award were: Morty Rosenfeld, Ronelle Hershkowitz, and Nancy Rogers. Nancy Rogers, a business and law teacher at POB JFK HS received the most votes and exemplifies someone whom the district recognizes strongly as an advocate for gender equality. She will be the award's recipient this year.

Technology – reported by Michael Rosenstein. No meeting yet.

Transportation – Chaired by Jan Mintz. Transportation met and the following was discussed: There will be a new bell schedule in September for all schools to accommodate the new hours for each school. High school is going to a 9 period day. The new hours were approved by the school board after this meeting. There is a proposal within the committee for those kids entering Kindergarten to have a certain color tag on their backpack to identify them to the bus driver, so that they can sit directly behind the driver. As of now, there will only be 20 matrons available for the 1st month of busing in the elementary schools. There will be 36 bus routes. The new Superintendent of Health, Transportation, and Safety will be Chris Donarummo, who is currently the Mattlin Middle school principal. Chris Malone will be leaving for the Long Beach school district.

Kindergarten Center – no report.
POB Middle School – First Color War will be taking place next week.
POB JFK High School – reported by Mira Lim. Further discussion of the 9-period day. Solicitations to donate to the College Awards scholarships, which Pasadena PTA contributes $500 to as well as the other PTA units within the district.
MAPOB – reported by Lori Bricker. The passing of Josh Golbert, the director of the district's music program and cultural arts and who orchestrated the Musical Petting Zoo. In fact, he passed away the day of this year's Musical Petting Zoo, an annual event he initiated to introduce 3rd grade students to musical instruments.
Project Challenge(PCPA)– reported by Anu Raj. PC parents met in February to discuss the next board. Three members are aging out and there was a lot of talk about how to get more parents to volunteer. The same night, PC students had alumni night where previous PC students (high school) planned activity stations for the current students. It was a success with our children. Parents are mistakingly opting out their children from OLSAT exams which help determine whether or not they qualify for Project Challenge.
SEPTA – reported by Jessica Corbett. Maria Raver, who is the district coordinator for the Wilson program came in and spoke at length about the Fundations and Wilson program which is a really interesting reading program that is available to ALL students and not just kids with special needs. Once a student gets through Fundations, which is from K-2 grades, then if you need this extra help, you can move on to the Wilson program. SEPTA night out got cancelled from low attendance. The 9-period day was also discussed at the meeting.

Nominated Slate for Next Year – Thanks to the Nominating Committee who worked so hard to put together the proposed slate. The 3 Executive Board Nominating Committee members were voted on by the Executive Board and the 2 general members were voted on by the entire unit. Leslie Heichman is the Chairperson of the Nominating Committee. On May 18th, the slate will be voted on and in June, that new slate will get sworn in. If anyone would like to run against anyone on the proposed slate, they must notify us at at least 2 business days prior to the vote (which would be by Monday, May 16th) as outlined in our bylaws.

Nominated Slate are:

Past President – Lori Bricker

Co-President – Leslie Heichman

Co-President – Marisa Mitnik

Executive Vice President – Danielle Schwartzberg

Recording Secretary – Jaime Vine

Corresponding Secretary – Steve Lindenfeld

Treasurer – Lori Bornstein

Vice President of Fundraising – Daniella Blackman

Vice President of Finance – Michael Rosenstein

Vice President of Communications – Tracy Miniman

Vice President of Cultural Arts – Gena Tesoriero

Vice President of Membership – Heather McDonough

Vice President of Schools and Community Service – Sharon Levine

Vice President of Programming – Kim Berkowitz

Announcements

PTA BOE Candidates' Night – Tuesday, May 10th, 7 pm, at the POB middle school. Nominees will be announced on Monday.

Budget Vote – Tuesday, May 17th, from 6 am – 9 pm at the POB middle school.

Next Board of Education meeting – April 18th (Monday) at 7:45 pm.

Next PTA meeting – May 18th (Wednesday) at 7:30 pm.

Next PTA Council meeting – May 4th (Wednesday) at 7:30 pm @ Parkway Elementary.

Adjournment

1st motion – Sharon Levine
2nd motion – Michael Rosenstein