Bell Middle School PTA
Minutes for the October 4, 2016 Meeting/Library, Bell Middle School
Attendees: Board Members: Jackie Greiner, co-President;Tracy Fletcher, co-President; Danika Gerig, Vice President; Beth Vermeulen, Secretary; LynaeDouthit, Treasurer.
Additional guests: Jen Lamborne, Greg Aigner,Jen Seibert, Jayson Haberkorn, Jen Bates, Michelle Trader and Kathy Sugnet
Administrative Functions:
Jackie called the meeting to order at 5:03 pm.
Disposition of Minutes: Beth received approval for the September minutes.
School Update
The school year is off to a great start. Student led conferences are next week, Thursday, October 13th. We are still celebrating the big back yard design. Mr. Olson, Social Worker, would like BELL letters in our front yard on the corner of 10th and Ulysses. We are looking into this.
Denver hosted the annual EDLeader21 conference this year which is a national network of school and district leaders. A bus of educators, including superintendents and college professors,visited Bell and were given a presentation. They were stunned at our iStem program and really impressed by what we were doing.
The CMAS (Colorado Measure of Academic Success) results showed one year’s worth of student growth. The assessment measures the students’ progress and Bell was above the average growth compared to all students in the State of Colorado. One wants to be at least 50% and Bell was at 51%in English language arts and 51% for math on student growth scores.
Bell has a new secretary, Janice Hooston. She may be revising the weekly eBlast and newsletter. Ursula Webhofer, who works on the PTA website, has been working with her.
Grants were due October 3rd. There is ameeting on October 12th to review these and make a decision on how to spend the money made from the magazine sales. There were a lot of great ideas from the staff. There are about 5-6 individuals attending this. Let Jackie know if anyone else wants to attend.
Student October Count Day is tomorrow, October 5th. This is based on a one day count in which public school districts in Colorado are asked to report all students who are actively enrolled and attending classes on this date.
The Orchestra has been invited to perform at the annual Colorado Musical Educators Association in Colorado Springs in January.
Extra temp building has been removed and given to the Golden Optimists Club to house the Golden Bicycle Recycle Program. Jeffco Facilities owns these temporary structures, not Bell. This one hasn’t been used for years as a classroom because of its poor condition. It has just been used for storage.
3A & 3B – Advocacy liaison, Jen Lamborne, spoke about this. The PTA filled out a Building Facility Use form to enable us to speak and vote on this topic. $33 million mill levy is to enable Jeffco to attract and retain teachers and programs. $535 millionbond is for property improvements and repair.
The JeffcoDistrict website has a drop down menu for any school inthe district to see how passing this bond would affect that particular school. Bell is up for four classroom additions and exterior upgrades. Kyffin would be up for complete replacement. Jeffco residents have questioned the appropriateness of a PTA to support and endorse a ballot issue as this is political. However, the PTA mission statement is about the advocacy for all children. Therefore, supporting this mill levy/bond is advocating for every child in the District and is therefore appropriate. We cannot, however, endorse candidates for office. JeffcoPTA strongly encourages all Jeffco District PTAs to vote on endorsing this.
Colorado is currently funding schools at the same level as 1982. Colorado spends $2,000 - $2,500 less per pupil than the national average. This is due to Gallagher, TABOR (which limits growth) and Amendment 23, which was passed in 2000 and then re-interpreted. State reinterpreted 23 and said we don’t need to actually fully fund those schools which had a dramatic impact. 2010 - 2012 added 18,600 students and lost 1,040 teachers. Since 2010, this “negative factor” has resulted in a cumulative $490 million loss in state funding for Jeffco. Golden sits in the middleof two high growth areas, the Soltera subdivision (off Alameda and C-470) and Arvada. This bond would pay for additional elementary schools to relieve the overcrowding. Bell would get an addition. Eventually all 6th graders in the District would move to middle school. This is mostly to keep it consistent for all 6th graders to be exposed to the same academics and electives which are available in the middle school. Also, a lot of middle schools are currently being under-utilized and this would make better use of the buildingsthat are currently in place. If this is passed, then in 2017 all 6th graders will be moved to middle school so Bell will get their addition pretty quick to accommodate this addition of 6th graders from full articulation area elementary schools.
Residents have questioned why the funds that the State received from the recent legalization of marijuana hasn’t helped. The money received from this is less than 1% of the entire State budget. $40 million is going to fund schools. However, those funds are being used to help 23 buildings in rural areas. No major money has been allocated to the Jeffco School District. Fifty other school districts, including six of the largest seven, are also requesting a mill levy bond so there is definitely a need. The District has a lot of information on their website. If this mill levy/bond does not pass then there could be school closures, split schedules (some students attend in the morning, others in the afternoon), consolidation, larger classes, year round school, boundary changes, basic maintenance needs not being met and a lack of resources for student learning. In the Denver metro area, Jeffco is one of lowest paid districts.
Another question related to this is having this passed when it was on the ballot four years ago. That was a small bond of $99 million. The projects that money was allocated for have been completed. That was for more urgent situations. It has been twelve years since a large bond has been passed. The mill levy funding is for many things besides teachers. It is for substitutes, bus drivers, and all personnel who work with the kids.
Jen made a motion to have the Bell PTA support this. Greg Aignerseconded the motion. All other PTA members present were in favor. The motion passed. We will publicize this in our online vehicles and submit to Jeffcoto let them know that the Bell PTA is now officially in support of this mill levy/bond. Jen would like people to sign up to help staff a table during conferences next week to hand out brochures and talk to people.
Only 30% of Jeffco voters have kids in schools.
Financial Report:
The magazine fundraiser is still being tallied. Just the total dollar amount from what was manually collected has been counted. Online sales have not been figured out yet but it will be less than anticipated. We will not reach our budgeted amount so the grant amount will go down. Lakeside Night money is still listed as a line item for almost $2,000. We still need to write a check to them. This PTA Budget will be posted on website as it is no longer the draft.
Committee Updates:
Magazine sales: A little lower this year but the final count is not in. The School does not recommended this particular BMX group to perform again. They weren’t as good as last year’s group. They didn’t have the correct list of VIP names from Bell to announce so it was a little awkward.
Reflections: Tomorrow, October 5th, is due date for all art work. There are 26 participants this year. Good participation as Bell hasn’t done this event for a couple of year. We are excited to have that many. We are still looking for another film judge which Jackie is working on. Don’t want to ask the Bell teachers. There are 5-6 films. Music and photography judges are in place. There are 12-13 submissions in literature. Amity Moore will help but may need a couple more judges to help her. Jayson Haberkorn has a name for literature judging and will provide his contact information to Michelle Trader.
October 10th at 5:00 the judging will happen at Bell. Would like the judging completed by conferences on October 13th so the parents can come for conference and know which students have won. Need to fill out the Building Facility Use form for the Monday judging. There is money in the budget for ribbons and pizza for the judges. Jackie will need volunteers to set up and to help clean up for the judges next Monday and to explain the process and scorecard. On Tuesday, October 18ththere will be an ice cream gathering for all of the 26 participants.
Tracy and Danica can help on Friday, October 7th to hang all the entries, including hard copies of the literature. We can hang out the finished work in the main hallway by office and use the showcase if we would like.
Membership: There are currently 101 members and 6 business members. We can still take memberships. The next round of submittal forms is due in February.
Communications: Wendy Hirons is doing a great job.
Golden Schools Foundation: The Golden Gallop was a good event this year but the City keeps charging more money for this so not sure on the future of this event. Money raised for the Gallop has not been calculated yet. Greg Aigner is looking for a new representative from Bell for the Golden Schools Foundation as his son is currently in 8th grade.
President Update:
Conference dinner volunteers needed for next week. Jackie will send out a Sign-Up Genius.
First social of the school year will be October 30th at Bob’s Atomic Burgers. 20% of proceeds go back towards the school.
A grant was submitted to the City for a staff lounge. We will find out in 30 days if, and how much, funds we will receive.
Meeting adjourned at 6:10.