Cabot Pto Executive Committee Meeting Notes

CABOT PTO EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING NOTES

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2017

Members in Attendance
8:00 pm at Graham Sinclair’s house: Graham Sinclair, Eric Sprung, Nicky Chapman, Ali Dunn, Agnes Pietrzyk, Sue Bottino, Victoria Jaffe, Linda Barros, Jude Carlson-Wang, Anu Jayaraman

Approval of minutes from Executive Committee meeting on 11/15/17
Ali Dunnmade motion to approve the minutes of 11/15/17, Graham Sinclair seconded the motion, and all Executive Committee members approved the motion.

PTO Update by Co-Presidents Nicky Chapman and Joanna Josephson
MySchoolAnywhere (MSA) Feedback
Mixed reviews from Room parents
Some RPs find it useful and others are still having difficulty
Still a learning process
Book Fair Sign up was also mixed
Nicky Chapman (Co-President) asked if maybe we should do a training
Exec Committee members said yes
Ali Dunn (Asst. Treasurer) suggested maybe including the password in the e-mails to Room Parents on how to set up Sign-ups in MSA
Nicky Chapman (Co-president) says she isn’t sure about having the login and password in the same place
Sue Bottino (5th Grade Rep) comments that the issues with MSA are just 1st year struggles. It will just be hard for awhile.
Gift Drive sign-up went well and all sign-ups were taken
School Pass Guide
Nicky Chapman (Co-president) has not heard positives or negatives in any way
Feels that the guide will be helpful to new families
Issues with School Pass that Exec. Members have noticed
Linda Barros (Cabot Connect Rep) mentions an issue with a glitch of School Pass capturing dates
Sue Bottino (5th Grade Rep) adds that it always defaults to Monday
Agnes Pietrzyk (Recording Secretary) states that the website and app work differently for some things (Ex. Adding another driver can only be done on website)
Graham Sinclair (1st Grade Rep) states it doesn’t make sense that the app doesn’t have the same capability
Should be able to send feedback to the vendor
Graham Sinclair (1st Grade Rep) asks if we are able to track the data to see what the parents are doing and if we can get those diagnostics from the vendor
Eric Sprung (Principal) states that the school can see what changes the parents are making and can glean from that
Mural for the New Cabot
Nicky Chapman (Co-president), Eric Sprung (Principal), Ginny Richmond (CASC chair) and Christine Phillips (Art teacher) met last week
Ginny Richmond is excited about volunteering
She will contact the artists and other creative people in Cabot
Scott McCarley is also interested in helping out
Mural team will also see if the artist who did the Zervas and Angier mural is available
Gifts for Specialists
The PTO wants to recognize the main specialists who see the children each week (music, P.E., art, library, and nurse) this holiday period
Nicky Chapman (Co-president) states that this is a work in progress
Currently working with Marie Callahan (Acknowledgment/Teacher Appreciation Chair)
States that they’ll maybe get the different grades to sign a card
Agnes Pietrzyk (Recording Secretary) asks about the idea that was posed of using the School Families to take on a specialist
Nicky Chapman (Co-president) states that it’s too soon because the School Families are still so new
But we may be able to use them for this at the end of the year
Any Jayaraman (Kindergarten Rep) states that they are doing HipChip for the K grades and asks if we should do it for the specialists as well
Nicky Chapman (Co-president) says that Marie Callahan (Acknowledgment/Teacher Appreciation Chair) does a small gift from the PTO to all the specialists/staff in the building
Nicky Chapman (Co-president) asks if maybe we can dip into the PTO funds for those main 7 or 8 specialists for this holiday
$25/specialist
Also thinks we can assign each grade a card to sign for those specialists. Nicky will take a card to all the grades to sign
General Staff: Karen Kerrigan (Nurse)
Kindergarten: Kate Foley (P.E.)
1st grade: Molly Brown (Music)
2nd grade: Christine Phillips (Art)
3rd grade: Jill Leibowitz (Library)
4th & 5th grades: Ken Mignone (Band), Jeff O’Neill (Orchestra/Strings), Cynthia
Victoria Jaffe (Treasurer) asks if we can let the parents know that we’re doing something for these specialists
Nicky Chapman (Co-president) states that the Grade Liaisons can tell the Room Parents and the families in their grade that the PTO is making sure that the specialists and staff are being acknowledged this holiday
And we can add in that their generous contributions to Campaign for Cabot (CFC) are helping us do this
Graham Sinclair (1st Grade Rep) asks if talking point can be written up on this as he wants to make sure that what he tells his grade is correct
Jude Carlson-Wang (2nd Grade Rep) states that she will write it up
Drug Prevention
A parent came to the PTO and asked if a speaker (a recovering addict) could come to the school and give a talk
The speaker can come to the school and pitch her presentation first
Exec. Members thoughts on this proposal
Nicky Chapman and Joanna Josephson (Co-presidents) are on the fence about this, noting that it is an important topic for parents to be aware of andaddress but that it is not necessarily appropriate at this timefor many of our families, especiallythe lower grades.
Jude Carlson-Wang (2nd Grade Rep) comments that the language that the speaker would need to use for a 1st grader vs. a 5th grader would need to be vastly different
Sue Bottino (5th Grade Rep) notes that the vetting involved to get a speaker like this approved would be a lot as the vetting for CASC programs is already so much
Eric Sprung (Principal) states that any speaker that the school would want to bring in would 1st have to be approved by the city
The next question for Exec members: While the city has to approve the speaker for the students, would we want to bring this speaker to the parents?
Graham Sinclair (1st Grade Rep) states that there are a lot of other sources from which parents can get this information
Nicky Chapman (Co-president) saysshe will pass on the information to Middle School PTO's with a view for a possible joint 5th/Middle grade parent event.
PTO Events
Cabot Goods
Was a little slow but picked up a little
Online ordering was easier but not sure if people were missed because all the ordering was done electronically
Paper flyer did not get sent home till later
Agnes Pietrzyk (Recording Secretary) comments that the images of the items online were hard to see and you couldn’t zoom in on them so people may have held off on ordering
Nicky Chapman (Co-president) states that we can bring in samples so that people can see/touch them (has been done in the past)
Some gear will be coming in next week
Will try to get all the orders distributed before the break
Graham Sinclair (1st Grade Rep) asks if there will be another day for ordering
Nicky Chapman (Co-president) states that Brenna Green (Cabot Goods Chair) is going on maternity leave but it’s possible that we can do another order in the Spring as the online ordering is now streamlined

PTO Gen. Mtg./Principal Coffee/Cookie Swap
13 or 14 people were in attendance and there were about 5 new faces
Even got a volunteer for the Auction (Sandra O’Neill)
Book Fair
Raised around $1000
New books sales ($457); Used book sales ($535)
Get 11% from new book sales but 100% profit from used books
Bookmarks were a hit and raised $50
Money raised this year was on par with what was raised last year
One of the Book Fair chairs, Jamie Kohn is leaving but Esther Aronov will be taking it on next year
Will need more people to help out next year especially with used books
Victoria Jaffe (Treasurer) notes that we also need to push used books next year as we get all the profit from those sales
Gift Drive
Went well and all slots were signed up for
Child Assault Prevention (CAP)
Sue Bottino hadn’t heard anything and was curious how it went
Eric Sprung (Principal) states that he met with the CAP director today
Kids were engaged and the conversations among the students were good. Also, kids were allowed to step out of the classroom and talk to a volunteer in the hallway about stuff
There is not a lot of data regarding if the info presented sticks with the kids
Sue Bottino also asks if the teachers are present during the program
Eric Sprung says yes

Grade Level Feedback
Cabot Connect Report (Linda Barros)
Meeting with Julian Turner (METCO liaison & social worker) and Karen Leitner (FORJ) on Nov. 16th, 2017 in which they discussed how to integrate Boston families with Newton families
Used to have Buddy families and looking to start that up again
Metco states that there are 15 families at Cabot
Linda Barros (Cabot Connect Rep) plans to reach out to them
Bowling event for Boston & Newton Cabot familiesat Boston Bowl
Will take place on Sunday, January 28th form 3-5 pm
Hoping to get a separate room for this event
Snow date is February 4th, 2018
Jude Carlson-Wang (2nd Grade Rep) states that Feb. 4th is Super Bowl Sunday so that could deter attendance
Would like to ask Newton families at that event to be a Boston Buddy family
Before, parents were just assigned to be a Boston Buddy
Linda Barros (Cabot Connect Rep) says they are also trying to get this event sponsored and she wants to know if there are any restrictions on sponsors by the PTO or the school
Nicky Chapman (Co-president) says she’s not sure but that any monetary donation needs to be declared.
Can also ask PTO Council
Adds that Zervas just had their Turkey trot and had a laundry list of sponsors
Just can’t have any political affiliation
Eric Sprung (Principal) suggests having a vetting process to make sure that you’re not taking money from a sponsor you may not want
Sue Bottino (5th Grade Rep) states that there must be some guidelines written somewhere
Meeting with Cabot FORJ Group (Nov. 30th, 2017)
Jill Leibowitz (Librarian) has followed up with suggestions by this group and has packed the library with age appropriate books about different races, cultures, religions, etc.
A grant has been identified by this committee to cover the costs of the books
Understanding our Differences (UOD)
Volunteered
Meeting with Maricel Sheets, Newton Metco Director (Dec. 12, 2017)
A 6 year program is being developed with Maricel Sheets (Newton Metco Director), the Office of Superintendent and the Newton Public Schools (NPS) FORJ president to train NPS administrators on how to teach children of color and have the tough conversations about race and bias in the classrooms
Spring Conference for the Metco/Newton families
Linda Barros (Cabot Connect Rep) has a speaker/facilitator in mind for the workshop--Dr. Kalise Wornum
She is the Metco director in Wellesley and also has a consulting firm, KW Diversity
Challenges for the Boston families
Some parents feel overwhelmed with all technology and the amount of communications that they are receiving
Figuring out all the different apps are difficult for some
These parents also get e-mails from Cabot, Boston and Newton and it can be so much
E-mails and flyers work best
Boston parents have also stated that they don’t get to see fellow parents anymore as a result of the building switch to Carr
Linda Barros (Cabot Connect Rep) is also concerned that this may have impacted volunteer participation of these families
Julian Turner (Metco Liaison/social worker) can reach out to these parents to see what they can do to help and find out what kinds of supports the kids might need
Meet & Greetwas suggested among the Principal, the Boston families and the PTO
Nicky Chapman (Co-president) asks if we should get some dates on the calendar
Linda Barros (Cabot Connect Rep) says yes and that it would be nice to have a Meet and Greet at the Carr building
Some Boston parents haven’t seen the school since the beginning of the year
Also may be a great way to solicit Boston families to volunteer with the school
Maricel Sheets (Newton Metco Director) has a list of parents who would be great volunteers. Some parents on her list have volunteered with the school in the past
1st Grade Report (Graham Sinclair)
Grade 1 had their first Parents’ Night out
6 people attended
Plan to schedule the 1st Grade Parents’ meet up on the 2nd Monday of each month
Eric Sprung (Principal) asks if there is anything planned for the person covering for 1st grade teacher Molly Williams and asks what is usually done for the long term subs who cover for the these teachers
Nicky Chapman (Co-president) states that the Room Parents usually take care of it but she will double check
5th Grade Report (Sue Bottino)
States that she has not been getting a lot of help and that it’s been overwhelming
Would like at least some help with the designing of the T-shirts
She wants to ask the teachers but she doesn’t want to overstep or bother them too much
Eric Sprung (Principal) says that approaching the teachers is fine
Sue Bottino (5th Grade Rep) asks if there is a head 5th grade teacher she should contact as she would prefer having her questions directed to just one person
Eric Sprung (Principal) says it’s Peter Wong
And if she hasn’t heard back from the teachers, to e-mail him and he will follow up
Also might be a good idea to give them a deadline so not waiting around for a response
Bake sale was a success ($360.00 made)

Additional Comments
Nicky Chapman & Joanna Josephson (Co-presidents) want to know how each Grade Rep is feeling about their role
Is the work too much or too little?
Doesn’t need to be answered now but something to think about and let them know later
Eric Sprung (Principal) wants to ask Ginny Richmond (CASC Chair) about the scheduling of CASC events and notes that it would be good to check in with them from time to time

Treasurer Report(Victoria Jaffe)
Everything going as planned with expenses
Recently received a bunch of teacher reimbursements
Campaign for Cabot (CFC)
Compared to last year, it’s a bit slow right now
Jude Carlson-Wang (2nd Grade Rep) asks if there is some coordination of the fundraising drives among the Newton schools
Ali Dunn (Asst. Treasurer) states that it was a rush to get our letters out this year but it would be something to think about in the future
Sue Bottino (5th Grade Rep) says that in the past, when a Constant Contact was sent out regarding CFC, they would see a bump in donations
Nicky Chapman (Co-president) says that we can use this to target those who have not donated yet
Ali Dunn (Asst. Treasurer) asks if doing an e-mail each Monday is okay
Sue Bottino (5th Grade Rep) says that once a week is fine but may want to mix it up a bit
Nicky Chapman (Co-president) adds that Esther Aronov (she’s now doing the website) did an update of CFC on the website today

Upcoming Events
Spring Fling (April 28th)
Currently have Co-chairs for the Auction (Sandra & Dan O’Neill)
Joanna Josephson (Co-president) is helping them with any questions they may have as she has worked on that event before
Nicky Chapman (Co-president) says we need a custodian of all the auction items
Still looking for a venue
The Windsor Club was suggested but Zervas is doing their event at that venue on the same day
Should we move the date to get this venue?
Joanna Josephson (Co-president) will be e-mailing the parents again who had said they were interested in helping out
Lost & Found
Any items not claimed will be donated over the break

Cabot Carnival
PTO hasn’t really pushed for someone to take this on
Should we do one more ask and lay out everything better?
Joanna Josephson (Co-president) had a thought about possibly having the Exec. Committee take on the task of organizing this event
What is the Exec. Cmte’s thoughts on this
Sue Bottino (5th Grade Rep & Previous Cabot Fair Chair) thinks it’s possible
Suggests that we may want to see what Ward does
They have theirs on a Friday afternoon for 3 hours
Also maybe 5th graders could take on some of the responsibilities as their Community event for the year
Victoria Jaffe (Treasurer) adds that we could also get alums involved like last year
States there are ways to simplify
Biggest expense are the rides
We just need people power and to split up the roles
Graham Sinclair (1st Grade Rep) asks if we should begin writing up the steps for planning this
Sue Bottino (5th Grade Rep) states that she has binders full of info and she will get this to us after the holidays

Next PTO Exec Meeting: Thursday, January 18th, 2018 at Ali Dunn’s house

Sign-Up Sheet passed around to volunteer to host upcoming Exec. Meetings
Hostsare needed for the following dates:
March 14th
April 12th
May 15th
June 6th

MEETING ADJOURNED