CFHS PTSO General Membership Meeting Minutes
November 1st, 2016
Call to Order: 6:08 PM
Attendance: Jennifer Hough, Kristen Barnes, Greg Daniel, Maria Elena Arner, Carmen Cata, Amy Wentela, Tracy Ramos, Claire Townsend, Davida Cox-Burkhammer, Tonya Morrison, Sharon Stevenson, Diane Briggs
Principal’s Report: Mr. Daniel
Thank you for the chili luncheon.
Updates:
Safety and Security: Update on October 14th incident (Student/Weapon on School grounds). A student was acting suspiciously and an Administrative Assistant in the Counseling Center notified the correct school authorities. The student was taken to Mr. Daniel’s office where he and Mr. Jones spoke with the student. The student’s backpack was searched, along with a sling pack, where the weapon was found. The resource officer was called in and appropriate actions were taken. At no time was anyone in the building in danger. A question was raised regarding the student’s privacy since he’s a minor and a parent videoed him being led away and the video was played on the news. Mr. Daniel stated that he didn’t realize the videoing was occurring at the time and that he is going to meet with the parent.
Band Together to Fight Hunger - Marching Band Students across Stafford County are once again Banding Together to Fight Hunger in our community. On Monday, November 7th at 7 pm, our own talented musicians from Brooke Point, Colonial Forge, Mountain View, North Stafford, and Stafford High Schools will “BAND Together to Fight Hunger” through a showcase of instrumental talent. Please join us with your non-perishable food or monetary donation at MVHS on Nov. 7th at 7 PM and help us reach our goal of providing 25,000 meals for our community. If you’re interested in being a business partner with this event or would like more information please contact:
Parent-Teacher Conferences are scheduled for November 16th 4:00-6:30. Instructions will be coming out soon for teacher sign up on School Bookings.
Collaborative Areas – These areas will be used for instructional purposes (pull-outs, small groups, student activities, etc.) during the school day under teacher supervision. Coming soon…monitors.
25 years of Service – Joyce Steele, Michelle Darly
Gold Star Teachers – Deborah Ingram, Nancy Brandon, and Brenda Mitchell. These teachers received national recognition for having 90% of their students pass the WISE test (econ and finance class).
AdvancEd Standards of Quality (External Review) – The AdvancEd External Review for Colonial Forge is February 27-28, 2017. The External Review is an integral part of the accreditation and school improvement process that benefits all participants and stakeholders sharing the experience.
The purpose of the External Review is to:
- Evaluate the school’s adherence to the AdvancEd Standards for Quality Schools.
- Access the efficacy and impact of the school’s improvement process.
- Identify promising practices and provide Improvement Priorities to improve the school.
- Deliver a brief exit report to school officials and the school community.
- Make an accreditation recommendation for review by the AdvancEd Accreditation Commission.
Communication Plan: BBC message will go out to parents (with survey attachment) on November 5th. Open lab for parents on parent teacher conference night, November 16th. They’re hoping to get 20% parent participation, 40% student participation, and 60% teacher participation. Would like to put the information on the PTSO website.
Upcoming Dates & Events:
Ø November 1st All Staff Meeting
Ø November 3rd Academic Awards (>3.8 GPA for 2015-2016 school year)
Ø November 8th Election Day - Flex Day for Teachers
Ø November 9-10 ASVAB
Ø November 11th Veterans Day (No School)
Ø November 14th Report Cards Home
Ø November 16th Parent Teacher Conference Night
Ø November 17-19 Fall Play
At the VTA Competition Forge received honorable mention for their play, and a student received an All-Star cast award.
President’s Report: Jennifer Hough
· The school is hosting a Homecoming/Prom closet. They’re looking for donations of both girls’ and boys’ clothing, jewelry, and shoes.
· Sunshine Committee. The school is looking for 5-10 “little items” (i.e., hand sanitizer, candy bar, etc) to give to teachers every couple of months as a token of appreciation. Claire Townsend agrees to take this project on.
· TRT & CCT would like to purchase 20 chrome books and rechargeable carts. The cost would be $8,490 for 4 carts. After a discussion it was decided that Jennifer will tell them we’re discussing the issue. We might be able to make it an end of year gift to the school. We will revisit further into the year so that we can take into account our finances for the year.
Secretary’s Report: Maria Arner
· Kristen Barnes motioned to accept the minutes from the October 4th General Membership meeting with 3 amendments. Sharon Stevenson seconded the motion. The minutes were unanimously approved. The amendments were: 1) Under President’s Report change “looses a check” to “loses a check” in the third line; 2) Muffin cart fourth bullet change to “healthy”; and 3) Webmaster second bullet the calendar will only be on the website.
Treasurer’s Report: Carmen Cata
· The audit has been completed.
· The 990N for FY 2015-2016 has been filed.
· Checkbook balance as of 10/31/16: $27,459.61
· Bank balance as of 10/31/16: $26,419.19
VP of Fundraising’s Report: OPEN
· Graduation banners and stakes: 1 more of each sold
· There was a discussion about selling flowers for Valentine’s Day. A decision was tabled until a later date.
VP of Membership’s Report: Kristen Barnes
· September hours: 297.5 (muffin cart, staff appreciation, PTO rep on supervisor committees); YTD hours: 518.
· 274 members; 127 are staff.
· No using chrome books for selling homecoming tickets next year. The process was very tedious and took too much time.
Committee Reports:
After Prom: Davida Cox-Burkhammer
· Met with the General Manager at FunLand.
· We owe $6,500 to rent for After Prom. Would like to add 6 rides at $250/each.
· Thinking about not having a DJ/paying for food from venue instead.
· We’ll have 1 hour to set up and get ready.
· After Prom event hours are 12 midnight-4:00am.
Muffin Cart: Amy Wentela
· Doing very well so far.
· Need more volunteers for Thursdays.
· There is a possibility that nutrition requirements might change and our profits will be lower again.
Teacher Appreciation: Claire Townsend
· The school wants to have a pasta lunch in December for the teachers. The PTSO and administration share the cost of the lunch.
Club Grants:
· There was a discussion about the Club Grants that were received.
o A total of 11 grants were received and one more is expected.
o The Army JROTC stated that $200 for each of the four teams would be appreciated.
o There are two programming teams and $200 was requested for each team.
o The total amount of requests is $3,200.
· Tonya Morrison made a motion to fund the grants as presented with an option to raise the budget in the spring to provide grants in the spring. Carmen Cata seconded the motion and it passed unanimously.
· After the vote Jennifer Hough mentioned that Mr. Daniel had a question on one of the applications (FCCLA) and wanted more information on how the money would be used before he would suggest funding them. Funding this grant will be contingent on the additional information.
· Diane Briggs will ask COL Strong to provide individual applications for each team, and Mrs. McPherson to provide an application for each programming team.
· Maria Arner will ask Mrs. Mellenberg for additional information on the FCCLA application.
Scholarship: Tracy Ramos
· Nothing to report.
Webmaster: Tonya Morrison
· Nothing to report.
Old Business:
· We need to clarify and fine tune the Club Grant requirements and processes.
New Business: None
Motion to adjourn made by Maria Arner and seconded by Sharon Stevenson. Meeting adjourned at 7:55.
Next PTSO Executive Committee/General Membership meeting- Tuesday, Dec. 6th, 2016 at 6:00 pm
Respectfully Submitted,
Maria Elena Arner
2016-2017 CFHS PTSO Secretary
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