COLUMBIAMIDDLE SCHOOL PTO AGENDA

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2011

PRINCIPAL’S CHAT– Mr. Geiger - reviewed the Assessment of Student Performance for 2010-2011. All Berkeley Heights Schools achieved AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) There are monthly lunch meetings being held with each grade about making good decisions. Thursday, November 17th, there will be a discussion with the students about what the requirements are to get into advanced classes.

Strategic Planning Surveys will be given called the Student Voice in the near future. Mrs. Rattner will be here to speak to the children about the importance of the survey and try to help the children understand the concept of a survey and explain that all surveys are anonymous.

Parents should remind their children to walk in the hallways, no lingering after school, and the building will only open early if the temperature is below freezing or it is raining outside. Mr. Geiger welcomed Mr. Sullivan and thanked him for all his hard work with the students.

  1. WELCOME – Elisa Probst - welcomed everybody to the meeting at 7:40 pm.
  2. RECORDING SECRETARY’S REPORT – Janet Isola – Motion to approve the minutes from last month’s meeting. Approved.
  3. CORRESPONDING SECRETARY’S REPORT – Maryl Wilensky – read a thank you note from Mr. Geiger’s family for the donation of a book in the library in memory of his father-in-law.
  4. TREASURER’S REPORT – Annette Emanuel - $32,502.23 available cash. Tax papers are ready to be filed.
  5. PRINCIPAL’S REPORT – Mr. Geiger – Ryan’s Story will be shown on December 6th for 6th and 7th graders only. It will be held at GL the same night at 7:30 for parents. February 22nd Science Circus will be here from the Franklin Institute and present three programs. School will be held on Martin Luther King Day. Parent/Teacher Conference dates will come home with report cards on Thanksgiving weekend. CMS early dismissal only on December 6th and 15th for conferences. 12:55 dismissal both days.
  6. VICE PRINCIPAL’S REPORT – Mrs. Gardner – No report.
  7. TEACHER REPRESENTATIVE – Mr. Sullivan – Project Pride will be held on December 20. It is a program where individuals are brought from Correctional facilities to talk to 8th graders about their personal stories. Student Government ending food drive. Red Ribbon Week was successful. It ended October 20th. It centered around students making good choices. Thanks to the PTO for helping provide the prizes.
  8. PRESIDENT’S REPORT – Elisa Probst – Directory is still in progress. Only ½ the students listed so far. Mr. Geiger will send out a Honeywell Alert to try to attain the rest of the students’ information. Cyberbullying Program – parents of 8th graders raised concern their grade would be missing it this year. Tom Rich was contacted and agreed to present it on Martin Luther King Day to the 8th grade if agreed to by PTO. Motion was approved. Parent presentation will be at 7:30 pm that same night. There are two retirements in the building. Ms. Betty Brauss and Ms. Carol Anderson. We will plan something for them. Race to Nowhere will be shown on November 30th at 7:00 pm at GL.
  9. COMMITTEES
  10. CULTURAL ARTS – EveBiegel- a poetry assembly was presented on November 15th.
  11. ENVIRONMENTAL – Stephanie Zecca - will keep school abreast of environmental fairs/happenings that may be in the spring.

SPIRITWEAR – Diane O’Halloran- Spiritwear will be coming this week and clothing will be distributed during lunch. Any items that were checked as gifts will be left in the office for parent pick up. Parents will be notified by email.

HOSPITALITY – Christine DelDuca -Our committee is busy planning the Staff Appreciation event. Monday the 21st is a breakfast, and Tuesday the 22nd is a lunch for the custodians and district maintenance crew. The cafeteria staff contacted us and asked for gift cards instead of meals, because they are so busy they never get the chance to eat. We are planning on budgeting $15 for each of the 6 gift cards. We have had an overwhelming response from parents who are baking, buying and donating items for the staff and we wish to thank everyone who has volunteered to help. (We are still waiting to hear back from the treasurer regarding the budget from the district PTO for the Maintenance crew. Please ask the treasurer to email me the amount when you get it.)
BOARD OF ED – Sue Johnson -
  • ASK test and HSPA results (Columbia and GL) were presented at the October 20 Board meeting. Detailed test score information can be found on the home page of the district’s website, ColumbiaMiddle School students outperformed both the state and the District Factor Group averages on both Math and Language Arts in the Advanced Proficient and Total Proficiency categories. (Note: a district factor group is a grouping of school districts with similar socioeconomic backgrounds.)
  • The Violence and Vandalism Report was presented at the October 20th meeting. The report details the number of cases of violence (12), vandalism (including theft) (27), weapons (1), and substance abuse (2) on school grounds in the district during the previous school year as required by the state. There were 3 more cases of violence reported this year; all other categories remained the same as the previous year. CMS had one case of violence reported. Most of the vandalism cases involved theft of personal property like IPODs and cell phones at GL (23 cases) and many of these items were ultimately returned. The school security cameras have been very helpful in keeping vandalism costs down. In fact, the district did not have any vandalism costs last year because restitution was made by the families involved in the 2 incidents.
  • The school district is joining with the YMCA and the Wharton School of Music to pilot after school music enrichment programs at Columbia, beginning in January. This will be a revenue sharing arrangement.
  • The school district is developing a new strategic plan. The kick off meeting for the process was on Thursday, October 27. The will be opportunities for the staff, students, and community members to take on-line surveys to provide feedback on the school district. Please look for more information on the district and school websites in the coming weeks.

The next meeting is this Thursday, November 17th at 8:00 pm. There will be a presentation on how teachers at the various use their own web sites.

  1. OLD BUSINESS – Nothing to report.
  2. NEW BUSINESS – Nothing to report.
  3. ADJOURN - 8:15 pm.