PTO Meeting

April 24, 2014

Attendance: Jennee Raz, Toni Rosenquist, Amy Higgins, Melinda Burpo, Margo Fowler, Marisa Hodes, Peter Jewett, Kelli Pardo, Kristin Corcoran, Karen Eggert, Amy Prewett, Emily Shields, Erin Westhaver, Kristine Morescalchi, Laura Strickland, Brandi Wachs, Mitzi Sandman, Debbie Plawner, Ryan Deckert, Inga Deckert, Shyla Spicer, Kimberlee Hanken Debbie Meinhart, Glen Rutherford, Barbara Evans, Mary VanderWeele

Margo – Welcome to the PTO meeting! First I want to welcome our guests Mary Vanderweele, Beaverton School Board Chair and Barbara Evans, Executive Administrator for Elementary and Middle Schools. I would like to make a motion to approve the minutes from last month, 1st Kimber, 2nd Erin, and all in favor to approve the minutes, approved.

Jennee – I would like to start off by thanking everyone who was involved in making the Missoula Children’s Theater play of “Cinderella” a success, parents, students, and staff. I would especially like to thank my co-chairs Brandi Wachs and Melinda Coats, as well as Amy Higgins and Karen Eggert for dinner arrangements, and Mr. Reister for videotaping. I received excellent feedback from staff about the workshops and how the whole experience was positive for their students. We may be selling the video for people who are interested and will get out further information for parents. I hope we can bring MCT back next year to benefit our school and bring in another form of arts in education to Raleigh Park.

Margo – I would like to introduce Mary and have her speak about the upcoming Bond measure.

Mary V. – Thank you for the support on the option levy. Raleigh Park is such a special school and I look forward to coming here to speak. There is going to be a capital bond measure coming up May 20th. It is important to get your votes in. We have not had a bond for 8 years and it is important for the district to get out there and pass this bond. It does not change the rate but, it would continue for the next 8 years. We are still the lowest district in the state for administrative cost. We have a current list of 680 million dollars for capital improvement. (See handout) Since the last bond we have grown 2600 students and we think we will grow up to another 5400 students in the next few years.

Margo – Our emphasis is technology and we want help on planning where we should go with our PTO money.

Mary - We currently route everything through the district office. The staff needs access to central data. 1st phase is to upgrade the wireless network. Pilot schools for some of the new equipment are also in the works. Currently does not know the schedule of when in the next year we Raleigh Park will get additional computers but, we are scheduled to get new computers/mobile lab sometime in the 2014-15 school year.

Debbie – The town hall was great on Wednesday April 23rd from the district. Are we in jeopardy of not passing the bond?

Mary – I think Beaverton is in favor of the bond. We are hopeful that Beaverton is still supportive of the schools. If you would like to make a contribution you can tonight or at the website Yesforbeavertonschools.com to make a contribution. Raleigh Park still needs a few people to canvas the neighborhood and contact Glen if they are interested.

Toni – Do the teachers have some phone banks planned? Glen answered yes; so it looks like Raleigh Park parents can coordinate with them.

Mitzi – Assuming the bond passes is there an estimate of how long the projects will take to complete.

Mary - It is an 8 year bond and it could take up to that long to plan. Although, that may be mainly for the new construction.

Glen– Weare joining with Ridgewood and Cedar Mill for a summer school program. Our part will be at ACMA for the Raleigh Park kids.

I have already heard the oohhs, aahhs, and boo’s about staffing for next school year. We as a staff sit down and do a straw man proposal first, as well as talk with the staff about the options for the coming school year. If you divide the 343students in 1st-5th grade by our staffing number ratio of 1:28than you come out with 12.25 teachers. This handout is the proposal that we talked about. We also talked about being innovative to lower group sizes during reading and math. If we are critical and smart with what we do then we can lower the group’s sizes to for example to 20 students. (See handout) We will be getting a full time PE and Music specialist and a full time Spanish language teacher. We are scheduled to get 2 classrooms full of ISC Special Education classrooms.

Mitzi – If we get more students into our boundaries how will this work with the 2 ISC Special Education classrooms?

Glen – The 12 allocated classrooms with the 2 Special Education rooms would fit but, we have grown and could grow over the summer.

Barbara – I know we are little apprehensive because we are going to lose our head administrator (Principal). We are not going to let the numbers get to high. We brought in another teacher in both 3rd and 5th grade last year. Glen and I have talked about the high numbers in the grade levels and we may be allocated another teacher. We will be reviewing the numbers in May, August, and September. There is an additional 44 teachers that will be allocated to schools in May. The ISC Special Education classrooms fit without additional allocated teachers. Although, if by July we do not have space then we need to find an additional space at that time.

Kimber – One of the net results is families leave Raleigh Park over class size and they go to private schools. It means our numbers go down and they can not wait until July, August, or September to make that decision. It has gotten difficult on families who remain at the school when each year we have to deal with this situation.

Barbara – Unfortunately, we have to wait and we can not make those decisions early.

Mary – Our number one priority is class size. I know students/families who have left and it has been tough on everyone. Having PYP, Spanish language, and full day Kindergarten will hopefully keep families at the school.

Inga – I like the idea of having a teacher for the Spanish language but, I would rather see the teacher be in a classroom. Can we have a classroom teacher instead of getting a Spanish language teacher?

Barbara – The PYP Spanish teacher comes from different funds and can not be used for a classroom teacher.

Debbie – Some of the classroom levels have been high for many years and then students leave. Then some of the private schools have bigger classes as well.

Glen – We compare the actual numbers and what are projections are and then they are given to Barbara. We get students who register over the summer as well as late registrations. It can be as much as 10 students to 25 or more.

Emily - How does open enrollment play into the numbers?

Glen – The district looks at the capacity of the school and then we get a list from the district as to how many students can come into the school. We can close the grade level if the levels are too high. Then we do a lottery if needed to add in the students.

Erin – If we get to 40% poverty level, does that bring in more teachers?

Barbara – It gets tricky because you have to track those students. The specifics are difficult but, there are certain ways that you can use that money. It brings in teachers that are used with the poverty level students but, the funds can not be used for just a classroom teacher.

Ryan – Portland’s Superintendent is talking about the districts improvements and why are we an outlier to those districts?

Mary – Portland takes in a lot more money but, their results are lower for students are lower.

Margo – What is the breaking point for class size? It seems that Beaverton does not have a set point or size.

Emily – Don’t get too caught up on class size. My daughter has gotten more attention this year in a big class then in a smaller private school classroom.

Barbara – We have other classes in the district with higher allocations. I am going to look at the lower grades first then the higher grades for allocating teachers.

Mitzi – We sent a letter last year. We are very happy with last year. It looks like we might be getting teachers over the summer. Our trend is that we will see others leave and we have last minute sign ups. We are wanting the teachers now and don’t want the families to leave early.

Toni – If the allocations were to increase then will the ISC Special Education classes come to Raleigh Park. Are we actively enrolling students early or could we during summer school?

Barbara – We will be looking through the summer at the numbers and not move the students until we know. We are 21 kids away from an additional allocation.

Glenn – My door is always open. Please come see me or email me. Karen can put you on the calendar and I can meet with you.

Peter – Are we going to get double the PE and Music time per week with a full day teacher?

Glen – We are working on a schedule to add in more PE and Music into the specials rotation.

Margo – Thank you for the discussion!

Peter – We have a little over 30,000 in this school year’s budget. Money that is available that is not currently budgeted is about 48,000. We have put in audio amplification units in the school and the feedback has been great. PTO has been supporting the garden, field trips, OMSI field trip, and Cinderella workshops. If you have any outstanding receipts get them to me as soon as you can. Margo, Glen, Stephanie Wollmuth, and myself are meeting next Tuesday to work on the budget. Brandi is wondering how we enter the play into the budget next year. We would need the information and the amount to put it in as a line item.

Margo – We can not help to be a little discouraged about the classroom size discussion. But, when you look at the activities this school provides to our students we are really lucky. What makes this place special are our staff, parents, and students.

Votes:

  • We are voting to allocate $32,000 into the Tech Fund;Passed.
  • We are also voting to add $500 to the already $1000 raised to buy library furniture; Passed.
  • Vote on proposed bylaw change to permit written authorization/email from 2nd person for checks over $1,000;Passed.

Amy – Was there still discussion to upgrade the audio in the gym?

Kimber – We are hoping to increase/update the audio in the Cafeteria. We are using the Spring Fundraiser to help raise the money for this project and try to get it installed this summer. We are asking for a little help and we are wanting to use parties as a main sign-up for the silent auction.

Erin – I am working on volunteer opportunities for next year. For example the back to school packets, Fall Family picnic, Sales Item Coordinator, Picture day, Talent show, Jr. Great books, Music Workshop, Library support, Tiger striders, Operation Clean-up, 5th grade Event Coordinator, etc. Please contact Erin if you would like to volunteer for these opportunities.

Shyla – Carnival - we still need people to sign-up to volunteer. There will be a photo booth with a green screen this year, and a family dance party outside. There will be a crazy hair booth and all the fun activities like bingo, cake walk, gym games, etc. Please contact Shyla if you are interested in helping.

Meeting adjourned at 8:43pm.