PS3 PTA Minutes November 15, 2016

Co-President’s Welcome & Call to Order

  • post election statement: we are a public community; we are respectful of others; we are careful not to engage in speech that is disrespectful, violent or hateful; we owe it to the children to be patient, honest, clear about our values; we affirm those values in our actions and speech; in the end, patience has to be a guiding virtue; we are here if anyone wants to talk about specific concerns about climate or issues; there are a number of initiatives happening concerning diversity at the school; we can come together as a collective group, reaffirm importance of education
  • review of November Agenda & October Minutes, motions to approve (motions pass)

Principal’s Report

  • thanks for coming out; community depends on your participation; grateful for teachers here keeping it a PTA
  • trying to process election and make sense of it and where we are in relation to it; staff members came to me and suggested our peace action – in tune with what we are as a community; there’s been so much advice; we have families with different perspectives;we need to keep things as steady as possible and keep to the values we are founded on as a school; we welcome and learn from diversity; we can provide an alternative to disrespectful behavior with our own behaviors and interactions; model what you want to see; ironically enough, involved in a yearlong study of diversity: staff diversity group and parent diversity group; chancellor of schools issued a clear statement that we are here for all of our students; mayor has said our city is a sanctuary city; you don’t have to tell children the whole truth, but don’t tell them things you don’t believe
  • D2 has gotten a grant from the DOE to study the teaching of math; last year it included eight schools; this year they have added schools; consultant comes in and visits classes and surveys staff and focus groups, gives us “this is what I see you are doing, and what you might do less or more of”
  • 3rd grade math workshop for parents tomorrow morning
  • Ruby is going to a Maker Faire in Queens;she has been teaching coding for the last few years, now an ever expanding corner of her room has Snap Circuits, robots, legos; all hands on science technology and the practice of processing for students to hold onto; PTA helps support professional development like this
  • Chromebooks are getting very heavy use in upper grades across the subjects – for reading, writing, order of operations
  • number of classes learning how to write their feelings in specific, sophisticated ways and how to construct arguments, impressive work

Parent Coordinator’s Report

  • for 5th grade parents: deadline for middle school applications is December 1st; for the rest: middle school process causes a lot of anxiety; we had a visit today from principal of Baruch and we had a visit last week from Jacqui Getz, the principal of 75 Morton; both fabulous educators and dynamic leaders; you should feel really confident in the choices you have here in D2; DOE doesn’t make it easy, but we have fabulous choices; question: do you get letters of rejection from middle schools?, no – you just get a match
  • any thoughts and feedback about workshops at school? any topics of particular interest? email me
  • school tour coming up on November 30th; we have a great team of people helping to lead; new parents should come and shadow;it’s a great way to get inside and see all the floors and communicate to outside parents your love and passion for the school; two more tours in January, February, and one in early March
  • there is an enormous pile of lost and found on the 4th floor

Co-Treasurer’s Report

  • review of income and expenditures as of October 31st
  • Marathon Team raised over 30K
  • WVE official report netted 10K, sold approx. close to 400 tickets – going forward, increasing corporate sponsors would help our bottom line

Business of the Meeting

  • SLT Open Position
  • need to fill immediately, announce now & vote at December meeting; SLT includes staff and parents and administrators; meetings are Fridays once a month at 7:30am; members only speak but anyone in the school community can sit in; any new parent at the school eligible; please spread the word
  • Cooking Room Pilot
  • last year we planned a renovated cooking room, it’s now being implemented in a pilot form; funded by the PTA – just like clay, music, SAIR projects; budgeted at 10K, probably will come out closer to 8500K; spending a third less per pupil on what we spend on Lenny or Bruce; only addressing six classes this time; idea is to scale up next year
  • Olivia VanKolken and Claudia Bellini: old curriculum focused on taste, culinary and cooking technique, new one more focused on what’s happening in the classroom with science,math, common core standards; going to work closely with the teachers who are involved in the pilot
  • pilot starts December 2 for six classes in two rounds; round one is three classes (Abby & Valerie K/1, JJ K, Beth & Jack 5) for eight consecutive weeks;round two is three classes starting Feb. 6 for 16 weeks biweekly (Tara 5, Emily 1, Amie & Lauren K)
  • Olivia has her masters in childhood education, there are two paid assistants in every class who have experience cooking with children, also a pool of interns to be part of the lessons; already feedback from teachers that parents want to volunteer so we’ll start there and then go to the interns; Thomas Stevens also involved
  • going to be doing newsletters for parents of kids in those classes: what they did, recipe will be on there, what’s coming up
  • question: will there be a connection with the woolly pockets? we want to; would be great to have garden to food connection; garden really needs more volunteers
  • parents of kids who aren’t in classes can come help out, let Olivia know:
  • 3Fund
  • about to make a big fundraising push; really helpful for PTA to receive funds before end of calendar year (December 31) as it helps us plan for next year
  • we have a giving tree: donate, receive a handwritten thank you from a student and a blank leaf to decorate however you like, put it back in envelope, put it right in the tree, leaf will be added to tree, by end of year hope to have tree covered in leaves
  • if we can get 200 donations of any amount by Giving Tuesday, November 29, parent match of 10K
  • it is incredibly important for people to give to the 3Fund, tangible benefits for every kid, community benefits, raising resources together that reach all children at the school, we don’t fundraise for individual projects, we raise the money so everyone at the school benefits, every child gets something, collective fundraising best way to do this, every donation matters, we need all the gifts, budget for the 3Fund, your kids are the most important thing in your lives
  • give, spread the word to give, looking for 100% participation with everyone giving something
  • Science at PS3
  • came up at charrette; it’s a longer discussion; please come talk to us, keep it on the horizon and think about it

Announcements

  • Marathon Team: more than 30K raised; let’s have a school fitness group; Henry will work on this
  • Square Dance: Friday, November 18, in the evening at school
  • help wanted: this Thursday morning, we’re doing a PTA closet cleanup down near Lenny’s room, please come help, even for 30-40 minutes

New Business/Parking Lot

Adjournment