Minutes of Meeting

Central School PTA Executive Board

Wednesday, January 15, 2014, Noon

Child Study Room

Attendees: Cathy Bizzard, School Services Chairperson

Kristin Carpenter, VP Faculty/Community Outreach

Anne Cox, Parent Services Chairperson

Maria Franzese, VP Fundraising

Martha Friedland, Co-President

Angela Holton, Secretary

Kim Huang, VP School Services

Romy Kirwin, Co-President

Frankie Lanausse, Faculty/Community Outreach Chairperson

Liz Leifert, Communications Chairperson

Liam Robb O’Hagan, Programs Chairperson

Miran Robarts, Treasurer

Krista Williams, VP Programs

Ms. Dinelli, Grade 2 Teacher

Ms. Wollner, Grade 2 Teacher

Carol Priore, Principal

Apologies: Mary Brennan, VP Communications

Virginia Picciotto-Marsella,VP Parent Services

Pam Kernie, SEPTA Rep

Lisa Silva, Fundraising Chairperson

Ms. Moyles, Grade 1 Teacher

Joanne Hindley, Assistant Principal

MINUTES : A motion was made, seconded, and passed to approve the minutes of the Central School PTA Executive Board meeting on December 18, 2013, subject to a correction from the Treasurer regarding the Scare Fair report.

FORMATION OF NOMINATING COMMITTEE: (Martha) The Nominating Committee needs to be formed. The By-Laws require three Exec members and two non-Exec members. Next year’s slate of officers and VPs/Chairs need to be in place so that the slate can be voted on at the May PTA General Meeting.

From the Exec Board, Romy, Martha, Cathy and Frankie volunteered. For non-Board members, Raquel Estus and Ange Moore were suggested and will be asked.

UPDATE FROM THE PRINCIPAL:

1) Math Workshops for Parents: Each grade level will have a math workshop for parents where the new Common Core math curriculum will be explained. These workshops supplement the general (K-5) presentation on the math curriculum at a Central Perks earlier this year. An information/sign-up sheet went home in backpacks several days ago.

2) Risers: The application deadline for the second round of grants being offered by Central’s PTA is approaching. Ms. Priore asked whether the Exec Board would consider reserving this second round for Specials, specifically, a grant request from the Music Department for new risers. The current risers, which are wooden and original to the school, are in serious disrepair. The custodians have tried to shore them up but the risers present a safety issue. Murray Avenue School has loaned us a set of portable, traditional fold-up risers with a fairly narrow step. Ms. Priore distributed to the Exec Board a spec sheet on the risers that were recently purchased by Mamaroneck Avenue School, and which have a deeper step and are made of plastic. Each riser costs $720. Central needs 15 risers. Therefore, the total investment would be almost $12,000. The plastic construction should be more durable than the wooden kinds. These risers would be used for all concerts, theater arts productions and similar presentations.

The Exec Board discussed the pros and cons and raised the following points:

-- If the current risers present a safety issue, would their replacement be a cost covered by the school district as a facilities issue? Ms. Priore said she would look into that.

-- The PTA’s total grant budget for the year was $7500, some of which already has been disbursed to teachers in the first round of grants. Therefore, there are insufficient grant funds to cover the $12,000 cost.

-- Could the cost of the new risers be covered through a combination of Central PTA grant money, a Mamaroneck School Foundation grant, and district facilities funds? This raises logistical issues in terms of the timing of grant deadlines.

-- Can the risers be borrowed from Murray again to cover the gap until we are able to purchase the risers?

-- Is there another less expensive alternative to the proposed risers that are of similar depth and material?

-- Would the company accept a lower offer?

-- Could the risers be part of next year’s fundraising goal, perhaps combined with fixing the sound system?

Due to the logistical matters that need to be investigated, this matter will becontinued to the next meeting.

UPDATE FROM THE TEACHERS: The teachers asked for an update on the Inner Resilience (IR) program. Martha explained that the Exec Board is still in the process of trying to determine how certain components of the program work, e.g., when teacher and parent training takes place, how follow-up training works, how much parent involvement is needed, the financial contribution parents have to make, etc. Martha said that Mary Brennan is willing to run the program and that she and Mary are meeting with the Chatsworth and Murray PTA reps who established the program at the their schools. Martha said there are sufficient funds to run the program at Central, but at this point it is a matter of determining the logistical aspects. There also is some concern that the program will not be as effective if a large number of parents are not involved, though it was pointed out that Murray does not have 100% parent participation.

Ms. Wollner has some familiarity with Chatsworth’s program and pointed out that in terms of participation, there is a trickle-down effect, meaning that even though it did not start at 100% participation, as the word spread about the program, more and more teachers and parents got involved and started additional groups/cohorts.

Martha said there has been some discussion at recent PT Council meetings about getting this program implemented district-wide.

In terms of funding, it is unlikely that Mamaroneck Schools Foundation would grant a request from Central regarding IR because the precedent has been set at Chatsworth and Murray of the PTAs paying for the program. Furthermore, due to the timing of the MSF grant process, the soonest money would be available, if granted, would be January 2015.

In terms of follow-up training, Ms. Priore is willing to allocate some of the regularly-scheduled Faculty Meeting time.

It was suggested that the initial faculty training session, which is led by IR founder Linda Lantieri and lasts several hours, take place on the last day of school, when students are dismissed at 9:15am but teachers remain on site until 3:00pm.

PNO UPDATE (Martha) Planning is well under way. The PTA needs donations. Invitations will be put in teacher mailboxes tomorrow. There is an on-line form for people to use to make cash donations if they cannot attend.

UPDATE FROM CO-PRESIDENTS Romy reported on the PT Council meeting that took place at Chatsworth Elementary School on Monday, January 13, 2014. The following topics were covered:

1)  Principal’s Presentation: Chatsworth’s principal talked about Specials and the school librarian spoke about on-line resources.

2)  Board of Education (BOE) Liaison Ann LoBue’s Presentation:

(a)  Budget Cuts: The approximately 100 children in the Mamaroneck school district who attend 9 different private schools in the region will no longer be provided bussing. Instead, the families will be given vouchers for public transportation. This saves the school district $150,000. Also, the seven sport teams that were cut from the budget a couple years ago will not be reinstated. The group of parents who has raised $70,000 in private donations each of the last two years will have to do so again in order to preserve those teams.

(b)  Common Core: Template letters and a list of relevant legislators will be put on the PT website to assist people who wish to communicate their concerns regarding the new Common Core requirements and related state testing.

3)  SEPTA programs:

(a)  Building Bridges: Possible Building Bridges speakers this year include Mark Elliott, an inspirational speaker promoting tolerance of diversity and who has Tourette’s Syndrome and certain physical disabilities, and Paul Wichansky, a motivational speaker who was born with cerebral palsy.

(b)  Fifth Grade Book: The Fifth Grade Book Read event with Sharon Draper, author of Out Of My Mind, is set for May 28. All Grade 5 teachers in the district will be reading the book aloud to their classes. Please donate the book if you have it. It was suggested at PT Council that going forward all PTAs have an annual line item for purchasing the books for this 5th Grade Book event. Also, because Ms. Draper is coming from Ohio, additional funding is needed. The PTA Co-Presidents were asked to present to their respective Exec Boards a request from SEPTA for approval for additional funds. Romy and Martha reminded the Exec Board that $500 had been previously approved. A motion was made, seconded and passed to provide another $250-$300 in funds in relation to the SEPTA presentations.

4)  Dr. Shaps’ Presentation:

(a)  Student Data – There is some traction against the In Bloom data repository system.

(b)  Budget – Dr. Shaps is attempting to consolidate certain tax base matters as between Larchmont and Mamaroneck in order to avoid the tax cap override.

(c)  iPad Initiative – Grades 8 and 9 currently use iPads as part of their curriculum. That program will be expanded to Grade 10 next year.

(d)  Theater Arts – Each of the PTAs provided Dr. Shaps with their Theater Arts expenses in order to analyze the issue of the effect of increased custodial fees. Three out of the four elementary schools use Kevin Kearns’ production company. The PT Council co-presidents raised the question of whether Kevin’s charges are in line with other vendors’. There was a suggestion that in order to cover the increased custodial fees, the PTA reduce their theater arts expenses elsewhere -- e.g., through using a different vendor or charging more for tickets.

Upon hearing this report, Kim Huang pointed out that while a review of vendor costs is worthwhile, in her experience at the elementary, middle, and high school levels, a large portion of theater production fees relate to the licensing fee, usually in the $8000 range, which is an inflexible portion of the production company’s fee.

5)  Status of Common Core Presentation on LMC-TV: Annie Ward’s presentation had not been filmed as of the time of the PT Council meeting, but will be filmed soon and will be broadcast on LMC-TV.

6)  Budget Presentations: The first round of budget presentations will begin on Tuesday, January 21 at 7:30pm in the MHS Tiered Classroom.

BUILDING BRIDGES / GIFT FOR PATTY WOLFF The Co-Presidents reported that Susan Myers is working on a formal, school-wide thank you to Patty Wolff for her work on the Building Bridges program at Central for the past several years. Patty’s younger son is graduating from Central this June. Susan met with Ms. Priore, who approved a short presentation for Patty at the Spring concert. Susan is requesting funding from the PTA to purchase a Simon Pearce bowl with an engraved dedication to Patty. The bowl costs $295, plus tax, engraving and shipping. A motion was made, seconded and passed by the Exec Board to fund this gift in the amount of $350.

UPDATES FROM VICE-PRESIDENTS AND COMMITTEE CHAIRS

1)  Playground / Fundraising / Thermometer: Frankie reported the vendors’ estimates for filling the footprint range from $50,000 to $60,000-65,000. A decision needs to be made soon as to the design, in conjunction with a focus group of teachers, aides, gym teachers, the principal, parents and children.

The fundraising thermometer has been approved. Liam requested input on the text. The Exec Board felt that the thermometer itself should be kept simple -- e.g., “Playground Fund” and then the top of the thermometer labeled $70,000, and the first $25,000 filled in. The donation website should also be printed on the thermometer. The full explanation of the thermometer, the removal of the lower playground due to its failing state safety requirements, and the fundraising goal should go in Central Calling.

2)  Cultural Arts: Liam reported that Ms. Priore has approved the performance/workshops by Northeast Children’s Theatre Company for Thursday, March 27. There will be one performance for Grades K-2 and one for Grades 3-5. The play is “Jack and The Giant.” The workshops will be for Grades 3-5 only. Ms. Priore will work out the workshop logistics. The total cost will be $1535 if the performances and workshops can be completed in one day and $1700 if a second day is needed.

3)  Budget Discussion: On Tuesday, February 4 in the MHS Library Classroom, there will be a BOE discussion of district special education programs as well as the MAS Dual Language program.

TREASURER REPORT (Miran Robarts)

1)  Fiscal Year: Historically, Central’s PTA budgets have been presented with a fiscal year running from September 1 to August 31. However, the Central PTA by-laws state that the fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30. The timing of the fiscal year affects when taxes are filed. Rather than change all the spreadsheets and shifting the accounting for all the programs traditionally planned for and budgeted over the summer, such as School Supplies and other school-year kick-off programs, it was suggested that there be a vote so that the de facto fiscal year of September 1-August 31 be adopted as Central PTA’s fiscal year in the by-laws. This will require a vote at the next general PTA meeting.

2)  Budget Updates: Miran distributed a Budget Update 2013/2014 to the Exec Board. Last year’s surplus, due to underspending, means that the PTA currently has $43,333.85 in its checking account. Typically, the amount in reserve is just $20,000. This surplus is the primary basis for the $25,000 starter money for the lower level playground renovation.