PTSA Board and General Membership Meeting
June15, 2017
7:00pm-8:30pm
FranklinCommons
Attendees: Marilena Barletta, Hardish Nandra, Nandini Mattapalli, Yongqing Lu, Silvija Strikis, Mary Pope, Cindy Gersony, Sue Murray, Hilde Kahn, Grace Becker, Susan Fearnow, Shengmei Geng, Sunita Gupta, Quynh Truong. Clarissa Maribojoc, Sabita Chulla, Shikha Dixit, Mae Uy, Hong Chen, Thuy Nguyen, Gabriela Danalache, Seulki Kim, Yuyan Zhou, Huaying Davis, Dr. Evan Glazer, Nick Begotka (SGA), Laura McConnaughey (faculty), Dan Rice (faculty), Betsy Sandstrom (faculty), and Rick Monteverde (faculty).
Call to Order – Marilena Barletta
Marilena called the meeting to order at 7:10pm. Minutes from the last PTSA meeting, on May 16, were available and have been posted on the PTSA web site for review. Marilena then called for a vote on the nomination slate of the Executive Committee members of the PTSA for 2017-2018. To review, the slate of nominees consists of:
President – Hardish Nandra
President-Elect – Cindy Gersony
First Vice President – Marilena Barletta
Second Vice President – Shengmei Geng
Corresponding Secretary – Jyotsna Dabbi
Recording Secretary – Yuyan Zhou
Treasurer – Huaying Davis
Marilena first asked if there were any nominations from the floor; there were none so she asked for a motion to approve the slate. The motion passed unanimously.
Treasurer’s Report – Nandini Mattapalli
PTSA Treasurer Nandini Mattapalli provided the Treasurer’s report. There have been a lot of expenses in this past month and these have included expenses for the cluster welcome parties and AP snacks; for ANGP, there were also many expenses, including Jefferson cups, games, and prizes. The ANGP is scheduled for this coming Saturday, June 17, starting around 9:45pm, right after graduation. It will take place at TJ and will be a great party!
Faculty Report – Laura McConnaughey
Laura McConnaughey started by noting that this was the last faculty report of the year, and the last one to be provided by her, as she is retiring. It is such a busy time of the year, everyone is immersed in grading and other end of the year activities. The faculty loves being in our renovated buildings. Ms. McConnaughy stated that it has been a great honor to be the faculty liaison for the PTSA and she hopes that she has been able to successfully provide parents with a faculty perspective. She said that she knows that she has brought controversy, but she has tried to provide a true reflection of faculty thinking. In math, opinion has no truth value, and she has sought to work towards the real truth that serves everyone the best. She has loved the PTSA’s openness and willingness to discuss and to deal with tough issues. After she retires, she hopes to return as a sub for math and Chemistry on Fridays.
Marilena then thanked Ms. McConnaughy for her service as faculty representative and presented her with a gift from the PTSA.
Grace Becker, former PTSA President, said that she recruited Ms. McConnaughy back in 2013. Grace knew that she would be great – not only was Laura a TJ teacher, but she had been a TJ parent, a base school parent, and a middle school teacher, so she would be able to bring lots of perspectives and insight to the PTSA meetings.
Marilena then introduced Ms. McConnaughy’s successor as the faculty liaison, Betsy Sandstrom, who teaches Russian.
Committee Reports – Reflections Awards, Sue Murray & Athletic Boosters, Grace Becker
Sue Murray provided the school level results of this past year’s Reflections contest (see the following page for the full list). The theme this past year was What Is Your Story? Students can provide entries in the categories of Literature, Dance Choreography, Film Production Music Composition, Photography, and Visual Arts. Several of the winners went on to receive awards at the FairfaxCounty level: Katherine Ann Barbano for Dance Choreography, Ravi Dudhagra for Film Production, and Junhyun Chong for Visual Arts. Ravi Dudhagra’s film entry, “My Story of Rocketry”, then went on to receive a 2nd place award at the District level, as did Junhyun Chong’s visual arts entry, “Brain Works”.
Sue Murray also reported that next year’s Reflections theme is, Within Reach. Entries will be due sometime in October.
A second committee report was provided by Grace Becker regarding Athletic Boosters. Her husband, Brian Becker, and Heather Erskine will be heading up Athletic Boosters for this coming year; neither could be here tonight, so Grace is making the announcement. Next year, Athletic Boosters is planning two new initiatives. First, in an effort to boost student attendance at games, Athletic Boosters will be offering a $25/year ticket for students. Second, they plan to open up and staff a concession stand in the Aud Lob. Athletic Boosters is in dire need of volunteers for this coming year.
Student Government (SGA) Report
Marilena introduced the new SGA representative for the coming year, Nick Begotka, newly elected SGA president. Nick’s senior lab will be in chemical analysis and his main extracurricular activity besides student government is cross-country and track.
Principal’s Report – Dr. Evan Glazer
Dr. Glazer started his report by saying how touched he was by the surprise farewell he was given at school on June 7. He thought the presentations and gifts were very heartwarming.
In school news, as has been announced, TJ has a new principal who will start next month. Her name is Ann Bonitatbus – “Dr. B” is probably the easiest way to address her – and most recently, she has been superintendent of a school district in suburban Los Angeles.
An update on transportation for next year is that although Transportation is moving to a bus depot system for FairfaxCounty, like it does for TJ students coming from Loudoun and Prince William counties, it will accommodate individual requests for transport to neighborhood stops. Transportation is trying to balance various needs, and moving to a depot system, although not perfect for everyone, seemed to be the best way to move forward.
Summer assignments are now posted on the school web site, and Dr. Glazer will get a KIT message out soon about this.
Dr. Glazer also reported that there have been technical problems with the web site; there have been security breaches – some people really like to attack our web site for some reason; the school is working on this issue.
Dr. Glazer then opened the discussion to questions. The first one was about transportation – Sue Murray said that the problem for her area was that Transportation eliminated the one viable depot, which was their local middle school. Dr. Glazer said that TJ Transportation cannot use middle schools any more; the middle school early start schedule conflicts with buses using their properties for transportation to TJ. Usually an elementary school would be closer to people’s homes, but as in her case, that is not always so. What about using the local high school as the depot? It would not hurt to ask Transportation.
Dr. Glazer said that LoudounCounty is building its own science and technology high school that is set to open a year from this fall; they will have three STEM academies in one building. That means we are four years away from when all Loudoun students will be attending that new school. That will open more spaces at TJ for FairfaxCounty kids.
Regarding TJ’s summer academies, the sessions for middle school students have filled up, but not the ones for high schoolers.
There was a question about the recommendation process; in other words, with a limit of two teacher recommendations, what can a student do who has not heard back from a teacher by the end of the school year. Dr. Glazer reiterates how much work it can be for some of the teachers to do recommendations – some teachers get 50 requests. But if a student has not gotten a confirmation from a teacher by the end of the school year, the student can certainly then ask a third teacher. Ms. McConnaughey added that the request should be done by email – the student can ask in person but should definitely also follow up by email – so that the request can get in the teacher’s queue and not be lost.
This meeting being not only the last PTSA meeting of the year, but also being Dr. Glazer’s last one at TJ, it was time to turn to presentations and farewells. Dr. Glazer started by presenting a big card and gift to Marilena from the faculty; he said that not only has Marilena proved to be very responsive to teachers’ requests, but she has been responsive and sensitive to the needs of the whole TJ community.
Marilena presented two gifts to Dr. Glazer and said that among his characteristics that she most admires is his ability to remain calm no matter what the issue or how heated the discussion, and his willingness to listen to all points of view and hear everyone out; he is always good-humored, patient, and he is always willing to explain and look for solutions and try to bring people together. The first PTSA gift was a sculpture with the TJ logo on it and on which was inscribed, Thinking outside the box. Only those who see the invisible can do the possible. The second gift was something funny – Thomas Jefferson socks, so Dr. Glazer can still have a bit of TJ with him whenever he wants without anyone else knowing, as Silvija said!
Other gifts and thank-yous were made – Marilena thanked the outgoing PTSA Executive Committee members and each received a Jefferson cup. Other important volunteers were thanked; these included Hilde Kahn, Grace Becker, Thuy Nguyen, Susan Fearnow, Clarissa Maribojoc, and Sue Murray.
Finally, Silvija Strikis presented Marilena with a card and a gift – the gift was a t-shirt which on one side said, Keep Calm and Join the PTSA, and on the reverse, said, No Complaints Unless You Volunteer.
Finally, a cake was presented to Dr. Glazer – how many cakes must have been cut in celebration during Dr. Glazer’s tenure at TJ! – and while he cut the cake, Dr. Glazer talked a little more about his new job. He will be the head of a school called Avenues of the World, in Manhattan, and he and his family will live close by. This school hopes to open a number of other campuses throughout the world. He plans to stay in touch with TJ, and he hopes to see many TJ students and alumni – New York City has a very large group of alumni, as well as several TJ start-up companies with offices there, including Yext and Palantir.
Marilena Barletta adjourned the meeting at 8:00pm.