RedlandMiddle School

PTA Meeting Minutes

March 13, 2012

Attendees: Mary Murphy, Tam Miller, John Moriarty, Jacques Croom, Susan Thompson, Beatrice Hanson, Andrea Troutner, Christine Rutkowski, Sally Mills, Rob Sharp, Ellen Motley, Cindy Fullerton, Robert Sinclair

The President called the meeting to order at 7:28 pm.

A motion was made, seconded, and unanimously passed to approve the minutes from November 8, 2011.

Events Report – Tam Miller

  • The last social of the year will be on Friday, March 16.
  • Volunteers are encouraged to continue participating in RMS activities next school year.

There was no old business or new business to discuss.

Principal’s Report – Mr. Sinclair

  • MSA testing is ongoing this week and next.
  • Hyperventilation – incidents started at ShadyGroveMiddle School the week before several incidents occurred at RMS. He has received 25-30 parent phone calls. Actions taken: Announcement to kids stating this behavior is unacceptable, follow up with parents of kids known to participate, follow up in several classes where incidents occurred. One child split lip, otherwise no known injuries. Episodes of hyperventilation have now subsided at RMS. Note that social media contributory to spread, including Facebook, YouTube – kids record themselves hyperventilating, or other challenge behavior such as drinking a gallon of milk in one hour, swallowing cinnamon, etc.Channel 9 contacted Mr. Sinclair with a request to participate in a planned story at 11 pm tonight regarding this type of behavior, and he declined, though notes that News 9 had received emails from RMS parents and these may be mentioned.
  • Block scheduling being prepared this month for next school year.
  • Next year projected RMS attendance is 525; this year attendance is 549. Twelve children went to magnet program.
  • FirstTown Hall Webinair completed, not well attended, but publicity could have been better. Plan future Webinairs with improved publicity.
  • Central Office – RMS trying to get access to more courses. One possibility is a sequence of three engineering courses: basic, computer aided design, and IED which would include high school credit.
  • Salad bar is new to cafeteria, very popular with students and staff. Some new foods offered to kids at Fitness in February are now available in RMS cafeteria, e.g., veggie pizza.

President’s Report – Jacques Croom

  • Regarding incidents of hyperventilation: received many parent emails and phone calls. Appreciate Mr. Sinclair’s rapid and effective response to the situation, including addressing the issue openly and disseminating information. Not consideredto be a police issue.
  • Andrea Troutner did a great job with Fitness in February. Good turnout, kids had fun. Cost was less than budgeted.
  • Fruit sale for Music department was successful
  • Montgomery County budget: Last year’s budget (for FY2012) was 4.2 billion for the county and 2.6 billion for the school board who has the final say for all items in their budget including employee raises. The current proposed budget for FY2013 is posted at:

People should take a look at where their tax dollars are going, what cuts are proposed for school programs, which county employees will receive raises, etc., and then send their opinions directly to the school board.

  • School suspensions: Effort (by state and our superintendent) to decrease the number of suspension in schools due to concern that a high number of suspensions reflect poorly on a school and that suspensions may be applied unfairly. However, keeping disruptive students in place in the classroom may diminish the classroom experience for all students. Recommend that parents support teachers and do research on this issue, then reach out to ensure their concerns are heard.
  • Mr. Sinclair’s discussion of suspensions at RMS: There have been 16 suspensions thus far this school year. Note that one child had four suspensions and 2 childrenhad three suspensions each. Most have been for fighting, length varies depending on infraction. There were seven at midyear (January) last school year (2010-2011) and 13 total. For 2009-2010, there were 22 at midyear and 40 total. For 2007-2008 (the year before Mr. Sinclair became principal), there were 63 suspensions at midyear. There is a continued effort to have kids report issues early, home visits when necessary, and have avisible Administration team.
  • Upcoming program of interest to RMS parents: “Brave and Bold” –covers teen drinking/driving/drug abuse – put on by Ms. Winters, at 6:30 pm on 3/21 in the cafeteria. Designed for parents, not students. Note that the Magruder cluster has the highest drunk drivingdeath rate among MC school clusters. Average age a child starts drinking is 12 years, Magruder has had a few incidents with kids drinking. Recommend research the topic, discuss alcohol and drug use with kids, get rid of unused meds, model appropriate behavior.
  • March 23 at Magruder – Program regarding driving. Recommend discuss issue with kids, adjust parental driving habits appropriately.
  • The number of school Resource Officers has been decreased from one per school to one per district. Officer Neal is no longer serving RMS.

Nominations Committee Report – Cindy Fullerton

  • Flyer is out requesting names for open RMS PTA positions for the 2012-2013 school year – all are encouraged to submit names for these positions. Openings are President, Treasurer, VP of Outreach, as well as two MCCPTA delegates.

Treasurer’s Report – Cindy Fullerton

  • The “Cash Summary Report” was discussed. This encompasses the time period from 11/9/11 onward. We currently have $14,520.28 cash on hand.
  • Highlights of the “Budget Current Fiscal Year Ending 6/30/2012” were discussed. Major points are covered in the “Notes Regarding Budget FYE 6/30/2012” – attached.
  • It was noted that only $2639.12 of the budgeted amount of $4000 for Curriculum/Student Support/Cultural Arts has been spent thus far. This is due to the fact that there were only two rather than three PTA sponsored assemblies this school year and a planned Artist in Residence program did not occur. Discussion ensued regarding the possibility of reallocating some of the leftover Curriculum/Student Support/Cultural Arts money to use for outdoor playground equipment and board games for student use during recess. A motion was made, seconded, and passed unanimously to provide $200 of the unspent Curriculum/Student Support/Cultural Arts money for recess items to a committee of Robert Sinclair and Beatrice Hanson, which will then be donated to RMS.

Beatrice Hanson mentioned that the Cluster Coordinator needs two more candidates and that it would be nice to have someone from RMS next school year.

The meeting was adjourned at 9 pm.

Drafted 3/18/2012

Finalized 3/25/2012