Claremont Immersion School PTA
General Membership Meeting
January 7, 2017. 7PM
President– Jorge Figueredo
Jorge welcomed everyone and announced that Dr. Patrick Murphy, Arlington Public School (APS) Superintendent will be at the next PTA meeting scheduled for March 7.
President-Elect – Melissa Schwaber
Melissa asked if anyone needed a Spanish translation. Some PTA members did. Jorge and others proceeded to translate throughout the meeting. Melissa spoke about the upcoming PTA fundraiser: the Read-a-Thon which starts on Valentine’s Day. The Valentine’s Day celebrations in the classrooms have the theme “Friendship and the Love of Reading” to tie in with the Read-a-Thon. Students will have individual websites to raise money while they read. Melissa said the PTA hopes to raise $30,000; $10,000 which will go to classroom libraries, $5,000 for authentic Spanish books in the main library, $5,000 for books for the Spanish Language Arts Library, $5,000 for technology, and $5,000 for staff development. Melissa announced that if the Claremont children read over 500,000 minutes, Jessica Panfil will kiss a pig!
Principal–Jessica Panfil
Jessica announced that Wacky Hair Day is Friday along with the Team Kids Carnival. She then introduced the 4th and 5th grade band and orchestra.
*****************The 4th and 5th grade band and orchestra performed**************************
Treasurer – Beth Addington
Beth said the PTA raised $3,300 from the book fair. Most of the expenses in January were from the International Dinner and Dance and After School Enrichment. The PTA currently has a little over $9,000 for expenses in the budget.
VP of Social–Melania Saraniero
Melania thanked everyone who came to the International Dinner and Dance. Melania reminded everyone to sign up to volunteer for the Valentine’s Day class parties. She announced that Claremont is one of the top five schools with the largest number of participants in the Marine Corps Marathon Kids Run that took place in the fall. Because of this, Claremont has been given the Healthy School Award and will be receiving a large check from the Marine Corps.
VP of Fundraising–Amber Dungan
Amber asked for volunteers for the Read-a-Thon. She then announced that there are no After School Enrichment classes for tomorrow, February 8, due to early release.
VP of Education and Green Initiatives—Amy Oldham
Amy announced that a second-grader, Andrew Yoo, will be moving on to the regional level in the Reflections contest held earlier this school year.
President-Elect – Melissa Schwaber
Melissa announced that next Monday night, February 13, at 7pm, parents are going to write messages of friendship and welcoming with chalk on the sidewalks near the entrance of the school. She encouraged everyone to join.
Principal Update–Jessica Panfil
Jessica mentioned how proud she was of Claremontfor winning of the Healthy School Award from the Marine Corp Marathon Kids Fun Run. She then announced the hiring of a new administrative assistant in the front office, Cynthia Matos. Carmen Aguilar from the front office has been promoted to work in Human Resources for Arlington Public Schools. Jessica mentioned that kindergarten applications for Claremont are coming in and Claremont will be accepting six kindergarten classes for the coming school year. Jessica spoke about Black History Month and how the teachers are incorporating the celebration of black history in their classrooms. Jessica announced the Family Library Night will be moved to February 23. Finally, she requested parent volunteers for Team Kids Carnival this Friday, February 10.
Bill Gillen—Claremont Capacity Update
Bill announced that the recent attempts to cap the incoming kindergarteners for SY2017-2018 to four classrooms and temporality change the admissions policy were rejected by Superintendent Dr. Patrick Murphy and the school board. Bill emphasized that since Claremont will remain over capacity parents need to ask the school board for things like additional safety considerations, staffing, and resources. He encouraged all the parents to attend the next PTA meeting to address these issues with Dr. Murphy. Bill said that the school board is in the process of doing a comprehensive revision on the APS admission policy for the SY2018-2019. The school board will be presenting its first version of the policy to the public on February 22, at Washington Lee High School at 7pm and again on March 2, at Wakefield High School at 7pm. He encouraged everyone to come and advocate for Claremont’s needs. A PTA member mentioned that all of APS school board meetings are on the school board website and can be viewed at any time. Melissa Schwaber expressed concern that the school board is only going to change the enrollment policy at Claremont, not put a cap on the number of incoming students. She said that Superintendent is the one who determines the cap, so parents need to advocate their positions to Dr. Murphy. Bill requested parents email him or Melissa with any question about the capacity issue.
Parent Forum
A PTA member, Ann Marie Douglass, expressed concern about the overuse of iPads at APS and its effects on the growing child’s brain. She insisted she is not against the technology, she just feels that certain guidelines should be in place to preserve children’s socialization skills, imagination, and attention. The main things she said she wants to see change in APS are: no screen time during indoor recess, no additional screen time after finishing an assignment, not using screens for reading books, and finally, the ability to opt out of using the iPad all together. Ann Marie revealed that she is starting a group where parents can bring their kids to play in nature in a screen-free environment and encouraged others to join.
A PTA member asked Jessica if she had any information on how the elimination of homework at Oakridge elementary school is working out. Jessica said she did not know about Oakridge, but the research about the correct amount of homework to give a child is mixed.She said that Claremont strives to strike a balance with the amount of homework given and parents can talk to their children’s classroom teachers if they are concerned.
Another PTA member asked why APS decided to give each child an iPad. Jessica first statedthat this part of the PTA meeting was simply a forum for parents to start a discussion on issues that concern them.She had not planned on going into detail about any one topic and would answer questions as best she could. She said that APS wanted every child to have access to technology and the cost of having computers in the classroom was about the same as each child having individual iPads.
Bill Gillen reminded parents to model appropriate technology use. He said to make children a priority, not devices.
Another meeting attendant advocated heavily vetting the iPad apps children were using in the classrooms to ensure that the children were learning, not simply playing games. Jessica assured the membership that Claremont has put a lot of time and thought into the programs it chooses for its students. She reminded everyone that Claremont keeps the iPads at school over the weekend and parents have the opportunity to opt of iPad usage for their students. Jessica also reminded everyone that the school iPads are some children’s only access to technology.
A PTA member asked if kindergarteners have iPads in the classroom. Jessica said there are four to five iPads in each kindergarten classroom that children have access to them 10-15 minutes a day.
Another PTA memberadvocated teaching children how to be responsible with technology and learn how interact in the real world without a screen. Jessica asserted that Claremont kids are following a curriculum that allows them to become responsible digital citizens.
One PTA member reminded the group that there is no conclusive research on whether or not digital learning really helps a child. The member said she would rather have her child explore outside than become better at math by means of spending hours on an iPad.
A meeting attendant suggested forming a committee to discuss the pros and cons of iPads at Claremont.
Another PTA member brought up her concerns that Black History Month is not celebrated as heavily as Hispanic Heritage Month at Claremont. She said she wants to start a discussion on how Claremont can better commemorate Black History Month next year. She expressed hope that parents would discuss black history and prominent black figures with their children at home.
Closing—Jorge Figueredo
Jorge took names of people who were interested in forming the iPad committee, thanked everyone for coming, and ended the meeting.
******************************MEETING ADJOURNED***********************************