Pasadena PTA Meeting – November 17, 2016
Welcome and Thank You by Marisa Mitnick and Leslie Heichman
Welcome to our third PTA meeting of the 2016-2017 school year. The following is a brief outline of our agenda. Please make sure that you review the minutes from our last meeting in October and sign the attendance circulating during the meeting. All class parents must check in with Tracy Miniman at the end of the meeting. If you have any questions relating to school operations, procedures or policies other than those sponsored by Pasadena PTA, kindly address them to Mrs. Heitner at the conclusion of her report. Thank You!
Approval of October PTA minutes
1st motion – Jaime Vine
2nd motion – Tracy Miniman
Blood Drive Announcement/Info by Colleen Mack-Savino
Blood drive will take place on December 12, 2016 all day from 9:00am – 3:00pm and again from 3:30pm – 9:30pm. There are blood drive sign-up sheets for those interested. Class parents are responsible for making phone calls to class to ask them to sign up to donate blood.
Membership report by Heather McDonough
There are currently 355 members. 44 of those members are teachers. Membership is ongoing.
Treasurers Report by Lori Borenstein
We are once again in terrific financial standing. We have $47,000 plus in the bank account after paying our PTA membership dues, PTA Council dues and Kidstuff coupon book fundraiser. Michael Rosenstein reported on our audit. Quarterly report of books and everything is in good standing.
Correspondence/Announcements
Share Folder
Eblasts – every Sunday they are sent out via email. Please be sure to read!
Website – pasadenaelementary.org
Principals Report by Mrs. Heitner
It is digitalcitizen’s week. Library is working with all grades. Kindergarten and first grade are working on my online community, second grade powerful passwords, third grade going places safely, and fourth grade screen out the mean. Please be sure to continue conversations at home. In the month of December, we will be working on coding. We will have hour of code week. Librarians and computer aide will work on that with students. Report cards will be posted on Infinite Campus on December 7, 2016. On December 14th fourth grade will be having a concert for parents at 9:45am. Students will be able to see the concert the day before.
Ms. Temkin, Math AIS and Ms. Pfeiffer, Kindergarten teacher attended the meeting. Ms. Pfeiffer spoke about what each grade is working on in regards to curriculum.
Presidents Report by Marisa Mitnick and Leslie Heichman
We are going to keep our report brief as we don’t have a December meeting and we want to make sure to get in all the committee reports and event reminders.
- POB District Wide Family Night has had a lot of great feedback. With our lives being so busy it was nice to have a designated day to just slow down and have time to spend together. There was some negative feedback – mostly on the high school level as to when the family night was. Being that it was the day after Veteran’s Day, on which there was no school and came at the end of their marking quarter, a lot of kids were slammed with work and tests in the surrounding days. Reports of a child having six tests in one day. Scheduling the family night is a feat since it must be done between sport seasons so there are no games going on. Administration will consider it. The 2nd POB District Wide Family Night is on Thursday, March 16th.
- Dr. Lewis would like everyone to participate in completing the community climate survey which is located on the district website andeblasted by Dr. Lewis. It is due on 12/1 and takes just a few minutes.
- Parent Teacher Conferences are coming up. December 15th is an early dismissal day. The conferences begin at 1:00pm and go all afternoon (with a dinner break) and into the evening. We like to set up snacks/drinks/desserts/fruit for the teachers in the faculty lounge as it is a very long day for them. We will be sending out a letter to K, 1st and 2nd parents asking for donations. 3rd and 4th grade parents are asked to send in donations for the Spring parent teacher conferences.
- POB PTA Council event is on Friday 1/13 at 6:30pm at Woodbury Country Club.
- Snow Days/Shaded days are shown on the district calendar
- District and school specific report cards are shown on district website. We did not make AYP (Annual Yearly Progress) because of testing participation. No school on Long Island did.
- There will be a meeting with the BOE on 11/21
Fundraiser/PTA Event Reminders
Modell’s fundraiser by Daniella Blackman–we earned $186
Candy/Gift Wrap by Daniella Blackman – the fundraiser was a huge success. We earned $2,500
MJ Beanz Fundraiser by Daniella Blackman - was held this past Monday, thank you to all the Pasadena parents and staff that came in to support the PTA!
Pretzel Sale by Beth Spolansky - The monthly Pretzel Sale is ongoing. Our next date is
Friday, November 18th.You can prepay for the remainder of the year by sending in $14 in cash or check. All checks should be made payable to Pasadena PTA. You may also pay monthly by sending in $2 AT LEAST A WEEK BEFORE each month's sale. Please make sure to label the envelope: PTA Pretzel Sale. **Please make sure to include both your child's name and teacher on the envelope.
Spirit Wear by Jaime Vine & Gena Tesoriero– It is ongoing. We will be ordering new sweatshirts and headbands.
Birthday Box by Jenn Berger - 16 in September, 11 in October 7 in November
Box Tops/Labels for Education by Bari Shapiro - They should be sending our school a check for $229.60 in December and I believe they also owe us a little over $200 from last school year.
Picture Re-Take Day by Jaime Vine & Tracy Miniman – 11/29. Pictures will be coming home next week. If you want your child’spicture retaken, please send them back with a note attached that you want to retake it.
Holiday Boutique by Lisa Tisdale - The Holiday Boutique is being held Wednesday Nov 30th, Thursday December 1st and 1/2 day Friday December 2nd. The flyer will be going home the week of November 21st. There will be cute gifts for friends and family including mom/dad, brother/sister, aunt/uncle, grandparents, teachers and pets, ranging from $1-$10. PTA Will be emailing the class schedule so parents can volunteer to help. Anyone wishing to help should respond to that email so they can be added to the visitor list. If you are not on the visitor list on the day of the boutique they will not let you in. We are looking forward to seeing all the kids doing their holiday shopping.
Book Fair by Jaime Vine, Heather McDonough &Danielle Schwartzberg – Book Fair will take place 12/12-12/14 for students. Parents can shop on 12/15 during parent teacher conferences.
PARP by Danielle Schwartzberg – kickoff is 1/6 and will continue 1/9-1/13
1st Grade Night Out by Laura Sebel & Adriana Sideris – 1/20. We are using Mobile Flicks 2U.
We are doing a movie night. (Secret Life of Pets). We will be offering allergy friendly snacks.
2nd Grade Night Out by Tracy Miniman - vendor has been booked. Event is 2/10 6:30-8:00.
Yearbook by Gemma Cronin - The yearbook cover was submitted and approved. We continue to need all baby photos. And we are going to start asking for all other photos.
Parents night out by Alison Carey - We’ll be sending an email to everyone on the committee in the next month or so to start fundraising for donations. If anyone has access to gift cards or bigger ticket items that can be used as a raffle, please let one of the chairs know.
Reports of Committees/Open Chair Person Positions
Community/School Service by Sharon Levine – Halloween candy donation was a huge success. We donated 286lbs of candy. Starting soon we are having an annual coat drive through Long Island Cares. We will have bins in the lobby for your gently used coats.
Cultural Arts by Gena Tesoriero - we just had a successful assembly about Veterans Day. The children seemed interested & engaged. On December 9th, we are having an assembly called The Brain Challenge, which is a live Game Show.
Curriculum Committee by Steve Lindenfeld – recorder concert for all schools not just OB. Health is on a rotational basis in the elementary schools. New music lab in 7th grade.
Health Committee by Melissa Greenberg – the meeting was cancelled and the next one is the first week in December.
Nutrition by Sara Fins - We taste tested the chicken nuggets that are offered in the middle schools. The ones we are currently serving (advantage brand) were preferred 6 to 4. The nuggets were confirmed by Whitson’s to be antibiotic free. Both brands.
Whitson’s will considerwhether there is another chicken option – i.e. chicken nuggets made with whole “muscle” or potentially baked tenders. They will need to test the options to see how they sell. This year there is will be bids for our food services company as the contract is expiring (5-year contract). It will be in the spring. Mr. Cunningham is looking at our kitchen facilities and seeing what upgrades are needed or we may want to do to allow for different kinds of food to be offered (for example, grilled chicken vs. baked). The high school is the only school with the ability to grill chicken. Snack options at the elementary schools:
This will need to be discussed at the principal level. It was agreed that the they will discuss this and inform us of the decision so that we can report back to our units and parents.
Smoothies: Whitson’s need to consider doing a taste test at the schools and see if there is interest. They will come back with dates for the taste test at our next meeting.
TitleIX by Sara Fins – nothing to report
Technology by Michael Rosenstein - Guy Lodico, our head of technology, is out on leave so no meetings have been scheduled yet.
MAPOB – presentation tonight at Mattlin discussing music opportunities for students in middle school and will even have some performances.
POBMS – report cards distributed Friday. Had digital citizenship week.
New Business – None
Announcements
We have no December meeting. Next meeting will be 1/10 at 7:30pm. The next PTA Council Meeting is 11/28 at Stratford at 7:45pm.
Adjournment
1st motion – Gena Tesoriero
2nd motion – Sharon Levine