Forest Avenue Home & School Association
•Meeting Minutes
•March 3, 2016
•FAS Gym
Officers in Attendance: Tara Arnett, Pamela Linden, Elizabeth Nuttycombe, Jennifer Loeb
Apologies: Rebecca Keszkowski, Cheryl Bendel
Principal: Matthew Murphy
Board of Ed: Tracey St. Auburn
Teachers: Mrs. Chiapperini, Mrs. Goldstein
Call to Order - Tara Arnett, President, 1:53 pm
Principal’s Report - Matthew Murphy
•Reading Night - Reading Wonders program details will be presented; discussion will also include general reading foundations information
•Pre-K Registration - Registration process is near completion; seats were offered at either Forest or Linden to all children that registered.
•Pick up Arrangements - Please notify the school of alternative pick up arrangements via written note in the morning. Emails at 2pm, even for emergency purpose, may not be read and communicated to the staff in time for pick up; please call the school for last minute emergency request.
•Driveway Blockage: Please do not block driveways on Forest Avenue during drop off/pick up.
•Some Important Dates:
◦Firefly Friday - tomorrow
◦Parent Teacher Conferences - March 10, 11 (early dismissal day), and 15
◦School Closed - March 25
BOE Report - Tracey St. Auburn
•$22K funds were received (although small amount, more than the $0 funding received last year)
•Social Media Issues - Social media issues have translated into harassment and bullying issues, mainly at the high school level (programs will continue to address this area).
•High school may leverage the ‘one school, one book’ idea implemented by FAS; they are considering using it for summer reading
•The Ridgewood secretary announced her retirement; the BOE accepted her resignation; her contributions to the school system were noted.
•Field Trips: Approved various field trips
•Thank Yous: Acknowledged donation of chrome book and chrome book cart by FAHSA.
•Betsy Ginsburg: Mrs. Ginsburg will join the Garden State Coalition, effective March 31; the organization advocates for quality public education.
•Next Meeting: March 14 at 8pm is the next BOE meeting.
Faculty Report - Mrs. Chiapperini, Mrs. Goldstein
•Thank you note read from Mrs HK for numerous volunteers that participated in the sing a long.
•Enrichment - Teachers expressed thanks for the enrichment programs and for Dr. Seuss day (with special acknowledgement to all the people responsible for the delivery of the books/food, and to the Cat in the Hat).
•Class Trip - Charlottes Web field trip next week
•2nd Grade Promotion - Thank you for planning, very excited about upcoming festivities.
President’s Report - Tara Arnett
•Sing along - approximately $400 raised for MPR
•Enrichment - another enrichment event will be held tomorrow, entitled Dancing with Honeybees
•Visiting Author Day - will be held next week
•Wellness Week - committee meeting took place today; several events planned including a walking school bus, activity day (during recess), and assembly; will also launch Farmigo in conjunction with Wellness Week
•Thank you: Pajama Drive (over 600 pairs of pajamas and over 100 books donated by the school district; the items went to local organizations in need, such as the East Orange after care school for homeless children); Sing a long; Box Tops (Mrs. Bendin’s class won by a landslide)
•Jackals Game: planning another gathering at a Jackals game in mid-June
Treasurer’s Report - Jennifer Loeb
•Approximately $80K in the bank
•No new fundraising results to report yet (fall food days and winter discovery days should have numbers for next month’s meeting)
•Notable payments include: glow dance, masquerade dj, and recent enrichment assemblies
•MRP donations - approx $17K (matching check for $2,500 just received); overall around $33K+ for the MPR room design project.
Committee Reports
•2nd Grade Promotion - Katie Renoff, Jeannette Murtha: Dr. Seuss bake sale fundraiser raised over $600; Glow Dance to be held next Friday; Naunas give back night (fundraiser for promotion) will be held in conjunction with Wellness Week (concept is put down the electronics and spend time with family without having to necessarily cook dinner); additional bake sale fundraiser to be held at Spring Carnival.
◦Question was raised with regard to the price of the glow dance. Recommended a ‘suggested donation’ as opposed to setting a price.
◦Funds raised to date are approximately $4000; with the yearbook projected cost approximately $2000; shirt cost approximately $1000; also have anticipated costs associated with end of year party and the actual promotion.
•Food Days - Nicky Peach: Starting to thing about September already; will need some new food day chairs (Katie Renoff volunteered for chicken day), and also someone to coordinate the volunteers.
•Discovery (VOTE) - Pam Linden: Possibly holding a coding class, jr engineers, and cheerleading in the Spring sessions; Keyboarding - VOTE for 1 more class to be held in the spring (6 classes were approved previously, but a 7th is needed due to the size of the second grade class). Vote: Motion by Cara Conomous for $400 for keyboarding class to be held during spring session. Motion seconded by Sue Felty. All in favor, no objections.
•Masquerade / Auction - Kelly Sachter: March 19, a lot of great auction items (baskets are being put together Tuesday), looking for more tickets to be sold - running raffle for 3 free tickets to those registering in next 3 days
◦Question raised why all ticket purchases were not placed in raffle (basically disadvantaging those that purchased early); committee is trying to encourage additional participation.
•Farmigo - Jessica Morris: Delivery will be every Wednesday, with pick up from 3-4 (could either be in tent outside if nice, or downstairs outside the gym in the event of inclement weather). Ordering will be open Thursday through Sunday. Create your own account; service is only available to FAS families.
•Spring Carnival (VOTE) - Julia Javier, Marylou Cabrera: Event will be held first Friday of May, immediately after school. The event has never been though of as a fundraiser, but last year about $1500 was raised. Spent approximately $2100 last year on a DJ, bouncy houses, games, magician, party favors, and crafts. Also (at no cost) will have icy truck, and maybe a food truck - these will provide a percentage of revenue back. Committee asking for approval of $2100 for Spring Carnival start-up costs/deposits.Nicky Peach motioned for approval of $2100 for Spring Carnival, Pam Linden seconded the motion. All in favor, no objections.
VOTE: Approve February 2015 Minutes. Motioned by Julia Javier, second by Toni Gruber.All in favor, no objections.
Meeting adjourned.