HarmonyPTA

General Membership Meeting Minutes

December 14, 2011

These minutes document the HarmonyPTA Board meeting which was held on Wednesday, December 14, 2011, beginning at 7:00p.m., at the HarmonyMiddle School Library. These minutes were prepared by theSecretary of the Board.

The General Membership was provided with an agendaand last month’s minutes and an income statement.

Board Participants

Title / Board Members and General Membership Present
President / Anne Carlson
Treasurer / Kathy McCleary
Secretary / Kristen Thatcher
Principal / Sherron Gladden
Standing Committees
School Store/Spirit Wear Committee / Lauren Lynham
Events Committee / Kim Chatfield
Fundraising Committee / Ginny Skrobialowski
Special Committees
Website / Maura Walsh-Copeland
LEAP / Maura Walsh-Copeland
Affinity Programs / Ashby Snare
General Member(s)
Lisa Sikurinec
Jim Widzinski
Susie Lee (C2Education, Leesburg)

Agenda

  1. Call to Order, President
  2. Opening Ceremony
  3. Reading and Approval of Minutes
  4. Report of the Treasurer
  5. Report of the Principal
  6. Reports of Standing Committees
  7. Reports of Special Committees and Coordinators
  8. Old Business
  1. Report on Trial of Constant Contact Event Marketing for Volunteer Outreach (Winter Party)
  2. After school programs: Safe Sitter and Science and Chess Clubs follow-up
  3. Set March and April meeting dates.
  4. Status report on long-term database plan and opt-in student directory.
  1. New Business
  1. Staff Membership Drive
  2. Request for storage space at school for party supplies
  1. Announcements
  2. Adjournment, President

Minutes

Approval of Minutes

The minutes were approved and were provided to the Website Structure Committee for inclusion to the PTA section of the school’s website.

Report of Treasurer

Kathy McCleary provided the PTA with an income statement. She reported that most of the fall fundraiser is in and paid. However, she still has to pay an invoice for the school store supplies. The balance in the PTA account is $18,097.19.

Report of the Principal

Winter Party went well – kids and chaperones had a good time.

Interims will be sent home on December 16th.

Some dates to remember:

December 19 – Woodgrove HS Chorus will sing at Harmony

December 21 – Harmony Band and Chorus will perform for 6th and 7th grade classes

January 20 – Last Day of 2nd Quarter

January 25 – Winter Book Club Meeting 7 pm in Library

January 26 – 1st Parent Information Night for scheduling

February 1 – Parent coffee to discuss scheduling

February 7 – Woodgrove scheduling information night at 7 pm

Standing Committee Reports

  • Spirit Wear and School Store–Spirit wear orders were distributed and items are also available at the school store in case parents are looking for holiday gifts. Lauren Lynham also mentioned that the store has been busy and items in the store can be found on the PTA website.
  • Events Committee – Kim Chatfield reported that the Winter Party held on Friday, December 9thwas a success with over 265 student attending and $1,350 in ticket sales. While the DJ did not show up, the band stayed for the entire dance and the kids really enjoyed it. She will not use Pop Noggins again as they were not organized to handle the number of students and didn’t have any sleeves for the kids to put their DVDs. They were also responsible for the DJ who did not show up.
  • Kim also updated the PTA on the eighth grade celebration committee. The event will be on Saturday, June 2nd from 7-10 pm at the Purcellville Roller Skating Rink.

Old Business

  • Constant Contact – The trial only allowed for 10 respondents and since it was going to be used for the Winter Party volunteers, a decision was made to sign up for the program. The PTA has four members who are trained to use it and they all reported that it is very easy to use. A Pay Pal account can be hooked up to it and the Team will look at what that takes as compared to Every Penny. A motion was approved to allow PayPal to be established. School supplies and spirit wear can be included in Constant Contact and a word of caution from Woodgrove HS was not to over use it or we will tune out parents.
  • Long Term Database – A team will look at the requirements to allow for a directory outside of the meeting. Two members of the PTA offered to help with data input if necessary.

New Business

  • Staff Membership Drive–Karen McQuaid proposed a program to encourage more PTA membership from the HMS staff. She will work on an incentive program and launch it in 2012 to get staff to join and be involved in the PTA. A motion was approved to support the program.
  • Contributions to Food Bank – Mrs. Gladden explained Congressman Wolf’s bill that was enacted allows for institutions like schools to contribute to food banks without liability. There LCPS is reviewing the law to determine how best to support this initiative as from first review food banks cannot accept food that has been cooked and food that has been purchased but not used (e.g. someone buys milk but does not drink it). Food Services contributes twice a year before holiday breaks food that is not cooked to food banks but it is a for-profit organization and therefore keeps costs low by not incurring much waste or over purchasing.
  • Storage for PTA – Part of a closet in the 7th grade house is for PTA use for storage. Please see Mrs. Holt for the key if you need to store or retrieve anything.
  • Sponsor ACT and Mock PSAT- ACT will be held at Tuscarora and Heritage and a MOCK PSAT for 7thgrade will be held at AOS. PTA has received a request from C2 to sponsor a mock PSAT at HMS. Mrs. Gladden will check with HMS guidance counselors to give us a preferred Saturday morning to do it.
  • Empty Bowl Night–PTA will be supporting the Empty Bowl Night by providing the food portion of the night and providing volunteers to support the sale of the bowls, raffle and dinner as well. The event is in March so PTA will start to solicit support beginning in January.
  • Funds to support needs request from Teachers for school store supplies–A motion was approved to provide the school store with $25.00 (Rolling so once depleted, another $25.00 will be added) to help purchase items (e.g. band reeds etc.) for students who cannot afford to purchase these needed items. The request must come from a HMS staff member.
  • Dates Needed for January – April PTA meetings: - New Dates for the PTA meeting in January through April (due to other scheduling conflicts) are as follows:
  • January 19, 2012 at 7 pm
  • February 16, 2012 at 7 pm
  • March 21, 2012 at 7 pm
  • April 18, 2012 at 7 pm

All meetings are held in the HMS library unless otherwise noted.

Announcements

  • NEXTPTA GENERAL MEETING – The next general meeting will held on Thursday, January 19th, at 7:00 pm in the Harmony Library.
  • Adjournment - The meeting adjourned at 8:15pm.

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