PMS Parent Club Board Minutes – December 2012
UNOFFICIAL
December 14, 2012
Attendance: Shirley Rexrode, Hilary Cooper, Susan, Adams,
The meeting was called to order at 8:35am by Shirley Rexrode, who thanked everyone for coming to a working meeting in December, and invited everyone to come to the holiday coffee at Janice Kim’s after the meeting.
WELLNESS CENTER – Alisa Crovetti: Alisa introduced herself as the clinical supervisor of the Wellness Center, and explained that the WC provides health and mental health services to PHS/PMS students, and also administers school leadership programs. Alisa stated the WC clinical staff includes 6 trained interns, most of who have completed graduate programs and are trained in mental health counseling. Confidentiality is strictly adhered to, with the one exception of when a child is in danger or a danger to others. The WC is physically located at PHS but serves both the middle and high schools. Alisa explained that the difference between the academic counselors and WC counselors is that the academic counselors focus on short-term problem solving, while the WC’s emphasis is on long-term counseling. Two interns currently serve PMS this year: Stuart ______and Amy Hester. WC counselors come down to the middle school to see students. PMS students are referred for numerous reasons: IEP goals, referrals from the academic counselors, parents, teachers, etc. There are not many self-referrals in middle school but that is more common in high school. Sometimes students are referred outside the PUSD system if needed. The WC tries to work collaboratively with families, within the confines of confidentiality. The WC would like to have more coverage at PMS, including a physical space. Katie Korotzer suggested perhaps an unused closet somewhere could be converted to a counseling space.
Funding for the WC comes from a grant from Alameda County Mental Health Services, the FallFest 5K (which raised $14,000 this year), Parent Boards and parent support from donations made during online registration. Alisa explained that the purpose of the Wellness Center Steering Committee is to raise awareness in the community of the WC services and to fundraise. Parents are not involved in the day-to-day operations of the WC and do not see students or have a physical presence in the WC. Parents on the committee do not receive any information about who is seen in the WC. Students must walk past the library to enter the WC, but the library windows are papered over to add privacy. Also, because the leadership programs are run out of the WC many different students come and go. A parent asked if the interns are given stipends, and Alisa answered no but stipends are more common this year and the WC is trying to get money to offer a small stipend. WC interns tend to stay for 3 or 4 years, and 4 of the 6 are returning next year.
Julie Whiteside made a motion to approve the minutes and it was unanimously approved.
VICE PRESIDENT – Hilary Cooper: Hilary announced that in January she’ll contact the Board to find out who plans on returning to their position next year.
SCRIP – Diana Gleghorn: Boxes of See’s Candy are available for purchase and special orders for a variety of stores can be placed. Teachers have been given their SCRIP gift certificates and are very appreciative. Diana read 3 thank you notes from staff. Diana explained that there is a very complicated formula to determine how the collected funds are distributed. The SCRIP committee hopes to rework the formula next year to make it more equitable. This year the gifts ranged from $75 to $600.
TREASURER – Gautham Wadhwani: The budget is on track as expected. We received $360,530 last year from the Giving campaign, about $20,000 over what the Board budgeted for. Many expenses from the beginning of the year have not come in yet but we should break even. Gautham explained that cash in the bank includes reserves and anticipated future expenses. The Board has available funds to spend of $100,000-$120,000.
PRESIDENT – Shirley Rexrode: Shirley reminded the Board that there are reserved funds for laptop replacement of $30,000, anticipating about $1,000 per laptop. Teachers’ Windows laptops are currently about 6-7 years old, ancient in technology years, and are experiencing poor battery life, no memory, old operating systems which can’t be updated, etc. Additionally, many have been infected with viruses over years and it takes many many hours to service each one. PMS has determined that it would be best to replace these aging laptops with Apple MacBook Air laptops, which offer increased security (fewer viruses) as well as an “administrative view” feature which would allow Stephanie Griffin to upgrade and maintain the computers remotely. The cost also includes a 3-year extended warranty. Stephanie added that $1,000 per laptop seems appropriate but the actual number of laptops needed is 40, not 30, to get all teachers and administrators on the same system. A few teachers, who teach at both PHS and PMS, already have new computers. A parent asked about the 3 iPads for PE which were included in the grant cycle, and why PE teachers need laptops as well. It was explained that the iPads are for student applications during PE class (i.e., timing and counting features) and the laptops are for teacher use for grading and use during meetings. Shirley asked the Board to consider increasing the laptop fund by $18,000. It was pointed out that tax costs were not included when budgeting for the laptops. Gautam noted that we are about $5,000 under budget from the iPad cart which was funded last year.
A motion was made to add $18,000 to the current reserved $30,000 laptop replacement fund and spend the combined total of $48,000 for 40 Apple Macbook Air laptops, and also increase the laptop reserve to $15,000 per year for 3 years. Motion approved.
PRESIDENT’S REPORT – Shirley Rexrode: Shirley noted that our meeting was occurring in the district offices because the PMS teachers’ lounge is currently undergoing a renovation! The total budget for the work is $31,500 of which PUSD is funding $20,000 and PMS Parent Board is funding $11,000. The new lounge will include Corian countertops, white cabinets and black tables. The work is expected to be completed during the winter break.
Planning continues for the Learnscape Lunchpark, a green space for students to hangout and learn. About 21 people attended the planning meeting on December 5, many of who are landscape architects. John Gibbs and Kimberly Moses are leading the plans. Another meeting is scheduled for January 10, 2013 at 7pm in Room 201. A project manager is needed and they hope to report a budget to the January school board meeting.
GIVING CAMPAIGN – Barbara Love: Only 6 PMS Board members have not yet donated to the Campaign. As of Tuesday community participation is at 49% and $1.5M has been raised. Today is the last day to donate and have your name included on the list published in the Post.
PRINCIPAL – Jeanne Donovan: The block schedule meeting was Monday night. PMS is moving forward and is waiting for approval from Superintendent Hubbard for a 3-day block. Teachers will then vote whether or not to approve the block schedule. The vote needs 55% approval and Jeanne is hoping for much higher than that. If approved by the teachers, the plan then moves to the School Board for approval. If the schedule receives final approval there will be another trial in the spring to iron out any glitches. There will be only 1 lunch period on block days, but since no classes will be occurring during lunch, courts and classrooms will be freed up for student use. Food service is exploring a cashless system (included tablets for ordering and to help track inventory) to speed up food delivery to the students.
COUNSELING –Ashley English (6th grade): Kech is out sick. Ambassadors are working on PSA’s for grade level assemblies. Lunch A 6th graders are focusing on “zapping”, which is writing a message on a student’s hand to be looked at at a certain time. Lunch B is focusing on “Life of a Rumor” – how rumors spread and can be hurtful. The Peer Mediation program is in full effect. Students have begun to ask for mediation and they’ve been successful.
ASSISTANT PRINCIPAL – Eric Mapes: Eric spoke about the well-attended presentation by Steve DeWarns on internet use and kids. Topics covered were cell phones, texting & chatting, Instagram, YouTube, etc. Officer DeWarns reminded parents to check their kids’ privacy settings, turn on parental controls, and turn off geo-tagging of pictures. Twenty percent of students who are cyberbullied contemplate suicide. Remind students not to share passwords/passcodes. Monitoring multiple accounts is time consuming, but AVIRA is a free service that will notify parents if it picks up certain keywords being used in your children’s accounts. Eric reported that an Instagram account with his name attached has been opened and is both following and being followed by PMS students. This is NOT Erics’s account and he has contacted the Piedmont Police to investigate.
SCHOOL SUPPORT TAX (SST) – Rick Raushenbush and Katie Korotzer: Rick explained that the School Board had initially adopted a rate structure essentially the same as had already been in place, which would raise $9.5M. Last week an appeals court ruled that parcel taxes must be a flat tax. Therefore, new language for the SST had to be adopted at the last minute. As a result, and in order to still raise the $9.5M, the tax will go up for small parcels and down for large parcels. If approved, the tax will go into effect in June 2013 for 8 years. If the legislature changes the law in the next couple of years then we will have to vote again to change the rate structure. The tax still requires 2/3 voter approval for passage. Katie added that a great team has been assembled to work on the campaign, but the campaign committee is still seeking volunteers. There will be a city-wide push for support on January 12. About $12,000 has been raised so far for the campaign; the goal is $30,000.
ASST. SUPERINTENT – Randy Booker: Randy provided a brief overview of how technology has changed the classroom. Technology has shifted so much surrounding students’ ability to produce, and has also gone global, meaning students have access to material from around the world. Students are now social learners, and teachers are trying to catch up and determine appropriateness of connecting with students via social media. Technology has not changed the curriculum (i.e. Algebra 1 is still Algebra 1) but does make it more accessible. A challenge now is how we catch up to new technology. Randy stated teachers need to have tools (iPad, Chromebooks, etc.), training, access to information, and ability to determine which information is good or bad. Our schools also need the infrastructure to support all of this new technology. Our current infrastructure (i.e. “stuff in the wall”) was last updated 15 years ago. PUSD’s goal is 1:1 technology – each student has a device.
NEXT MEETING: Friday, January 11, 2013 at 8:30am in PMS Room 201
Respectfully submitted,
Susan Adams, Recording Secretary