Pasadena PTA Meeting – Wednesday, January 6th, 2015, called to order at 7:30PM.
Welcome by Lori Bricker, PTA President
Approval of November PTA meeting minutes
1st Motion – Sharon Levine
2nd Motion – Jan Mintz
Membership Report – our current membership is 294. 269 are Parent Members and 25 are Staff Members
Treasurer’s Report - $39,000 plus in the bank account. Next audit will take place 1/31.
Correspondence/Announcements
Today we announced our Founders’ Day Recipients for this year. The parent winner is Leslie Heichman and the staff winner is Ms. Doherty.
I also want to thank all of the first and second grade parents who sent in all the snacks, drinks, dessert, etc. for the hospitality for the December PTA conferences. The staff was so appreciative of your generosity.
Share Folder – it is circulating, please go through it
PTA Website – Michael updated it, please check it out.
Principal’s Report
Ms. Heitner spoke about the book club she is spearheading. It met prior to the PTA meeting to discuss the book The Psychology of Success. The next book is the One and Only Ivan and she is figuring out when to have the next book club meeting.
Next week is PARP week to encourage reading with parents. There is an Olympic theme and students will pass the book instead of the torch.
There will be 2 parent math nights: 1/19 for 1st and 2nd grade and 1/20 for 3rd and 4th grade. It is to meet with parents and talk to them about what students are doing in class with regards to math. This is still waiting for approval from the BOE and we should know Mon. Some teachers will be preset as well.
Ms. Heitner spoke about the math and ELA curriculum in each grade:
1st grade – subtraction facts until 20, reading non-fiction, procedure writing
2nd grade – adding 2 digit numbers, moving to subtraction, reading non-fiction, informational non-fiction writing
3rd grade – division, reading fiction: articles, folk tales, fairy tales, fables
4th grade – dividing by 1 digit, perimeter & area, reading non-fiction, moving to fiction, starting to write biographies
She thanked everyone for their generous holiday gifts for the staff.
President’s Report
At the President/Superintendent’s meeting last month, Dr. Lewis asked to bring an issue to our units. There has been a lot of discussion in the district with concerns regarding math in general. She asked for feedback about possibly having a community math forum and how many parents would like to see it. Most agreed to it.
A reminder that elementary extra help is currently being offered in 3rd grade. A concern about the current program is that the topics are district wide and not topic based per each individual school. A change was recently made to now reflect building based.
A district committee has been formed to discuss the possibility of a 9 period day in the HS instead of the current 8 period day. They are meeting this month.
Another committee has also been formed to discuss the Chinese program on the elementary level. Lori is on this committee and it will start meeting at the end of this month.
There is going to be another POB District Family Night – Wednesday February 24th. As it gets closer, an email will go out with the updated list of participating restaurants.
Fundraisers and Committees
Holiday Boutique – Leslie - made a little less than $1300
Book Fair – Leslie – made $1400
PARP – Sharon – this Fri kicks it off with an author visit, Jeff Nathan, followed by activities all week and special guest readers next Fri.
1st Grade Night Out – Tracy - pajama movie night, Fri 1/29 6-8PM, featuring the minion movie. Everything is all set from supplies, to vendor to volunteers.
2nd Grade Night Out – Daniella & Allison - 2/26 featuring Jump Bunch, a 60 second challenge, no siblings
PTA Mah Jongg Tournament – 2/25 7PM Parkway, Kim and Lisa are chairing.
Pretzel Sale – Lisa/Tracy - next one is 1/22. You can still pre-pay for the rest of the year, at $9, otherwise pay $2 the day of. Please send in exact cash or check for Pasadena PTA and write your child’s first and last name and teacher’s name on the envelope.
Spirit Wear– Jessica- pictures of items are on the website. We had a very successful spirit wear sale the night of parent teacher conferences - we sold a lot of pajama pants and have a lot more to sell. We are also selling blankets this year.
Yearbook – Melissa – boosters were due today. Survey and favorite things just went out.
Parents Night Out – Fri. 5/13 Holiday Inn
Birthday Box – Mira - I had done 19 Birthday Boxes to date and have fundraised roughly $242 so far.
There has not been another Title IX meeting since our last PTA meeting. The next one is scheduled for the 20th of this month.
Box Tops – Jessica - Box Tops issued a check to the school on December 15th for $578.60. I amprocessing the last bunch of box tops from before the break. I will get out
another flyer by the end of January and will mail them in February.
Community/School Service – Kim – thank you to all who donated coats last month. We got a lot of coats that are really going to help keep a lot of less fortunate people warm this winter. For our next upcoming project, an eblast will be sent out tomorrow. An important part of our upcoming PARP program is sharing our love of books with those less fortunate. We will be collecting your gently used children and adult books all next week. There will be collection bins in the lobby. The books will be donated to a wonderful organization called Reading Reflections.
Cultural Arts – Jessica – In December, we had Squeaky Clean Band which was a success. This Friday author Jeff Nathan will come in. This month, there will be a 4th grade Native American Day. In February since there is no break, there will be a fun spirit week with different activities each day such as Pajama Day, Charlotte’s Web playhouse is coming in.
Curriculum – Sharon & Melissa – meets next week
Health – Kim - Football Helmets:
- Possibility of having sensors in helmets to determine where impact is; will not diagnose concussion, just help determine where impact occurred. Thresholds of hits would help trainers determine when to pull kids from game.
They would Pilot helmets in Football program, may move to other sports later.
District has a very strict concussion protocol--students and parents are "trained" in protocol preseason.
all contact sports--students will be tested for baseline concussion levels preseason (JV and Varsity)
They may Pilot at MS for lacrosse and football??
- High School Health Education--Sexual Assault:
Safe Center came in to speak to HS health classes--4 day workshop on Healthy Relationships
For seniors--1--cycle of violence 2--campus safety 3--consent in relationships 4--rape culture
We want to include something about sexual assault on PRIDE survey, such as: as a result of drugs and alcohol have you experienced sexual assault? But PRIDE survey is a national document. Braico will contact them about possible addition.
- Friday NightRec:
Talked about how to get more attendance especially for 7th and 8th grade. This is a safe place for kids to gather.
Need more advertising and excitement about attending.
Nutrition – Sara –
-Advance POS system in the cafeterias have been synched with the Infinite Campus system in all schools so that the allergy information will flow through. Data cleansing and issues are being addressed (i.e. outdated allergy information). Mr. Cunningham is also speaking with BOCES to learn about other large school districts that have done this and what best practices are.
- Feedback from the kids in the High School is that there isn't enough time for them to utilize the "grab and go" options because it takes too long to be rung up. Karen agreed that its very busy. Mr. Cunningham will look into this to see what can be done to help the situation.
- The issue with running out of food at POB Middle School has been addressed. During the visit by Mr. Cunningham, it was noted that the flow of the cafeteria line is not ideal. He will be looking into this to see what can be done to improve the situation.
-She will be starting a committee to discuss events for March national nutrition month.
Title IX – Mira - There has not been another Title IX meeting since our last PTA meeting. The next one is scheduled for the 20th of this month.
Technology – Adam – As for a report, I met hadmet with Guy Lodico,Dr. Vince Mulieri, and KathyRae, to discuss details of our first committee meeting which was planned for Thursday the 7th. At the first meeting, we had planned tohear from Dr. Lodico and Ben Wiley (TrainingSpecialist) about the new Chromebook initiative at the Middle Schools aswell as hearing about successes and struggles from teachers and students in
the district.
However, I am not sure that the meeting will actually take place as no parents on the committee have confirmed their ability to attend. In addition, I am going to have to step down from the chair position due to a work relocation for the next 12 months. I believe the district is trying to move the meeting to the following week and, hopefully, they will consider an evening time where more parents would be available. Michael Rosenstein has agreed to take over this role
Transportation – Jan - met in Nov, not meeting again until the end of the month, Universal sore point is behavior, Dr. Cunningham involved, still bus route issues.
Kindergarten Center – nothing to report
POBMS – Jessica - they are looking into a touch screen/lap top tablet. There is an 8th grade overnight trip to Boston.
High School – Mira - As far as the HS is concerned, parents who attended both the PTA meeting and the BOE in December voiced their discontent over some course changes, as regular Calculus is no longer being offered.
MAPOB – nothing new to report
Project Challenge – nothing new to report
SEPTA – nothing new to report
Announcements
Our next PTA Meeting is Wednesday, February 10th at 9:45AM
The next PTA Council Meeting is Wednesday, February 10th at 7:30PM at Stratford Road
POB Family Night is Wednesday, February 24th
Adjournment
1st motion – Leslie Heichman
2nd motion – Sharon Levine