Brown International Academy
PTO Meeting Notes
April 14, 2010
Welcome: Nicole Kazenske, PTO president
The meeting was called to order by Nicole.
Principally Speaking: Sally Whitelock, Assistant Principal
The Lights On After School programs are losing their funding next year. The program had been funded through a grant from the city. The city no longer has the money to fund the grant for Brown.
Brown's SCORES program (soccer and writing) will receive funding. However,the restof the clubs such as Math Wizards, Chess Club, Ballet and Mural Club willbe losing funding. The Lights On After School grant also paid for Gretchen Rech's to organize the after school programs. There are no longer funds to pay for this position. The after school programs next year must be run by volunteers or funded by grants. In order for the after school programs to have liability insurance, there also must be a paid Brown teacher on site.
Hi Howard is forming a committee to begin working now on the after school programs for next year. Please contact him at .
A parent asked why there is no longer Spanish or Chinese offered in the after school programs. Sally replied the people teaching no longer wanted to do it.
The voters in Denver approved a Bond for capital improvement and technology two years ago. Brown is using this money to buy five more promethium boards to put in classrooms. Brown will also be purchasing more “mini lap tops” or Net books to create a mobile computer lab with up to 25 computers for student use. The library will receive a computer station with 6 computers to assist in research. This summer 75% of the school will have new carpet installed. All public areas will have new carpet and most classrooms.
Suzanne and Sally presented Brown’s Response to Intervention (RtI) model at the annual Elementary School Principals’ Association conference in Houston. RtI is a model used throughout the US. It was initially developed as a systematic approach usedto identify and assist students with learning difficulties. The RtI model matches student instruction with the student need. Teachers use research based instruction to teach students above grade level, at grade level and below grade level. At Brown, the administration meets with each grade level every week to monitor student progress in reading, writing and math. To see this data team process(with teachers from Brown) go to and search for Brown Elementary.
While at the conference, the administration heard inspirational speakers including Greg Mortenson. He is the writer of Three Cups of Tea and the founder of Pennies for Peace. Sally and Suzanne were able to meet him and Pennies for Peace may be a school wide project for next year.
The DPS 2010 Survey Parent Satisfaction Survey has gone out to all families. It is very important to complete this survey and send it in. It is in an 8.5 X 11 envelope, it is a fill in the dots with a number 2 pencil. It is in a postage paid envelope, or you can return it to the out mail box in the front office. It is important to share your positive or negative feedback. It reflects negatively on Brown if the survey is not sent into the district.
A parent commented that there has been a lot of discussion on Highland Mommies about CSAP and whether or not a parent should make his or her child take the test. She was impressed with the Brown teachers and how comfortable they made her child feel about taking the CSAP. Sally reminded everyone that CSAP is a big deal and teachers take it very seriously. CSAP is one of the biggest factors in determining how schools and teachers are rated. She briefly discussed the CSAP mishap in 5th grade and how upset teachers were that it happened. (A teacher unintentionally skipped two pages of directions during the oral administration of the test and the scores for nine students will be considered “no score”.)
Fundraising: Nicole
The Pasquini restraint night raised $156 for Destination Imagination.
Wednesday, April 21st is a fundraiser at Root Down. The address is 1600 West 33rd ave, Denver 303.993.4200 Reservations are recommended Thank you to Justin, a Brown family!
Look for more information on a restaurant night at Boa at the end of May.
A division of Highland Mommies is organizing a “North Denver Night Out”. The committee is planning a Pub Crawl to take place in the fall. Planning will begin in August. Schools that help in the planning will receive part of the funds raised by the event.
Spring International Festival: Nicole
The Spring International Festival will be on Friday, April 30 from 4-6PM. The Spring Festival will be held outside weather permitting. This festival is an opportunity for the Brown community to learn about other cultures. There will be Mexican dancers and Bag Pipers at the festival. The Mizel Museum will be at Brown during the day. All classrooms will have the opportunity to come look at their exhibit which teaches students about several different cultures.
This event is similar to the Fall Festival where teachers will have booths manned by parent volunteers. Please contact your child’s teacher for more information on how to help.
The PTO has reserved two Bouncy Houses. The PTO will need parent volunteers to work 30 minute shifts to help set up, sell tickets, run a bouncy house and clean up. Please contact Nicole at if you are willing to help.
Field Day: Nicole
Field Day will be on Friday, May 14th. Each grade level will have an opportunity to participate in Field Day.
The PTO sells lunches hot off the grill on Field Day. The healthy lunch choices includeveggie burgers, cheese burgers and hamburgers with choices of water/juice and Sun Chips. The grilling begins at 10am. The PTO is looking for a lot of volunteers to help! If you have ½ an hour or all day to volunteer, contact Nicole at to volunteer.
Wellness Committee: Tina Daily
The Wellness Committee is having a Wellness Summit on Tuesday, April 20 from 5-7pm at Brown. This is a summit to continue working on the ideas developed in the brainstorming session last spring. For example, the garden and expansion, Slow Food programs, Fruits and Veggies in the classroom and Youth Farmers Markets. There is a Rice Cook-Off competition. Contact at for more information. Childcare will be provided by the North French Club from 5:30-7:00.
Currently, there are 5 plots available in the school garden. The fee is $15 for the plot. If you are willing to water, then the plot is free. Contact Sheena Bull or Tina at if interested.
The Wellness Committee is planning to expand the Brown Community Garden. A wellness area consisting of at least 2 bicycle racks and a picnic table for the teachers and their students, additional garden plots for produce and herbs and dwarf fruit trees will be part of the expansion.
A parent asked about fencing around the garden. DPS will not allow a wooden fence around the garden. The committee is discussing ways to build a fence that is more esthetically appealing than chain link.
Brown will be participating in the Seed to Table program with Slow Foods of Denver and DPS this fall.Brown students will be growing produce in the school garden which will be used in our cafeteria here at Brown. Students will be responsible for cleaning, weighing, documenting and delivering the produce to the cafeteria once a week starting next fall. DPS will be paying the Garden committee for the produce that they grow in the school garden and deliver to the school cafeteria. DPS has also asked that the students maintain herb gardens for the DPS kitchen staff to use in their kitchens.
Noodles & Co, a Colorado based company will be holding a fundraiser for DPS Gardens on Sunday, April 18th. Slow Foods of Denver is coordinating this event with Noodles & Co. Brown Intl Academy is a Slow Foods of Denver & DUG garden, our school garden will benefit from this fundraiser.25% of sales at all Noodles & Co locations in Colorado will benefit Slow Foods of Denver who will in turn pass these monies back to us for use in our school gardens.
Communication Committee: Chris Wood
The communication committee is focusing updating the Brown website. Barbara Farley is the parent volunteer managing the website. She is looking for a volunteer web designer to help her reorganize and redesign the current website.
Currently the Brown Yahoo Group has 160+members. Chris Wood is the volunteer moderator. She is planning to run a campaign to encourage more families with access to a computer to sign up.
The communication committee is looking for ways for information about Brown to be distributed in a more inclusive egalitarian way and reduce paper. The committee is also exploring ways to get information to families through text messaging or twitter.
Safety Committee: Jen Gauerke
Jen is working with DU graduate students to study the traffic patterns around Brown. The students (and parent volunteers) are gathering data to get ideas on how to make Brown a safer place at pick up and drop off times. This may include more crosswalks, a drop off zone or flashing school zone lights.
Mini Grant Program: Nicole
We need to form a committee to discuss how to award teachers funds for use in the classroom. For example, 3rd grade teachers want to buy promethium board markers. Parents and teachers are needed on this committee. Rivka Morgan-Sherman agreed to head this committee. Please contact her if you are interested in helping with this process. Her email address is .
After School Programs: Hi Howard
Hi is actively recruiting parent volunteers to help run and raise money for the after school programs for the 2010-2011 school year. The funding for the current programs has been cut. (See information above.) The after school programs will have to be self supporting next year. Please contact Hi at if you are interested in helping.
Next Year PTO Executive Committee: Nicole
Fundraising Chair: Rebecca Caldwell
Secretary: Hilary Thornham
Treasurer: Janel Highfill
Vice President: Holly Denton
President: Nicole is willing to continue as the PTO president for the 2010-2011 school year, but she needs someone willing to shadow her and take over the role of president for the 2011-2012 school year. She wants to continue to be an active member of the PTO for the next 6 years at Brown, but she does not want to continue the role of PTO president after next year. If you are willing or know of someone willing to shadow Nicole, please contact her.
Come to the PTO meeting on May 21 to nominate others and vote for the committee.
Upcoming Events:
Monday, April 19th Early Release Day 12:45 Denver Parks and Recreation Free today!!
Tuesday, April 20th Wellness Summit at Brown 5-7pm
Wednesday, April 21st Fundraiser at Root Down
Thursday, April 22nd 4th and 5th grade Arts Show
Friday, April 30th 4-6PM: Spring Festival
Thursday, May 6th Tree Planting on Brown Playground 1-3pm
Friday, May 7th No School Teacher Planning Day
Friday, May 14: Field Day
Wednesday, May 19th 5th Grade Exhibition
Thursday, May 27: Last day of school! Kindergarten Graduation and 5th grade continuation
Saturday, June 19: Highland Street Fair (Brown will have info booth and Pepsi booth)
Last PTO Meeting:
Friday, May 21: 8AM Breakfast PTO meeting immediately following breakfast
Hilary Thornham, PTO secretary, recorded meeting notes