PTA General Meeting Minutes

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

6:30 - 8:30 pm

BCS - Fernwood Cafeteria

Call to Order:

6:37 pm, by Julie Jetton

Review and Approve November 18, 2009 General Meeting Minutes:

Doug McMahon - moved to approve and accept minutes as they stand - Kathy Tell seconded - unanimous in favor - minutes approved.

Guest:

Jay Neville, Communications Manager at Lloyd Center Barnes & Noble, and a Fernwood graduate - B&N does book fairs at schools - good way to raise $ for books and money at school - lots of ways to fundraise through B&N

Announcements: (Julie Jetton)

Nominating Committee: need 3 volunteers to find members for PTA board for next year - if you are interested, please let Julie know

Arts Nights: tickets are still available for the Thursday, January 15 performance (Roots of Hip Hop) as well as for the Thursday, February 11 performance (Trash Can Joe) - these events are funded by Run for the Arts earned last year

K-8 Transition Meeting on January 28, time and location TBA: follow up to the K-8 transition meeting at Rigler 2 years ago, and will allow each K-8 to give a 2 minute updates on how transition is going at each school

Cascade Yulegrass Concert: raised $250 which will go to sets for the Ramona Quimby play

Guest Speaker: Logan Giles

introduced by Bonnie GY - here to talk about implications of Measures 66 & 67

Logan Giles - Chief Policy Advisor and Campaign Manager to Michael Dembrow, US Representative (as state employee cannot advocate for measures, but can as campaign manager) - gave history of taxation and school funding in state, noted that these measures are bell-weather tests - if these don’t pass, legislature is unlikely to push any other measures to raise taxes to referendum - then opened to question and answer from floor - noted that in 1990s - 70% school funding came from property taxes, 30% from state (income tax), today those numbers are flipped

Guest Speaker: Teri Geist, Principal

staffing: by end of Feb will get figures from district for 10-11 school year - staffing allocation due back by Spring Break (schedule may be delayed if measures don’t pass and legislature needs to determine)

FTE’s for staffing are determined by average daily attendance - usually a ratio of 1:28

There will be a meeting with parents to share Teri’s and staff’s priorities and what the staffing allocations are and to determine parent priorities

Teri’s priorities as she looks at staffing:

Talented and Gifted program

PE on a more regular basis

world languages - esp at 6,7,8

direct instruction from arts specialist

student access to technology

to do this, Foundation dollars will be a critical piece to fill in for the student support

Will also need to look at class size issues - now have 4 K + next year may be students who come from private K to BCS Grade 1 - how to handle this

4th and 5th grade - will team teaching still work for 3 sections of current 3rd graders?

when looking at staffing, looking at what is in the best interest for kids - it is not large class sizes

incoming K is still unknown and district won’t fund it until just about school starts - K only funded by district at half

Long Range Plan for BCS - being worked out with the district - but won’t be on one campus next year - district won’t spend 1.1 mil req’d to be one campus (sprinkler, fire exits, etc) - so Teri is pushing district to then not consider us as K-8 on one campus - must be considered as a K-8 on 2 campuses.

Another Goal for Run for the Arts is for 8th grade kids to create a work of art to leave at the school - they will work with a mosaic artist from Buckman School to create a mosaic to replace the Fernwood falcon in the cafeteria

open to q&a

Treasurer’s Report

any changes over $500 need to be brought to the general membership - got a restricted donation of $2500

Jenny Shea motion to approve the amended budget - unanimous approval - motion passed

Chez Jose night - $350 for 8th grade trip

Wreath sale - $ for 8th grade trip

High School Redesign update:

school board members want to hear thoughtful suggestions and comments via e-mail (separate flier handed out at meeting)

K-8 Small Group Discussion

look at parent comments (based on survey) from 2 years ago and see what has worked, what has been a hindrance, other problems

Craig talked about eliciting info from parents via e-mail and sending out a survey to the community

members encouraged to review Feb 2008 document and send comments to beverly-cleary-school-pta e-mail address

Reports

Membership - to date at 151, goal of 243 for the year - $15 per member per year -

Foundation - Christine Putnam - auction planning is well under way - March 5th - tickets will be $35 per person

T-shirts and water bottles still for sale

Canvas opportunities for Measures 66 &67 on Monday

Motion to adjourn and stay to continue discussing (Craig and seconded by Jenny)

Adjourn - at 7:55 pm