PTA Meeting Minutes 10.10.17

Campbell PTA Meeting

October 10, 2017

6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Approximate
# of Attendees
: 24

I.     Welcome
and Introduction: Nathan Zee, President 

  • Nathan
    welcomed everyone to the second PTA meeting of the year
  • Nathan
    read two Thank You notes
    • Thank
      You letter from Ms. Peterson thanking the PTA for supporting the Music
      Department by funding the purchase of ukuleles  
    • Thank
      You letter from the Fifth Grade Team thanking the PTA for the Welcome
      Back Breakfast provided on the first Friday of the school year

  • Nathan
    reminded everyone:
    • We’ll
      be forming a nominating committee to identify potential new Executive
      Board Members at next month’s meeting
    • The
      Fun Run is less than two weeks away on 10/20; mark your calendars
    • The
      first Box Top deadline is coming up at the end of October, so be sure to
      send them in if you have them
    • Restaurant
      Night at Dogfish Head Ale House on 10/17; more info to come home in
      Thursday folders

 

II.    Counselling
Parent Survey: Kate Sullivan, School Counselor

  • Ms.
    Sullivan introduced a survey of Staff, Parents, and current 3-5th
    grade students to identify the greatest areas of counselling needs
    • Paper
      copy of the Survey available tonight, available in English and Spanish
    • Survey
      was previously distributed via the listserv, Facebook, and Twitter
    • Looking
      for discrepancies between what the various stakeholder groups (Staff,
      Parents, Students) report
      • So
        far, responses are closely aligned
      • That
        means staff is in tune with students’ needs

    • Data
      gathered from survey will help inform how staff and resources are
      allocated/utilized

  • Please
    note that:
    • Someone
      is available for walk-in students at all times
    • Referral
      forms are always available (discretely) to students, parents, and
      teachers
    • Any
      questions?
      • Q:
        Will you be working with all grade levels? How will you prioritize you
        time? A: Yes, Tier 1 services are school-wide initiatives that will be
        provided to all grade levels. Anti-bullying is an example of a Tier 1
        service. Tier 1 interventions will follow the Mind-Up curriculum and
        will be provided in classrooms during Morning Meetings, or during a
        Specials block depending on the class schedule. Tier 2 interventions are
        those where a specific need is identified, and are not meant to be
        preventative but rather responsive to a particular situation or
        student(s). For example: typically, there aren’t many students who enter
        Campbell in the upper grades, but this need was identified for third
        graders this year, so a group formed to ease that transition in response
        to the specific need.

    • If
      you ever have any concerns, I am happy to check in with your student

 

III.   Site-based Survey Results: Maureen
Nesselrode, Principal

·        
Ms. Nesselrode first
presented a community-building exercise for the attendees. The exercise is one presented
to Kindergarten students, and served as an example of an activity that can be
differentiated for Gifted students to go beyond the Kindergarten curriculum

·        
Ms. Nesselrode
then discussed the Site-based Survey:

o  
Given every two
years; APS Systemwide Survey is conducted in alternate years

o  
Highlights
include:

§ 
In previous
years’ surveys, parents had not indicated that they felt the instructional
model was strong

§ 
In response, we
made some tweaks and improved fidelity to the Expeditionary Learning Model

§ 
Also made efforts
to communicate and educate the community about EL education

§ 
This year’s
survey showed much higher number of parents who indicated a strong
curriculum/instruction at Campbell

·        
Ms. Nesselrode
then introduced another community-building “game” based on Campbell’s survey
results

o  
The game is an
example of something being done in Math Workshop at Campbell , where students
work in small groups with the teachers facilitating

o  
Q: Do we have
benchmark data to compare Campbell to itself and other APS schools? A: Yes,
that’s all available online. What we worked to address were areas for greatest
improvement, based on responses to our previous survey: strength of
instructional model, more regular communications (like Newsletters).

o  
Q: How do you get
to the why behind the data? A:
Through informal conversations, the team/staff tries to drill down to find
areas of improvement and to figure out where to focus more effort.

o  
Q: Are students
objective/fair reporters? A: Yes, 5th graders are particularly
reliable reporters.

o  
Q: What about
bullying: is it widespread? A: Even if it’s only three students, it matters,
and we need to get to the bottom of it. Classroom lessons are important, and we
have some work to do in this area.

·        
The Survey data
also helps to put things into perspective for the School Board, who typically
only hear complaints from the squeaky wheels

 

IV.  Fun
Run Update: Sean Doyle, VP Fundraising

·        
Fun Run is one
week from this Friday

o  
We’re behind on
our fundraising goal

o  
Please remember
to register your student and send out links to friends and family

o  
If you don’t want
to hassle with registering your student online, you can also just write a check
and put it in the PTA mailbox

o  
We set an
ambitious goal of raising $10,000 since we reduced the big fundraisers from
three down to two

o  
A reminder flyer
will go home in Thursday folders this week

o  
Q: Do you need
parent volunteers? A: Yes. Set-up will happen the evening before, and we could
use help. Parents are welcome to participate with their students on the day of
the event, and can help as need arises on the day of (passing out water,
cleaning up, etc.)

·        
Paige Hammrick,
VP Programming:

o  
Reminder that
Spirit Week will be held next week leading up to the Fun Run

§ 
W: Pajama Day  

§ 
Th: Sports Day

§ 
F:  Class Color Day

·        
Pre-K: Purple

·        
K: Orange

·        
1st:
White

·        
2nd:
Yellow

·        
3rd:
Blue

·        
4th:
Red

·        
5th:
Green

·        
Nathan Zee,
President:

o  
Reminder about Fundraising
Incentives:

§ 
Schoolwide: at
$6,000-10,000 level

§ 
Individual: at
$250 = 25 raffle tickets for Wetlands Festival; at $500 = one free Project
Discovery class and guaranteed placement

·        
Q: Are incentives
by family or by individual? A: By family. if a family raises $250, they get 25
raffle tickets. But if they raise $500, the only get one Project Discovery
spot, even if there are two children in the family.

·        
Q: How much does
Campbell get from Restaurant Nights? A: It depends on the restaurant.

·        
Q: Where can I
find the Campbell Amazon affiliate link? A: It’s on the Campbell Elementary PTA
website, and we’ll send a reminder email out again soon.

·        
Barbara, VP
Communications:

o  
Reminder about
Sqaure One Art: will take place before the holidays this year; order forms will
go out around Thanksgiving

 

V.    Treasurer’s
Report: Jenny Morris, Treasurer

·        
Jenny explained how
to read the budget (copies provided to all members in attendance)

·        
Highlights for
the year so far:

o  
Collected $2,000
in dues (for 200 members)

o  
Collected money
for Spirit Wear

o  
$600 from Amazon  

o  
Expenses
included: garden clean-up, ukuleles, and Teacher Appreciation breakfast

o  
Any questions?
No.

·        
Funding requests:

o  
Ms. Drabyk, $158
for activity sets for Kindergarten

§ 
Motion to approve
funding; seconded; approved unanimously 

o  
Ms. Hill, $75 for
RIF books for Kindergarten

§ 
Motion to approve
funding; seconded; approved unanimously 

o  
Increase to
funding for the Book Garden for Kindergarten students

§ 
Previously
approved up to $400, but the actual cost was $625.57 and books have already
been purchased, so the ask is to approve an increase to the funding amount to
cover the additional expense

§ 
Falls under the
Literacy Initiatives line item in budget

§ 
Any questions or
comments?

·        
Q: Why did this
happen? A: Not sure, but doing our due diligence to find out.

·        
Q: How were the
books selected? A: The librarian and a parent volunteer selected them. They
were purchased through Amazon.

·        
Comment: I’m not
happy about the overrun and we should put a better system in place for next
time so that this doesn’t happen again. Perhaps a cap on price per book would
be helpful.  

·        
Comment: Isn’t
our budget above what we need, so I’m not worried about it. Response: We’ve had
some good fundraising years, but we have planned to spend down reserves in this
budget. We need to stick to the budget. If we spend more than what’s budgeted
for a particular item, it cuts into funds available for other things and other
students. It sets a bad precedent.

·        
Comment: These
are very nice books. Maybe increase the budget for this for next year.

§ 
Motion to approve
funding; seconded; approved unanimously after extensive discussion

 

 

VI.  New
Business: Nathan Zee, President

  • Project
    Discovery starts tomorrow; there are 158 students registered and there are
    four Odyssey of the Mind teams, two Primary and two Secondary
    • Thank
      you to Jenny Morris and Tammy Bewitz for their hard work on Project
      Discovery
    • Thank
      you to Staff and Parent volunteer teachers for these classes

  • Order
    Forms are available for Spy School Books to coincide with the upcoming
    Stuart Gibbs author visit to 4th and 5th grades
  • Please
    enjoy some salsa, made with ingredients from the Campbell garden

 

 

VII. Closing:
Nathan Zee, President

  • Remember:
    your donations are tax deductible in almost all cases and the PTA can
    provide you with a receipt if needed
  • The
    Amazon affiliate link does NOT work on the Amazon APP
  • Next
    month’s meeting will feature Dave McBride, Principal of Kenmore Middle
    School
  • There
    will not be a meeting in December
  • January’s
    meeting will feature Judy Collins from the Outdoor Lab
  • February’s
    meeting will feature our School Board liaison, Tannia Talento
  • March’s
    meeting will focus on Youth Culture/substance abuse
  • Thank
    you for coming!