PTA Meeting Minutes 6.2.20
Campbell PTA Meeting
June 2, 2020
6:30 – 8:00 p.m. [virtual meeting]
Approx. number of participants: 33
1. Welcome: Barbara Martinez, President
- Welcome to final PTA meeting of this very unusual school year – we also have a lot to celebrate: Campbell became an official EL school, Maureen was named Principal of the Year
- Acknowledgement of what a difficult week this has been – we should try to talk about it with our children in appropriate ways if we can. Barbara shared links to National Museum of African American History and Culture resources.
- Brief moment of silence
2. Summer Reading overview: Mike Nelson, Youth Services Librarian, Glencarlyn Branch
- 30 Days of Reading: https://library.arlingtonva.us/explore/for-readers/summer-reading/– runs June 1 – September 1, doesn’t have to be consecutive – open to all ages – everything will be done online, there will be no in-person programming this summer
- Login and track your reading! Everyone who completes 30 days is entered into a raffle for prizes
- For each reader who finishes the 30 day challenge, Friends of the Arlington Public Library will donate $1 to AFAC
- Brief discussion re: library branch openings:
- Holds will be available for contactless pick-up at Central Library only after June 15 – please be mindful of social distancing, etc.
- All library books that are checked out should be returned by July 1 – they can be returned at any library drop-off
3. Q&A on the Transition to Middle School: Chandi Krohl, Christy Pryzstawik, Gareba Ali
- Parents of former Campbell students shared their observations, tips, recommendations for ways to support rising 6th graders in this transition – Chandi (Kenmore), Christy (TJ), Gareba (Gunston)
- Key takeaways:
- Big transition for students and for parents – the schools are much larger than Campbell, parents might feel disconnected since students have more teachers – one way to navigate that is for parents get involved right away
- Suggest getting a lock for students to practice using over the summer, since they will have locks on their lockers in middle school
- Each MS does some form of grouping of students into teams – groups take classes together, so that helps it feel more manageable
- Morning announcements are really important! That’s where students learn about after school/extra-curricular activities, etc. Prep students to take notes during announcements so they don’t forget. Parents can also check school feeds or sign up to receive announcements as well.
- Don’t miss Back to School Night! It’s the only time you can meet all the teachers
- Students may get overwhelmed with teachers’ different expectations
- Brief discussion about how many students have phones in 6th grade – most of them do, it’s a personal family decision (some families like their children to have a phone for coordinating after school activities, others choose to have their children use the office to call home)
4. Principal’s Update: Maureen Nesselrode and Karen Anselmo
- We’ve been in touch daily with 5th grade teachers to see what students are asking about, what their needs are re: current events – if your student needs any extra support please let us know
- Staffing changes:
- Ms. Ammons is retiring after over 30 years in Arlington! She’s a longtime K/1 teacher at Campbell – Ms. Swartz will take over Ms. Ammons’ 1st grade class in the fall
- Ms. Perry (4/5 teacher) and Ms. McBride (Interlude) are relocating out of state
- Ms. Laumann (FLES) will be an English Learner teacher at another APS school
- Picking up items from Campbell:
- Staff are coming in to get their own items, and will be bagging student items next week
- Contactless drive-by pickup/drop-off of items will be next week by grade level – you will receive your child’s personal items from their locker and classroom – bring library books, instruments, other school property but NOT IPADS (keep those) – please do not bring students to the pickup/drop-off, school won’t be open, teachers won’t be there – if you rented an instrument from a music store, you can return it directly to them
- Art teachers will be taking down the art that was on display, but they won’t be given out at the pickup next week – that will be at a later time
- All instruments students received through APS need to be collected and accounted for, even if students want to continue on their own this summer or next year
- WILL SCHOOL BE IN-PERSON THIS FALL? We will all find out together when Governor Northam announces it – if it’s a hybrid model or online only, we would use Google Classroom again (now that we’ve all figured out how to use it) and APS has said we will be introducing new material – Maureen has no other details at this point
5. Treasurer’s Report and Funding Requests: Amanda Lowenberger
- All in all we drew down our reserve by about $10k this year, which was more or less our goal
- Funding request: in the past when a longtime Campbell teacher has retired we’ve purchased something for the school in their honor – Ms. Christy and Ms. Hill have requested $400 to buy something for the Outdoor Classroom in Ms. Ammons’ honor (TBD) – motion approved – it will likely be something like a canopy tent so students can use the outdoor classroom in any weather
6. New Business and Closing: Barbara Martinez
- Bingo and Brick’s, June 17, 6 p.m.
- Musical online bingo! Information coming soon. It will be via zoom and is a lot of fun!
- Order Bricks Pizza and PTA will get 20% of proceeds that night
- Q: will there be a virtual Kindergarten information night?
- Usually we have an information session for parents, playdates for rising K families, and an open house before school starts – as of now, we don’t know what will be possible to offer – we will have time to figure things out as more time passes – Maureen did a virtual tour of a K classroom which is posted on the Campbell website
- Motion to approve PTA spending up to $3k during period after books close until new budget approved – motion passes
- Christy took home all of the Campbell seedlings (lettuces, beans, herbs) that were started in the spring – they were just harvested and will be going to families in need
- Yearbooks – still have to figure out how to get them to people
- Barbara thanked the current Executive Board for serving and the new Executive Board introduced themselves