PTA General Membership Meeting
Beverly Cleary School
September 29, 2009
Meeting called to order: 6:34 PM
Agenda item: Review Minutes
The elected Secretary Christine Putnam has left the Board to assume the Chairmanship of the Beverly Cleary School Foundation, leaving the PTA Secretary position vacant. Julie Jetton (PTA President) asks for volunteer among those present tonight to act as Interim Secretary. Sam Shiffman volunteered.
The minutes from April 2nd 2009 and May 13th 2009 General Meetings have been available on the school web site at www.beverlyclearyschool.org in the Meeting Minutes section of the PTA tab. No edits or corrections proposed by members present.
Motion to approve minutes seconded and passed via voice vote.
Copies of the Proposed Unit Standing Rules for 2009-2010 were distributed to all present.
Motion to dispense with reading Proposed Standing Rules aloud was seconded and passed via a unanimous voice vote. No edits or corrections were proposed by members present.
Motion to approve Standing Rules seconded and passed via voice vote.
Filling the Secretary vacancy requires an election with 14 days advance notice, so we plan to hold an election for the Secretary position at the next General Meeting in November. In the meantime, Sam Shiffman will serve as Secretary (Interim).
Agenda item: Treasurer’s report
Speaker: Kristine Caldicott, PTA Treasurer
Kristine distributed copies of Proposed Budget for 2009-2010 to all present and highlights key areas for discussion.
Motion to approve budget seconded and approved via voice vote.
Agenda item: Principal’s Corner. Teri Geist, Principal, Speaker
Teri envisions integrating the two campuses someday, but she does not know when it will happen, as funds are a major obstacle. The current two-campus system at Beverly Cleary School (BCS) has a few problems. For example, there is a two-hour delayed opening on the third Wednesday of very month for Professional Development of the staff. Due to contract restrictions barring the teachers from reporting to school early during this training period, and because the opening bells are staggered between the two campuses at BCS, the amount of time that the entire staff can assemble under one roof is less than at single-campus schools. Another problem is the one school secretary at the Fernwood campus has a higher workload than if she were one of two secretaries staffing the school office, as would be the case for a single-campus school. The bulk of the students and staff are at the Fernwood campus.
Teri also envisions the Arts as playing a larger role at BCS. Run For The Arts is our primary funding for Arts instruction. Each teacher gets a portion of this budget. Some teachers pool resources to teach a larger art program to their shared classrooms. Teri sponsored a Family Arts Night when she was Principal at Alameda Elementary, and she plans the same for BCS. She is also planning an Artist-in-Residence program for 8th graders. She plans to continue Mr. Nelson’s school musical program for 3rd/4th grades.
Teri wants to leverage Professional Development opportunities help teachers be the best they can.
Teri, with her background in Special Education, makes it a point to include and integrate special needs students in all activities. Teri also embraces diversity in our school.
Teri summarized the results of the Spring Assessments and stated PPS’s objectives for each grade. She highlighted writing scores. Though they have shown improvement, writing scores are consistently below reading and math scores. Teri believes that one cause may be that there is no writing program that PPS has adopted for all schools, whereas district-wide programs have been adopted for math and reading.
PPS is planning to put a bond measure on the ballot, probably in May 2010, to raise capital for High School repairs/renovations as well as some K-5/K-8 elementary schools.
Teri opened up the floor for questions.
Question: Is there a Gym class?
Answer: Keith Aborn is the Pysical Education teacher, at 0.4FTE
Question: Will Language classes return?
Answer: Teri would like to; she just needs the resources.
Agenda item: Vice Presidents’ Reports
Speaker: Kathie Eastman-Tell, PTA Vice-President
Kathie explained the PTA Grant program, which devotes roughly half of the PTA budget to teacher requests for materials. Kathie asked that those interested in volunteering for the Grant Committee contact her after the meeting.
Agenda item: Membership Chair report
Speaker: Darren Singer, PTA Membership Chair
Oregon PTA has set a goal of increasing our membership by 10% this year. We have 62 members so far, leaving us 177 short of the goal. Darren is welcome to recruitment ideas, but suggested that all family members (spouses, children, grandparents) join the PTA.
Agenda item: Legislative Chair Report
Speaker: Bonnie Gee Yosick, PTA Legislative Chair
There will probably be a ballot measure in the next state-wide election concerning the distribution of state Lottery Funds, but Oregon PTA has not announced a stand on this measure yet.
Agenda item: Foundation Chair Report
Speaker: Christine Putnam, Foundation Chair
The BCS Foundation is employing several avenues of fund-raising this year:
Monthly Payroll Deductions
Corporate Matching Gifts
Lloyd Center Race For Receipts campaign
Annual BCS Foundation Auction
Christine also asked parents to buy Chinook Books. Although such funds would go to the PTA, she is running this fundraiser, as well.
Agenda item: Volunteer Coordinators’ Report
Speaker: Barbara Smith-Warner, Volunteer Coordinator
The Volunteer Coordinators have processed the Volunteer Interest Surveys turned in by families. The chairs of the various PTA committees will be given the names and contact info of parents who indicated an interest in those committees.
Announcements
Meredith Cohen, Campfire Coordinator: K-1 program at Hollyrood and Grade 2-5 program at Fernwood serve 30 children in total. Meredith had high praise for the students and would like to grow the program.
Barbara Smith Warner: All families please get in the habit of buying Scrip, the easiest, most painless fundraiser known.
Sam Shiffman: Spook-a-rama is coming, Friday, October 30th. In addition to the activities usually catering to younger students, there will be a Haunted Hall this year for older students. Please come to the first planning meeting tomorrow morning in the Fernwood Cafeteria at 8:45.
Ingrid Petersen is starting a Passport Club for all students.
Lynn Raube: Garden Committee runs the gardens at Fernwood (Lynn Raube, coordinator) and Hollyrood (Abbie Rankin, coordinator)
Craig Williams: To address the lack of extracurricular activities for middle-school grades, we conducted a survey of 6th-8th graders. We found a variety of interests, the most popular being Yearbook, so we are organizing several After-School clubs. So far, we have started a Lego Robotics Club, an Art club (Ida Galash, moderator), a co-ed Volleyball Club (in partnership with Portland Parks & Recreation), and Basketball will start in December.
Doug McMahon: Because we have determined that crossing
Sam Shiffman: Deanne Rader, recently retired School Secretary of Hollyrood, sent a
“Thank You” note to the PTA last month.
Doug McMahon moves to adjourn the meeting. Seconded and approved via voice vote.
Meeting adjourned at 8:15pm.
