Cabot Pto Executive Committee Meeting Notes

CABOT PTO EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING NOTES

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2017

Members in Attendance
7:30 pm at Victoria Jaffe’s house: Nicky Chapman, Ali Dunn, Victoria Jaffe, Eric Sprung, Jude Carlson-Wang, Agnes Pietrzyk, Anu Jayaraman, Linda Barrows, Sue Bottino, Suzy Yospin, Jacqueline Badeau, & Rose Chung-Dell

Introduction of new Executive Committee members
Each member present introduced themselves and what role they have this year

Approval of minutes from Executive Committee meetings on 1/18/17 and 5/23/17
Linda Barrows (Cabot Connect Rep) made motion to approve, Rose Chung-Dell (Cabot Connect Rep) seconded the motion, and Executive Committee members all approved motion

PTO Update by Co-President Nicky Chapman
Grade Liaison roles
Reaching out to get people to be room parents
Can use MySchoolAnywhere
Has the ability to send targeted e-mails to different groups
Ali Dunn (Assistant treasurer) says she had previously set up G-mail accounts for the grade representatives when the grades were combined. Now that each grade has their own liaison, Ali will set up separate e-mail accounts for each grade
Nicky says using MySchoolAnywhere is much cleaner, simpler
Wants to encourage people to get this app on your phone
Need to merge all sign-ups, volunteering, etc. into this system
Nicky says there will also be a sign up at Community Supper
Welcoming new families
School should have info on which families are new to Cabot and Sydney Balise (Executive Administrative Assistant) will relay this info to Grade Liaisons but this is still getting worked out
School Directory
Nicky Chapman (Co-president) hopes to get this out by the end of the month
There are about 23 or 24 Cabot family e-mails that are not accounted for
Plan to get updated list from Sydney Balise (Executive Administrative assistant) soon
General PTO Meetings
Ideas on format(i.e. combining mtg with a specific topic or having a PTO meeting where parents can “Meet the Specialists”)
Linda Barrows (Cabot Connect rep) is in favor of topics idea
Sue Bottino (5th Grade Rep) suggests maybe having a meeting on a “How to Use ….My School Anywhere, School Pass, Skyward, etc.
Ali Dunn (Assistant Treasurer) suggests that one of the first meetings could be framed as a discussion about theCarr transition and any issues, comments, etc.
Suzy Yospin (3rd Grade Rep) suggests having a topic regarding the Aftermath of Charlottesville and how to talk to kids about it
Rachel Carlson-Wang (2nd Grade Rep) suggests topic of 5th grade transition to middle school maybe sometime in April
What to expect, students walking home, after school programs
Maybe invite old Cabot parents
Eric Sprung (Principal) states topics can be flexible
If he gets a heads up a few weeks before, he can use his networks to get speakers to come to the meetings
Times of the General PTO meetings
Jacqueline Badeau (4th Grade Rep) asks to keep in mind staying with morning meetings
Agnes Pietrzyk (Recording Secretary) comments that last year we alternated between morning and evening meetings
Rose Chung-Dell (Cabot Connect Rep) asked if we should do survey of topics and times for the meetings
Nicky Chapman (Co-president) states that survey was done last year and results showed that preference for morning or evening meetings were pretty much even
Survey did not ask about meeting topics
Website Updates
Nicky Chapman (Co-president) states that someone has expressed interest in helping with the website
She will connect that person to Val Gopinath (Corresponding Secretary a.k.a. Webmaster)
Nicky is asking all the Exec. Committee members to check the website to see what needs to be there or what needs to be taken off
Helpful to have other sets of eyes on this
If we see anything that should or shouldn’t be there, e-mail the co-presidents (Nicky Chapman/Joanna Josephson) or Val Gopinath
Victoria Jaffe (Treasurer) states that there’s an issue with the links for the teacher e-mails and even Sydney Balise’s info
Sue Bottino (5th Grade Rep) states that she got bounced off the Cabot Events e-mail list
Thinks something happened with the MySchoolAnywhere site updates and it erased her e-mail from the list
Victoria Jaffe (Treasurer) said same this happened to her
Other Comments
Rose Chung-Dell (Cabot Connect Rep) asks if Eric Sprung (Principal) will do a principal blog
Eric Sprung (Principal) states he is working on this, but may do it through a different form of communication like a Facebook page
Rose Chung-Dell also asks where the construction updates are
Nicky Chapman (Co-president) & Eric Sprung (Principal) states there are monthly meetings updating community about the construction
Minutes of these meetings are on the PTO site
May need to click through to get to the link for the city construction site page

Review of Meet and Greet events
Feedback so far was that it went pretty well
Sue Bottino (5th Grade Rep) says that some parents who went to visit the school at the summer event were disappointed that they couldn’t see inside the classrooms
Eric Sprung (Principal) says classrooms were closed for several reasons
Safety issue
Teachers still setting up their classrooms
Says maybe next year we could have the teachers present so that the classrooms could be open
Sue Bottino (5th grade rep) adds that maybe we could have food set up in the cafeteria so that parents could meet up and talk afterwards
Anu Jayaraman (Kindergarten Rep) asked about accident that occurred during summer playdate at Carr playground
Nicky Chapman (Co-president) said it was a preschooler who climbed up too high and fell. The child was taken to get checked out and is doing fine.

Treasurer Report: Victoria Jaffe (Treasurer)
Not much happened in the budget over the summer but today a bunch of checks have been written out
CASC getting funds
Teachers receiving set-up funds
Community Supper
School Pass check sent
1st Bank Reconciliation has been done
Anu Jayaraman (Kindergarten Rep) asks how the PTO is funded
Victoria Jaffe (Treasurer) states that most of it is through fundraising (Campaign for Cabot, Book Fair, Spring Fling, etc.)
In the past PTO fundraised so much that it was too much
The past couple of years the PTO had excess, but now that excess has been spent down
Jacqueline Badeau (4th Grade Rep) asks if the intent is to always have $60,000 in reserve
Nicky Chapman (Co-president) says yes because we need a big cushion since a lot of the funds get spent in the beginning of the year
$60,000 was an agreed upon number by previous Exec. Cmte members
Ali Dunn (Asst. Treasurer) emphasizes that if we want to continue to fund current events, we need to be serious about fundraising this year
Explanation of Equity vs. Non-Equity Items
Equity items are school or curriculum based
City-wide cap for each school
Accounts for 2/3 of our budget
Non-equity items are non-educational items (i.e. Cabot T-shirts, parties, Community supper)
Accounts for 1/3 of our budget
Campaign for Cabot (CFC)
Sue Bottino (Grade 5 Rep) points out that this year’s CFC goal is higher by $15,000 this year
Nicky Chapman (Co-president) states that last year we only raised $35,000.00 through CFC and we rolled over $15,000.00 from reserve
Sue asks if there is a scheme to get to $15,000.00 this year
Nicky says this year we will be more aggressive
CFC will be brought up at Back to School night
PTO will highlight the items that PTO pays for
Will point out to families that they can recognize a special teacher through their donation to CFC and teachers will receive a card at the end of the year that money was donated in their name
This is separate from “Honor Thy Teacher”
Donations to CFC are also charitable since Cabot PTO is considered a charity
Can ask companies to match donations
Ali Dunn (Asst. Treasurer) states that if we can’t raise that extra $15,000.00, we will have to scale back on some things
Rose Chung-Dell (Cabot Connect Rep) asks about the timing of fundraisers since last year CFC was around the holidays and the same time as other fundraisers at her work
Nicky Chapman (Co-president) states families have preferences of when they choose to give (tax deductions may be more advantageous for some at the end of the year; for others it’s better for them at the beginning of the year)
However, we can change timing of CFC this year
Paypal is set up and we could even start now
Reimbursement Procedure
Victoria Jaffe (Treasurer) states that when we were at Cabot, people would just see each other at the school and dropped off forms at the office
Sue Bottino asks how to get reimbursement forms and receipts to Victoria at Cabot at Carr
Victoria states that we can do it online or even just give them to her at one of the meetings with a self-addressed, stamped envelope for the reimbursement check to be sent
Agnes Pietrzyk (Recording Secretary) asks how will reimbursement be done if we scan and e-mail receipts to her
Victoria states she will just send the checks out
Other Comments: Suzy Yospin (3rd Grade Rep) adds that there’s a possibility of merging a fundraiser with a parent’s night out event

SCHOOL PASS & BUSES
Eric Sprung (Principal) states that reports from School Pass are printed out by staff members, not teachers at the end of the day and students are checked off through these lists
Current issues
Not all parents have gone into the School Pass system
Eric has to continually change defaults for those students
School Pass system had glitches today
Jacqueline Badeau (4th Grade Rep) asks if it’s possible to have a PTO person volunteer to help get School Pass set up for everyone
Eric Sprung (Principal) says can’t do this because of confidentiality issues
He says teachers will help rectify lists and he will have them cross-check
Linda Barrows (Cabot Connect Rep) asks how the Boston students factor into the issues with School Pass
States she did all the forms in the beginning but her student is listed in the Newton bus system, not Boston; she also does not use School Pass because she’s in Boston
Eric Sprung (Principal) states that there is a separate Boston School Pass system; for our School Pass system, he’ll be making changes as needed
Other Exec members add that they have had issues with School Pass and have heard that other parents have experienced similar problems
Agnes Pietrzyk (Recording Secretary) asks if we could maybe do an FAQ for School Pass and asks why aren’t there bus names/pictures on the actual buses (i.e. Red Crab, Purple Penguin, Yellow Starfish)
Eric Sprung (Principal) says he will try to do an FAQ for School Pass
Also states that some buses have the names/pictures on them and others don’t; At the end of the day, teachers have been holding up signs by the bus with the names and pictures on them so that students can identify their bus
Bus Behavior
Eric Sprung states that this is the next step to ensure bus safety and all students will be asked to sign a pledge about bus behavior
Rose Chung-Dell (Cabot Connect Rep) asks if we are able to have bus monitors since they have them in Boston. She also asks if Cabot is set up with the “Where’s My Bus App” which tells you the location of your child’s bus in real time
Eric Sprung states that Newton doesn’t have bus monitors and we probably won’t get them
“Where’s My Bus” app isn’t used by Cabot, but we could look into this
Other comments: Suzy Yospin (3rd Grade Rep) suggests that in the winter months, PTO could do notification about areas that need shoveling around bus stops

UPCOMING EVENTS
Picture Day
Time is condensed this year
Need for more volunteers
Community Supper
Also need more volunteers for shifts, baked goods, etc.
Sue Bottino (5th Grade Rep) states there is some confusion of the time of Community Supper (5-7 pm? Or 6-8pm?)
Nicky Chapman (Co-president) states that the correct time is 5-7 pm. The correct time will be sent out in the reminder
Back to School Night
Nicky Chapman (Co-president) asks that all Exec. members who can make it to please come and help greet people

NEXT PTO EXEC MEETING: October 12th, 2017 at Nicky Chapman’s house (14 Gay Street)

MEETING ADJOURNED