TEAM Horace General Board Meeting

Date: 9/10/15

Horace Mann Elementary Room 115

Called to order by Jennifer Goto at 8:05 am

In attendance: Julia Howlett, Lawrence De Santis, Jesus Radillo, Bethany Lewis, Amy Pizarro, Ramon Sanchez, Carolina Heredia, Jennifer Goto, Manny Uche, Amy Girard, Ed Pratt, Briza Munoz-Luna, Hilda Gonzalez, Veronica Orozco, Ms. Gustafson, Farell Podgorsek

Secretary: Julia Howlett

Welcome and Introductions:

Jennifer reviewed the use of Post-it notes for adding agenda items and other guidelines to help our meetings go smoothly.

Approve Minutes from the August 13, 2015 Calendar Meeting

  • Motion to approve Minutes from August – Approved

Treasurer’s Report: Ed Pratt

  1. Ed circulated a Financial Summary Report for the year so far which includes some big beginning of the year expenses. We paid an initial deposit of $2000 to Starting Artsfor the musical, $2100 for the Chess Club, and $2500 for field trips.
  2. According to the District, Financial information discussed at the meetings must be included in the minutes.
  • Motion that financial information be included in the minutes – Motion carried unanimously

Walk-A-Thon Update (Amy Girard): We’ve had several meetings already. The deadline for the T-Shirt contest is tomorrow and the winner will be announced at the WAT Rally next Thursday, September 17 at 8 AM. Bethany has been working on the how to do the grand prize for the child who brings in the most money in pledges – a money roll. Each $25 in pledges brought in equals a raffle ticket for the grand prize. Pledge money has been dropping in recent years so we needed a good incentive. We need volunteers to run the WAT store. The District has guidelines for risk management that requires a signed waiver to participate in the WAT. A form will be sent home in the Thursday folders and also be available at the WAT. The WAT committee has sponsorship flyers to use for approaching sponsors. We are looking for cash donations and also in-kind donations such as gift certificates. Team Horace will send Thank You letters to all sponsors.

Musical Update (Ramon Sanchez): We will have concessions at the musical and also keep money from the ticket and program sales. The Play will be Bilingual Aladdin. Half the songs will be in English and half in Spanish. The cost is $12,000. Participants will be asked to contribute to be in the show but we will provide scholarships. All Horace Mann children will be able to perform regardless of ability to pay.

Back-to-School Night: Turn out was good. We need different spirit wear items to sell. We are out of childs medium shirts, but we did sell stuff.

Monday Pick Up Time Tabling: This seems to be good. We need volunteers and we might want a laptop at the table to let people enter their info and “Like” us on FaceBook.

Jamba Juice Update: We lost the Jamba Juice concession. It was not practical for them and it may not meet the food sale guidelines from the District. We were not aware of these guidelines previously. They have nutritional requirements for any food sales at the school within a half hour after school lets out.

New Business

GofundmeAccount (Lawrence):Lawrence has set up the account to help fund the musical. It is starting to raise money already but we will wait until the WAT is finished before publicize it. Gofundme takes 7.9% of the funds raised. The manpower involved is low and they provide some nice PR and automation features. We will have to send out email receipts to donors. We need to specify the funds will go to the musical

  • Motion to approve using Gofundme account – Motion carried unanimously

Open Board Position Nominees (Carolina): Two board members had to step down because their children no longer attend Horace Mann so we have open positions for Director of Communications and Community Ambassador. Manny volunteered to fill the open Community Ambassador position. Carolina asked Lawrence if he would like to fill the Director of Communications position. The duties are maintaining the Team Horace page on the website and updating FaceBook. Lawrence will consider it.

  • Motion to elect Manny to the position of Community Ambassador – Motion carried unanimously

LunaPark Chalk Festival and grant (Ramon): September 19 at BackestoPark from 10 to 5. We have a space reserved and we can raise up to $2000. Last year we made $1000. Any student can participate. They just need a signed permission slip which will be available at the park that day.

Hispanic Heritage Read-In Day (Ramon): We started with an African American read-in and wanted to expand it for Hispanic heritage readers. Will be October 9 at 8:30 and tied to College Day. It will require $150 from the budget. Anyone can read the books. Farrell has selected books by Hispanic authors/illustrators that tie into Hispanic culture.

Spring Read-a-thon (Bethany):Learn 2 Earn helps schools set up a Read-a-thon. We would keep 80% of the funds raised. Kids would get pledges for the number of minutes they read. Learn 2 Read manages everything and is mostly online, although they can provide offline materials as well as materials in Spanish. They are currently waiving the $100 registration fee if we sign up before September 23. Teachers can monitor what and how much reading is done. Parents need to approve participation. There are security/privacy controls to protect the kids

  • Motion to do a Learn 2 Earn Read-a-thon this Spring and sign up before the September 23 deadline for no registration fee – Motion carried unanimously

Parent Book Club (Jennifer): We would choose a novel, available in both English and Spanish, for parents to read. Participants would read one in Fall and one in Spring. Jennifer will take the lead to start this up. This activity will need a meeting place and maybe childcare.

School Library Support (Farell): Farellthanked Team Horace for funds given to the school library. It has helped our library be one of the best in the district. The parent library has been moved upstairs into a section of the school library. The books weren’t getting used in the parent room. Farell will manage them. Parents can check out any books, parents or childrens, whenever the library is open. She has set up a Maker space in the library that is open during morning recess. Kids can do arts & crafts, puzzles, games, dress up and more. She needs volunteers to help monitor the kids and manage the space mornings from 9:50 to 10:10 and 10:15 to 10:35. There is a Lego cart but she would need a parent to run that. She also has fourth and fifth grade junior librarians who will help her. Destiny online has our school library catalog online and is available to anyone. Farell has a link to it on the school website as well as links to learning resource sites for parents and kids.

Principal’s Update (Mrs Gustafson):

  1. Follow up on Playworks update: It has been difficult to connect with their consultant. Mr. Radillo has worked with the fourth and fifth grade junior coaches and has a schedule that makes sure kids are only out of class for 10 minutes one week a month. Recess is going smoothly so far. We’ve seen good behavior and there were no referrals in August.
  2. Post-it question from August about Crossing Guards: Bethany asked if it was possible to get crossing guards. Lori will look into it. Briza – last time we asked we did not have enough students walking to justify it with the District.
  3. SBAC testing results: There will be a Parents coffee tomorrow morning to discuss the results and how the school will support students in language arts and math this year. Lori shared the results with Team Horace. Results are on the District website now. Some language arts results were lost between the District and the Department of Education so those score are lower than they should be. The District is working to correct that.
  4. Schools Site Council and SELAC: These committees are getting going and we need members. They both meet once a month. Please get the word out.

Request for funds:

  1. Spirit Wear: We are out of some sizes. Spirit wear is not really a money maker but nice to have. We need to use the new logo. Amy has a contact for the vendor if someone wants to take this on. Need to find out what we need.
  2. Playground equipment: We need new balls, hula hoops and jump ropes. Briza got donations from Target and Walmart last year but the quality wasn’t very good and they didn’t last. Ramon requested $150 but Amy suggested we give $300.
  3. Motion to approve spending $300 as an added budget line for playground equipment – Motion carried unanimously
  4. ThirdStreetChurch Choir: Joey, the choir director, would like some funding for the choir program. He comes once a week and teaches about 40 kids. We will decide on funding for this in October

October Meeting: Carolina will lead next month’s meeting. Please send agenda items to her.

Meeting adjourned by Jennifer Goto at 9:42 am.

Next board meeting: Thursday, October8, 2015, 8:00 AM.