PTA Board Meeting

PTA Board Meeting

September 13, 2017

6:30 p.m.

Board Members Present

Ben Champa, President

Nazanin Ash, Vice President

Christina Muedeking, Secretary

Margaret Cooney

Alicia Dorsey

Candace Fleming

Victoria Gentry

Carol Harlow

Dunnzy Kaufman

Liz Kraemer

Keri Maruska

Chloe Patterson

Jim Rendon

Scarlett Utsick

Genevieve Taft-Vasquez

Kelly Vielmo

Principal Lycknell (Ex Officio)

Non-Board Members Present

Melinda Copeland

Kim Higginbotham

Emily Kadash

Brian Kirrane

Eleanor Marindin

Candace Mott

Ben Champa called the meeting to order at 6:33 p.m. All board members and attendees introduced themselves.

Approval of the August Minutes

The minutes from the August meeting were put before the Board for review and approval. The minutes had been distributed to the Board electronically prior to the meeting. Dunnzy Kaufman made a motion to dispense with the reading of the minutes and approve the minutes. The motion was seconded by Kelly Vielmo. The motion passedby voice vote unanimously.

Principal’s Report

Principal Lycknell updated the Board about the status of the ongoing construction projects. The windows are projected to be finished the weekend of September 23, 2017. As part of completing the window project, all the classroom air conditioners will be checked. The contractor for the window project is responsible for the air conditioning units for the next year. The elevator is projected to be completed by early October, which would be ahead of schedule. Prior to completion, the elevators must be tested, which will result in alarms ringing. To minimize disruption, the school plans to time the fire drills and the elevator tests, so that all the alarms go off at the same time.

On Monday, September 11, 2017, Department of General Services staff walked through the building to assess the space, which was a positive sign. Principal Lycknell has asked for a copy of their report and hopes that she will receive it prior to the first School Improvement Team (SIT) meeting. During Back to School Night, the Principal opened the SIT process up to interested parents. Nine people expressed interest. The first SIT meeting will be next Tuesday, September 19, 2017, and will focus on setting the SIT’s parameters. After those parameters are set, the SIT will begin visiting other schools. Dunnzy Kaufman asked if the SIT’s focus will be on modernization or on how to address overcrowding in the interim. The Principal will argue that Brent’s needs are pressing and that the school needs to be moved to the top of the modernization list. It will be the SIT’s role to make a compelling case for moving Brent up the modernization list and to bring attention to the situation. The only viable short-term option is to rent space from the Brethren Church next door, but that space would need to be renovated.

The first Principal Coffee will occur on Friday, September 15, 2017,starting at 8:30 a.m. The Principal will hold monthly coffees, and will introduce a discussion topic in her column in the TuesNews the week of the coffee. Parents are also welcome to discuss any issue of interest or concern during the monthly coffees.

The firstLocal School Advisory Team (LSAT) meeting of the school year was held last Wednesday, September 6, 2017. They discussed the LSAT’s structure, its purpose, and its intention for the year. The LSAT plans to have a public discussion of goal setting in October. In addition, a comprehensive school plan for the year that isrequired by DC Public Schools (DCPS) will be published and will have 3 concrete goals. On behalf of the LSAT, Brian Kirrane informed the Board that they talked about the enrollment numbers’ impact on the school’s budget. Because all DCPS teachers received raises, individual teachers are more expensive, but the schools will not necessarily receive additional funds to cover the cost of the raises. Principal Lycknell does not plan to raise class sizes, but if it makes sense to equalize class sizes across a grade, then she will do that. The Principal has heard the message that PTA/LSAT communication about the budget must be better and will keep the Board updated throughout the process. Brian Kirrane notified the Board that Sara Carr will serve as the LSAT representative to the PTA Board this year. The LSAT will be publishing its meeting minutes this year.

The Principal updated the Board about the Center for Inspired Teaching (CIT) Fellows, describing them asstrong with a deep level of commitment. They are currently in a mentor-fellow role and have been placed in a single classroom for the first few weeks in order to get their feet on the ground. Some fellows are conducting early reading assessments in the younger grades. In the upper grades, the fellows will move from one compartmentalized class to another to see how different teachers and students impact learning. The fellows may pull students across classrooms in the future. The Principal will be meeting with the CIT staff next week to continue discussions about how to implement the CIT model at Brent. The school and CIT are in a relationship for 2 reasons: to serve CIT fellows and to serve Brent’s purposes of educating across grade levels. The fellows were placed in the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th grades after the Principal looked at the needs across grades and determined where student need was the greatest. Principal Lycknell is working on an inquiry about math data with the 3rd grade team and will use the weekly math data gathered to push more faculty into the 3rd grade classrooms. One to two days a week any available adult, including CIT fellows, will come into the 3rd grade classes to work with small groups on math.

With school well into its 4th week, the Principal notified the Board that parents will see a shift in her communications. Faculty are wrapping up assessments and will be done by the end of the month. The Spirit Committee is preparing for the Banner Parade on October 6th and for the end of the first 6 weeks of school events.

LSAT and SIT Representatives

A member of the PTA Board represents the Board on both the LSAT and the SIT. Jim Rendon offered to be the Board’s SIT representative and the Board agreed that he serve in this role. The Board needs a LSAT representative. Genevieve Taft-Vasquez inquired about the time commitment and the meeting schedule. Dunnzy Kaufman proposedhaving two Board members share the role in order to lessen the time commitment for one person.

Treasurer’s Report

The Treasurer, AmandaCatanzano, was not able to attend the meeting, but provided the Treasurer’s Report to Ben Champa in advance. All Treasurer’s Reports can be found in the Board’s Google drive. Ben Champa updated the Board about the resolution of a Shopify coding issue. He also notified the Board that the PTA credit card had been hacked and $1,000 was spent as a result of the breach, but the bank will not charge the PTA for that $1,000.

Kelly Vielmo inquired about the status of field trip and supply fee payments. Hard data was not available due to coding problems in the report. The Principal noted that some parentshave asked how to pay those fees, so she plans to put that information in the TuesNews. KellyVielmosuggested a link to the fee payment button in the emailversion of TuesNews. Regarding the email version of the TuesNews, the Principal mentioned that background work needs to be done tothe website before an abbreviated version can be created. For example, there is no place to put an extended Principal’s Update.

Dunnzy Kaufman asked about how eScripts works and if any funds are being generated by that program. LyndseyMedsker offered to look into how the eScrips program works.

The Principal inquired about how the money is to be allocated among the positions in item 8011 (Intervention/Enrichment/Field Trip Coordinators) in the budget versus actuals report. Several Board members noted that although the report says $15,000 is budgeted for item 8011, that number is incorrect. The amount budgeted for a field trip coordinator is $1,500.

New Projector

Because the Back to School Night experience with the fall activity poll made it obvious that a new projector is needed, BenChampa proposedpurchasing a new projector that costs between $600-700. Principal Lycknell also mentioned that a better screen is needed because the existing screen can be seen through, making it difficult to show a movie or have pictures appear with appropriate clarity. Victoria Gentry made a motion to purchase a projector and a screen. DunnzyKaufman seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously by voice vote.

Family Picnic

Ben Champa informed the Board that the picnic will be held on Sunday, September 24, 2017, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The advance sale price has been lowered from $20 to $10 per family to attract participation by more families. He also mentioned that there is a focus this year on staying within the budget for this event. Volunteers are needed for all activities at the picnic.

Movie Night

Ben Champa asked for a Board member to volunteer to be in charge of Movie Night, which could be held once in the fall and once in the spring. Genevieve Taft-Vasquez offered to work on Movie Night. The following options about where to show the movie were discussed: Miracle Theater on 8th Street; outside in a partnership with the American Legion on concessions; and the school multipurpose room. As planning begins, the Board concurred that the key is to remember that this will be a community building event in a space where everyone can come together.

Walk to School Day

Ben Champa notified the Board that Wednesday, October 4, 2017, is the city’s Walk to School Day. Walkers willleave from Lincoln Park, and Councilman Charles Allen will be attending. Ben Champa inquired if Brent wants to participate in this event, which the school has historically done. The Board supported participating again this year.

First PTA General Meeting

The meeting agenda will include the Principals Report; Treasurer’s Report; introduction of the LSAT officers; information about the Strategic Plan; information about Fundraising; and PTA Committee presentations (using a template prepared by Ben Champa). Ben Champa proposed that the focus of the first PTA general meeting of the year be a “PTA 101” that would be educational for new parents while also not being too basic for returning parents. At the meeting, each PTA committee will tell parents about its purpose and its goals for the year, as well as the time commitment involved in being a member of the committee. Following those presentations, parents will break into small groups to visit with individual committees. Alicia Dorsey asked if there will be time in the agenda for parents to offer feedback. BenChampa intends to do that during future meetings. A further suggestion was made to have a box in which parents can put questions that will be answered at the end of the meeting. A small number of questions would be drawn from the box to be answered. Ben Champa would like to have the meeting be available on Facebook Live if that proves to be feasible after testing.

PTA General Meeting Family Night

Ben Champa informed the Board that Family Night went over budget last year because the original budget was based on only some meetings being Family Nights, instead of all monthly meetings having childcare provided. Kelly Vielmo stated that childcare should be available every month because of the value of getting parents to participate in the meetings. Margaret Cooney noted that she has talked to several returning Brent families who didn’t know that childcare and dinner were provided. Ben Champa assured the Board that childcare will be available for the September meeting. Eleanor Marindin, the Brent faculty member who has organized the childcare staff for several years, informed the Board that she hires 3 people to take care of the students in Kindergarten through 2ndgrade because that’s the largest group. All the other classes have 2 staff members with them. She has tried to keep within the budget for the past 4 years by purchasing art supplies as economically as possible and doing the preparation work herself before giving the project materials to the childcare staff. The Board agreed that more information was needed about the costs associated with Family Night before making a decision about how frequently to provide childcare and dinner for students. The discussion was tabled until the next Board meeting when more budget information would be available.

Concerts Available on Brent Website

The Principal was asked if the winter and spring concerts can be made available on the Brent website. Student privacy issues would need to be addressed before that would be possible. Several families have not granted the school permission to use any images of their students.

Committee Updates

Holiday Sale:

Candace Fleming reported, on behalf of the Holiday Sale Committee, that the committee has met and has ordered the Christmas trees from the supplier. The sale will occur the first weekend of December again this year.

Field Experience:

Dunnzy Kaufman reported that the Field Experience Committee has met and will be meeting with the teachers on Friday, September 15, 2017. The committee plans to talk to the Principal about the need for a coordinator.

Diversity Committee:

Alicia Dorsey reported that the Diversity Committee has not met yet. The fall session of the Rising Tides tutoring program will start the week of October 9, 2017. The committee has proposed hosting a diversity discussion panel the week of October 23, 2017. The Chancellor has been invited to participate as well as Joe Weedon to talk about inequities among demographics in DCPS students.

Grounds Committee:

Margaret Cooney reported that the Grounds Committee has not met yet. She plans to meet with Ms. Gibson and Mr. Mangiaracina to discuss how to better use the Outdoor Classroom.

Middle School Committee:

Ben Champa noted that the Middle School Committee still needs a chair. None of the Board members in attendance volunteered.

Diversity Discussion

Ben Champa acknowledged that diversity at Brent is a difficult topic because the school’s student population is changing quickly. He asked for everyone to be open-minded throughout the discussion. Principal Lycknell noted that it was interesting to watch the Facebook exchange about diversity and that it caused her to think about her core values. Those core values guide people when they are most unsure.

One of Brent’s core values is empathy. The Principal encouraged everyone to take a moment to step back and understand the perspective of others. Since coming to Brent, she has talked to many parents and learned that not everyone is having the same experience and believes that the board needs to be comfortable with that. She encouraged everyone to think about how to address uncomfortable things, but to also recognize that people’s good experiences aren’t wrong either.

Alicia Dorsey told the Board that she invited other parents to attend the meeting and thanked the parents who came. Candace Mott and Kim Higginbotham shared their families’ experiences with the Board. The Board considered how best to discuss diversity issues within the Brent community and how to define diversity. Suggestions were made to have a facilitated roundtable discussion for the community. The Principal encouraged the Board to continue the values discussion rather than moving into a solution discussion, so that time is spent thinking about what we’re comfortable with before moving to a solution. Ben Champa noted that he wants to raise the floor for the experience of every student and make this a comfortable space for all families.

The meeting adjourned at 8:46 p.m.