Minutes of Meeting

Central School PTA Executive Board

Wednesday, April 17, 2013, 12:15pm

Attendees: Cathy Bizzard, Kristin Carpenter, Mary Conway, Susan Epstein, Martha Friedland, Angela Holton, Kim Huang, Romy Kirwin, Ellen Silver, Krista Williams, Patty Wolff, Ms. Dinelli, Ms. Dressler

Apologies: Mary Brennan, Pam Kernie, Sam Orans, Virginia Picciotto-Marsella, Miran Robarts, Kim Rubin, Ms. Priore, Ms. Hindley

TEACHER UPDATE

Ms. Dinelli and Ms. Dressler reported that school unions across the state have joined together to draft a resolution aimed at reducing the use of and reliance upon standardized tests as a measure of student performance and teacher effectiveness. The resolution, which sets forth the teachers’ basic support of the Common Core standards and confirms teachers’ continued commitment to their role in providing a quality public education to students, is to be presented to the New York State (NYS) Commissioner of Education, the NYS Board of Regents and other NYS policymakers and calls upon them as well as federal lawmakers to reduce federal testing mandates and to support multiple measures of students’ learning and teachers’ performance. Ms. Dressler and Ms. Dinelli circulated a copy of the resolution to the Exec Board.

Reaction from the Exec Board was generally supportive. There is agreement that the emphasis on testing seems to be affecting the children, noticeably increasing stress level and becoming a focus of the children’s homework and their general perception of school, as gauged by their conversations and thoughts about school. Further, some parents feel that the need to prepare for the tests is artificially narrowing the scope and depth of the curriculum that the children are exposed to. Further, some children are concerned about the negative impact on their teachers if the children do not do well on the tests.

Separately, Ms. Dinelli and Ms. Dressler thanked the Exec Board for the Faculty Appreciation Lunch on April 3.

MINUTES A motion was made, seconded, and passed to approve the minutes of Central School PTA Executive Board meeting on March 20, 2013.

UPDATES FROM PRINCIPAL

Ms. Priore and Ms. Hindley were unable to attend today’s meeting. Susan Epstein, however, was able to provide two general updates on their behalf:

1)  Testing: The ELA portion of the state-mandated tests are going on this week for 3rd, 4th and 5th graders, with the math component taking place next week. The science component for 4th graders will take place in late May.

2)  Mice: There are mice in the building. The school has hired an exterminator, who is working diligently. However, the school is not permitted to use chemicals or poisons to eliminate the mice, so it is taking some time. Only glue traps are permitted. Regular spring-loaded mouse traps cannot be used. An Exec Board member suggested the possibility of setting spring-loaded mouse traps Friday nights and removing them Monday morning before the students return to school.

Teachers are taking steps to restrict the location of food consumption. Parents are requested to pack their children’s lunches and snacks in airtight containers, to remove old food from backpacks promptly and to consider not packing crumbly snacks.

More detailed updates from the Principal will be provided at the next Exec Board meeting.

NOMINATING COMMITTEE UPDATE (Martha Friedland)

(1) 2013-14 Slate of Officers: Martha reported that all Exec Board positions have been filled. Below is the slate of officers for 2013-14:

Co-Presidents Martha Friedland

Romy Kirwin

Vice-Presidents

Communications Mary Brennan

Liz Leifert

Parent Services Virginia Picciotto-Marsella

Anne Cox

Faculty/Community Kristin Carpenter

Outreach Frankie Lanausse

Programs Krista Williams

Liam Robb O’Hagan

Fundraising Maria Franzese

Lisa Silva

Treasurer Miran Robarts

Secretary Angela Holton

The slate will be presented for approval at the next General Meeting of the Central School PTA, which is set for Monday, April 29 at 7:00pm in the LGI.

(2) Positions Still To Be Filled: Listed below are sub-committee positions that remain open. Information regarding these positions has been circulated to parents. Kim Huang offered to circulate the information at the next Grade Level Meeting as well.

(a) Wellness: Two people are still needed. Wellness Committee implements such programs as the Walk To School weeks in October and May and Turn Off TV Week in April, and also has a table at Scare Fair. Martha has electronically disseminated a note to the school regarding the Wellness position, but also asked the Exec Board to think of potential nominees. It should be noted that Jen Dorf and Denise Mathieson will continue to chair Crunchy Carnival, which is no longer a part of Wellness.

(b) Silent Auction and Sign-Up Parties: These two important fundraising positions ideally would be filled now, but can also be filled in the fall, when candidates perhaps can be drawn from the pool of new kindergarten parents.

Sign-up Party Issues: The Nominating status of Sign-Up Parties prompted a discussion among the Exec Board regarding concerns about Sign-Up Parties in general. The main problem is that people frequently sign up for the parties and then do not attend. Because payment is not due until the time of the party, the PTA is losing revenue when people do not show up, and further, other people may have wanted the spot. Possible solutions are to require payment at the time of sign-up and also to send reminders immediately after the event where the sign-up occurred (e.g., after PNO, where people sign up but do not have their datebooks with them) and also to send a reminder again just prior to the party. Additionally, it may be useful to have a waiting list.

Another concern is that the sign-up parties seem to be bunched together. It would be better to spread them out over the course of the year. This would mean promoting Sign-Up Parties more at, for example, Scare Fair with an eye toward some parties taking place in November through March.

Finally, Mary Conway said that she gets feedback from people saying they do not know when the Sign-Up Parties are taking place. Perhaps a master list of all sign-up parties throughout the year can be circulated every month or so in Central Calling, so that people can plan ahead and sign up. Also, when reminder C-Blasts are circulated for a current party, perhaps a list of upcoming parties can be included so that if people cannot attend the current party, they can plan ahead for a future party. Finally, closer to the date of each individual event, banners on the upper courtyard handrail visible to the CATS traffic circle could be used, as well as a banner at the path that passes Trader Joe’s.

PT COUNCIL UPDATE (Susan Epstein)

1)  Budget / New Approach To Financing: The Board of Education is working toward moving away from asking the public to support a bond and instead build up capital reserves for specific projects, such as a better locker room facility at the high school, or installing new turf on the high school field.

2)  Security: The district is working on installation of panic buttons in the schools.

3)  Assistive Technology Resources: At the PT Council meeting, two special education teachers from Murray Avenue School explained the “reading and writing carts” that all four elementary schools were supplied with in early Fall of this academic year. The carts are located in a central place in each school and are stocked with a range of low-tech materials that all teachers (not just special education teachers) can borrow to assist any student who may need some sort of physical aid in gaining proficiency in a specific skill or subject area. For example, if a student is having difficulty with handwriting, instead of jumping straight to a computer for that child, a teacher may determine that a pencil grip would be useful. Because different students respond to different pencil grips, this cart is stocked with a variety of pencil grips, permitting the teacher to borrow different types, try them with the student, figure out what works best and return what does not work.

Ms. Dressler, who is on the Assistive Technology team at Central, explained to the Exec Board that the cart contains many other items, such as a recorder, timer, and dictionaries, as well as items similar to a laptop that permit a child to practice keyboarding. Central’s reading and writing cart is located in the Child Study Room.

4)  Budget Communications:

a)  Coffee Hour with Dr. Shaps: Thursday, April 25 at 9:30am, Martha Friedland is hosting at her home the coffee hour for the Central elementary district where Dr. Shaps will discuss the budget and answer questions in an informal setting.

b)  Central’s Upcoming PTA General Meeting: At the General PTA meeting on Monday, April 29 at 7:00pm in the LGI, the district’s Assistant Superintendent for Business Operations, Meryl Rubenstein, will explain the 2013-14 budget and answer questions. At this meeting, the Central PTA will vote on whether to endorse the budget.

c)  Budget Vote Tuesday, May 21: Polls will be open from 7am to 9pm on May 21 for the community to vote whether to approve the school budget for 2013-14. Voting takes place at the local elementary schools.

d)  Calendaring: This year, as traditionally is the case at Central, there is kindergarten orientation as well as evening Book Fair hours on May 21, the date of the budget vote. There will also be music ensemble performances this year. Having additional events on the day and evening of school budget votes boosts voter turnout.

CULTURAL ARTS (Patty Wolff) A tiling contractor has been hired. The children have begun designing and painting their tiles. Annaliese Peters is working with the children and taking photos of the process. Some teachers have requested tiles so that they can participate in the project as well.

CLASSICAL CAFÉ Classical Café has been taking place this week. This is where students participating in NYSSMA on April 19 and 20 perform for the younger students at lunch hour in the Little Gym. Tablecloths and centerpieces are put on the lunch tables to help create a special atmosphere. Thanks go to Central mom Melissa Aversa for working with the music teachers in coordinating this event and for providing and setting up the beautiful table arrangements.

EARTH WEEK (Ellen Silver) Every day during the week of April 22 there will be special activities to celebrate Earth Week, including Spruce Up Central (see below). The full list of activities, arranged by Kim Nicastri and Ellen Silver, is being published in Central Calling. In honor of Earth Week, it was decided to have a paperless dissemination of the information.

SPRUCE UP CENTRAL As part of Earth Week, Spruce Up Central is taking place on Tuesday, April 23 after school. A few Girl Scout troops are scheduled to participate and the Central community has been invited to help with planting flowers and weeding beds. Ellen Silver and Mary Conway spent an afternoon putting soil in the planters that Larchmont Nursery donated, and the planters are now ready for flowers.

It was suggested that future Spruce Up projects might include replacing the shrubbery near the main entrance of the school. There was discussion about who currently is in charge of landscaping – i.e., Central’s custodial staff or the district maintenance crew -- and whether Central’s PTA would be permitted to do some landscaping work, including getting parents involved who own landscaping companies, where perhaps some of their crew’s time could be donated. Larchmont Nursery does landscaping over the summer at Murray Avenue and Chatsworth Avenue schools at no charge and, it is hoped, will be doing so this summer at Central as well. Watering Central’s plantings over the summer continues to be an issue.

LITERARY MAGAZINE AND YEARBOOK All the entries for the literary magazine have been received. The fourth grade teachers will help with the cover competition at the end of April. The goal is to have the literary magazines in backpacks on June 10. Andrea Fagon is the editor of the literary magazine. Valentina Soto typesets the entries and then Andrea takes them to print.

For yearbooks, the goal is to have them in backpacks on June 7, which is Field Day for the 5th graders, the traditional distribution date for the yearbook. An e-mail has been disseminated asking families to share photos for inclusion in the yearbook. Andrea Fagon is also in charge of yearbooks.

Cathy Bizzard noted that Central’s newly-hired photographer for school photos also produces yearbooks and asked whether this is something that should be investigated in order to prevent Andrea from having such a crunch at the end of the year due to the close proximity of the literary magazine and yearbook deadlines. Cathy reported that the sample yearbook provided by the photographer is similar to ours, having collage-style layouts as well as individual student photos.

A couple notes regarding the yearbook:

--Central mom and professional photographer Marissa Kam will be on the playground in the next few weeks taking photos.

--The PTA Exec photo needs to be taken.

--Pre-K will receive yearbooks, which means 90 more copies compared to last year. PTA will bear the cost of this, though virtually no pre-K families joined the PTA. In light of the Pre-K’s negative reaction to not being included in the directory this past Fall, it is felt that Pre-K should receive the yearbook this June and the directory going forward. In the future, when inviting the Pre-K to join the PTA, it might be helpful to remind them that membership helps support these two important publications.