Minutes
Beachland PTA General Meeting Minutes
February 19, 2014
The meeting was called to order by Kendra Brown at 6:05pm.
In attendance
The board, Mrs. Barker, Mrs. Wagner, Mrs. Stawara, Mrs. Beckham, Anthony D’Elia and 20 voting members. As a quorum is 10 members as per the bylaws there was a quorum present.
Board
Kendra Brown introduced the board members. She discussed the proposal of purchasing 20-30 computers for the school to be set up and used in the library to create a true media center. Mrs. Barker indicated that a 5th special would be added to the student’s schedules utilizing Mrs. Jones and Ms.Criss as additional cultural arts teachers.
Ann Taylor made a motion to set aside up to $25,000 from the current budget to purchase the computers.
Tiffany Justice seconded the motion.
A vote was taken and the motion was unanimously accepted.
Advisory Committee
Mrs. Michelle Stawara was our guest speaker but she is also the teacher representative on the PTA Board. Mrs. Stawara spoke eloquently to the new triad/diad system at Beachland. The teachers are seeing tremendous learning gains across all grade levels. Departmentalization allows the teachers to concentrate on one subject with 2 or 3 classes of students. Mrs. Stawara specializes in reading and told a story of a student who thanked her for “finally” teaching him to read.
Mrs. Theresa Beckham, Beachland Elementary 4th grade math teacher, reported that her 50+ students were extremely successful on the most recent benchmark. More than 90% are above the red as of the most recent standardized test. She is pleased with this progress.
Budget
Ann Taylor presented the current budget. The PTA is currently functioning in arrears with $44,000 in the bank. The projects to date for the 2013-2014 school year that have been completed, including the updates to the cafeteria and stage, and the purchase of science books for 3-5 grade, were under budget and one large project, the white boards, has been tabled due to the school district’s technology department switching servers. The white board kits will be purchased upon completion of the district’s changes.
New Business
· Kendra Brown introduced Anthony D’Elia who will be helping to facilitate the My School Color Run on May 17th on the Beachland Campus. The students will enjoy a kick-off celebration on March 17th on the hard court where they will set their 8 week exercise goals and have an opportunity to spray Mrs. Barker with color! For 8 weeks the students will collect donations from family and friends while working toward their exercise goal during the final 10 minutes of PE under the supervision of Coach Fielder. The final mile of their goal will be on May 17th during the My School Color Run where the students will be spray with teal and pink, the BES colors. A family celebration will take place in the field following the event where there will be food for purchase and entertainment.
Mr. D’Elia shared a bit of history behind the Color Run. It originated in India where it enforced a sense of community while celebrating cultures coming together. The event will help promote awareness for health and fitness. 70% of the proceeds from the event will go to Beachland Elementary School’s PTA.
· Ann Taylor discussed the evolution of this year’s Spring Social. The event will be similar to past years and will be held at Vero Beach Country Club on April 26th. The cocktail party with light food will include a live auction and a small silent auction of grade level themed baskets.
Ann Taylor motioned that we hold a Spring Social on April 26th.
Vicki DeGroat seconded the motion.
A vote was taken and the motion was passed unanimously.
· Kendra Brown presented the Beachland Campus Clean-Up Initiative. Ward Gunter has presented the PTA Board with a plan of action to clean up zones on the campus over the course of several Saturdays this spring. A large volunteer base will be necessary for this project.
· Boy Scout and Beachland alumna, Morgan Beckham was also present and presented his proposal for his Eagle Scout project. He has chosen Beachland Elementary School’s campus as his project. Morgan’s proposal included pressure washing and repainting the directional lines on the sidewalks on campus over the summer as well as mulching the area around the flag pole. The paint for his project is $30/gallon and he will need 80 gallons. The total cost of the paint will be $4200. Morgan would like to collect monetary donations to offset the cost of the paint along with his other fundraising projects.
A discussion was had to possibly combine portions of Morgan’s project with the Beachland Campus Clean-Up Initiative.
Kendra Brown made a motion to appoint Ward Gunter as committee chair for the Beachland Campus Clean-Up Initiative.
Jennifer Nye seconded the motion.
A vote was taken and the motion was accepted unanimously.
Committee Reports
· The nominating committee presented the current nominations for the 2014-2015 PTA Board as well as committee chairs nominees. To date only four committee chair positions are still unfilled. Paige Visser took nominations from the floor at which time Megan D’Elia and Ashley Simmens were nominated as co-chairs of the hospitality committee for the 2014-2015 school year.
Announcements
Next Meeting
The next General Membership Meeting will take place in May, 2014 – date to follow.
Motion to adjourn was made at 7:00pm and was passed unanimously.
2