Pasadena PTA Meeting – Wednesday, February 10th, 2016, called to order at 9:45 am..
Welcome by Lori Bricker, PTA President
Superintendent's Report by Dr. Lewis
Excited to be back. Office is always open and hope to be back at the next PTA meeting. A survey is out to see the reasons behind why people are opting their children from 3rd - 8th grade out from tests. Please be honest in answering the survey. A meeting will be held at the state level to discuss with superintendents the reasons people are opting out from tests.
Principal’s Report by Ms. Heitner
Superintendent Dr. Lewis is actually the President of the Superintendent's Association of New York State. There were guests in Pasadena this morning including a principal from Great Neck and people from other districts. Please check out the website to see photos from Monday's Pasadena Dragon parade. Eileen Annino will organize a Literacy Night to talk with parents at the PTA but Pasadena will also host its own Literacy Night outside of the PTA similar to Math Night where there are stations to discuss all that is being done for literacy. There will be information added for parents who want to participate. The night PTA Book Club is held 45 minutes before evening PTA meetings, the next one being in April. The book being read before the meeting is “The One and Only Ivan” by Catherine Applegate. This is a lovely children's book. We will meet to discuss the book.
Thank you to the PTA through the Puzzle Bulletin Board which shows appreciation from all the classes to the PTA. This will be up until the end of the school year. All the students were involved in this project.
The Kindergarten teachers coming to Pasadena are: Fran Ferucci, who is an ICT teacher will work with fellow ICT teacher, Robin Sigman if there is an ICT classroom; Genise Pffeifer, a teacher who is currently on maternity leave, Megan Buonomo, and we are keeping Lauren Costa and move her back to kindergarten.
The 2nd grade has grown by about 10 new students. Next year, the 2nd grade will have 5 classes with the 5th teacher being a new hire unless there is a request from an existing teacher to switch. As recommended by the Board of Education, 3rd grade classes can be larger than 2nd grade classes. Class sizes will be made as uniform in numbers as possible.
If your child is struggling to the point that they are overwhelmed and/or they are having problems doing the homework at home, do not do the homework and reach out to the teacher so that the teacher can be aware and help the child out within the classroom perhaps in a smaller group.
Approval of January PTA meeting minutes
· 1st Motion – Sharon Levine
· 2nd Motion – Kim Berkowitz
President’s Report by Lori Bricker
Membership report – currently there are 294 members, of which 269 are parents and 25 are staff. Membership is ongoing so please join!
Treasurer's report – there is $37,000 in our account with a few bills to pay but Michael Rosenstein led our quarterly audit and everything balanced out so we are in very good standing.
Sharefolder contains more Thank You notes from Ms. DeRosa's class. Please check out the PTA website to see eblasted news, spirit wear, and other announcements and flyers.
Next week we do not have a break so Ms. Heitner has made it Spirit Week with the following activities for each day: Monday will be no school for President's Day, Tuesday will be teacher as guest readers day, Wednesday will be pajama day with cultural arts event to see Charlotte's Web play, Thursday will be crazy sock day and Friday kicks off Vocabulary parade with everyone dressing up as a vocabulary word.
Next Wed., the 24th, will be the District's second Family Night, where there will be no homework or tests the following day so that your family can enjoy many retaurants giving discounts including Baba's Grill, which was not included in the original flyer, but wanted to participate. They are giving 10% off.
For Field Day, we are thinking to bring in the Harlem Wizards which are a smaller version of the Globetrotters for two shows beginning on Monday of that week. It would also be a Cultural Arts event. Because it will cost about $2200, we need a vote to approve the motion for this event. (Approved)
Please consider joining the Executive Board of the PTA. The majority of parents on the board are working parents and there are different levels of involvement. If you have any questions, you can ask existing board members or email us at the gmail account. A few of us are leaving so a few seats need to be filled. Please spread the word that we need new blood and need to build a great board.
Fundraisers and Committees
· Picture Day – Chaired by Leslie Heichman. We just received the check and profitted a little more than $2600.
· PARP – Was very successful and a very fun week. Instead of passing around the torch, we passed the book. Thank you for working with your children to help decorate our hallways. Each child received a book.
· First Grade Night Out - was a huge success. 60 kids were in attendance. It was a Minion movie pajama night. They loved the movie and were really engaged in it. They had popcorn and Minion cheese-its and received a reusable popcorn holder.
· Valentine’s Day Fundraiser - Stop by Cookies & Cream in the Hunki’s shopping center this coming weekend – Sat-Mon and received 15% off purchases by mentioning “Pasadena”. They will also be making a donation to Pasadena for 15% of sales.
· Mah-Jong Tournament – It is Thurs., Feb. 25th at 7 pm, hosted at Parkway Elementary. Checks are to be made out to Parkway Elementary but proceeds will get split evenly between the four elementary schools. Last year, Pasadena's cut was over $1000.
· Second Grade Night Out - Flyers were sent out. It will be held on Friday, Feb. 26th at Pasadena. The kids will have a great night participating in wacky challenges with Jump Bunch. RSVP by Feb. 15th. No tickets will be sold at the door. Please contact Daniella Blackman or Alison Carey if you are interested in volunteering at the event.
· 3rd Grade Hoedown – It will be on Thurs., Mar. 3rd at 7 pm. It is really fun and the square dance caller is great. Please take pictures during the event to be included into the yearbook but don't include photos with parents, siblings, or others in them.
· Founder's Day Dinner – Chaired by Lori Bornstein. It will be at the Cresthollow Country Club on Mar. 9th, at 6:15 pm, honoring this year's Pasadena recipients, Leslie Heichman (parent) and Ms. Doherty (teacher) and Jessica Corbett (SEPTA). Flyers went out and it's been eblasted.
· Spring Picture Day – works differently from Fall Picture Day in that no poses or backgrounds are chosen. Every child has their picture taken and four sheets are sent home. You pay for whichever you choose to keep. The proceeds from this directly help fund the yearbook. Even if your child isn't graduating this year, each year the proceeds benefit the yearbook and eventually, each child does graduate and gets to reap the benefit. The yearbook is a free gift from the PTA and does not need to be purchased.
· Spring Book Fair – takes place on Tues., Mar. 29th and Wed., Mar. 30th for the kids the shop. During parent-teacher conferences on Thursday, it will be set up in the lobby of the school from 1-4 pm, and again from 6-9 pm. While the fall had the 1st and 2nd graders donating snacks and drinks for Staff Appreciation during the conference day, the spring will solicit donations from 3rd and 4th graders for Staff Appreciation. After the school's early dismissal that day, the PTA sets up a nice themed luncheon in the staff lounge for the teachers in appreciation. Dessert donations letter will be going out to everyone regardless of grade for this luncheon.
· Pretzel Sale – The next pretzel sale will be Fri., Feb. 19th for $2.00 or you can still prepay for the year by sending in a check for $7.50. Please put your child's name and class on the envelope so that we can identify whose pretzel money it is. The date, if changed, will be eblasted.
· Spirit Wear – Chaired by Jessica and Jenna. We still have plenty of pajama pants and blankets. The merchandise was available at 1st grade family night and it will be available at 2nd grade night out as well. The blankets are very nice. They are soft and heavy - great for the field as spring sports will be starting soon. Blankets are $30 and flannel pajama pants are $22 each, 2/$40.
· Yearbook Committee – reported by Melissa Prushik and Jessica Corbett. Please upload and tag all other yearbook pictures to the Pictavo Community in the next two days. Please contact committee members with any questions regarding uploading photos to the site.
· Parents Night Out – will take place on Fri., May 13th at the Holiday Inn on Sunnyside Blvd.. A flyer has been sent home asking for donations towards themed baskets to be raffled at the dinner. Each class is responsible for a theme. There will prepaid raffle tickets for those who cannot make it to the dinner. There will be vendors and many raffles.
· Birthday Box – Chaired by Mira Lim. So far, there have been 23 Birthday Box orders with a profit of $297 dollars. Please give at least a week's notice because snacks are not stocked due to expiration dates and freshness.
· Box Tops/Labels for Education – Chaired by Jessica Gleicher. Currently putting together a shipment of Box Tops clippings to be sent out. Labels for Education is terminating their program by the end of this year.
Community Service – Chaired by Kim Berkowitz.
· Book drive was very successful with Reading Reflections. They were extremely pleased with all of the books we donated which they were able to ship to Nigeria to schools and children in need.
· We will be doing Pennies for Patients starting in March. We use the slogan: Spare Change Can Change Lives. We are asking for spare change and no soliciting of donations for this to help sick children with Leukemia Lymphoma.
· Coat drive coats were delivered on behalf of New York Cares to a church in Bethpage.
· Curriculum – reported by Melissa Prushik. We talked about changes to the science standards to increase STEM participation. There is an outreach program that is rotating through the elementary schools working with Legos. It is at Parkway now, coming to Pasadena in April. All of the schools gave feedback on the Extra Help program. Parents in all schools are asking for online sign-ups. We discussed the committee to review the six day specials in all elementary schools. Mr. Scesney gave a report about the K-1 transition. He also discussed the move to the elementary schools, and how the teachers are packing.
· Cultural Arts – Chaired by Jessica Corbett. We had Native American day which was a huge success. The kids really enjoyed working with clay and seeing the other authentic Native American goods.
· Health – Chaired by Kim Berkowitz. Nothing to report.
· Nutrition – Chaired by Sara Fins. The representatives for Mattlin will be setting up a kitchen tour soon. Stratford Road had their kitchen tour and there were a few findings: The homemade cookies were placed in an area where they could be touched (or sneezed on) by kids. They have been moved. The water quality of the water from the water fountains was poor. Filters may need to be changed. This issues was brought to the attention of Mr. Cunningham and will be addressed. The topic of what snacks are offered at the schools during lunch periods was brought up again. Some feel this should be consistent across all middle schools, as it is currently not. Mr. Cunningham will discuss it at his next meeting with the school Principals since they will make decisions regarding this and not Whitsons.
National Nutrition Month: We have put together a committee to put together activities for the kids for the month. There will be NO in school tastings at any elementary schools. At Mattlin and POB there will be fruit filled crepes offered one day prepared by a guest chef. At the H.S. There will be green smoothies offered on 3/17. Our next meeting is Thursday 3/3.
· Title IX – Chaired by Mira Lim. A nomination letter is going out to the community for this year's Yves LeMay/Diana Watson Obey award and should be available on the school district website. If you want to nominate someone who you feel has represented for Title IX, you may email the person's name and his/her description to or . We are also discussing gift options to distribute to the kids to make them aware of Title IX instead of the previous pencils, bookmarks, and posters. Any and all ideas are welcome.
· Technology – Reported by Michael Rosenstein. Had only one meeting so far.
· Transportation – Chaired by Jan Mintz. There will be in the next several weeks, a School Messenger program activated by transportation, that will enable transportation to contact parents via text message in case of a late bus, or in the case of emergency in the district (such as a lockdown). Such a service must be opted in via the Infinite Campus Parent Portal where one puts in their home and/or mobile telephone numbers. It was suggested at the meeting that High School students be included in the Messenger notifications, so they would be aware of a lockdown. There is also ongoing discussion of parents needing to be notified of bad behavior on the bus, and proper protocol. The procedures for misconduct can be found through the Transport. link on the school district website.