Lincoln Elementary PTA Meeting Minutes
September 27, 2017, 7 p.m.
- Call to Order, called to order at 7:09p
- Approval of Minutes, 7:11p Bridgette Dziedzic and Marina Siegert motioned
- Executive Committee Reports
IV.
-President – Reported under Old Business
-First Vice President – The PTA is sponsoring a fingerprint event on Wednesday, October 18th from 6:00-8:00 pm. This will be the ONLY fingerprint date at the school this year. Mr. Kitsko will send out a sign-up sheet and the event will take place in the Library. We have two types of volunteers: Program Volunteer- one who is allowed to chaperones field trips, lunchtime clubs, etc. Three clearances are needed to allow you to be alone with our students (PA Criminal, PA Child Abuse and FBI Fingerprinting*) If you have lived in Pittsburgh for the last 10 years you may sign a *10-year Resident of PA Affidavit to be renewed every year for the FBI fingerprinting clearance only. The second is Casual Volunteer- All that is needed to sign is a Casual Volunteer Affirmation form in the office. This allows you to volunteer but with supervision of a teacher at all times. Such volunteering would include classroom parties, guest speaker, etc. Please see Mrs. Popek with questions or concerns.
-Second President– No report
-Third Vice President – Not present
-Fourth Vice President– Thank you and please keep coming to these meetings. This is a good start to the school year. I have received positive feedback on our dismissal changes. We are less congested up front for the safety of our students and while it is not perfect it is better than what has been. We have a new area for the students to use called Makers Space. The idea is for students to have hands on creative play. We will have a presentation on this at our October PTA meeting and will be forming a committee soon to help with our new space. We have our new Buddy Bench thanks to the PTA and Daisy Troop #16443, Brownie Troop #16303, Brownie Troop #52171, & Girl Scout Troop #57086. A big thank you to Mrs. Young, Mrs. Diomataris, and Mrs. Rowles for their hard work bringing this wonderful idea to Lincoln. Students will be having lessons with Ms. McClain on how the Buddy Bench is used, etc. Fall benchmark assessments will be taking place in September from Grades 1-5. Also students in Kindergarten – Grade 3will take the AIMSWeb Plus literacy and mathematics assessments. Coffee with the Principal will be on October 10 at 8:45 am in the cafeteria. Lastly, a PSA if you will, here at Lincoln if your teacher has a twitter, or facebook page they are not permitted to have the group closed. This protects the students to ensure that no inappropriate content is coming from adults. If you run into a closed group know that it is not a teacher running it. We have to be open here in the district. I have my own twitter linked@lincoln with about 100 followers and I would love to have more.
-Corresponding Secretary– Please have your items in by Friday night to have it on the Lincoln Ledger. Also, when you see flyers from outside groups or announcements please know that those have either been vetted already by Dr. Steinhaur’s and his secretary or have gone through an approval process (After school Golf, Indian Princesses/Boy Scouts, LabRats, etc.).
-Recording Secretary – No report
-Treasurer– To get reimbursed for any expenses moving forward Committee Chairs must fill out a Cash Disbursement request form (Green Slip). The chair needs to sign it and receipts need to accompany the form. If you have more than two receipts you will also need to submit a spreadsheet. Please do not put any personal items on the receipt. We also have two new changes in Budget which will be discussed under New Business.
-Historian – When submitting your Committee Chair reports please type as much detail as you can give.
V.Teacher Representatives–Mrs. Kennedy and Mrs. Pue thanked the PTA on behalf of all the teachers for the stipend and for funding fieldtrips.
VI.Lincoln Committee Reports
-ABC’s of the PTA – Cate Albu had a meeting prior to the PTA meeting and all information was covered. No additional questions were asked.
-Directory and PTA – Bridgette Dziedzic shared that 84% of our students/families are signed up for our directory. For $12 you can join the PTA which allows you to vote on items at the PTA meetings.
-Frosty Shop –If anyone is interested in helping please let Tiffini Marucci know. December 8th is our Lincoln Frosty Shop. Each class will have 20 minutes to shop and all items range from $1 - $5.
-Lunchtime Club –Clubs are held from January to February. They last for 20 minutes but can be anything from a Lego Club to Yoga. There are two sessions and usually we have about 8-10 kids in each group. Program Volunteer clearances are required to host a lunch time club. Please see Erin Davies if you are interested.
-Mardi Gras – If anyone would like to help with Mardi Gras please Annie Negil know. It is a really fun event on February 10thwith a cake walk and other fun activities for child to do.
-Yearbook Recruitment/Volunteers – This year we have three different types of volunteers: Photographers, Coordinators and Editors. Our year book costs $16.50 for a 48 page full colored yearbook. We try to get at least two candid’s of each student and each classroom has their own page. If you are interested in helping please see Carina Perilman.
VII.Old Business
-Our Buddy Bench is out in the hallway and ready to be installed. Thank you to everyone who was involved.
-Our School Kids Kits didn’t work out so well. We will revisit soon. Everyone does have them now. We did receive an 40% rebate which we have decided to give back a stipend to the Home Room teachers, make a Makers Space contribution and give a donation to Education Partnership who helps kids in need.
VIII.New Business
-For our Audits please try to keep your reimbursement under $200. It helps us reduce the amount of mistakes and when the total is under $200 we do not have to Audit it. Also please do not include personal expenses on the receipt you are submitting and circle the total amount. Please see Jenn Curran or Robyn Williams with questions.
-There is a meeting scheduled with the Traffic Review Board on a plan to turn Ralston into a right turn only and discuss an lighted crosswalk to help with the safety of our children going to and from school. We have the 20 signatures to undergo a traffic study and will keep everyone posted with details.
-We had 12 families on Monday for our Int’l New Family Welcome Meeting. We had various degrees of English speaking families and are thinking of establishing buddy families to help these new Int’l families along here at Lincoln. We are also considering aligning ourselves with the Library as they’re a great resource.
-We have a new line item to the budget in the amount of $100 to help with refreshments when Kindergarten has their Spring Assessments. Laura Young and Ashley Diomataris motioned.
-Budget Amendment was motioned for Welcome Back Teachers Luncheon to an increase of $116.44 from $400 to total $516.44. Tiffini Marucci and Carina Perilman motioned.
-Reflections Art completion is a national competition that incorporates dance, video and photography. Posters are up in the school and all entries should be in by the beginning of November.
IX.Announcements and Upcoming Events
10/16 Kindergarten field trip – Simmons Farm
10/16-20 Canned Food Drive for those impacted by Hurricane Maria
10/18 FBI Fingerprinting Event Library 6-8pm
10/20 Grade 3 field trip – Carnegie Science Center
10/23 PTA Read-a-Thon ends
10/27 Read-a-Thon closing assembly
10/31 Halloween Parades and Parties 10:30 am and 2:30 pm
X.Adjournment8:36 pm