CABOT PTO EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING NOTES

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2017

  • Members in Attendance
  • 7:30 pm at Victoria Jaffe’s house: Nicky Chapman, Ali Dunn, Victoria Jaffe, Eric Sprung, Jude Carlson-Wang, Agnes Pietrzyk, Anu Jayaraman, Linda Barrows, Sue Bottino, Suzy Yospin, Jacqueline Badeau, & Rose Chung-Dell
  • Introduction of new Executive Committee members
  • Each member present introduced themselves and what role they have this year
  • Approval of minutes from Executive Committee meetings on 1/18/17 and 5/23/17
  • Linda Barrows (Cabot Connect Rep) made motion to approve, Rose Chung-Dell (Cabot Connect Rep) seconded the motion, and Executive Committee members all approved motion
  • PTO Update by Co-President Nicky Chapman
  • Grade Liaison roles
  • Reaching out to get people to be room parents
  • Can use MySchoolAnywhere
  • Has the ability to send targeted e-mails to different groups
  • Ali Dunn (Assistant treasurer) says she had previously set up G-mail accounts for the grade representatives when the grades were combined. Now that each grade has their own liaison, Ali will set up separate e-mail accounts for each grade
  • Nicky says using MySchoolAnywhere is much cleaner, simpler
  • Wants to encourage people to get this app on your phone
  • Need to merge all sign-ups, volunteering, etc. into this system
  • Nicky says there will also be a sign up at Community Supper
  • Welcoming new families
  • School should have info on which families are new to Cabot and Sydney Balise (Executive Administrative Assistant) will relay this info to Grade Liaisons but this is still getting worked out
  • School Directory
  • Nicky Chapman (Co-president) hopes to get this out by the end of the month
  • There are about 23 or 24 Cabot family e-mails that are not accounted for
  • Plan to get updated list from Sydney Balise (Executive Administrative assistant) soon
  • General PTO Meetings
  • Ideas on format(i.e. combining mtg with a specific topic or having a PTO meeting where parents can “Meet the Specialists”)
  • Linda Barrows (Cabot Connect rep) is in favor of topics idea
  • Sue Bottino (5th Grade Rep) suggests maybe having a meeting on a “How to Use ….My School Anywhere, School Pass, Skyward, etc.
  • Ali Dunn (Assistant Treasurer) suggests that one of the first meetings could be framed as a discussion about theCarr transition and any issues, comments, etc.
  • Suzy Yospin (3rd Grade Rep) suggests having a topic regarding the Aftermath of Charlottesville and how to talk to kids about it
  • Rachel Carlson-Wang (2nd Grade Rep) suggests topic of 5th grade transition to middle school maybe sometime in April
  • What to expect, students walking home, after school programs
  • Maybe invite old Cabot parents
  • Eric Sprung (Principal) states topics can be flexible
  • If he gets a heads up a few weeks before, he can use his networks to get speakers to come to the meetings
  • Times of the General PTO meetings
  • Jacqueline Badeau (4th Grade Rep) asks to keep in mind staying with morning meetings
  • Agnes Pietrzyk (Recording Secretary) comments that last year we alternated between morning and evening meetings
  • Rose Chung-Dell (Cabot Connect Rep) asked if we should do survey of topics and times for the meetings
  • Nicky Chapman (Co-president) states that survey was done last year and results showed that preference for morning or evening meetings were pretty much even
  • Survey did not ask about meeting topics
  • Website Updates
  • Nicky Chapman (Co-president) states that someone has expressed interest in helping with the website
  • She will connect that person to Val Gopinath (Corresponding Secretary a.k.a. Webmaster)
  • Nicky is asking all the Exec. Committee members to check the website to see what needs to be there or what needs to be taken off
  • Helpful to have other sets of eyes on this
  • If we see anything that should or shouldn’t be there, e-mail the co-presidents (Nicky Chapman/Joanna Josephson) or Val Gopinath
  • Victoria Jaffe (Treasurer) states that there’s an issue with the links for the teacher e-mails and even Sydney Balise’s info
  • Sue Bottino (5th Grade Rep) states that she got bounced off the Cabot Events e-mail list
  • Thinks something happened with the MySchoolAnywhere site updates and it erased her e-mail from the list
  • Victoria Jaffe (Treasurer) said same this happened to her
  • Other Comments
  • Rose Chung-Dell (Cabot Connect Rep) asks if Eric Sprung (Principal) will do a principal blog
  • Eric Sprung (Principal) states he is working on this, but may do it through a different form of communication like a Facebook page
  • Rose Chung-Dell also asks where the construction updates are
  • Nicky Chapman (Co-president) & Eric Sprung (Principal) states there are monthly meetings updating community about the construction
  • Minutes of these meetings are on the PTO site
  • May need to click through to get to the link for the city construction site page
  • Review of Meet and Greet events
  • Feedback so far was that it went pretty well
  • Sue Bottino (5th Grade Rep) says that some parents who went to visit the school at the summer event were disappointed that they couldn’t see inside the classrooms
  • Eric Sprung (Principal) says classrooms were closed for several reasons
  • Safety issue
  • Teachers still setting up their classrooms
  • Says maybe next year we could have the teachers present so that the classrooms could be open
  • Sue Bottino (5th grade rep) adds that maybe we could have food set up in the cafeteria so that parents could meet up and talk afterwards
  • Anu Jayaraman (Kindergarten Rep) asked about accident that occurred during summer playdate at Carr playground
  • Nicky Chapman (Co-president) said it was a preschooler who climbed up too high and fell. The child was taken to get checked out and is doing fine.
  • Treasurer Report: Victoria Jaffe (Treasurer)
  • Not much happened in the budget over the summer but today a bunch of checks have been written out
  • CASC getting funds
  • Teachers receiving set-up funds
  • Community Supper
  • School Pass check sent
  • 1st Bank Reconciliation has been done
  • Anu Jayaraman (Kindergarten Rep) asks how the PTO is funded
  • Victoria Jaffe (Treasurer) states that most of it is through fundraising (Campaign for Cabot, Book Fair, Spring Fling, etc.)
  • In the past PTO fundraised so much that it was too much
  • The past couple of years the PTO had excess, but now that excess has been spent down
  • Jacqueline Badeau (4th Grade Rep) asks if the intent is to always have $60,000 in reserve
  • Nicky Chapman (Co-president) says yes because we need a big cushion since a lot of the funds get spent in the beginning of the year
  • $60,000 was an agreed upon number by previous Exec. Cmte members
  • Ali Dunn (Asst. Treasurer) emphasizes that if we want to continue to fund current events, we need to be serious about fundraising this year
  • Explanation of Equity vs. Non-Equity Items
  • Equity items are school or curriculum based
  • City-wide cap for each school
  • Accounts for 2/3 of our budget
  • Non-equity items are non-educational items (i.e. Cabot T-shirts, parties, Community supper)
  • Accounts for 1/3 of our budget
  • Campaign for Cabot (CFC)
  • Sue Bottino (Grade 5 Rep) points out that this year’s CFC goal is higher by $15,000 this year
  • Nicky Chapman (Co-president) states that last year we only raised $35,000.00 through CFC and we rolled over $15,000.00 from reserve
  • Sue asks if there is a scheme to get to $15,000.00 this year
  • Nicky says this year we will be more aggressive
  • CFC will be brought up at Back to School night
  • PTO will highlight the items that PTO pays for
  • Will point out to families that they can recognize a special teacher through their donation to CFC and teachers will receive a card at the end of the year that money was donated in their name
  • This is separate from “Honor Thy Teacher”
  • Donations to CFC are also charitable since Cabot PTO is considered a charity
  • Can ask companies to match donations
  • Ali Dunn (Asst. Treasurer) states that if we can’t raise that extra $15,000.00, we will have to scale back on some things
  • Rose Chung-Dell (Cabot Connect Rep) asks about the timing of fundraisers since last year CFC was around the holidays and the same time as other fundraisers at her work
  • Nicky Chapman (Co-president) states families have preferences of when they choose to give (tax deductions may be more advantageous for some at the end of the year; for others it’s better for them at the beginning of the year)
  • However, we can change timing of CFC this year
  • Paypal is set up and we could even start now
  • Reimbursement Procedure
  • Victoria Jaffe (Treasurer) states that when we were at Cabot, people would just see each other at the school and dropped off forms at the office
  • Sue Bottino asks how to get reimbursement forms and receipts to Victoria at Cabot at Carr
  • Victoria states that we can do it online or even just give them to her at one of the meetings with a self-addressed, stamped envelope for the reimbursement check to be sent
  • Agnes Pietrzyk (Recording Secretary) asks how will reimbursement be done if we scan and e-mail receipts to her
  • Victoria states she will just send the checks out
  • Other Comments: Suzy Yospin (3rd Grade Rep) adds that there’s a possibility of merging a fundraiser with a parent’s night out event
  • SCHOOL PASS & BUSES
  • Eric Sprung (Principal) states that reports from School Pass are printed out by staff members, not teachers at the end of the day and students are checked off through these lists
  • Current issues
  • Not all parents have gone into the School Pass system
  • Eric has to continually change defaults for those students
  • School Pass system had glitches today
  • Jacqueline Badeau (4th Grade Rep) asks if it’s possible to have a PTO person volunteer to help get School Pass set up for everyone
  • Eric Sprung (Principal) says can’t do this because of confidentiality issues
  • He says teachers will help rectify lists and he will have them cross-check
  • Linda Barrows (Cabot Connect Rep) asks how the Boston students factor into the issues with School Pass
  • States she did all the forms in the beginning but her student is listed in the Newton bus system, not Boston; she also does not use School Pass because she’s in Boston
  • Eric Sprung (Principal) states that there is a separate Boston School Pass system; for our School Pass system, he’ll be making changes as needed
  • Other Exec members add that they have had issues with School Pass and have heard that other parents have experienced similar problems
  • Agnes Pietrzyk (Recording Secretary) asks if we could maybe do an FAQ for School Pass and asks why aren’t there bus names/pictures on the actual buses (i.e. Red Crab, Purple Penguin, Yellow Starfish)
  • Eric Sprung (Principal) says he will try to do an FAQ for School Pass
  • Also states that some buses have the names/pictures on them and others don’t; At the end of the day, teachers have been holding up signs by the bus with the names and pictures on them so that students can identify their bus
  • Bus Behavior
  • Eric Sprung states that this is the next step to ensure bus safety and all students will be asked to sign a pledge about bus behavior
  • Rose Chung-Dell (Cabot Connect Rep) asks if we are able to have bus monitors since they have them in Boston. She also asks if Cabot is set up with the “Where’s My Bus App” which tells you the location of your child’s bus in real time
  • Eric Sprung states that Newton doesn’t have bus monitors and we probably won’t get them
  • “Where’s My Bus” app isn’t used by Cabot, but we could look into this
  • Other comments: Suzy Yospin (3rd Grade Rep) suggests that in the winter months, PTO could do notification about areas that need shoveling around bus stops
  • UPCOMING EVENTS
  • Picture Day
  • Time is condensed this year
  • Need for more volunteers
  • Community Supper
  • Also need more volunteers for shifts, baked goods, etc.
  • Sue Bottino (5th Grade Rep) states there is some confusion of the time of Community Supper (5-7 pm? Or 6-8pm?)
  • Nicky Chapman (Co-president) states that the correct time is 5-7 pm. The correct time will be sent out in the reminder
  • Back to School Night
  • Nicky Chapman (Co-president) asks that all Exec. members who can make it to please come and help greet people
  • NEXT PTO EXEC MEETING: October 12th, 2017 at Nicky Chapman’s house (14 Gay Street)

MEETING ADJOURNED