PTA of PS 32 Meeting - February11, 2014
PTA of PS 32 Meeting
February 11, 2014 6PM
PS 32 Auditorium
Attendance:
1.Call To Order (PTA President Rosemary Gomez)
2.PTA Welcome Message – (PTA President Rosemary Gomez)
3.Approval of the Minutes of the Last Meeting
Motion carried. Minutes of the January 14, 2014 PTA meeting were approved.
4.Principal’s Remarks – Ms. Florio(Ms. Florio spoke during the Committee Reports)
We recently had a formal quality review and did exceptionally well with an overallscore of Well Developed. Thank you to the staff and parents; I wasn’t surprised but it is nice to have someone from outside the school community review the instructional work happening in our wonderful school. After a two-day review it was confirmed that we here at PS32 are Well Developed. The official report will be posted online for parents to review in roughly 8 weeks – it needs to be reviewed by the DOE first. We will continue to work hard for our students in an effort to provide them with outstanding learning experiences.
Mr. Marcus, Ms. Heasley and Ms. Cuomoare putting together a grant to level the little play yard on President St to make it a safer place with appropriate equipment for younger children.
We have looked into how to provide A/C in the auditorium. Over $140,000 was the final quote due to the need to install split A/C units and upgrade electrical wiring, etc. Previous information was inaccurate – less costly window units aren’t sufficient due to the size of the space. We will be looking for funding to provide this. We have not looked into A/C for the cafeteria in depth due to the magnitude of the amount for the auditorium.
Programs: some parents are upset they got promotion-in-doubt letters, but this is the mid-year assessment period so if you received one of those letters it doesn’t mean your child will be held over – it just means that at this point in the year they are not at grade level. You need to talk to your child’s classroom teacher to understand the specifics and what programs could help your child meet grade standards.
Afterschool academic support will start for lower grade children (K-2) on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Mayor De Blasio’sUniversal Pre-K program: Will that mean PS32 will have more Pre-K classes, and if so where would they go? The DOE are currently asking schools if they can accommodate additional Pre-K classes.
Weather closings: check the DOE website for information, or sign up for text messages.
5.Guidance Counselor Report (Ms. Straker)
Please keep on top of attendance and let the school know if your childis sick.
This is National Heart Disease Month – wear something red on Friday.
The science fair is taking place later this week
A correction from last month’s minutes – the building safety plan and emergency response plan is not publicly accessible online (for security reasons), but it is available in the school office. All parents may read it there.
Emergency preparedness is part of every room in the building. We will be having an evacuation drill soon (an announcement will be made in advance).
6.Committee Reports
a.Library Committee - Adam Marcus
- Receiving a lot of donations for Turn the Page – if you have books please bring them in.
- Extended library hours in the morning on Mon Tue Wed, check library calendar
- Open until later every Friday afternoon until 21st March – Naidre Millerwill keep it open until 4:45p or 5:00p
- Trying to get the Gowanus Community Center opened up. We have a proposal in to CouncilmemberSteve Levin’s office to fund it for $75,000 and are working with the Gowanus Residents Association and FUREE (Families United for Racial and Economic Equality) to get the space renovated and opened up. But we need volunteers to help get this going.
- We also need volunteers to help shelving books and a lot of other more stimulating tasks.
- Shawn Marquet has been helping with IT/tech stuff. Please volunteer to help the Technology Committee.
- March Madness: 16 poems going head-to-head, everyone reads two and votes – this will be on the Library Blog at
- The Read-a-thon is coming in April – stay tuned.
- Also coming are Reading Marathon Nights, and the Summer Reading Program launch.
b.Fundraising Committee (Christine Harper)
Fundraising: we raised over $24,000 through membership drive; but you can always donate money to the PTA (use the web link).
Kicking off the Gertrude Hawk candy sale, hoping to get it going before the Feb. break – it will run for 3 weeks after the break, offering different types of spring holiday candy, great quality stuff. There will be an online component for sending emails to grandparents, etc.
c.Spring Auction Committee(Ingrid Eberly)
Save-the-date went out for the event – May 17th is the day. We are finalizing a packet about ticket sales, etc. which should be going out to parents at the end of February.
If you have any donation ideas and/or contacts (e.g. the places where you buy services from currently), please email . We have $6,000 worth of donations thus far.
b.Wellness Committee (Camille Casaretti)
We are still analyzing lunch menus (regular vs. the DOE alternative menu). The alternative menu does not have red meat at all, and any fried foods are taken out. It offers chicken 2-3 times a week, and all the nutrients are provided.
We will be sending survey to parents asking does your child eat lunch, would you be more compelled to have your child eat with alternative vs. regular. Kids are really eating from the salad bar – it’s been great.
We will need a majority vote to run a sample test of the alternative lunch menu; if the kids reject it, it will revert to the regular menu. The sample test is for either 30 or 60 days. Mostly everyone Camille has spoken to are interested in at least trying the test.
Ludovica Ferme from Farmigo spoke:
The theme is apropos: Farmigo is involved in encouraging both wellness and fundraising. It started as a tool for farmers but is now more of a tool for everyone. Both a fundraiser and a wellness initiative, it has seen schools take off in being green. PS 34 are involved, and we are now talking to PS 29. How it works is everyone has their own account and purchases from the marketplace a la carte (all done online, with credit card payment). Farmigo delivers to school once a week, and the school gets 10% of the total sales. We are also doing school auction events by donating cooking events. Farmigo is open to families, staff, and the general community (if the school wants). It is available year round (many schools transition the delivery location to a local home during the summer). We need 20 people interested, and will deliver if there are at least 10 orders. We will be working on making the program more interactive and educational for children at the school – currently we do give some information about the farmers providing the food. If people are interested, contact Camille at and if enough people do, we will set it up.
c.Photo Day
The backdrops used for group photos last year were poor. The Middle School used a grey curtain in the auditorium which turned out well, so we will be using that.
7.Treasurer’s Report / Funding Requests - Julie Veto
Copies of interim financial report available – Julie summarized this:
a.Financial Data
- Current Bank Balance: $69,161.63
- Revenue since last report: $946.87
- Amazon $939.87, minor bookfair income
- Expenditures since last report: $8,528.42
- $5,235.36 Fork & Pencil bookfair invoice
- $2,414.62 Afterschool expenses
- $300 Family Fun Night
- $277.20 Nebulizers
- $167.94 Microscope
- Box tops mailing, PTA meeting babysitting and food
b.Survey
We are sending home a survey about the timing of PTA meetings, communication with the PTA, on what you want to spend PTA money, and how would you want to participate in the budget process. This is will be our first year with big needs and big income, so we want to stay ahead of this by considering the process.
Book fair scholarship fund – we will solicit donations from parents to ensure every child can get at least one book from the book fair.
A question was raised about book fair income: $1780 (issues with supplier’s stock).[The final net raised from the bookfair was $1888.71]
A question was raised about tax exempt status: See item 7(e) in January 14, 2014 minutes for summary. This week we will submit the first tax filing as if we were a 501c(3) organization. Exempt status is important for receiving grants, some of which are limited to 501c(3) orgs.
8.Questions / Discussion
Adam Marcus asked about the status of PS 32 getting the building to itself. Should parents lobby for this? This was discussed in SLT, and Principal Florio is pursuing. Funding is more available for large enrollment increases rather than what PS 32 would do. There is a lot of demand for this in District 15. This will continue to be raised at SLT and bring back status to PTA, including what PTA members could do.
Dave Caplan raised the idea of having a community day at the skating rink in Prospect Park ($10 for skating and a rental discount rate). There was some discussion on whether the PTA should pay for this.
Upcoming PS 32 Events
Feb 13 - Science Fair
Feb 14 - Deadline for Kindergarten 2014-2015 Application
Feb 14 – PS32 Cares Day
Feb 17-21 - Midwinter Recess
Feb 24-March 14 - Gertrude Hawk Chocolate Sales
March 10-12 – PS 32 Book Fair
The PTA of PS32 Executive Board 2013 – 2014
President - Rosemary Gomez
Co-Vice-President – Camille Casaretti
Co-Vice-President – Imma Giocolli
Co-Treasurer – Julie Veto
Co-Treasurer – Jenny Sergeant
Co-Secretary – David Caplan
Co-Secretary – Mikael Sheikh
Email:
PTA Minute Archives: ps32.org/minutes1