November 14, 2014
Attendees:
Jacki Geoghegan
Angel Rafter
Paul Pirozzi
Andrea Gottschall
Pamela Louis
Donna Gates
Tara Schatzel
Meg Greenburg
David Neilsen
Kelley Anniccherico
Jennifer Bayliss
Katie Scully
Jen Povman
Leah McVey
Welcome and Introductions/The WEPR-PTA luncheon awards:
Our meeting was started at 8:10 A.M. by Jacki, who attended the WEPR-PTA awards luncheon with Angel Rafter last Friday, November 7th. Three of our elementary schools lead custodians; Billy, Manny and Greg were honored to be nominated and recognized. The EPTA board agreed that we should continue to nominate more candidates in future years.
Study Skills
A study skills class is being run by the Middle School Librarian Mr. Cobb. It is being offered as a half-year course for 6th graders. It has been created to help the students with organization skills, note taking, outlining and managing research resources. This is the first time this class has been offered. Mr. Cobb met with Angel, Jacki, Mitch & David along with other parents to give an opportunity for the parents to share feedback and for Mr. Cobb to explain the course in-depth. He showed the MS Library and Media page that is found on the tufsd.org website. It is a great resource not only for MS students, but for 5th graders too. We have posted a link to it on our website under the Resources tab.
Transition Meeting Update
Dr. Clouet, Ms. Lopez, Mr. Engelhart and the guidance counselors are working together to help with the transition for 5th graders moving to the 6th grade. A video “A day in the life” is currently being worked on. Literature will go out in the summer packet in the hopes of alleviating home stress for the parent as well as the student. Also, orientation is being moved from March to May with a follow up for students and parents with questions in October (possibly hosted by the PTA). Ambassadors always come from 8th grade to help with the transition, this year, the school is considering adding 7th graders to be paired with the 8th graders. After hearing about what was discussed at the meeting, the board suggested a child friendly map of the middle school to be included in the summer packet, something kids can keep in their folder.
Membership
David informed the board that membership for EPTA has increased from 94 to 121 since our last meeting. Currently there are three local businesses that provide discounts for EPTA members; The Nu Toy store, Bella Roma Café and Grape Expectations. A current list of all discounts along with an online membership form can be found on our website horsemenpta.com under the Membership tab.
Fundraising Update
- 82 pies have been ordered so far since this meeting. EPTA receives $5 per pie. November 10th was the “soft” deadline to order pies.
- Box top proceeds go to the schools and are handled by the Student Council at WI. The Board agreed that we need to get an activity competition started for box top collection.
- Spirit wear is available online this year. Jean O’Brien (district technology) has made an online ordering site that is available through tufsd.org and through horsemenpta.com. People can pay online using paypal. All proceeds go to the EPTA. The vendor that is doing the printing is a local business. Cut off to order the merchandise is November 24th and they are hoping for the merchandise to be in before the first day of Hanukah.
- C Town is happy to help the EPTA, the manager requested a letter that details who we are and what exactly we are asking for (regarding the “add a dollar to your purchase at the register”), Angel is looking into this to see if it is legally “OK” for us to proceed.
- A “KidStuff” coupon book was circulated at the board meeting. The book costs $25 and contains coupons for many local businesses. This is a 2 week program, the book is sent home in the kids backpack and the EPTA gets half ($12.50) the proceeds. Most coupons in the book expire within 1 year. There does not seem to be any fees or penalties for lost books and the board agreed that the risk to the EPTA seems minimal to non-existent.
- Mini Grant submissions will be gathered by Angel and Andrea from all of the schools.
- Photo Retake Day is November 19th
Rivertown Parents Update
The Rivertown Parents group consists of 5 PTA’s (Dobbs Ferry, Hastings, Ardsley, Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown and partner Mercy College). We will be hosting the next meeting at SHHS focused on the transition from elementary to middle school & middle school to high school. The session will take place February 4th from 7-9 P.M. with panel speakers.
Website check in
- Paypal is now functional on our horsemanpta.com website. You can order spirit wear, pay membership fees or make a general donation.
- If you have not already signed up to follow it, please do so. You will get an email any time a new post is made. Though updates to the school pages happen frequently, you will not receive notices for those updates, so make sure to check it out and send information about upcoming events at your school that you’d like to see on the website to Greg Galloway.
- Hits, views and logins to the site and other social media connections have been increasing.
Movie Night and Family Game Night
Movie night will be Friday Feb. 6th at W.I. with a bake sale. Doors will open at 7 and the movie will start at 7:30.
Family game night will be Friday March 13th. Perhaps Nu Toy store can put on a raffle with a basket of games as a door prize. The board suggested putting this on Facebook 10591 and the horseman P.T.A. website.
These dates must be cleared with the district before we can publicize.
School Updates
M.S. – Katie advised that career day is all set. Kids will rotate through all stations this year. There are enough volunteers and the gifts are taken care of. Speakers include Martial Arts, advertisers, photographers, event planners, lawyers and actuaries-to name just a few.
W.I. – Andrea advised that book clubs are underway and a volunteer list was sent to Amy Poret. The Year Book Club is just starting and letters will be going out soon.
Morse – Leah advised that photo retake is ready. She will meet with Mr. Holland for the Book Fair event. The crossing guard is being ignored by many drivers at Morse, and there is still no police guard helping out at this crossing.
J.P. – Photo retake day is all set to go. Thanksgiving celebration is too pricey using Carmines deli. Other options being considered are Mrs. Greens or C-Town. Mrs. Greens is asking for $500 as a total, and this seems to be the best value.
Our meeting adjourned at 9:30 AM
Next Meeting scheduled for Friday December 12th at 8 A.M.
Horsemen PTA 