October 24, 2014
Attendees:
Jacki Geoghegan
Angel Rafter
Paul Pirozzi
Mitch Sylves-Berry
Andrea Gottschall
Pamela Louis
Donna Gates
Tara Schatzel
Meg Greenburg
David Neilsen
Jenn Bayliss
Amada Reimundez
Welcome and Introductions:
Our meeting was started at 8:10 A.M. by Jacki, who mentioned that some members of the community were asking for PTA support for a crosswalk on Rte. 448 where the Weber Park community links to the northern entrance of Sleepy Hollow High School, to help with pedestrians there and the flow of traffic. We spoke with one of the Village Trustees who informed us that we need to petition the NYSDOT. We can get contact information from the village.
After at least 5 years at $80.00, the Chess club fee was raised from $80 to $88 this year to help fund the scholarships being provided. A fundraiser in the spring is being considered and will probably include a tournament.
Budget
The 2014-2015 budget vs. 2013-2014 actual budget was distributed and reviewed by Angel. Income estimates were purposely kept conservative and the budget is in balance. It was noted that the wrapping paper fundraiser has been removed and the direct donation appeal is being targeted to raise $11,000 this year.
Advocacy Efforts
Jacki attended the lower Westchester Education Consortium meeting on October 14. Representatives discussed a rebate for school districts that stayed under the budget caps. Also, a bill is in the process of being passed to protect the privacy of children’s personal data from third parties. Pam mentioned the success of this year’s Halloween costume drive to help get costumes to children in need. Donations from St. Barnabus (thanks to Mitch Sylves-Berry), AMSCAN and the 10591 Facebook page were instrumental. The board agreed that this idea of Pam’s should be an annual event. An annual hat & mitten drive was also mentioned.
Fundraising Update
Jacki created and distributed a direct donation Campaign letter along with a Donation Form to the board. David and Jacki will make some minor edits to the margin of the initial page and the horseman pta web link address will be added to the bottom of both letters as well, to help direct the donors to our web page for online donations. Donna Gates volunteered to ask C-Town if they can request a $1 donation at their cashier point of sales register, or put containers out for donations. Andrea informed the board that spirit wear is expanding the line of clothes and adding magnets and some other items in an attempt to stay different from the football booster items. The roll out is expected next week with a website included.
Donation Request
Jacki was asked by the Tarrytown Community Opportunity Center if the EPTA would be able to help out with either turkeys or funding for Thanksgiving. The board agreed on 20 turkeys or $400 in funding. Also, it was proposed that a link to the community center be put on the W.I. and middle school websites to help inform kids how to get more involved and pick up some community credits.
Rivertown Parents Update
A meeting will be held in conjunction with the Rivertown Parents at the SHHS on February 4, 2015 focusing on transitions and ‘executive function’. Specifically, the study habits, homework, organization and time managment skills of students. There will be a panel of people to talk about each transition age (not just the high school to college transition). There is demand for guidance counselors, teachers, social workers and other field-related professionals to volunteer their time at this event.
Mini grant Committee
The submission period is November 3rd to the 25th and the grant meeting will be in December. We need volunteers to sit in with a wish list.
Volunteer Coordinator Needed
Angel proposed creating a new board position: Volunteer Coordinator. This position would serve multiple purposes; we would have one person compiling the volunteers from every school and then distributing it to all VP’s which would help us establish a volunteer database, it would also ensure that we communicate with all volunteers. There have been complaints from people that sign up to volunteer for a specific event and then they aren’t called on to help out when the event occurs. We need someone who will collect all of the volunteer names and info in our district and enter them into a centralized database to prevent this from happening in the future.
School Updates
MS- Mitch-Sylves-Berry gave a middle school update. They are discussing expanding the use of communication (email/phone blasts) in the district. The MS dance has been moved to a later time from 5:30 to 7:30 to try and help boost attendance this year. Career day will be November 18th. There will be a media savvy presentation at night for MS parents in the near future.
W.I. – Things are status quo. Photo day went well. Pam chaired photo day and wrote up a “how to” manual for future photo day chairs. Pam also volunteered to chair next year’s W.I. photo day. Photos are expected back on November 7th and retake day is November 19th. Pam suggested that in the future, it would be best if photo day could be held mid to late week of a week with no holidays in the beginning of that week.
Morse- Thanksgiving will be held at Morse as a class-specific event this year.
J.P. – Nothing to report.
TUFSD/Scripps Spelling Bee
Pam has been getting information on the Scripts National Spelling Bee. Greenburgh seems to be the only town participating. It seems that Tarrytown may be able to join in under Greenburgh. Grades 4 through 8 are eligible, and a sponsor (probably corporate) would probably help Tarrytown to get into the contest. The minimum cost is $5,000 and it can’t be sponsored by the school PTA. The board agreed that we should put off trying to compete this Spring and focus on the results of the monkey survey being done by Dr. Hand at WI. A suggestion was made, perhaps the Warner Library can host a local spelling bee first and we can see how popular the event is. Pam will create a flyer with all of the information and forward to Angel.
Our meeting adjourned at 9:40 AM
Next Meeting scheduled for Friday November 14 at 8 A.M.
Horsemen PTA 