April 15, 2016 Meeting
Attendees:
Jacki Geoghegan
Angel Rafter
Paul Pirozzi
Tara Schatzel
Donna Gates
Andrea Gottschall
Mitch Sylves-Berry
Leah Mc Vey
Amada Reimundez
Elia Londono
Senia Sakarya
Dancy Balestrieri
Maribel Palacios-Perez
David Neilsen
Katie Scully
Jen Bayliss
Pamela Louis
Fiona Galloway
Karina Arreola
Kelley Anniccherico
Paula Thaler
Jennifer Povman
-Welcome and Budget Presentation by Board of Ed:
Our meeting was called to order at 8:35 A.M. by Jacki and Angel. Dr. Dan McCann and Mr. John Staiger presented the 2016-2017 Tarrytown UFSD budget to the PTA board with a brief Q&A session that followed. The presentation was aided by Ms. Pam Rourke, Dr. Debbie Hand as well as a few other representatives from the Buildings Committee and included the Board’s academic goals, a school by school staffing breakdown, and a discussion regarding future planning in the district. Budget adoption by the Board will be April 19th and the public hearing will be Thursday, May 5th. The budget vote will be held on May 17th, and the PTA board agreed with Dr. McCann to reach out to parents in the community to vote.
-Relay Team
Jacki advised the PTA board that a team leader is needed to represent the PTA team for the Relay for Life fundraiser being held the weekend of June 10th.
-Fundraising
Donna met with a representative of the Charleston Wrapping Paper Co. and handed out some sample brochures to be reviewed by the board. Each school will run their own campaign, similar to photo-day. The board agreed to choose a wrapping paper event instead of Yankee Candle. Donna created and distributed a 2016-2017 Fundraising schedule, with a table of events and a contact info section to be utilized for the next school year. The board also discussed whether we should continue or drop the Holiday Pie event. Some feel it is a lot of work for little return, while others agreed it provides a useful service to the community. No decision was made here.
Mitch talked about a Scrips Gift Certificate buying program that could be run in the spring of 2017. This program averages 4-13% returns and is a great idea for school supplies and/or teacher gift ideas. The board agreed this could be something to try, but we would need someone to chair this new event.
-Digital Safety Event
Jacki summarized the digital safety event that was held on April 12th. 30 people signed up for the event, and a follow up event will happen soon (May 4). There is a comprehensive section regarding Digital Safety under the “Parent” tab of our school district website. This was created by Jean O’Brien and contains links and video presentations. More tips on digital safety will be included in Jean’s weekly email blasts.
-PTA Planning
Jacki asked the board members to contact her or Angel to advise if you are planning to continue on the PTA Board for next year. We need to start looking to fill roles for those who will not continue on.
-Movie night
Jackie and Andrea noted that movie night will be Friday, April 29th. Andrea mentioned that there will be a concession stand set up outside the auditorium. The children will be voting from “Jurassic World”, “Guardians of the Galaxy”, or “Star Wars” at the MS. At the same time, there will be one at the elementary schools with a concession outside the auditorium at WI. The movie choices are “Minions”, “Inside Out” and one more choice. The children are voting.
-Blood Drive
Donna Gates advised the board that the blood drive will be held Thursday, April 28th in the W.I. cafeteria. Donna requested that if anyone can volunteer their time to please send her an email.
-WI Play funding
Pam Louis expressed her concern that there are children involved in the WI play whose parents are unable to afford a ticket to watch their child perform the night of the play. The board agreed to create a stipulation next year in regards to funds budgeted for the Y, as long as the Y set aside a certain number of tickets to accommodate such families. Help identifying these students should come from the WI Principal, Assistant Principal and/or the WI Social worker. Given the length of time from tryouts to performance, this should be a realistic amount of time to identify such families.
-Game night/screen free week
Donna Gates advised the board that May 2- May7th will be “screen free” week in the district. Donna noted that May 3rd, WI would like to hold a family game night in the cafeteria from 6-7:30 PM. Donna needs at least 5 volunteers to help out. The board suggested that game night be moved to Thursday May 5th because May 3rd there will be a math program update event for the parents being held at the middle school.
-Budget
Kelley reminded everyone that June 30th is the cut-off for receipts to be handed in for expense reimbursements. Jacki asked the VP’s to review budget line items and allocation amounts and email any new ideas/amounts to Kelley.
-Jacki (misc. items)
Jacki advised the board that the spring luncheons are all covered this year by chair people.
Jacki distributed two flyers to the board, and asked the board to look at both websites. When viewing the website, the board should consider if we should show the documentary to parents and students next year, and should the PTA host the parent workshop. The first flyer is for a documentary called “Screenagers” created by physician/filmmaker Delaney Ruston. This film takes a personal approach and probes into the amount of time kids spend in front of video screens, and all of the problems that can ensue. The film offers solutions on how adults can empower their kids to best navigate the digital world and help find balances. The website is www.screenagersmovie.com/about/. The board after reviewing the flyer, thought that this is something important that can benefit everyone and we should proceed in scheduling this. We are looking at mid-late October dates.
The second flyer is for a parent workshop that is targeted to both middle and high school parents. Jacki thought this might also be appropriate for 5th grade too. This would be 1 hour, it is information based and an interactive session designed to give parents the practical tools they need to best support their child’s study practices at home. The website is www.successfulstudyskills4students.com/. The board after reviewing the flyer and short discussion thought this is something that many parents are looking for help with and we should proceed in scheduling this. We are looking at late September dates.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:54 A.M. our next meeting will be Friday, May 13th.
Horsemen PTA 