Executive Board Minutes 2009-2009
PS 39 PA Executive Board September 9, 2008
Attendance
Beth Kleber, Jenn Jacobs, Mark Lorenzen, Alan sSiege, Peg Galella, Melissa Williams, Melissa McGill, Elaine Kleinberg, Lesli Klainberg
Development Committee Report
Alan presented the group with an organized sheet about fundraising and grant writing. The committee would like to start a match money program, which that sheet has identified to raise money. If people know anyone that is associated with these companies or projects please let Alan know. Jenn made a suggestion that we contact real estate and IKEA companies. Alan suggested to make contacts at these companies in hopes of getting monies donated by next school year. Forest City Ratner Company was also suggested to hit up for funds. Jenn suggested that Alan talk about this with the committee. Alan is working on a letter that will state interest in the PA and give people opportunities to connect with one another, not necessarily a fundraising letter. This letter will be sent out later in the school year.
Treasurer’s Report
Mark will present a report next month. Mark did report that money is coming in from family donations. Teacher stipend is $100.00 and Mark will check with Anita to see if there is anyone else who should get a stipend.
News from Anita
Jenn met with Anita today and reported lunch snack and toilet issues for K and 1st grades. She will talk about it at the next PTA meeting. The children do have 20 minutes to eat, it is not a leisurely lunch but as the weeks go along they will get better with routines. If people have a problem they should call Anita about this.
A special friends/grandparents day will be held on the 1st Friday of December. The special friends/grandparents tell a story about their own lives. Elaine suggested calling it the VIP day. Bagels and juice follows the storytelling, where we can ask for donations from this group. Jenn motioned the vote, Peg seconded it and the group voted yes for this day.
Enrichment Programs
Chess club: it will be scheduled as an enrichment program during the school day from 1st to 5th grade. Children from 2nd to 5th will have an afternoon school program.
Chinese will be offered as an enrichment program for the 2nd graders. The second graders will choose the enrichment program. Someone can take on the role of petitioning to get Chinese language instruction as a class period not as an enrichment.
There are two enrichment clusters – one starting in October and go for 10 weeks. And the other one is in the spring. The one in October will be curriculum based. Enrichment is for grades 2 through 5. The one in the spring will be student interest based.
Pa budget
The PA budget was talked about as well. The new gym teacher has put together a list of equipment, which equals about $1000 dollars. The list will be given to Elaine who knows someone who knows someone who is the head of Modells. Anita is using left over money from Steve Levy for the Renuzilli program.
On a different note, Anita has been laid up with a back injury and wants the parents of PS 39 to know that she is sorry that she has been unavailable the past week. Elaine will send a card to Anita.
School Construction
Window work is on time and on schedule and the yard will be available by end of September. The walls predate asbestos so there is no asbestos in the building. But in the casing of the windows has asbestos. There will be a stealth window replacement. The room is sealed and the windows are pushed out (towards the outside), the workers will remove asbestos and there will be a hazmat cleaning for each room. This will happen between 6pm and 6am.
AUSSIES program
Terry will be moving back to Australia and Julie Howie will be replacing him in January. Julie specializes in upper grades and will gear her staff development for the upper grades in the spring and Terry, who specializes in lower grades, will do his program in the fall. Beth asked if the days allotted for the AUSSIES program has changed and Jenn will get back to us about how many days are allotted for this program. The PTA has allocated $15,000 towards the AUSSIES program.
Communications
A packet will be going home on Monday September 15th. Jenn will present her welcome letter and will attach a membership and an envelope to this welcome letter. The envelope is for families to donate money to the PTA. A calendar that includes the school year and events of the PTA are merged on this calendar which will be inside the handbook. There will also be a class list form.
The “ten ways to donate your time” flyer will be sent home separately.
Class Parent Organization
Joy Canning will be the point person for this organization. She is contacting teachers and giving a clear definition of what a class parent is.
Bathroom Renovation
Bill de Blasio has set aside $400,000 and Marty Markowitz has contributed $100,000 from his budget. The SCA will be visiting the school to determine the extensive of the renovation and how much it will cost. Peg will continue to contact politicians and the SCA and see how parents can help with this huge project.
Supplies
Lesli has reported that 78 children took advantage of this new system. Lesli talked to a lot of teachers and found them to be inundated with supplies. Parents seemed very happy with this new system and so were the teachers. Through this new system Lesli has now formed new contacts with vendors therefore getting supplies for a lot less money. Lesli hopes to present a proposal to redo the stock room, including organizing the supplies for the school and getting shelving.
Merchandise
Beth talked about the new logo that was designed by a student from SVA and she will bring it next time to the executive board. Beth will also be selling some more new t-shirts that have new designs. Beth will set up a table to sell t-shirts at the first general PTA meeting. Melissa Williams will help sell t-shirts that day.
Events Coordination
Elaine has a tracking sheet of what each event needs, like budget, how many volunteers, etc. Elaine has been applying for permits to upcoming events. She has been working closely with Joy canning for the next upcoming event of Potluck dinner on October 3rd. At the general meeting on September 16th Elaine would like for committee chairs to give a quick 1-minute speech about their event. Jenn said she would allow time for this at the first PTA meeting.
Elaine needs money to pay the babysitter and she will organize the payment for the babysitter next week.
Wednesday Bulletin
Yael is in charge of the bulletin and she needs to be contacted by the Monday prior so that it can have a turn around by Donna Baker.
Upcoming events
International Dinner is happening on October 3rd. Wrapping paper and candy sale packets came home today.
PTA general meeting
Melissa McGill wants to ask the general body if anyone wants to do the craft fair since she has had 3 vendors call her. Jenn will present this to the general body.
Pizza Plus will donate and desserts will be potluck. Jenn will ask Pizza Plus for forks and plates and napkins. Jenn has invited Jim Brennan, Bill de Blasio and Marty Markowitz. One politician will be here at 7:30 that night.
Elaine has created name tags for the executive board and teachers. Elaine will make name tags for the staff, the chairs of events and executive board.
Mark has set aside September 19 as a thank you dinner for last year’s Executive
Board.
PS 39 PTA Executive Meeting
November 4, 2008
Attendance:
Jenn Jacobs, Yael Bat-Chava, Anita De Paz, Mark Lorenzen, Melissa Williams, Melissa McGill, Alan Siege, Peg Galella, Alicia Kasnia
Principal’s report
Anita has hired a new Music teacher, Brian Carter. He has been substituting in the school for the last 2 weeks (I think, right?) . He used to be a music teacher on Long Island and is very familiar with our student body.
Dance-for-Life residency will begin for second grade in the fall and for the first grade in the spring. Also Mark Morris dance residency will be given for first graders in the fall and third grade in the spring.
We are now partnering with the 9th Street Library this year. They are providing us with some assemblies. The first assembly will be a holiday storyteller and another assembly in the spring is in the works. Donna Baker has been organizing author visits; all of them are free of charge. The authors just wish to sell their books to the student body in return for their visit. Elizabeth Uhlig, Johan??? and another author, Tamison Hall, who is a parent here at PS 39. Jenn Jacobs mentioned getting Paul Zelinsky too. The 9th Street Library has also offered to host author visits at the at the grand army Plaza site.
YMCA
Donna Baker has organized swimming for 2nd grade in the spring at the 9th Street YMCA. They also have the Strong Kids card where students and families can use the Y for things like family swim and the track. The YMCA will come to the school and offer to register the students up. There is also a possibility of having an afterschool program where the YMCA takes kids on trips.
We are also looking for a reciprocal relationship and there is a holiday dinner for their residents and Anita offered to have the students make holiday cards for the residents and also offered for the PTA to make up holiday baskets for the residents. Another suggestion was to conduct a holiday concert for the residents of the Y. The armory was also talked about with the possibility of opening the armory in 2010. PS 39 is second to use the armory for a facility. Ps 107 is first to use the facility since it right across the street.
WINDOW PROJECT
The window project is still going on and the internal part is still going on, the caulking, etc. The front window has still to be done because it has to be special ordered. The work should be completed by February 2009.
PBIS
Stands for Positive Behavior Intervention and Support. Many staff members and teachers are on this committee which sets up behavioral standards for all locations in the school, both inside the classroom and outside the classroom. There are underlying principles determined by the committee that guide the establishment of appropriate behaviors. The expectations will be explained explicitly to the children. It gives the staff and children very clear expectations and common language so that every rule can be established and followed. The staff is on the ones who create the matrices and the guidelines to follow. There is an external coach to help us create and implement these guidelines and the guidance counselor is acting as our internal coach. Are there certain times or locations or subgroups, gender, ethnicity or by grade that are trends where things generally go wrong? PBIS gives us a way to track this information so we can use our resources in a very directed way. There is a checklist that is completed every time the team meets. Matrices are created on the 4 principles and based on the highest need. The staff completed a questionnaire anonymously and the team reviews the results. Anita feels that we have strong classroom structures and she wants to see these structures carried out in other areas of the school day. The program has recognition for students and teachers and staff in terms of positive reinforcement.
Meeting Time Issues
For personal reasons, Anita can no longer meet with the Executive Board in the evenings. Jenn suggested an alternative which 321 uses. They have a Steering Committee that is a smaller part of the executive board. The Steering Committee meets with the principal every other week.
If we implemented a similar structure, the Steering Committee could meet with Anita during the school day and then report back to the Executive Board. This would be beneficial because it would help shorten some of the meeting time. The Steering Committee needs to be a good portion of the executive board, and not just the President. Jenn needs help and cannot be the entire conduit between Anita and the board. A day and time during the school day would be chosen which would accommodate as many people on the board as possible. Jenn proposed, Alan motioned and Melissa Williams seconded the motion.
November 18 PTA General Meeting
Sean from the YMCA offered to give a presentation to the general body about the new partnership the YMCA having with our school. Middle School presentation will not be the topic for this meeting because Anita recently met with upper grade parents about middle school.
Treasurer’s Report
The treasurer reported that we have $26,132.96 as of September. Some bills are outstanding so the above amount may be different. A financial report will be presented on November 18th.
Afterschool Program
Yael talked about the future of the afterschool program. It will be run by the PTA and not a school run program like it is at PS 107. We are thinking of starting this program in January, but Anita would like to make sure that the program is started when the window project is finished.
Photo IDs
Melissa Williams is going to take photos of the School Leadership Team.
VP Alan Siege’s Report
Alan is meeting with the fundraising committee on November 10th to discuss fundraising throughout the year.
Upcoming Events
Scholastic book fair – Mark Lorenzen needs some help to organize. November 20th will be the bake sale and the book fair will take place some time that week.
We made over $600 at the election bake sale today. People were very generous in giving money to the school during this time. No coffee was served and we still made hand over fist.
Barnes and Nobles book fair will take place on December 6th. We can do a bake sale on the sidewalk.
December 16th is the holiday concert.
Membership forms need to be available at each general meeting.
Auction
Melissa Williams called the Old Stone House and the rates are reasonable. Alan is going to partner with stores along 7th Avenue to have them donate money to the school as well as donate goods to the auction.
New business
Insider pages
This company emailed an offer to Jenn to have authors write about local businesses. It is sort of like a Zagats. The first review gets a dollar-fifty and the second review gets, for example, 50 cents. This would include reviews for anything from dry cleaners to dentists to restaurants.
Flea Market
Melissa Williams suggested having a flea market. We don’t have the foot traffic so we don’t think this would be great idea for the PTA.
Commenced: 6:45
Ended: 8:15
Attendance
Beth Kleber, Jenn Jacobs, Mark Lorenzen, Alan sSiege, Peg Galella, Melissa Williams, Melissa McGill, Elaine Kleinberg, Lesli Klainberg
Development Committee Report
Alan presented the group with an organized sheet about fundraising and grant writing. The committee would like to start a match money program, which that sheet has identified to raise money. If people know anyone that is associated with these companies or projects please let Alan know. Jenn made a suggestion that we contact real estate and IKEA companies. Alan suggested to make contacts at these companies in hopes of getting monies donated by next school year. Forest City Ratner Company was also suggested to hit up for funds. Jenn suggested that Alan talk about this with the committee. Alan is working on a letter that will state interest in the PA and give people opportunities to connect with one another, not necessarily a fundraising letter. This letter will be sent out later in the school year.
Treasurer’s Report
Mark will present a report next month. Mark did report that money is coming in from family donations. Teacher stipend is $100.00 and Mark will check with Anita to see if there is anyone else who should get a stipend.
News from Anita
Jenn met with Anita today and reported lunch snack and toilet issues for K and 1st grades. She will talk about it at the next PTA meeting. The children do have 20 minutes to eat, it is not a leisurely lunch but as the weeks go along they will get better with routines. If people have a problem they should call Anita about this.
A special friends/grandparents day will be held on the 1st Friday of December. The special friends/grandparents tell a story about their own lives. Elaine suggested calling it the VIP day. Bagels and juice follows the storytelling, where we can ask for donations from this group. Jenn motioned the vote, Peg seconded it and the group voted yes for this day.
Enrichment Programs
Chess club: it will be scheduled as an enrichment program during the school day from 1st to 5th grade. Children from 2nd to 5th will have an afternoon school program.
Chinese will be offered as an enrichment program for the 2nd graders. The second graders will choose the enrichment program. Someone can take on the role of petitioning to get Chinese language instruction as a class period not as an enrichment.
There are two enrichment clusters – one starting in October and go for 10 weeks. And the other one is in the spring. The one in October will be curriculum based. Enrichment is for grades 2 through 5. The one in the spring will be student interest based.
Pa budget
The PA budget was talked about as well. The new gym teacher has put together a list of equipment, which equals about $1000 dollars. The list will be given to Elaine who knows someone who knows someone who is the head of Modells. Anita is using left over money from Steve Levy for the Renuzilli program.
On a different note, Anita has been laid up with a back injury and wants the parents of PS 39 to know that she is sorry that she has been unavailable the past week. Elaine will send a card to Anita.
School Construction
Window work is on time and on schedule and the yard will be available by end of September. The walls predate asbestos so there is no asbestos in the building. But in the casing of the windows has asbestos. There will be a stealth window replacement. The room is sealed and the windows are pushed out (towards the outside), the workers will remove asbestos and there will be a hazmat cleaning for each room. This will happen between 6pm and 6am.
AUSSIES program
Terry will be moving back to Australia and Julie Howie will be replacing him in January. Julie specializes in upper grades and will gear her staff development for the upper grades in the spring and Terry, who specializes in lower grades, will do his program in the fall. Beth asked if the days allotted for the AUSSIES program has changed and Jenn will get back to us about how many days are allotted for this program. The PTA has allocated $15,000 towards the AUSSIES program.
Communications
A packet will be going home on Monday September 15th. Jenn will present her welcome letter and will attach a membership and an envelope to this welcome letter. The envelope is for families to donate money to the PTA. A calendar that includes the school year and events of the PTA are merged on this calendar which will be inside the handbook. There will also be a class list form.
The “ten ways to donate your time” flyer will be sent home separately.
Class Parent Organization
Joy Canning will be the point person for this organization. She is contacting teachers and giving a clear definition of what a class parent is.
Bathroom Renovation
Bill de Blasio has set aside $400,000 and Marty Markowitz has contributed $100,000 from his budget. The SCA will be visiting the school to determine the extensive of the renovation and how much it will cost. Peg will continue to contact politicians and the SCA and see how parents can help with this huge project.
Supplies
Lesli has reported that 78 children took advantage of this new system. Lesli talked to a lot of teachers and found them to be inundated with supplies. Parents seemed very happy with this new system and so were the teachers. Through this new system Lesli has now formed new contacts with vendors therefore getting supplies for a lot less money. Lesli hopes to present a proposal to redo the stock room, including organizing the supplies for the school and getting shelving.
Merchandise
Beth talked about the new logo that was designed by a student from SVA and she will bring it next time to the executive board. Beth will also be selling some more new t-shirts that have new designs. Beth will set up a table to sell t-shirts at the first general PTA meeting. Melissa Williams will help sell t-shirts that day.
Events Coordination
Elaine has a tracking sheet of what each event needs, like budget, how many volunteers, etc. Elaine has been applying for permits to upcoming events. She has been working closely with Joy canning for the next upcoming event of Potluck dinner on October 3rd. At the general meeting on September 16th Elaine would like for committee chairs to give a quick 1-minute speech about their event. Jenn said she would allow time for this at the first PTA meeting.
Elaine needs money to pay the babysitter and she will organize the payment for the babysitter next week.
Wednesday Bulletin
Yael is in charge of the bulletin and she needs to be contacted by the Monday prior so that it can have a turn around by Donna Baker.
Upcoming events
International Dinner is happening on October 3rd. Wrapping paper and candy sale packets came home today.
PTA general meeting
Melissa McGill wants to ask the general body if anyone wants to do the craft fair since she has had 3 vendors call her. Jenn will present this to the general body.
Pizza Plus will donate and desserts will be potluck. Jenn will ask Pizza Plus for forks and plates and napkins. Jenn has invited Jim Brennan, Bill de Blasio and Marty Markowitz. One politician will be here at 7:30 that night.
Elaine has created name tags for the executive board and teachers. Elaine will make name tags for the staff, the chairs of events and executive board.
Mark has set aside September 19 as a thank you dinner for last year’s Executive
Board.
PS 39 PTA Executive Meeting
November 4, 2008
Attendance:
Jenn Jacobs, Yael Bat-Chava, Anita De Paz, Mark Lorenzen, Melissa Williams, Melissa McGill, Alan Siege, Peg Galella, Alicia Kasnia
Principal’s report
Anita has hired a new Music teacher, Brian Carter. He has been substituting in the school for the last 2 weeks (I think, right?) . He used to be a music teacher on Long Island and is very familiar with our student body.
Dance-for-Life residency will begin for second grade in the fall and for the first grade in the spring. Also Mark Morris dance residency will be given for first graders in the fall and third grade in the spring.
We are now partnering with the 9th Street Library this year. They are providing us with some assemblies. The first assembly will be a holiday storyteller and another assembly in the spring is in the works. Donna Baker has been organizing author visits; all of them are free of charge. The authors just wish to sell their books to the student body in return for their visit. Elizabeth Uhlig, Johan??? and another author, Tamison Hall, who is a parent here at PS 39. Jenn Jacobs mentioned getting Paul Zelinsky too. The 9th Street Library has also offered to host author visits at the at the grand army Plaza site.
YMCA
Donna Baker has organized swimming for 2nd grade in the spring at the 9th Street YMCA. They also have the Strong Kids card where students and families can use the Y for things like family swim and the track. The YMCA will come to the school and offer to register the students up. There is also a possibility of having an afterschool program where the YMCA takes kids on trips.
We are also looking for a reciprocal relationship and there is a holiday dinner for their residents and Anita offered to have the students make holiday cards for the residents and also offered for the PTA to make up holiday baskets for the residents. Another suggestion was to conduct a holiday concert for the residents of the Y. The armory was also talked about with the possibility of opening the armory in 2010. PS 39 is second to use the armory for a facility. Ps 107 is first to use the facility since it right across the street.
WINDOW PROJECT
The window project is still going on and the internal part is still going on, the caulking, etc. The front window has still to be done because it has to be special ordered. The work should be completed by February 2009.
PBIS
Stands for Positive Behavior Intervention and Support. Many staff members and teachers are on this committee which sets up behavioral standards for all locations in the school, both inside the classroom and outside the classroom. There are underlying principles determined by the committee that guide the establishment of appropriate behaviors. The expectations will be explained explicitly to the children. It gives the staff and children very clear expectations and common language so that every rule can be established and followed. The staff is on the ones who create the matrices and the guidelines to follow. There is an external coach to help us create and implement these guidelines and the guidance counselor is acting as our internal coach. Are there certain times or locations or subgroups, gender, ethnicity or by grade that are trends where things generally go wrong? PBIS gives us a way to track this information so we can use our resources in a very directed way. There is a checklist that is completed every time the team meets. Matrices are created on the 4 principles and based on the highest need. The staff completed a questionnaire anonymously and the team reviews the results. Anita feels that we have strong classroom structures and she wants to see these structures carried out in other areas of the school day. The program has recognition for students and teachers and staff in terms of positive reinforcement.
Meeting Time Issues
For personal reasons, Anita can no longer meet with the Executive Board in the evenings. Jenn suggested an alternative which 321 uses. They have a Steering Committee that is a smaller part of the executive board. The Steering Committee meets with the principal every other week.
If we implemented a similar structure, the Steering Committee could meet with Anita during the school day and then report back to the Executive Board. This would be beneficial because it would help shorten some of the meeting time. The Steering Committee needs to be a good portion of the executive board, and not just the President. Jenn needs help and cannot be the entire conduit between Anita and the board. A day and time during the school day would be chosen which would accommodate as many people on the board as possible. Jenn proposed, Alan motioned and Melissa Williams seconded the motion.
November 18 PTA General Meeting
Sean from the YMCA offered to give a presentation to the general body about the new partnership the YMCA having with our school. Middle School presentation will not be the topic for this meeting because Anita recently met with upper grade parents about middle school.
Treasurer’s Report
The treasurer reported that we have $26,132.96 as of September. Some bills are outstanding so the above amount may be different. A financial report will be presented on November 18th.
Afterschool Program
Yael talked about the future of the afterschool program. It will be run by the PTA and not a school run program like it is at PS 107. We are thinking of starting this program in January, but Anita would like to make sure that the program is started when the window project is finished.
Photo IDs
Melissa Williams is going to take photos of the School Leadership Team.
VP Alan Siege’s Report
Alan is meeting with the fundraising committee on November 10th to discuss fundraising throughout the year.
Upcoming Events
Scholastic book fair – Mark Lorenzen needs some help to organize. November 20th will be the bake sale and the book fair will take place some time that week.
We made over $600 at the election bake sale today. People were very generous in giving money to the school during this time. No coffee was served and we still made hand over fist.
Barnes and Nobles book fair will take place on December 6th. We can do a bake sale on the sidewalk.
December 16th is the holiday concert.
Membership forms need to be available at each general meeting.
Auction
Melissa Williams called the Old Stone House and the rates are reasonable. Alan is going to partner with stores along 7th Avenue to have them donate money to the school as well as donate goods to the auction.
New business
Insider pages
This company emailed an offer to Jenn to have authors write about local businesses. It is sort of like a Zagats. The first review gets a dollar-fifty and the second review gets, for example, 50 cents. This would include reviews for anything from dry cleaners to dentists to restaurants.
Flea Market
Melissa Williams suggested having a flea market. We don’t have the foot traffic so we don’t think this would be great idea for the PTA.
Commenced: 6:45
Ended: 8:15
posted by PS39 PTA at 12:32 PM
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