December 2016

Claypit Hill PTO Board Meeting

December 14, 2016

  • President Holly Landsittel called PTO Board meeting to order at 7:05pm at Claypit Hill School (CHS).
  • Members in attendance: Holly Landsittel, President; Alissa Duffy, Vice President; Jean Prince, Past President; Maureen White, Dana Cooper, Shirra Baston, Mary Farley. A quorum was reached.

President’s Report

Holly Landsittel started the meeting by welcoming everyone, distributing the meeting agenda and taking a vote to approve the November PTO board minutes. Minutes were approved, pending a correction to the Gift Your Child Update section to change $25K to $2.5K.

Holly asked Dr. Christie Harvey to provide information about the MCAS 2.0. Dr. Harvey provided information about two other public meetings as well:

  1. Superintendent Search Committee is hearing from the public about qualifications important to them for a superintendent on Jan 6th at 9am and Jan 9th at 7pm.
  2. Dr Stein’s Budget Presentation- Public Forum on Jan 11th at 7pm, CHS. Dr. Stein’s proposed budget is under budget, but the FinCom committee may ask for more cuts due to this being a contract negotiation year.
    1. Important items to note: Hire a World Language Immersion Coordinator, Increase CHS guidance by .2 FTE, 2 more elementary stipends; I pad replacement, 1:1 Chrome initiative for 4 & 5 graders.

MCAS 2.0

Dr. Harvey informed the members that the MCAS have been designed differently, more similar to the PARQ testing. Grades 3-5 will be tested through the computer-based testing. This year will not include a 4th grade long composition. MCAS 2.0 is no longer timed. New this year is the addition of a conventions grade (punctuation, spelling, capitalization). The testing is not scheduled yet, but anticipated to be in Mar/Apr. Students will receive tutorials and practice tests prior to testing.

Review of Events

Holiday Gift Drive- The committee had tremendous support from the CHS community, resulting in the fulfillment of 83 wish lists for DCF, along with a substantial amount of “extra necessities” that DCF could use now and in the future, such as underwear and socks. The committee reported that they will ask for more names initially in the future and identified some tips and tricks for next time. A thank you to Holly Landsittel for helping to transport the gifts to DCF with the committee members.

Principal Coffee-The principal coffee provided strategies aimed at increasing the executive functions of children. Future topics for the coffee include: Digital Citizenship for 4th and 5th graders and Informing Parents about Metco.

Gift Your Child- Despite problems with getting manageable reports from PayPal, the committee reported a final amount of $23,550, up a bit from last year- although participation was down one percent from 47 to 46 percent. The committee reported that there is some confusion about the program because it coincides with other fundraising initiatives like HATS off.

Roller Kingdom– A great night for everyone. All but 3 children attended the event, which included the 5th graders from all 3 elementary schools.

Upcoming Events

Movie Night (3-5)– Movie night will be held on Jan. 27th from 6-8pm. Student Council will be selling alternative snacks (some healthier options and allergen conscious options) during movie night. Funds raised are anticipated to be donated to organizations for juvenile diabetes.

Cultural Enrichment- A performance by ArabiqaArtist, Karim Nagi, will be on Monday, Feb. 6th. The Egyptian-American performer will introduce students to Arab and Muslim culture in a high-energy performance featuring dance, music, costumes, and audience participation.

New Items

Cookbook discussion– Based on an idea to start a CHS cookbook, per the request of the staff, a follow up discussion occurred. We were provided with three options, 1) Desktop Cookbook with requires individuals to register, at no charge, for a sharing site. Each member would input their own recipes and share with other members; 2) Cliptomize book which is a free website that allows the creator to create a cookbook with graphics and then share a link to the book to other individuals; or 3) create a word document to be distributed to the CHS staff, coinciding with the spring staff appreciation luncheon. The selected option was to create a word document with recipes and turn it into a pdf to provide to the staff. The pdf will attempt to provide the recipes for luncheon items at the 2016 Back to School luncheon and the 2017 Staff Appreciation luncheon.

New Year Teacher Appreciation Lunch- Holly presented an idea that the staff appreciation committee would like to host a 3rd luncheon at the new year, especially to thank the specialists and resource teachers that don’t always get holiday gifts, but are very appreciated by the CHS community of parents. Proposed dates are Jan 4th, Jan 17th, or Jan 19th. A date was not selected, but Jan 4th was ruled out because volunteers may not be readily available right after the holidays.

PTO Labels- Holly presented that there are design ideas for CHS PTO “branding” that can be leveraged in the future to be placed on merchandise. The designs will be presented at a later date for members to vote.

Meeting adjourned by Holly Landsittel at 8:00pm.

 

Respectfully Submitted by:

Dana Cooper

PTO Member, Claypit Hill School