PTA General Meeting Minutes

November 19, 2013

Attendees: Andrea Wilson, Kristi Riley, Amanda Fox, Ryan Blake, Angela Martinez, Jennifer Owens, Beth Norwood, Catherine Curtis, Shane Curtis, Megan Murray, Amy Edgar, Deanna Leport, Andra Beyer, Alycia Nelson, Staci Beuler, Behfar Jahanshahi 1. Call to order: 7:15 p.m. after Mrs. Downs PreK class sang a wonderful medley for everyone and their parents. 2. Approve minutes: April -2013, Amanda moved and Andrea 2nd, September-2013 Alycia moved and Angela 2nd. Minutes approved. 3. Treasurer Report: Over $16,000 was raised at walk a thon. Thanks to all involved! We thought we had an extra $11,000 carryover from last spring, but there was a bill for the shade pavilion that was not paid, yet. So we did not have that big carryover once it was paid. The board approved buying a ticket to read program in October for $440 at the teachers request. 4. Principals Report: The specials teachers will be at the Feb. 18th General PTA meeting to answer any questions about their curriculum. Sangres specials are: PE, Music, Library, Guidance, and Computers. We tried to have them here tonight, but had several scheduling conflicts. Sangre got an A on the States A-F grading system, but it is still a flawed measure. This years grade does not compare apples to apples against last years score or school to school. You can go to http://www.stillwaterschools.com/SchoolBoard/MeetingReplays and watch the video from the school board meeting or go to http://www.stillwaterschools.com/District/News for a video from Dr. Caine about the grading system. Feel free to visit with Mr. Blake if you have any questions. Sangre did score VERY well on the state Reading and Math tests. Over 91% of 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders were proficient on Reading and over 91% of 3rd and 4th graders were proficient in Math. The 5th grade math proficiency was down to 76%, but we believe some that of that was due to our departmentalization of 4-5th grade last year. Some unintended consequences of moving classrooms for each subject was that there was no flexibility to stay on Math longer if some needed more time to grasp the concepts. This year, we have moved to a 2x2 model which means that the kids are in the same classroom for 2 subjects at a time (math and social studies or reading and science for example). If you need more time for math, you can take that time from another subject and make sure everyone gets the concept before moving on. 5. Presidents Report: Info from Citywide PTA mtg. SHS, SJHS, SMS, Westwood, Skyline and Sangre all received As from the states new grading system, but many people believe the grading system is not comparing apples to apples from year to year or school to school. See links above in the principals report for more information. Tech to Teach is an iniative that SPEF is fundraising for. They want to see technology in every classroom being used so are kids are not left behind. Usually SPEF honors requests from individual teachers, but they would like to raise an additional $25,000 to add to the $25,000 they have already given to provide all of the SPS classrooms with smart projector that will enhance the classrooms. If

you would like to donate or get involved, you can visit their website at http://www.spef.stillwaterschools.com There is also a nice picture of Mrs. Zachers class on the front page of the site! Just for your information, The State PTA made an Official Position that they would like more work to be done on the OCCT 3rd grade reading test requirements and do not approve of the current test and legislation. Currently, it is a pass/fail based on 1 reading test which is putting huge pressure on the teachers/kids for that test. We received a pile of thank you notes from Mrs. Gobers class to the PTA for the pavilion. They each drew a picture and wrote a note of thanks to us. 6. Committee Reports: Feb 6 is the date for Baskets and Bingo, mark your calendar! Gift cards are still being collected. This is our spring fundraiser and will be bigger than ever this year with small auctions for the kids (they will each receive tickets to enter a drawing they choose) and silent and live auctions for parking spaces, class baskets, and other great donated items! The committee will let each classroom know what its basket theme is. The person in charge of putting it together can be the homeroom mom or another volunteer from the room. Teacher Appreciation: Thanks to Leslie Andrews for putting together Octobers Luncheon. The next one will be Dec. 17 and will be hot chocolate bar, soup, sandwiches, etc. You will be contacted soon if you signed up to help with this lunch. Reflections: 30 Entries from Sangre. They will be posted at the Fine art Center at SHS on Dec. 4 and Dec. 14th is the awards ceremony from 2-4 p.m. Winners will go on to the state competition. January 23rd 2nd Annual Science Night! A great welcome back to school night with many hands-on science experiments for all kids to enjoy. If you would like to help with a station that night or help with donating small items, please contact Amanda Fox (aggiefoxes@sbcglobal.net) or Andrea Wilson (jawilson3@sbcglobal.net) This is a free event with nothing to buy, just come and have a great time with your kids! Running club We have 120 members in running club and have run over 1800 miles!! It is over for the semester, but will start up again after spring break. If you are already a member, you are already enrolled for spring. If you would like to sign up, you can still sign up for the spring semester. It has been a great experience and very fun for all involved. Spring Book Fair- Will be the 1st week in March. Thanks for all that helped and bought books at the Fall sale. By having the small Fall Sale, scholastic gives us a bigger percentage of profits from the Spring sale. 7. New Business: The front office can use boxes of tissues! Please donate one if you can. The water fountain for the South playground was on the list of things to do with this years walk-athon money, but a parent has generously offered to pay for one to be installed!! Thank you! This will take time and have to be done by the school system, but is now on the list! Hopefully, it will happen this spring. WAT money ideas to get more info and specifics on: i. Curtains for the stage they are original from 1980. To replace would be $7,000-$10,000. Probably not great use of our money. Looking at the cost to have ours repaired/cleaned or possibly replace with Highland Parks old one if it fits and is in better condition. We will

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continue looking for options including looking to OSUs classes looking for a design/merchandising project. Mobile Lab (25 Chrome books for class use) = $6250. $250 each. Title 1 schools have these from Federal money, but we do not get that. This would be a great asset to classes when researching papers and other things. This was not possible before, but now that we have full WIFI in the building, this is a great alternative to a 2nd computer lab. It was moved and 2nd and voted to approve to spend this money! Mr. Blake will coordinate this. Spanish Club - The teacher would be paid $25/hr from PTA money and it would not cost the kids anything. Probably would have 2 sections PreK-1st, and 2nd-5th if we have enough participation. It would be after school, but we are still looking at days/length of sessions. It was moved and 2nd and voted to approve to spend money on this program. Kristi and Amy will coordinate finding someone to set up and run this program. Science Club - Similar to Spanish club. There are 6 week programs offered by the Oklahoma science museum and others that we could provide. It may be more expensive than just the cost of the teacher. It was agreed to find out more info on the options for this program. Andrea will investigate options. Dec. 14th from 9-11 a.m. Donuts with Santa! Providing our kids with an opportunity to get their picture with Santa in the gym(take your own). We will provide juice/milk/coffee and donuts. (details came after the mtg, but I wanted to include them in the minutes) Santa must leave right at 11 a.m for another appt, but we will do our best to get everyone included. It was moved and 2nd and approved to go ahead with this activity. Amy will coordinate with Santa and get it moving ahead. Cost is $200 + the costs of coffee/drinks/donuts. More Student focused activities and programs for broadening extra-curricular activities paid for by the PTA (we are open to suggestions.. please send to Amy Gallegos amyrgallegos@brightok.net or Kristi Riley kmr118@hotmail.com ) Seating in the pavilion (paid by PTA or Sangre money?). Mr. Blake is looking into purchasing sturdy benches and seating for at least 1 classroom on one side of the pavilion, so classes can meet out there. Mr. Blake will look further into details and cost and come back if he would like to ask for PTA money to complete it.

8. Old Business: none.

9. Adjurn: 8:05 pm Next General meeting Tuesday, February 18th at 7 p.m.