PTA Meeting Minutes November 2021

11/10/2021 12:53 pm

General Meeting

Wednesday, November 6, 2021 – 6:30 EDT

Present: Maya Dias (President), Leila Samara (Vice-President), Ed Greenaway (Treasurer), Dianelle Chaparro (Family Liaison), Val Taris (Haitian/Creole Interpreter), Usuario de Zoom (Spanish Interpreter), Kathleen Tunney (Lower school management), Amy Browne (Teacher Representative)

Other attendees: Martha Chouinard ( K2 teacher), Angel Maldonado, Karen Lee, Yessaria, Stephen Borne, Lesley Quinchia Thelen, Christine Barbuto, Christina Butler, Steve Lewis, Barbara Bailey ( MA PTA Membership Chair), Sue Kemalian, Gloria Sanrana, Samantha Lewis, Bizu Gelaye, Julie Colantonio, Lily Darling, Barbara, Laura Goodbody, Chrissy Conley, Shelley Linso, Christine Ventura, Mina Rios, Sheena Pennie, Stefanie Fisschknecht, Bonnie Carey, Emily Adams, Isa and Butch, Laura, William, Malika, Anne Essaran, Tim Yaecker, Jen Carey, Shelley, Rose O’Connor, Jonathan Garcia Maldonado, Karl Seibert, Sarah Parker, Amanda Borne, Joy Mello, Bonnie Carey, Natalie Fleury, Emily McDonagh, Angela Galaska, Carrie Greenaway, Ricardo, Carrie Greenaway, Betty Chu, Meaghan Lydon, Pamela Foster, Saundra Hart, Sapna Padte

Agenda

Welcome, Meeting Overview, Introductions

Maya welcomed everyone to the meeting. Introduced the interpreters and Dianelle Chaparro, Family Liaison who explained how to access the interpretive services on Zoom. Introduced the PTA executive members and informed that Shhena Pennie, PTA Secretary has resigned.

Minutes Approval, Essentials

MOTION to approve October 2021 minutes, seconded and passed. Minutes are posted to PTA Facebook and website.
PTA Closet Stuff. Shirts and backpacks, other small stuff found in the storage area. Google form poll to help PTA decide what to do.

Poll Results:

Shirts to go to Catie’s closet equivalent. Backpacks can be sold at TT to fundraise for the PTA. Future decisions can be left to the PTA executive committee when it comes to such issues.

Call for Nominations: Overview of parent representative positions for DELAC given. Barbara Bailey, MA PTA Membership chair explained we don’t need to elect PTA secretary as the appointed one resigned. The executive committee can directly appoint someone.
SSC Bylaws Update. Mrs. Tunney presented the change in wording in the SSC Bylaws in order to clarify the number of faculty and parents representatives. Amy Browne, grade 3 teacher asked for clarification about voting parameters for the members and this was clarified by Mrs. Tunney. 12 votes ( 6 each) go to the faculty and parent members). Upper and Lower school Management have 1 vote - so a total of 13 votes can be casted.
Bylaws: PTA Bylawshave been reviewed and amended by the Bylaw review committee. The bylaws are based on MA PTA bylaws and have been adapted for Lyndon PTA use. It is posted on the PTA Website for comments and review by the members. All enquiries to be directed to patricklyndonpta@gmail.com . To be presented at the December 1st meeting for approval.

Updates Across the Lyndon

PTA

Membership: Current membership numbers reviewed. Encouraged participation in PTA activities. Encouraged faculty PTA membership and participation.
Square 1 Art: Online submission still possible till Nov 26th. Orders to be given by Nov 26th. Shipping date December 13th. In response to a question, a parent can still download the template and upload their child’s artwork on the Square 1 website.
Traffic Safety: PTA working with neighborhood services, school, BPD and BTD to update signage, make small changes. Signs on Mount Vernon and Westmount have been updated to cover 8.45-9.45AM and 2.45-3.45PM. Encouraged parents to follow the stop, drop and go guidelines and help keep all children safe.
Community Building: Turkey Trot is a community event. “All are welcome”. Working on establishing the Equity committee with Jill, Alphonso and Katie. Looking for parent ambassadors from different ethnicities to help with this.

School Site Council (SSC) – Mrs. Tunney: October meeting was held. New SSC members were oriented and roles identified. The SSC Bylaws were discussed and the number of representatives needed clarification. A revision was approved and is to be brought to the November PTA meeting for approval by the parent group. Still awaiting ESSAR funds update.

Citywide Parent Council (CPC) – Sarah Parker: Meeting was held at the end of October. Noone showed up from BPS. Boston Saves Program, Wellness Rep, School Committee vote. Steve Lewis working on a video for CPC to show district diversity. Working group is looking at inequities of AWC.

Friends of the Lyndon (FOTL) – Joy Mello: Introduced the FOTL and its board members. Hoping to start up meetings and fundraising again. They’ll have a table at the Turkey Trot to expand visibility. More help is needed. How can we support all the grades and we hope to do a bigger fundraising event in the spring? Joy Mello will put her contact details- looking for ideas and support.

Room Parents – Stefanie Frischknecht: Room parents have been identified and have just started reaching out. With Covid, parents aren’t allowed in school so will need to be creative this year. Crafts via Zoom, organize teacher gifts-not necessarily money. Be a voice for the PTA directly to the classroom parents to help drum up excitement. You will need to be CORI checked even if you’re only on Zoom with the class.

Outdoor Classroom - Leila Samara: Working with Leila and Christina Butler. Previously with Sam. It’s slowly coming back to the original vision of urban meadow. Working on weeds. Did some planting over the weekend and bulb planting will happen in fall. Work with Mr. Ward and Mgmt. to figure out how to get classes to use the space. Need to engage more volunteers especially in the spring.

Caring Committee - Julie Colantonio: Looking to reestablish. Exist to support such as coat drives, grocery/gift card drives, food drives when there are families in need. The group needs new parents to get involved. Management team is notified of a family in need and they kick the CC into action. Coat drive to be done this year at TT. Catie’s closet to be explored.

Equity Roundtable - Sam Lewis: Meet on the last Wednesday of the month at 7pm.Key initiative working on is a system to help families get and stay connected to one another. Focus is making sure we have an equitable environment for all students. Sarah Parker specifically raised the issue of inclusion of the new students at the upper levels. Mrs. Tunney explained that the transition team and the Equity roundtable are involved in this. Maya said that this is a priority for the PTA as well along with a system to welcome the new families who join in grades other than K1. This is a role that Room parents could be involved in.

Fundraising Updates

Box Tops – Emily McDonagh: (Corrected entry) We have raised $33.80 since July 21 and October was the best participation at 21 supporters. Informed parents how to use and encouraged use as this is an important source of funds which can be generated by usual household shopping.
Lyndon Gear – Maya Dias on behalf of Lee Rushton. 185 orders in. Thank you to all for your support. Lee will reach out about backpack delivery/pick up later. Expected to be ready 12/12.

Treasurer’s Report- Ed Greenaway

Line items in Revenue and expenses were reviewed. Extra income from the Red Sox tickets around $630. Shelley N Linso asked “How is Community Building money allocated?” Ed and Sam Lewis clarified it goes to “Welcome Back picnic, K1/K2 Coffee, Outdoor Movies, etc.”. Current Covid restrictions means these are in Limbo- looking forward to spring.

Elections – Maya

No nominations for PTA Secretary or DELAC. This will keep rolling over.
PTA Closet Poll Results. Shirts to go to Catie’s closet equivalent. Backpacks can be sold at TT to fundraise for the PTA. Future decisions can be left to the PTA executive committee when it comes to such issues. Thank you all. Approved and passed
SSC Bylaws amendment. Approved and passed

Committee Overview - Maya

Many opportunities to volunteer and support the school. Specifically looking for Traffic Safety Brigade volunteers, Equity committee, Wellness Committee. Information on the PTA website or reach out to us.

Upcoming Events

Square One Art - Ongoing.
Scholastic Book Fair - online Oct 25-Nov 7
3RD PTA Meeting, December 1st at 6.30pm
Turkey Trot Sat Nov 20th:
MA PTA Health Summit- Nov 4th - free to PTA members. $10 fee for others
Family Picture Day: November 6th. Few slots are still available. Erik Gehring has also volunteered to do 4 slots for an hour in the morning.

Answers to questions in the chat-

Answered during the session

Meeting adjourned.

Minutes submitted by Leila Samara and Maya Dias