November 2020 PTA Meeting Minutes

12/9/2020 11:25 am

Wednesday, November 4, 2020 – 6:30 EDT

Present:  Sam Lewis (President), Lee Rushton (Vice-President), Ed Greenaway (Treasurer), Katie Hazelton (Secretary) Katie Tunney (Lower School Director), Andre Ward (Upper School Director), Karen McLaughlin (SAR Teacher Representative), Amy Browne (Teacher Representative)

Other attendees: Mr. Scott, Steve Lewis, Vickie Spiess, Emily Cusimano, Joy Mello, Julie Ma, Erica Rojas.

Sponsored By: Grades 6-8

Agenda

Welcome, Meeting Overview, Introductions, Meet and Greet Breakouts

• Board and directors introduced themselves.
• Members into breakout rooms where they shared names, how they are connected to the Lyndon, and one thing they are grateful for this Thanskgiving season.
• Encouragement to join PTA if not already a member. This year, membership dues ($12/family) have a particularly big impact where other fundraising activities are limited.

November 2020 Minutes Approval, Accomplishments

• MOTION to approve November 2020 minutes, seconded and passed. Minutes are posted to PTA Facebook and website.
• Outdoor Classroom: on 10/18/20, the Outdoor Classroom Commission planted 100 bulbs of daffodils, crocuses and star flowers that will bloom this spring. Another Lyndon family sourced an additional 300 daffodil bulbs that will be planted in the coming weeks.  
• Read for the Record: on 10/29, Celebrated Read for the Record, which is hosted by Jumpstart, an organization focused on childhood education. The goal of this event is to break a record to raise awareness of childhood 17 parent volunteers who read in classrooms from grades K1-3. Lyndon was able to contribute 360 readers to help try to break the world record. 
• Election Day bake sale: Typically, we would have had an election day bake sale on 11/3/20. We chose not to due to Covid concerns.  We put up signs along pathway to polling site and on the pathway out asking to support the school and got $135 in donations.  Other ideas were explored (i.e. 50-50 raffles, basket raffles) and may be considered as future fundraising opportunities.  The bake sale typically brings in approximately $2,000. 
• There are four programs that raise money for our school with little-to-no-effort on our part:
• Box Tops – cut from purchase or download the app and scan receipts post-shopping trip
• Amazon Smile – signup through your Amazon account or app
• Coca-Cola Give – create an account and scan codes under caps or in cartons
• Stop & Shop – register your S&S card for up to two schools

Updates Across the Lyndon

• School Site Council:
  • Emily Cusimano will be voted as alternate to the council and Erica Rojas will be voted on to the council.
• Citywide Parent Council (CPC) update:
  • Everyone is welcome at CPC meetings and encouraged to attend. There are various small working groups so if you are passionate about an issue, you can get involved. 
  • Superintendent has committed to meeting with entire group (SPEDPAC, DLAC and CPC) twice and executive committee twice during 2020-2021 school year. Upcoming meeting on December 7, 2020 – questions should be submitted beforehand. Link will be posted on Facebook PTA page.
• Build BPS: Smaller construction projects are moving forward (kitchen renovations in certain schools, My Way Café).  
• Friends of the Lyndon (FOTL) is working with Mr. Ward and Ms. Tunney to secure larger monitors and other technology to support teachers with remote learning.
• Room Parents program has kicked off and parents were active last week coordinating Halloween crafts for their classes.
• Wellness Committee –no update.
• Caring Committee: no update.
• Lyndon Equity Roundtable: Mr. Ward reached out to Lyndon families and had a meeting with families of color to get insight and feedback on the Lyndon.

Treasurer’s Report

• Balances remain similar to the end of last year, since there has been a halt to fundraising and not much need for spending. Silver lining to this year: spending remains very low. 
• PTA membership is trending in the right direction.
• If anyone has new fundraising ideas, please share them with the board. There has already been a suggestion to hold a Bunny Hop (similar to the Turkey Trot).

Nominations, Elections for SSC

• SSC
• Steve Lewis, who was elected as the SSC alternate at the October meeting, has resigned. Emily Cusimano, who was elected as an SSC member at the October meeting, resigned and will be nominated as the new alternate for the SSC council.  Erica Rojas will be nominated as an SSC member. 
• A vote was taken through a Google Form and as a show of hands (for those who were having trouble with the Google Form). Erica Rojas was voted in as a member of the SSC council and Emily Cusimano was confirmed as the SSC alternate member.
• MOTION to approve election results, seconded and passed.

Upcoming and Current Events List

• Square 1 Art Update: Square 1 Art usually raises over $2000 for our school. Typically, art is completed in the classroom and the teachers coordinate the return of the pieces. We will do this remotely this year.  Parents will upload finished work. Deadline for ordering is 11/22 and you can order immediately after uploading art. 
• Fall Book Fair: We will hold an all virtual book fair this year. The Lyndon will receive 25% of all sales in Scholastic dollars. Orders will ship to home addresses and orders over $25 ship for free.   Book fair will run from 11/30-12/13. 
• PTA Family Photo Day update: 11/14 (Sat), 11/22 (Sunday) and a third date TBD. Families can sign up for 5-10 minute session where students would get a school photo/family photo.  
• Lyndon Gear: virtual shop will be up and running soon.
• Reflections is a National PTA initiative encouraging all schools to submit student work. Students should submit original artwork in the following categories: dance choreography, literature, photography, film production, music composition, visual arts. Work is submitted to the local PTA for judging, we then pass our chosen submissions along to the National PTA for the larger competition.  The Lyndon PTA is looking for volunteers to help with coordinating and judging this competition. Reflections kick off is 11/16 and deadline to submit is 1/8/21.
• Upcoming Events:
  • November 7^th: Family Daffodil Planting at the Lyndon
  • November 14^th: Family Portrait Day #1
  • November 16^th-20^th: Hello Week
  • November 19^th: SSC Meeting htts://k12-bostonpublicschools.zoom.us/j/82613497023
  • November 20^th: Equity Roundtable https://k12-bostonpublicschools.zoom.us/j/89679304219
  • November 22^nd: Deadline for Ordering Square One Art
  • November 22^nd: Family Portrait Day #2
  • November 30^th: Scholastic Book Fair kicks off (through 12/13/20)
  • January 8^th: Deadline for Reflections submissions
• The next PTA meeting will be held on December 9 at 6:30 and will be hosted by the 5^th
• Tech Coordinator update: Comcast vouchers available through internet essential program – if there is a family in need, they can get a voucher for free internet until October 2021. Contact Ms. Smith (k1-3 and SAR) or Mr. Scott (Grades 4-8). Reminder about Staples cards: $50 voucher for school supplies; cards expire November 30^th and can only be used in store.  If you are not planning to use, perhaps contact your child’s teacher and see if there is anything he/she needs.  Teachers can also help redistribute cards to families in need.    

Meeting adjourned. 

Minutes submitted by Secretary, Katie Hazelton