February 2023 Meeting Minutes

3/1/2023 6:20 pm

 Wednesday, February 1, 2023 – 6:30 EDT

  

Present: Leila Samara (Vice-President), Jessica Williamson (Secretary), Jessica Grande (Treasurer), Maya Dias (President)

Other in-person attendees: Blanca Burgos (Family Liaison), Kevin McCaskill (interim Management), Nicole O’Neil, Eillen patterson, Courtney Connolly, Amy Browne (teacher rep.), Megan Bernazzani, Sarah Parker, Stephanie Roberts, Marisa Alvarez, Jane Murphy, Natalie Fleury, Michelle Bylsma, Kelly Lepley, Molly Jansen

Zoom attendees: Michele Antoniazzi, Cait Lozano, Ledjona Liendo, Mr. Mencher, Rose McCarthy, Julia Negele

 

AGENDA

Welcome, Meeting Overview, Introductions

• Maya welcomed everyone to the meeting, reminding all that we haven’t met since December 
• Introduction of Blanca Burgos, Family Liaison
• Maya noted that her term as President and Leila’s term as V.P. will end this year and that individuals interested in the positions can reach out to the current board
• Leila noted that B.J. of Kendra Lara’s office emailed today to say that the Councillor was disappointed to miss our Walk to School Day today but that she intends to be more involved in the near future. 

Minutes Approval, Essentials

• A MOTION to approve the December 2022 meeting minutes was approved. The Minutes will be posted to the PTA website. 

 

LIbrary Updates

• Photos shown of the space where our new current library is situated
• All kids are 
• Still waiting on new shelves which will come from the West ROxbury High School
• Reach out to Maura the Librarian if you are interested in volunteering
• We are also seeking parent/guardian volunteers for the Library Committee which should be made up in partnership with the Librarian, teacher representative and parents. There is currently only one member. 

Book Fair

• Next Scholastic Book Fair will take place April 24-28, 2023
• Maya noted that there is a discrete system to ensure that all students get a book 

Lunch/Recess Monitors

• Please speak to Ms. Carney, Mr. McCaskill, Ms. Burgos if you have any questions as a volunteer 
• The idea is that our lunch and recess is a safe environment for all students
• The sign up link is to give an idea of who has signed up

Red Sox Day 

• Will take place April 28th against Cleveland 
• Nearly all tickets have sold out, we’ve kept a few in reserve to see if the school can use any to benefit families 
• ~260 tickets were sold

Reflections

• National PTA Reflections competition was extended by one day

Spelling Bee & Spell Check Fundraiser

Eileen Patterson presented: 

• February 9th is the first SpellCheck test
• Sponsorship form and list of words went home to 
• This is a fundraiser with all the money going directly to the Lyndon
• Please bring your pledges to the school by March 6
• February 10th grades 3 - 8, each class will hold their Spelling Bee, each class winner will go to the school-wide Spelling bee
• Words to practice are available on the website, or each teacher should have the info
• School-wide Spelling Bee will be on Friday March 3, parents are welcome to attend in person
• 1st place winner of Lyndon wide spelling bee will go to the City-wide Spelling Bee at the BPLibrary in Copley on March 18
• This has been on hold due to the pandemic, great to have it back. More

Basketball

• Try-outs for the middle school took place with a lot of interest 
• There will be 2 teams of 10 each - boys and girls
• Uniforms have been secured
• There is no set schedule yet, should be coming from BPS shortly 
• 8th graders have approached Mr. McCaskill about a cheerleading team - we are looking for  volunteer to take responsibility and be a chaperone/coach at the games - this would be twice a week practice at the school. Seeking help!
• Sarah Parker asked whether there might be a stipend to provide a potential coach and Mr. McCaskill confirmed that yes that’s a possibility

Other

• Square 1 Art - In-person submissions are due February 15 
• Sock Drive - 5th graders are organizing and are seeking new, adult, warm socks during the week of February 6th 

Yard Sale / Book Sale

• Similar to the J.P. Yard Sale, we could do one here to raise funds for the school
• Scheduled to take place April 1
• Parents can drop off in the week leading up to 
• Great opportunity for a fundraiser, but also a chance to clear out your own closets
• We’re looking mostly for clothing, toys, etc.
• Probably not furniture, but we may make an exception
• Simultaneously we plan to hold a Book sale in the cafeteria - this will benefit the library 

 

UPDATES

 

• School Site Council, Nicole O’Neil

 

• Extended Day We met on 1/19/23 where the pros and cons of extending the day was discussed (we were short by DESE guidelines). After surveying the community, there was agreement to extend the school day only by the morning, 2nd best option was to restructure 
• SSC voted to extend early to start at pending approval from the Transportation office
• The Transportation Office sent a confusing letter that states that they will not accommodate our request to start our school day earlier, so we will maintain the current 
• This is something we will then consider for school year FY 23-24 
• We will now consider how to restructure the day with more learning opportunities 
• Sarah Parker asked if the district can support us with figueing out how to better structure the day for 7th and 8th graders 

 

• School Leader Update. We received an email today that there are two positions posted for school leadership

 

• This implies that Mr. Ward will not be returning to the school
• Maya - she remembered Dr. Luna stating that a letter would be sent to the community today (Feb. 1st), however, it was only sent to School Site Council Members and not to the entire community. She will be reaching out to state our dissatisfaction of not sharing this the way they initially implied.
• Dr. Luna told the SSC that BPS’s attorneys advised them to only inform the SSC
• Sarah Parker asked if there is any update on why Mr. Ward was let go. We realize there are privacy issues, but a hiring committee should probably have an understanding of why he left so that incoming leadership understand the issues. 
• Julia Negele Teacher and SSC member says via zoom: she
• “There will be final decisions about Andre he fully expects There will be communication
• He would likely provide a courtesy call to the SSC Chair 
• As a member who is trying to bring transparency, she wanted to note to all that they are frustrated too and believes that a huge disservice is being done to the community. She encouraged 
• Emergency SSC meeting will be held on 2/6 at 5pm to discuss this, including the leadership fulfillment plan
• Principal Candidate pool is open and on February 8 schools can start viewing candidates on Friday, February 10
• Chris Rohrig of SSC - wanted to clarify that the SSC has been in conversation about different possibilities. They’ve identified two sides of the school that we’d like to have leadership on: Operations and Community and Family Liaison side. Message that we are right on time for finding school leaders, many members are hoping to have a co-leader model, which gives a bit more flexibility.
• Maya reiterates that the SSC, teacher community, and PTA are all in conversation to ensure transparency. She 

 

 

• CPC, Matthew Smith

• The Superintendent visited the last meeting, there was a lot covered. Link to a recording of the meeting is here.  

 

• Councillor Meijia was in attendance 
• Two new officers were elected to the CPC 
• Green New Deal was a main focus - Mayor Wu’s hope of renovation and construction that are accelerated well past the pace that is at currently. 
• Request of families to contribute to a Listening Session that is going to take place 
• Reminder that if anyone is interested in getting involved in the advisory committees: Budget, Special Education, Green new Deal, Equity and Student Assignment, you can contact Matthew.noah@gmail.com 

 

 

• FOL, Kelly Lepley

• Fun Corn-hole tournament in the Fall was a success

 

• Spring Fundraiser will be hopefully on May 4 - Cinco de Mayo Theme, hoping to hold it at the Irish Social Club
• Please think of anything you might be able to donate to the silent auction 
• Next meeting is on March 1, please join us if you’re into event planning - our mission is to raise money for the Lydon

 

 

• Outdoor Classroom, Steph

• Bulb planting was such a success

 

• 3 Eco-friendly Fridays are being planned for April, May, June
• There’s been a generous budget provided by the PTA
• Painting bird houses and other activities to make this space a real asset to the community 
• We will post the dates of the upcoming meeting

Treasurer’s Update

 

• Amazon Smile is going to be canceled so that will be removed from 

 

• We’ve had a few more members sign
• Red Sox tickets has brought in approx $1900
• First half of the year is dedicated to fundraising and 2nd half of the year is dedicated to spending the funds, which is exciting
• Encouragement of teachers to submit for reimbursement 
• PTA Membership toolkit no longer uses PayPal, but instead uses a app affiliated with Stripe

 

POTENTIAL UPCOMING EVENTS & Other

• School Assembly with David Hagerman Extreme Science Guy has been suggested by the PTA - two sessions for younger and older grades
• Basketball Game between teachers and students - since we are going to have a basketball team this year, it could be a fun family-friendly event
• If you have any other ideas or suggestions, please reach out to us

 

• Mr. McCaskill has been working on the Code of Conduct and we appreciate his help on this. He is a good resource for our community, we can ask him about what he says 
• Ms. Carney is talking to BPS about having an educational session about the protocol of a code of conduct - we hope to share details of that soon.
• Channel 5 Meteorologists will come to school for free
• Reminder that we are looking for new Board Members for the 2023-24 School Year. 
• Nicole O’Neil - reiterates that it’s disappointing that the news of school leadership was given to teachers via a PTA meeting and not properly communicated the way we were told the school community would receive the news. 

Meeting adjourned.  

Minutes submitted by Jessica Williamson