March 2023 Meeting Minutes

4/1/2023 7:05 am

PTA MEETING MINUTES MARCH 2023

 

Wednesday, March 1, 2023 – 6:30 EDT

  

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

Other in-person attendees: Catherine Carney, Anne Essaran, Emily Chapman

Zoom attendees: Maura O’Toole, Sam Mencher, Blanca Burgos, Karen McLaughlin, Brian Cook, Christine Conley, Julie Cazeau, Katie Hickey, Kelly Lepley, Sam Lewis, Sarah Parker, Sivan Amir, Carrie Greenaway, Christine Ventura

 

AGENDA

Welcome, Meeting Overview, Introductions

• Maya welcomed everyone to the meeting
• Introduction of Blanca Burgos, Family Liaison
• Reminder of PTA Board
• Introduction of Maura O’Toole, Teacher-Librarian, Maura provided an update:
• 30 new librarians were brought on in September 2022
• This is her 17th year working in a school library
• She attended BPS so did both of her daughters
• She had a goal of opening the library by November 1, but due to a leak in a library that was postponed
• 7,000 books are in the library - $140,000 value
• Library was opened at the end of January, all classes visit the library on a two-week rotation
• Library Committee recently begun and there will be a volunteer coordinator
• Maura is working on establishing a working budget for the library so that she can keep up with stocking the library with current released book
• The BPS has allocated $10/student for libraries – this will likely get allocated in September 2023
• The back room is also supposed to be a part of the library – there are some HVAC issues, but these will be addressed
• Donations are welcome – hardcover books are preferred. She never turns donations away. If they don’t stay in the library they go to classrooms or home with kids
• Parent Drop-in Day suggested by Ms. Carney
• Volunteers must be CORI checked to work in library

 

Accomplishments

Reflections

•   Sam Lewis took on Reflections and reported – thanks to everyone who participated
•   Goal of 30 kids to take part and we exceeded that
•   All of our 10 winners have been submitted to the National PTA Reflections

o   They all get gift cards

•   We had submissions visual arts, dance, music, photography, film and literature
•   We’ll do a showcase and hope to get more submissions next year

Membership Historical Comparison

 

Spring Events

Save the date for April Book Fair – 4/24/23 – 4/28/23 – will take place in the library. We ensure that every child is able to take home a book. We are discreet if a student does not have funds to purchase book the PTA pays for their book

Spelling Bee and Spell Check

•   Maya thanked Catherine for agreeing to do it this year. She wanted to encourage
•   March 3 will take place in the Auditorium – parents are invited/encouraged to attend for 4th – 8th Grade Finalists
•   Spellcheck Fundraiser – we’re still waiting on Pledges – as of now we’re at $1900

Square 1 Art

•   Ann Essaran reported. We are on target
•   Kids have done a great job, very creative
•   Catalogs are starting to come home – kids are very proud of their work
•   We had over 400 submissions this year
•   All orders are due by 3/24
•   If your kids have additional artwork, they can upload it from home – it doesn’t have to be the art they created at school
•   Thanks to teachers for supporting the kids to do this

 

 

Yard Sale and Book Sale

•   This was a parent member idea – all sales will benefit the PTA
•   We’ll be working with Helpsy to take items we don’t sell

o   A good educational opportunity to demonstrate that old materials can be recycled

Lunch/Recess Volunteers

•   Pointed out that it’s fine if you can only do one-off volunteer slots
•   24 hour notice is fine, we are always looking for volunteers

Treasurer’s Update

• Amazon Smile is going to be cancelled but we got $125
• $2000 for Spellcheck thus far
• We’ve raised $35,000 so far this year – our full target is $48K for the whole year
• Changes in expenses versus last month:
• Amazon wish list for Library – many items were purchased
• Field Day: we are thinking about eliminating t-shirts which is a very large expense
• Ms. McLaughlin stated that her SAR kids do like the shirts
• She also thanked the PTA for the closet, it has made a difference for a lot our kids in need – for their self-esteem too (Maya reminded us that we did not qualify for Karen’s Closet so we built our own – Natalie Fleury and her family took this on and built the closet)

 

 

 

UPDATES

• School Site Council

o   There will now be public comment session at the beginning of the meetings

o   Next meeting is on March 16th

o   They’ll discuss the co-Leader Hiring – they’ve expanded the Hiring Committee with Blanca Burgos and Paloma Stanley

o   Maya encouraged people to attend these meetings – SSC is made up of volunteers who care a lot about our community

 

• CPC, Matthew Smith
• No update this month

 

• FOL, Kelly Lepley
• Spring Auction – Thursday May 4th at the Irish Social Club
• They need help planning so please come to the next meeting on March 8, March 22

• Room Parents Update

 

• Don’t forget to support your child’s room parent
•  Please provide feedback if you think Room Parents should be funded by the PTA

• Outdoor Classroom

 

• There will be a committee meeting soon – we’ve discussed

• DELAC

 

• Update from Jenny Marcelin – she started as the school liaison and she is now the Co-Chair of DELAC.
• The next meeting is March 14th
• There are about 35 different programs across the city to support families
• Next meeting

 

• FOTL & PTA Family Fun Night
• Is there any interest? Beyond our planned May event? Reach out if there is interest – PTA will sponsor childcare.

 

• Call for Nominations for PTA 2023-24
• Three PTA Board Positions will be coming up: President, VP, Secretary
• Maya shares personal news that she will be leaving the Lyndon soon because her husband has taken a job in Washington D.C.

 

Minutes Approval, Essentials

• Approval of the February 2023 meeting minutes could not take place because we did not have wifi. We will post to the website and approve at the April 12 meeting.

 

Meeting adjourned.  

Minutes submitted by Jessica Williamson