North Beach Elementary School
PTA General Meeting
April 26, 2007
The evening began with a dessert social from 6:30 – 7:00 p.m. (desserts provided by PTA board members), with the meeting beginning at 7:00 p.m.
A quorum was present. A list of attendees is attached.
I. OLD BUSINESS
A. Welcome (Margaret Lorentzen)
Margaret welcomed those in attendance to the final general PTA meeting of this school year.
B. Approval of January 18 General Meeting “Minutes” (Lisa Hirayama)
JoAnn Burrett moved that we approve the “minutes” from our last general meeting, copies of which were distributed earlier tonight. The motion was seconded, and unanimously approved.
C. Principal’s report (Joanne Bowers)
Our new principal for 2007-08, Joanne Bowers, was introduced to much applause!
Joanne reported that interviews were completed last night for a special education position and a kindergarten position. The kindergarten teacher, Melissa Marquez, has accepted the position already; the other position has been offered.
Joanne attended a principals’ meeting today. The recommendation for math next year is going to be “Everyday Math” with “Singapore Math” as a supplement. This has to go before the School Board before it is given final approval. Alicia Edgar asked Joanne to walk us through what this means. Joanne explained that the Board wants the curriculum change to start in September 2007. Schools will have an option of beginning the adoption this year or the following year, although it was not clear to Joanne whether this meant January or September. They want every school to start doing 60-90 minute blocks of math; the supplemental curriculum (Singapore) would be limited to only 15 minutes. So it is very much “supplemental”, but is still an option.
D. Treasurer’s Report (JoAnn Burrett)
A three-page packet was distributed, including the general budget, the AGC budget, and the playground budget. Recently over $6,000.00 of new books were purchased, and are now in the library.
E. Legislative Update (Bill Booth)
Currently the biggest legislative issue is “simple majority”, which will go to voters in November. This issue does not affect Seattle very often, but is significant to other parts of the State.
F. Volunteer Report (Filina Niemeyer)
The annual Walk-A-Jog-A-Move-A-Thon and Field Day are coming up. We will need lots of volunteers for both events. Also needed are chairs for organizing summer playdates. Historically this is taken on by current kindergarten parents. Please contact Filina if you are interested.
Filina acknowledged the volunteers who have been involved in the many successful events we have had so far this year, and asked that they stand to be recognized:
YADA
Bingo Night
Read Across America
Math Night
Sock Hop
Science Fair
A big THANK YOU to all!
II. NEW BUSINESS
A. Vote on 2007-08 PTA Board (Tami Horiuchi)
A report from this year’s Nominating Committee was distributed. Thanks were offered to the committee members – Tristi Sirotzki, Diane Carbone, Linh-Co Nguyen, and Lisa Hirayama. We only officially need to vote on the positions of President, Vice President, Treasurer, and Secretary. Names for all positions are listed on the report, however. The nominees for the Co-President positions were asked to say a few words. Rick Burke mentioned that this has been the first year at North Beach for his family, and has been a wonderful experience so far. He is excited about the opportunity to participate in the school community in this way. He said that the school community, staff, and programs are like the three legs of a stool – all are needed and important. North Beach has very strong “legs”, he feels – we are lucky, as many other schools in the district do not have our strength. Rick sees his mission as maintaining the strength of those legs. Alicia Edgar told the group that she too looks forward to serving the school in this capacity and working with everybody.
Elizabeth Evans made a motion to approve the slate of nominees. The motion was seconded, and no further nominations were voiced. The motion was unanimously approved.
B. General budget for 2007-08 (JoAnn Burrett)
i. On the “income” side:
JoAnn pointed out a change in the bingo budget: we have increased the expected profit a little to more accurately reflect the actual income and expenses. The Book Fair is financially basically a wash. Most of the money goes straight to the Secret Garden (we get books – not money). The Sock Hop is being put back into the fundraiser section because it is an actual “income” item. The Craft Fair made quite a bit more money this year, so the budgeted changed amounts were changed to reflect the actual income. Families Helping Families is a self-supporting budget. No actual fund raising is done by the PTA, but we just have to track the money. The Walk-A-Jog-A-Move-A-Thon was very successful last year, so the budget was changed to reflect that increase. The Scrip program is new for next year. Tristi Sirotzki will chair the program. We have put in a slight profit but do not really know the potential yet. We are being very cautious now and just including startup costs.
Membership/dues have been increased to reflect actual amounts. Interest income was not reflected in the budget before, so it has been added in.
ii. On the “expenses” side:
Some of the activity expenses are new – they were hidden in other categories before, so we are making them more visible.
Under Safety Committee, we pay Mr. Sanders for managing school safety, plus a little extra is put in the budget for supplies.
The Caldecott books category remains the same but is being moved up to facilities expenses. (These are funds to purchase Caldecott award-winning books for the library.)
The PE equipment line included $1,500.00 left from a grant that was given in a previous year; that money is now all used up.
Teacher Appreciation has been raised by $100.00 to do a better job of thanking our wonderful staff.
In PTA programs, Parent Education Programs has been moved from “miscellaneous”. A new item is “Educational Organization Support” (i.e. we gave money to “Schools First”, “Where’s The Math?” to support their efforts).
Under Student Council, the Sock hop was moved as mentioned previously. Recess equipment was decreased slightly – this is paid by boxtop receipts that are collected.
iii. The net change (both sides) is an increase of $1,800.00.
iv. Janet Anderson made a motion to approve the proposed 2007-08 budget. It was seconded, and unanimously approved.
C. AGC Survey Results (Robin Craggs and Elizabeth Evans)
A handout was distributed with results of the Academic Giving Campaign survey that was conducted recently.
We have about 220 families at the school, and received 104 surveys back, which was a very good rate of return! The large majority of families were satisfied and do not want to discontinue anything, although there were a number of questions raised about the Spanish program. In response to the question about whether we should add any programs for AGC funding, over 30% indicated an interest in science; another almost 30% indicated an interest in a program on the environment. The AGC has not included anything in the new budget to address these suggestions – we will have a new principal next year, and she will need time to evaluate the current programs. But now we have a better sense of what parents would like to see. Our Saxon math program was “valued strongly” by 85%-89% of respondents.
Two areas parents were most unsure about were Spanish and ACE (Academic Coaching for Excellence –- a new peer tutoring and professional tutoring program that started this year based on the vision of our former principal. ACE was supposed to be principal-guided, but was not a priority for Mr. James this year, so it did not come as a surprise that most people did not know a lot about it.)
This is the parent feedback; still needed is the feedback from teachers, which will be equally valuable.
MJ McDermott (the current AGC Chair) gave a brief history of the AGC. She explained that we raise the money but the principal and teachers run the program. This year’s programs have been placed more on our shoulders than normal because of having an interim principal. Next year’s budget reflects some increases. We know that the school’s population will increase (next year is projected at 336 right now – up significantly from the current 284), and specialists will need to be paid more for that. So the expense for the artist in residence has been raised from $6,000 to $7,500, for example, as more money will be needed for art supplies. The Journalist expense has been kept the same (that specialist works with 3-5 graders, where there is not a significant increase in numbers); the musician in residence is also being given a raise; supplies are the same. Spanish is contracted through an institute that gives us two teachers. This program is very expensive compared to everything else. Nothing was spent in supplies – all supplies were purchased out of the school budget (not the AGC) last year. In terms of the ACE program, the question was asked as to whether it benefits ALL the kids in the school? The AGC has talked with Ed James about possible alternative sources of money for this program, and he has indicated that there may be some in the future. MJ pointed out that the program does help all the kids in a sense, though, as when you pull some kids out, the teacher gets to work with a smaller group so the students are given more individual attention. The program also may start to work with advanced kids in the future. The ACE program this year consisted of a “homework club” that Linh-Co Nguyen started and oversaw. The club met once a week, and was available to the whole school; those who do not get their work done are sent for that extra support that maybe they are not getting at home. (This also holds them accountable for doing their homework.)
MJ pointed out one other hidden benefit of the AGC: the resident specialists become part of the school community and help in ways that are not part of their “job” – for example, our music specialist has been helping with tutoring, and Linh-Co has been substituting in classrooms.
$2,000.00 of AGC money is allocated to the annual 5th grade camp. The camp experience costs about $6,000.00 total. Scholarships are available so that all kids will have the opportunity to go.
Julia Detering and Kim Ferkingstad have been volunteering this year to help the kids on the business side of the school newspaper. They would love to have additional volunteers – particularly anyone with a business background who’d like to work with the kids in this way.
The proposed AGC budget adds up to $53,250.00, but is being round up to $55,000.00. Parents are reminded to talk with their employers – matching finds may be available. Donations to the AGC do not have to be just from North Beach parents. We do have some businesses who donate, as well as community members. We have two donors who specifically earmark their donations for the Saxon Math program.
Cathy Caruth moved to approve the AGC budget as proposed for 2007-08. The motion received a second, and was unanimously approved.
D. Ways and Means Survey (Patti Kashiwa)
Earlier in the year the Ways & Means Committee did a survey (different from the AGC survey). This survey asked about fundraising priorities, and also rated projects around the school. A handout was created called, “A Quick Guide to Fundraising”. Patti explained that she was very confused when she joined the North Beach community about the various fundraising efforts by the AGC, Ways & Means, etc., and so she created this handout to clarify the differences. Ways & Means usually operates with a budget of around $20,000.00 each year.
A handout was distributed showing the survey results:
The top three popular fundraising ideas were:
1. Crafts Fair (last year’s vendors asked about extending the fair to two days. This year’s one-day fair was fabulous – we raised over $6,000.00. We could probably double this if we extend it to two days. )
2. Walk-A-Jog-A-Move-A-Thon
3. Rummage Sale
Followed by:
4. Scrip
5. Used Book Sale
6. Auction
Top preferred projects as indicated by the survey included:
Offering support to our teachers
On-site childcare – to be discussed further tonight
Covered play area – Bill Booth is working on this now
E. Adding Scrip Coordinator to the Board (Margaret Lorentzen)
The PTA is going to try the scrip program next year. While it can be a highly profitable program, its management is a lot of work, and requires someone in a position of overall coordination. We would therefore like to add a Scrip Coordinator position to the board for 2007-08. Tristi Sirotzki has volunteered for the position, and was approved earlier this evening. Grant Fjermedal moved that the addition of this position be approved. The motion was seconded and unanimously approved.
F. On-Site Child Care (Joanne Bowers)
Joanne introduced Sequoia from the Boys & Girls Club (their main location is at NW 85th & Fremont in the Greenwood area.) Sequoia said she was Impressed with the turnout tonight – it shows the school is really involved. Sequoia currently runs a program at Northgate which provides before and after school care as well as a summer camp. She also supervises a couple of other programs, including the program at Viewlands with which Joanne is most familiar. Some programs are run in portables; others like Northgate are “tear-down” programs. The programs typically open at 6:45 a.m. and provide care until school begins; then after school until 6:30. Breakfast is provided in a.m., and a snack in the afternoon. Care is provided on early release days, as well as during breaks. There are only a few holidays on which the sites are closed. The tear-down programs have to literally be set up and taken down completely every day. It’s challenging, but doable. The Northgate program uses the cafeteria and the gym. All the program’s supplies are on wheels. They still have the usual block area, dramatic play, arts & crafts, etc. – they just are portable. The kids help with set up. Everything is kept up overnight, and then taken down after the morning program.
Sequoia asked for questions from the attendees.
Q: Is the Boys & Girls Club non-profit?
A: Yes. The main sites are for drop-in kids – kids with no financial resources can go there – they pay $15.00 a year and the Club is there to help them. Any excess money from sites like ours goes back into running the main sites. Also the Boys & Girls Club board has activities during the year to raise funds.
Q: how can we make this happen for next year – what do you need?
A: we are ready to take a risk. Viewlands is closing – most of our families are going to Broadview-Thompson – they have a program there and are already a large school. So we have shifted the Viewlands program to Northgate to help with overflow from Broadview-Thompson.
Q: Any chance of obtaining a portable at North Beach to house the program?
A (Joanne Bowers): The District’s focus right now on closing and moving schools. September is when we can really start pushing for portables – once the closure process is done. Sequoia added that many of the portables are very old… But ultimately if we want a successful program here, we will want a portable – a permanent, designated space.
Q: What is the cost and what would be the hours?
A: $352.00/month for before and after school care and all early releases. That does not include summer camp. The hours were recently extended from 6:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at Northgate. We would need to assess what this community wants and needs.
Q: how many children could you serve in a tear-down program?
A: About 60 (if we can be in both the gym and lunchroom).
Q: what is the minimum enrollment you would need?
A: I ran Northgate with 10 initially, but knew it would grow with the Viewlands closure. A lot of my job is getting the word out – that is very important.
Q: Do you provide any pre-kindergarten care?
A: No. We serve kids 5-12 years old. I would be open to starting one. But we just need space, and a pre-k program really cannot be a tear-down.
Q: Is drop-in care possible?
A: yes. Parents also can choose part-time care (there is a 2 day/week minimum).
Q: Can kids from other schools access care here?
A: Yes.
Sequoia concluded by saying that she is very excited. She would REALLY like to start a program here for us. Initially she would probably want around 25 to be able to start, but feels she can be flexible on that. She feels confident that she will be able to work around other programs going on here at the school.
The Boys & Girls Club is a licensed program. So we would have to go through licensing here. This is done through the City of Seattle – once that is completed, the program then can take DSHS clients.
Margaret said that we will send something out to survey community and get the process underway, hoping to have a program up and running this fall.
G. Hallway painting (Grant Fjermedal)
The proposed project to paint the remaining hallways of the school will cost about $600.00. The money is available from PTA savings (which currently has a balance of approximately $13,000.00). A motion is needed for approval. Jason Greekas moved that the project be approved and the money allocated. There was a second. Discussion was invited. There was a question about whether supplies were left from the last project that can be used? Grant responded yes. The cost involves mostly just purchasing the paint. Someone asked when the project will take place? Grant indicated that his plan is to do it over two or three weekends between now and the end of school. The motion was unanimously passed. Grant offered a big THANKS to Ray, our custodian, for all his help with the painting projects this year– he has been giving freely of his own time to help us, and it is much appreciated.
H. Technology Committee (Rick Burke)
Rick referred everyone to a handout about this new committee – copies were in the back of the room. Rick explained that Ed James asked the PTA to help put a technology committee together. There is a good infrastructure here; the staff has a technology plan thru 2010. But they need families’ support to bring the plan to fruition. Rick said that a committee co-chair is needed for next year.
I. Upcoming Awards (Margaret Lorentzen)
Margaret pointed out three colored forms in the back. These forms are for nominations for awards that we would like to present to recognize people in our community. Descriptions of each award are on the nomination forms. Please read them and consider submitting nominations.
J. Energy Conservation (Margaret Lorentzen)
North Beach has been recognized for energy conservation. This is primarily due to Ray’s diligence and extra effort. If we are able to maintain our energy savings (6.25% reduction) for the rest of the year, we will get $1,300.00 back.
K. New PTA Storage (Margaret Lorentzen)
The PTA’s materials are being moved. We now have a designated room, thanks to Ray – he found an unused storage room, cleaned it out, and we now have it. It is by the upper grade bathrooms (and is now labeled). It is a locked space, and allows us to keep almost all of our materials in one place (except food related items). It will be a huge improvement to have this space of our own!
L. Lost and Found (Margaret Lorentzen)
Margaret asked that everyone please take a look at the large “lost and found” pile in the lunchroom and claim any belongings tonight!
The meeting was adjourned at 8:28 p.m.
Submitted by
Lisa Hirayama
2006-07 North Beach PTA Secretary