General Membership Meeting

January 9, 2012

Call to Order

The general membership meeting of the Irvington School PTA was called to order in the library at 6:40 PM on Monday, October 9, 2012 by Co-Presidents Amy McFeeters-Krone and Hether Dunn.  Proper notice was given to all members through the school calendar, the school’s newsletter, In Touch, and was posted on the doors of the school.  (Attachment A)

A quorum of members as stated in the standing rules was present.

A sign-in sheet is attached to these minutes.  (Attachment B)

Approval of Minutes

Chelle Casey-Stevenson, Secretary, presented minutes of the General Meeting held on December 5, 2011.  There were no corrections or additions.  The minutes were approved as written by the membership.

Treasurer’s Report

Bold items indicate activity that occurred during the month of December.  A bad check was written during December which brought Scrip profits to -$400 for the month.

 Principal’s Update

In November an engine caught on fire in the school’s boiler. This happened again last Tuesday afternoon after students left which led to school being cancelled Wednesday.  This is the first time in over 40 years that a school has not received heat for an entire day.  The boiler is 80 years old and the engines are 30 years old.  There are only four schools with these boilers, two of which are operational.  An engine was borrowed from Caesar Chavez.  The engine is smaller than what is recommended, but we are no longer in danger of a fire.  This engine will last through the rest of the school year, but shouldn’t be expected to perform longer.  Parts are no longer being made for these boilers and engines and Irvington and Chavez are down to one engine each.  There is a PPS board meeting tonight where they will be discussing where to get funds to replace the boilers with gas.  Only five families showed up at school on Wednesday. This has lead to getting auto dialer in other languages.  Please take advantage of flashalert.net to receive text messages and emails from the school quickly.

Middle School Preservation Committee

Another meeting of the Middle School Preservation Committee will be held on Wednesday.  They will have the results of a recent survey on what people are looking for in the middle school.  Everyone is welcome at these meetings.  This will be an important meeting with a lot on the agenda.  Meeting will be held in 108-A.

 Arts Night

Arts night is returning to Irvington.  Kieron Dwyer and Laura Grimes are running this fun evening.  They are working with Lisa McCall and Kathleen Ellwood to empower the students to run the projects.  Tuesday, April 17 was decided on tonight as the date for the event.  8^th graders will be asked to assist with the set-up.  Within a month the committee will have specific requests for volunteers, materials, funding, etc.

 Site Council

They are now beginning work on next year’s school improvement plan.  The next InTouch will have the school goals listed.  Copies of the improvement plan are available through email.

Middle School Sneak Peek

The middle school preview evening was a great success.  The crowd was standing room only.  The student council spoke on current projects and upcoming classes.  Students then rotated through several classrooms:  Spanish, math, science, drumming.  Parents could stay in library or tour with their children.  Those remaining in the library did a panel with parents who currently have children in the middle school.  Lisa McCall came in at the end to answer parent questions.

Auction Update

Dana Griggs and Mark Reed spoke on auction progress.  There will be a meeting tomorrow evening, January 10th.  There are a small number of jobs that haven’t yet been filled.  Cash donations are still coming in and the total looks good.  The committee has received $7500 which is where we were at this time last year.  Classroom baskets and classroom projects have gotten started.  Projects tend to run almost one third of the total revenue.  Additional meetings are 1/24, 2/7, 2/21.  There is childcare available at each meeting and they run 7-8:30.  Karen Barker will be leading the appeal on the night of the auction and the PTA is needed to help assist her in writing her speech.  Classroom project descriptions are due February 15.  January 16^th is the date set to being selling ad space.  A volunteer is needed for tickets sales.  Sweet Basil is donating all of the appetizers.  Simpatica is catering.  There will be music after the auction again this year.

Fundraising

On February 9^th Whole Foods will be hosting a chocolate tasting to benefit Irvington.  The benefit is at Whole Foods. 

15% of profits each Monday night this month at Skyline Burgers will be given to Irvington.

January 17^th from 5-8 Sweet Basil will give 20% of profits back to Irvington.

Additional Business

Jen Fortmann is working on the Spelling Bee.  Please contact her if you are interested in helping.  jennifer@fortmann.org

Someone is still needed to be the fundraising coordinator.  Businesses approach the PTA regularly and someone is needed to field these inquiries and set up fundraisers with them.

Cat Black brought up how fast lunch moves and the children not having enough time to eat lunch.  Many parents felt the children should go out for recess before lunch.  Kathleen Ellwood will go over this issue with Lisa McCall and see what changes can be made.

Meeting adjourned at 7:55.

Prepared by,

Chelle Casey-Stevenson, Secretary

Attachments:

A – December 2011 In Touch

B – Sign-in sheet

C – Treasurer’s Report

Date Presented:  _________________________________________________

Approved as Written – or –Amended

______________________________________    __________________________________________

President                                                                                 Secretary

You can download a PDF of the meeting minutes here.  Please consider the environmental impact of printing this document.