DRAFT
To be approved by the body at February 2019 meeting 

 

 

 

P.S. 316: The Elijah G. Stroud Elementary School

750 Classon Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11238

1/16/19 PTA General Meeting Minutes

 

 

 

Meeting Agenda:

Wednesday, January 16, 2019, from 6-8 pm, in the school auditorium

 

  • Call to Order Called to order 6:11 by Jennyfer Bagnall
    • Attendance: 5 present Officers: Co- President Rima Douglas, Co- Vice Presidents Jennyfer Bagnall and Diana Santiago, Secretary Amber Parker, Co-Treasurer Latasha Nash
    • General Members: 14 present. Teachers: 0
    • Administrators: None
    • Quorum was met.

 

  • Approval of Minutes
    • MOTION: approve December 2018 minutes [MOTION APPROVED]

 

  • Principal’s Report
    • None

 

  • President’s Report, Jennyfer Bagnall
    • There will be a very important Bylaws meeting January 30th at 6 pm in the auditorium. We need to update our Bylaws to come into compliance with the A660 and so that we can move forward with the 501c3 process of becoming a non-profit PTO.
    • Basketball workshop on the weekends will begin soon. It will be 5 weeks long either beginning in February or March. We are waiting for approval from the administration and the coach of a 3 hour time slot on the weekend. No more than 20 kids in each group. Groups will be K-1, 2-3, 4-5.
    • IB workshop on February 6th with Ms. Porto. She will be teaching the parents about the IB units in a hands on approach. Childcare and dinner will be provided for the children so parents can attend the workshop.

 

  • Treasurer’s Report, Latash Nash
    • MOTION: Approve December 2018 Treasurer’s Reports [MOTION APPROVED]
    • Participatory Budget: still waiting to hear when we can begin to vote for our proposed upgrades and exactly which ones will be on the budget. They include the bathroom renovations, re-wiring the electrical, and renovating the auditorium.

 

  • Guest Speaker
    • Gateway Sports and Pools
      • Daniel was the representative. Based in Queens, Brooklyn, Long Island, and Manhattan --883 Classon between Union and President Street in New International HS  (another site in Bensonhurst).
      • Swimming classes and other sports classes. Meet once per week for an hour. Low cost because it is a not for profit. No waitlists.
      • Classes on Saturday evening or Sunday Morning. Program is separated by ability--New, Beginner, Advanced. Pool temperature (pools are rented) --pools are heated and pools are in doors. Price per class varies: about $30/class.  $240 per 8 classes. Groupon deals are available
      • Adult classes offered. Private or group. Lap lane is open for adults.
      • Discounts for multiple students. Flexible. Sports $15-20 depending on the sport. Commitment: Session blocks. Trial classes available. 6 students per instructor. Sessions are 50 min. Sports classes are 55 minutes.
      • Saturday, January 26th is on site registration

 

 

 

  • School Leadership Team Report (SLT)
    • An Inclusion Committee is being formed. There is an open call to all parents to sit on this committee.  The purpose is to propose ideas to broaden the schools curriculum and promote diversity in learning. Contact Nancy Rawlinson if you are interested in joining.

 

 

  • Parent Advisory Council Report (PAC), Jasmine Hagler
    • Surveys went out the Monday before holiday break. She will try to send out a second round of surveys because a lot of parents did not receive it and or did not return it inside their child’s folder. She has Financial Planning and Keeping the Home Safe workshops lined up to go.

 

  • Old Business
    • Bathroom Cleanliness (issue brought up by Shenea, but sentiment shared by all): There is no soap in the bathroom. There is sometimes no toilet paper in the bathroom. Overall cleanliness is disgusting and inhibiting children from using the facilities. Kids are getting very sick from not being able to wash their hands.
      • Response (Jennyfer): The Executive Board is taking pictures of all the bathrooms and classrooms to document the uncleanliness. We are going to get a case # filed with our complaint and when we do every parent needs to call 311 with the case # and complain of the conditions. We are technically down a custodian and roughly about 1000 people use the bathrooms every day between 316, 353 upstairs, and all staff in the building. They are not allowed to clean with bleach. We can as the PTA offer to purchase soap so kids can wash their hands. We can propose the bathroom attendants check the supplies every hour.
    • We need to form an Election and Fundraising committee ASAP. (Marcus Jacobs and Shenae Midgitt joined fundraising and Danielle Revles joined the Election, Amanda Jobe joined special events committee)
    • Gala event: Sometime towards the end of the Spring. This should be about our community coming together. What about having a dinner event with an awards ceremony tied in to celebrate continuous support of volunteers and donors? We can pay parents who are caterers.
    • Lateness ( issue brought up by Rhonda): Most parents seemed to be frustrated by the confusion with the new attention to lateness time, policy, letters, and execution. Why can’t the teachers be in charge of taking attendance and keeping track of lateness? Kids are standing in a line that makes them more late. Also parents who have two kids or more, are arriving at school at the same time and getting robo calls with two different accounts of who was late and who was absent.
      • Response ( Jennyfer): School starts at 8:10 am and you have a 10 minute grace period until 8:20. After 8:20 you will be marked late and the child will have to stand in line to get a late pass. There is no rule anymore that makes 3 latenesses into an absence. Traffic in front of the school contributes to lateness from riding the city bus, the schools bus, and cars. We used to be a very local school where most everyone walked, but as we grow more popular more people are driving from further away. We can propose having volunteers with vest stand in the front gate area and collect kids from the cars and make sure they get inside the main entrance safely. This could help parents continue to drive and stop double parking and getting out of their vehicles and keep bus traffic moving.
    • 316 Patch: These patches would be to iron or sew onto uniform shirts. This would provide parents with the ability to buy a less expensive gold shirt and buy an inexpensive patch. Susan was looking into this a while back and had a company who would do a test 316 patch for $80.

 

  • New Business
    • MOTION: To have Summer Camp Fair in the first week of March - APPROVED
      • Fundraising idea from Susan: Possibly have the Camp Fair be a fundraiser. Propose to sell baked goods, get donations from camps, etc.
    • MOTION: To give 5th grade $3000 for their class trip -APPROVED
      • The Adventure Course 5th grade trip. They need the down payment by the end of January, which is why they are asking for all of the money now. So far 5th grade has raised $4500 for their graduation year expenses.. They donated $1500 to St. Jude’s Hospital. Last year they asked for $1500 and the PTA gave them and extra $1000 to sponsor kids.This year they are asking for $3000 to secure the trip and tour buses and because there are more kids this year the price went up.
    • MOTION: To order school supply kits for September -APPROVED
    • MOTION: To sell space inside the 3rd and 5th grade playbills as a fundraiser for their classes -APPROVED
      • 3rd grade money is earmarked for them to use their graduation year. 5th grade money from playbills will go to 5th grade. The 5th grade play is March 15th.
    • MOTION: To spend $30 on childcare for all Executive Board meetings once a month - APPROVED

 

Minutes approved by Amanda and Tracey

Treasurer's report approved by Tracey and Susan

 

 

  • Adjournment: 7:35 pm