Minutes for the Montgomery Blair High School PTSA Meeting -- April 16, 2002
Meeting
was called to order by Marilyn Shoenfeld at 7:30.
The
upcoming calendar of events was discussed. This included the Blair Fair, Silent
Auction, Blast Scholars Banquet, the African American Issues Committee
Achievement Awards Ceremony, the Prom and After-Prom. More volunteers are
needed.
After-Prom
has raised $6,000 so far. Donations from businesses are down this year. They
are counting on a successful silent auction on April 26th. They are mailing to
1,400 parents and will have a phone-a-thon in early May. Prom fund raisers have arranged for Blair
night at Ledo’s Pizza on April 30th.
They will get 10% of all sales between 5-10 pm (eat-in and carry-out).
Other
events mentioned included the handing out of PSAT results to Juniors on April
17th, County-wide College Fair on April 23rd and the MCCPTA yearly election of
officers on Tuesday, April 23. Michelle Turner, of the Einstein cluster, has
served as president of this organization for the last year. However, the
nominating committee did not put her name forth for this election. Nominations
will be taken from the floor. Marilyn Shoenfeld strongly urged all MCCPTA
representatives and PTA presidents to support Michelle.
Mr.
Gainous reported on the first Diversity
in Media Day. It was designed to raise student awareness to the variety of
media career paths available today. Over six hundred students participated.
Some of the presenters were Blair alumni. This event was developed by students
and they deserve the credit.
Also
in the Principal’s Report we heard about the Superintendent’s new
organizational plan for our Tri-cluster at the retirement of our current
Community Superintendent (this is the 7th person in 5 years to leave
this job). The plan is to break-up the present group moving Einstein and
Kennedy into other existing groups with Blair having a separate arrangement. It
was discussed that this reorganization did not make sense in light of the plans
for the consortium with Einstein, Wheaton and Kennedy. Also Kennedy, Einstein
and Blair all have similar needs and have worked well together in the past.
Meetings
are scheduled to continue planning the Signature programs for Blair.
The
Consortium is a line item in the budget.
Linda
Wanner reported that 3 Olympic Athletes will be visiting Blair on April 23rd.
There is an event planned for the morning and only 750 students can attend.
T-shirts will be handed out.
A
parent raised the issue of the Algebra II final being so difficult that many A
students received Ds on the final. The Algebra II final, like many others, is a
county wide exam. Mr. Gainous stated
that he wanted students to take the county exam and that Linda Wanner would
look into the matter and answer the parent’s concerns.
The
Honor Code committee was represented by a student who explained the plans for
an improved honor code. They hope that the new honor code will be voluntary and
that students who sign it will then receive some higher level of review if they
are called to task. The new code will involve students, teachers and parents.
Several parents mentioned that ethics instruction and some form of honor
training would be helpful for students who are often tempted to help each other
at the expense of the rules.
The
meeting was adjourned. The next PTSA
meeting will be held on May 21, 2002