Montgomery Blair's PTSA - Meeting Minutes --- July 26, 2005

THE NEXT MEETING WILL BE August 16, 2005 AT 7:30

Meeting Minutes - July 26th, 2005

Fran Rothstein called the meeting to order at 7:36. Introductions were made. 14 people were in attendance. Debbie Gilette moved that the minutes be accepted and Debbie Stoll seconded the motion with a unanimous vote.

Pedestrian Safety Debbie Gilette reporting

Discussion: The following has been accomplished:

1. "Fines Doubled" signs have been posted.
2. "School" has been painted on the pavement
3. Upgraded crossing signs to the new visibility color
4. Improved sidewalks and cross walks over the beltway.
5. Countown lights at the 4 Corner intersection

To be accomplished:

1. Trim trees in cooperation with local authorities to improve visibility
2. Good possibility of road crosswalk lights in the vicinity of the overpass cross walks.

Possible improvements:

1. Crossing Guards
2. Fencing to prevent jay walking

Suggestion:

1. Pedestrian Safety Education for incoming Freshman and everyone else too.
2. Encourage CAP kids to make a safety video
3. Get a group of students to get out there with signs
4. Use Silver Chips, the Gazette and Info flo to educate students
5. Use October 6th as a opportunity to educate students about safe routes to take to school
BRAVO Debbie!!

Treasurer's Report Sonni Malinoff

Discussion:

The Facts:

1. The administration of the Mini Grants, thanks to Donna Franklin in Blair's business office, went better than previous years. More checks were cashed. Teachers and program directors sent receipts.
DISCUSSION: Increase the mini grants or offer them twice during the course of the academic year.
2. There is a $2700 carryover from 2004-2005 including $1700 earmarked for the outside water fountain.
3. Newsletter
1. How can we pay for the Newletter more efficiently? Although every school gets money specifically for communication with parents, this has not been used for the Newsletter and is probably used for other communiques by the school administration.
2. How about sending the Newsletter electronically to those who want it to come that way? It is already posted on the website and perhaps this would be an administrative night mare.
3. A suggestion was made to go after advertising for the directory to defray the costs for the Newsletter but the directory is done free by the Gazette already
Individual Follow Up: Carolyn Packer will call Barbara Tobias about the possibility of sending the Newsletter electronically to those who want to receive it that way.
4. PTSA activities were overviewed.
1. Teacher recognition, Student recognition, PTSA community outreach, physical infrastructure, and family outreach were added to the proposed budget by Sonni and those in attendance.
5. Although the proposed budget reflects expenditures that are in excess of the proposed fund raising income, the PTSA, in the last few years is carrying over in a savings account about $17,000. The discussion included the wisdom of either continuing this carry over or spending it down to approximately $5,000.
6. Membership income is crucial to the budget and the more members, the more income to feed into the budget. Incentives were discussed for 100% participation by teachers by departments as well as ways to encourage Latino parents to join.
7. Special Services for Hispanic Families. Rosa Sanchez, our new Latino liason, will be working with the Hispanic community. She requested $800 for an International night, $700 for translation services for Latinos and others, $500 for a welcome to Blair meeting for Latinos.
ACTION: A new line item for the budget was created: Family Outreach
Individual Follow Up: Sally Taber will look into State PTA money for Parent Outreach.
8. Student Honoraria was discussed in regard to what to do when a student dies and has been very active at the school versus a student who may not have been active. Suggestions were made such as leaving it to the discretion of the president or leaving it to the Board.
ACTION: Discussion to be continued.
9. There seems to be a regulation about how much money PTSAs are allowed to carry over from one year to the next.
Individual follow up: Sonni will look into the regulations and will ask questions at the next countywide Treasurer's workshop.
Process: Approve budget in September
Individual follow up: Sonni will revise the budget for the August meeting.

Calendar Debbie Stoll

1. Some dates have already been designated such as the
Prom, June 3rd
Graduation, June 5th
Back to School Night, September 8th
Parents of Seniors, September 20 (1st PTSA meeting)
Parents of Juniors, March 21
Homecoming, October 28th with Homecoming dance October 29
2. High School PTSA meetings are always the 3rd Tuesday of the month.
Individual follow up: PLEASE CONTACT DEBORAH STOLL THE MINUTE YOU KNOW OF A DATE YOU NEED TO RESERVE OR POST!

Program vs. Business meetings

1. Business needs to be discussed and Sonni was particularly concerned that efficient time be set aside for discussion of the budget and money matters that come up in the course of the year.
2. It is difficult to stick to a short business meeting and then have a program as business matters are often pressing and important
3. Lots of important work goes on outside the meetings with the different committees--they are up, running and working!
4. The listserv is a way to discuss issues but decisions are not made there.
5. An increase in executive board meetings was discussed and it was agreed that the Executive board or PTSA leadership would meet 4 additional times during the year. These meetings would be open to all.
Individual Follow Up: David Ottalini will creative and Executive Board/Leadership listserv for discussion of issues that become timely.

MCCPTA Report

1. A report of the 7/25/05 meeting was made. The meeting was held to hear what the DCC schools wanted. Blair, Einstein, Northwood and Kennedy were represented. The Grading and Reporting Policy continues to be a contentious issue in the DCC as well as everywhere in the county.
1. MCCPTA President lead a discussion of best practices for parent outreach.
2. MCCPTA emphasized that sometimes just getting kids rested, fed, and to school are the most important job that parents do.

New Business

Graduation site

1. The current status of the graduation site is pretty grim. The City of Praise is out and the Equestrian Center is in.
2. Fran compiled the e-mails and sent it to the Community Superintendent.
Individual Follow Up: Carolyn Packer will look into the global issues in regard to MCPS's responsibility to Blair, the largest school with the largest graduating class which can't be accomodated with the choices that MCPS offers.
Kate Kelly will look into the legal issues regarding separation of church and state.

Connections and Academies

1. The Connections course for the past several years has been mandatory for 9th graders. Because it is not required by all 9th graders in all high schools, it can not be mandatory in the Down County Consortium. This was miscommunicated to the DCC principals. This leads to the question of whether or not academies can be required. This is a big mess and will continue to be addressed.

Blair committees

The Blair committees usually confined to faculty are now open to students and parents.

Athletics

1. Some of the sports teams are not being run by policy or good athletic practices.
2. Athletic opportunities should be extended and the rules followed.
Request: Parents are needed to help with policy and policy conformity.

David moved that the meeting be adjourned and Elissa Lichtenstein seconded it with a unanimous vote. The meeting adjourned at 9:48

********************

Download PTSA Membership forms here English | Spanish

****************************************

Look here for PTSA Contacts

These pages are maintained by PTSA volunteers.
Please mail comments to
Barry Johnson

top of page