Montgomery Blair High School PTSA

Minutes of PTSA Meeting --- October 18, 2005

Minutes of October 18, 2005 PTSA

31 people attended the meeting

Fran Rothstein called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.

 

Karl Berberich moved that the September minutes as posted on the listserv be accepted.  LInda Simon seconded.  The minutes were unanimously accepted.

 

Treasurer's Report  Sonni Malinoff

1.  $6600 in membership money was deposited into the checking account.  An $800 donation was made anonymously.  Sonni hopes that others might do that as well.

2.  Checks were written for bulk mail, the credit card lease, bank charges and staff appreciation totaling $318.24

 

Mr. Gainous' report

1.  The PSAT test was given October 12th to the 9th, 10th, and 11th  graders.  There was a college program for seniors during the time of the test.  20% of the population did not take the test.  Those included ESOL I and ESOL II students as well as special education students.  Although some students just sleep in, Blair has an over 80% participation rate.

2.  The graduation site is still not resolved to parents' satisfaction.  The latest information from the Superintendent's office is that Blair will be at the Equestrian Center.  It is not too late to try to get this changed back to the Jericho City Church sight. All grades should be interested as this year's decision could have an impact on the future.  Kate Kelly, a parent and a lawyer who does not practice in Maryland, has done some research and it appears that after looking over the law and the correspondence, that there is nothing keeping any school from having a graduation at Jericho, where there is plenty of seating and parking and where it is comfortable.

Individual Action:  Anyone interested or able to get involved, please contact Fran Rothstein at Fran.Rothstein@verizon.net  This endeavor will involve contacting people, lobbying, educating and advocating for Blair, the largest high school in the county.

3.  This year our numbers were lower and the hope is to lower the number by another 100 next year.

 

Cluster Rep Ray Scanell

1.  The two cluster coordinators, Chris Barkley and Pete Lafen have asked the schools in the cluster to identify 3 areas in which they want the cluster coordinators to pursue in the coming year.  They will meet with area superintendents, the DCC staff, and advocate on behalf of all schools in the cluster. 

2.  The Areas that were identified by Ray were the following:

 

            1.  Blair Enrollment

            2.  Blair Facilities

            3.  Blair Academics   

            4. Student Safety and Security   

            5.  Communication and Counseling

            6.  Sex Education

            7.  Humane High School Start Time

            8.  DCC and the measurement of its success

3.  Many felt that the Blair Enrollment topic which addressed the overcrowding issues included a lot of the other items.  The top 3 that were identified after a vote were:  Blair Enrollment, Blair Facilities, and Blair Academics

Individual Action:  Ray will take these topics to the cluster meeting in detail.

4.  There is no written statement about Blair and Einstein having their 9th grade enrollment closed to non base area students. 

Individual Action:  Ray will continue to monitor and encourage the discouragement of Blair as a choice school due to Blair's overcrowding.

5.  1000 housing units are in the process of being built or are in the planning stages in our base area and will be finished within the next 3 years.  This will add to Blair's burden.

6.  There is one thing that the red and green zone schools have in common and that is that they are all overcrowded and that MCPS underestimated the numbers especially when they renovated the high schools.

 

No Committee Reports

 

Announcements

1. All Counselors meet with students once a year.  First in a small group and then individually. 

2.  The After Prom committee is losing some key people this year as their children are graduating.  Please consider getting involved.  It is fun and gratifying.

3.  David Ottalini is waiting for some bids from Arizona for the wireless translation equipment.  This equipment will allow non English speaking members of our community to feel more comfortable about coming to meetings.

 

Break out groups

 

1.  Tonight we took the opportunity to participate in break out groups around the issue of behavior amongst the students towards each other, teachers and their community.  Recently there has been a stabbing in Wheaton, gang activity at Springbrook in the summer and fights here at Blair.  Right now the gangs seem to be lying low but sexual harassment, violence in dating, bullying, and girl on girl violence still exists.  We want to come up with solutions for our Blair community and to relay our concerns to the appropriate county people.

 

The following groups were held:

 

1.  David Ottalini  Helping parents to communicate with kids to help students communicate with teachers and administrators at Blair.  Officer Penn remarked that it seems better now than in the past.  Ideas to empower students were to put up a suggestion box where students could make suggestions anonymously and to do presentations in the classrooms with instruction by Officer Penn as to how to deal with issues outside of school.

2.  Rosa Sanchez's group addressed the Latino students' issues.  The Latino students are afraid of the gangs.  Whatever they do, they feel that the gangs are looking over their shoulders.  There is a lot of pressure to belong to a gang and if someone were caught talking to anyone in authority, it would be bad for them.  They suggested a suggestion box, a phone line, and access to media center computers with a secure web site where students could offer information about what was going on.  A gang awareness talk for parents once the translation equipment was installed could be a way for parents to become informed and help their children.

3.  Stacey Gurian-Sherman  Conflict Resolution  The emphasized orientation, education and awareness.  The 9th grade seems the most logical place to start with diversity training and conflict resolution training.  Blair would be clear about the rules from the start and the school would support all available initiatives to solve conflicts.  Suggestions were providing Safe Spots throughout the school, peer mediation by students; educate students, teachers and staff about conflict resolution throughout the county, but certainly Blair could do it; practice zero tolerance for conflicts attempting to watch for the signals and bring in resources to contain the conflict.

4.  Tracy Yaffee--School Climate.  The goal is to create a better environment between students and adults.  Suggestions included creating  an Ombudsman position to take on additional responsibilities such as modeling conflict resolution, walking around at lunch time.  An outreach position?  Adults in the school need more guidance on how to deal with kids more kindly--it is a tone and attitude.  Students in turn need to learn to act respectfully in order to get changes.  The lunch periods seem to be especially problematic when the entire population is crossing paths at the same time.  The group suggested an anonymous survey of faculty and students in regard to the school's atmosphere.  They also suggested that programs on attitudes be started in elementary school so that students would have a common vocabulary and culture throughout their public school career.  Also the little things need to be addressed--tipping points that have a ripple affect if addressed--such as language in the hallways and the jostling that goes on in the halls.

5.  Diane Vidutis--Girl Violence.The physical issues are not as much an issue as the emotional ones.  Training on how to deal with anger and  jealousy was suggested.  Decorating the girls bathrooms and making hygiene products available for free in the bathroom so they are easily accessible. Conflict Resolution, mentoring, and diversity training would help to change some of the behavior.  There is already a group called Sisters at Blair which is a support group for female students.  Perhaps there is a way  for the PTSA to support this group through speakers, a fashion show, etc

6.  Beth Martin--Bullying--Mr. Gainous was in this group and he shared what the school is doing through trying to change the way teachers deal with students in a less confrontive way.  Mr. Gainous suggested that the PTSA can encourage its volunteers to keep their eyes and ears open when they are at school so they can report anything untoward to the grade administrator or the office.  Also the PTSA could fund diversity training.

7.  The two students, Margaret Khan from the SGA and Ravi Umarji from Silver Chips, who attended the meeting, felt that the key is mandatory after school activities.  Some students are afraid to participate in the Blair Sports Academy because they are afraid of the gangs.  They suggested uniform, structured mandatory activities would work.

 

The meeting ended at 9:30 p.m.