Montgomery Blair High School PTSA
Minutes of PTSA Executive Committee Meeting --- December 11, 2006
Executive Committee Meeting Minutes
December 11, 2006
PTSA Executive Board MeetingPresent: Debra Reed-Gillette, Deborah Stoll, Samuel Stokes, Beth Martin, Linda Willmott, Carol Smalls, Anne Kaiser, Bonnie Malkin, Miriam Szapiro, Ray Scannell, Dave Ottalini, Nancy Newton
Facilitator: Deborah Stoll
Time Keeper: Dave Ottalini
Recorder: Debra Reed-GilletteDeborah called the meeting to order at 7:38 pm .
Executive Board minutes from November were approved as amended. All members are reminded to CLEARLY print their name on the sign-in sheet for each meeting.
Pedestrian Safety: Sam & Sally Stokes provided the executive board a copy of the proposed new student drop-off on the University Blvd side. At this time, student drop-off is STILL only permitted on the Colesville Road side of the school. John Matthews of MCPS does not want to mix buses with dropping off cars. Blair is the biggest high school in the county. A resolution supporting the new plan will be brought to the full PTSA at the December 19 meeting and then will be forwarded to the county council if no follow-up occurs from MCPS.
Treasurer: Nancy reported that she is cutting checks for expenses and is dispersing money for the mini-grants. The PTSA books will be reviewed in January 2007. There is a balance of $46, 398.24 in all accounts. There may be additional funds available for distribution if all fundraisers continue to do well. The budget will again be revisited after the first of the year.
Athletic Boosters: (provided via email) The Boosters relocated from the outdoor to the indoor concession stand in early December, and are now operating the stand for all home varsity basketball games. We also opened for the play and the MCPS cheerleading competition this past Saturday. What has gone well thus far this year - a strong (though small) cadre of dedicated volunteers who shop, run the concession stand, and arrange for the sports awards ceremonies. What has not gone well (and these are not new issues) - getting information from the coaches in a timely manner, and expanding the pool of volunteers so that we don't risk burn-out by over-use of the same small group of people.
There is a Boosters meeting tomorrow night, December 12, at 7:00 p.m. in the small teachers' lounge off the SAC. The meeting announcement has been posted on the PTSA website and to the listserv. Key topics to be discussed are:
- Treasurer's Report
- Sports Awards: suggestions for improvements
- Consideration of selling Season Passes for athletic events
- Next steps regarding Artificial Turf
- Discussion of Officers and officer roles for next year (we may propose creating a new role of volunteer recruitment)
After Prom: (provided via email) It has been decided that this year's After Prom will have a "beach" theme and SGA has come up with the slogan "Sunny Side Up.”
Ed and Richelle attended November's vendor fair sponsored by Project Prom. Diane Foley introduced them to many of the vendors Blair has used in the past and passed along valuable information on what worked well and some ideas on how things can be improved.
Richelle's husband did a pitch for After Prom volunteers and donations at the December 5 financial aid meeting held at the school.
An ad was placed in the Blazer re After Prom and the need for volunteers.
The ICB report to request the building for the evening has been submitted.
Unfortunately, the Borders Books gift-wrapping After Prom fundraiser was not as successful as in years past because the store changed its policy on how it would disperse the days/times to different groups. When we originally approached the store in October, we were told by the general manager that it was looking for one charity to handle the entire holiday season. If that wasn't possible then Blair might be considered. An email was sent to Borders by the After Prom (of which we received no reply) letting them know of our disappointment in their policy and encouraging them to support our school as the Blair community has a huge impact on the store's success.
In November, we were contacted by Borders to say that we would be given some shifts but that there would be more than one group at a time (up to three) wrapping. This didn't seem to make much sense but we signed up for five days. With plenty of volunteers to wrap, our first night (Friday, December 8th) was successful. When we arrived Saturday morning, we were told that our name was not on any master list and that we would not be allowed to wrap. When we talked to the woman who had originally contacted us, she admitted that the mistake was the store's but neither she nor the general manager was willing to help Blair by trying to rectify the problem.
The most difficult thing about this oversight was the fact that the general manager of the store was completely unhelpful and unmoved by our purpose. Nor did he seem interested in Blair as a community that supports the store in numerous ways. We believe that there should be some follow-up by the After Prom committee and the PTSA to the corporate offices of Borders to let them know of this situation and to let them know that the funding (around $600 each year that we have wrapped) Blair has relied on to support the After Prom will be hugely missed this year.
BSA: There is still no point person with the school. Also, there is no point person coordinating academic support for the entire year with BSA.
Athletic Drug Policy: There is still poor organization handling this policy and communicating the policy to all athletes/parents in all sports.
Graduation Venue: Sherwood has decided to attempt to pay the full amount for the Comcast Center . Magruder and RM may be on board with us. The letter from the attorney was emailed to Nancy Navarro. The major issue is that the Jostens orders are due in by Friday. An attempt will be made to delay Jostens until a decision is made concerning the new letter.
BEBOPS: Currently raising a lot of money at FED EX field. It was requested that the Choral and Band Boosters recognize the PTSA in their programs, as the PTSA is a provider of funding for these groups.
Beautiful Blair: There is a lot of trash around the school. Students, teachers, and staff are reminded to pick up their trash! In addition, Charlie and his committee will be combining planting with trash removal.
Blair Education Foundation: A meeting with Blair Education Foundation, Blair Alumni Association, Mr. Gainous, and Blair Lee will be held to discuss the $15,000 in old BEF funds. The old BEF is now defunct and not operational. A new organization will have to be chartered and the $15,000 can be used as seed money for the new organization.
Choral Boosters: The cookie dough fundraiser has just finished. The Chamber choir sang at Starbucks, the Kiwanis club, Downtown Silver Spring, and Old Town Takoma Park. The Choral Concert will be on Friday, January 5.
9 th Grade Parent Meeting: The 9 th grade parent meeting had another very disappointing turnout. Any suggestions to increase the attendance are appreciated.
Citrus Sales: One of our most successful sales!
Counseling/Advisory: Two hundred attended the financial aid meeting. A series of unfortunate events occurred to make this a less than effective meeting. Information was provided about the CSS profile, the FAFSA profile, and other scholarships. College Tracks needs 21 volunteers for training to help students with these forms and the college transcript process. A mini-grant was discusses concerning additional money for background checks, training materials and books.
Latino Outreach: Deborah attended the ESOL parent meeting. The next PTSA meeting will be a joint meeting with the PTSA and ESOL parents.
NAACP Parent Rep: We still need more recruiting to get a representative.
Membership: There are still individuals who have not picked up their t-shirt premiums. Please attend the PTSA meeting so that you can receive them.
Blazer: Publishing a Spanish Language version of the Blazer is very difficult to accomplish due to the time frame constraints and the getting translators. Herenia Lopez will be contacted to see if she can provide assistance. We need someone to be mentored into the Blazer distribution slot.
Volunteers: Blair has reported more volunteer hours than any other high school in MCPS. We are still being beat for total hours by several elementary schools.
Directory: The data for the directory is finally available. The directories will be put together and distributed after Winter break.
New Tardy Policy: Communication appears to again be the major issue in the implementation of the policy. The PTSA will continue to work with Mr. Gainous to help to improve communication for policy issues.
Dates to remember:
12/19 – PTSA Membership Meeting, 7:30 pm in the Media Center with food and musical entertainment.
1/16 – PTSA Exec Board Meeting 7:00 pm in the Media Center
1/16 – PTSA Membership Meeting 7:30 pm in the Media Center . Community Superintendent Dr. Heath Morrison will be our guest speaker.