Montgomery Blair High School PTSA

Minutes of PTSA Meeting --- November 21, 2006

Executive Committee Meeting Minutes

November 21, 2006
PTSA Membership Meeting

Present: Debra Reed-Gillette, Deborah Stoll, Dave Ottalini, Gail Peck Anne Kaiser, Dorothy Lee, Melissa Yorks, Lora Albanese, Jeanne Philbin, Ole Varmer, Herenia Lopez, Peggy Ottalini, Lilu Cribeiro, Carol Smalls, Pam Gogol, Nancy Newton, José Segura, Andrew Partan, Linda Simon, Bonnie Malkin, Karen Powers, Katya Partan, Diana Sayago, Annie Rohlin, Sam Stokes, Rosemary Hodges, Kathy Bergeron, Leta Holley, Ray Scannell, Mr. Melton, Izzy Melton, Jose Nieto.

Facilitator: Dave Ottalini
Time Keeper: Deborah Stoll
Recorder: Debra Reed-Gillette

Dave called the meeting to order at 7:30 pm . He welcomed all present and reminded individuals that they could place their donated canned goods and AP books in the receptacles in the Media Center . All who brought donations would be able to participate in the raffle following the meeting.

Membership minutes from October were approved as posted. All members are reminded to CLEARLY write their name on the sign-in sheet for each meeting.

Treasurer: The new budget as presented to the Executive Board was presented to the membership for approval. This modified budget includes the break out of dues versus donations on the dues/membership line item as well as adjustments to disbursements to MCCPTA and State & National dues due to changes in fees. The balance in all accounts as of October 31, 2006 is $38,116.69. Additional modifications to the budget were proposed. These modifications included adding a line item for start up funds for the new “College Tracks” program ($250) and a line item for the Reflections program ($500). The budget was approved by the membership. It was reported that we have 429 members in the PTSA, approximately 14% of the student population of the school. November Finance Report

Principal’s Report: Mr. Gainous was unable to attend the meeting. He was at the hospital with his secretary’s husband who had a massive stroke. Mr. Avery is a life long friend of Mr. Gainous’, since the 6 th grade. Any questions for Mr. Gainous can be placed on the index cards and will be given to Mr. Gainous by Dave or Deborah.

DCC Open House: The DCC Open house held on 11/20 was well attended. The Jazz Band, Intonations, and Guitar Choir performed. Scenes from A Christmas Carol were presented. The Cheerleaders also performed a routine.

BlairSportsAcademy (BSA): Mr. Segura of BSA made a presentation to the PTSA about the impact the BSA has had on the lives of many Blair Youth. Mr. Segura was a Security Assistant at Blair for 3 ½ years and had started an indoor soccer program at Blair prior to BSA. BSA is currently run out of the Montgomery County Recreation Department. BSA has just successfully completed a Fall Basketball league and will have a Video/Board Game and Ping Pong focus for the Winter Session. Ladies Night at BSA has been added to help attract at risk girls. Ladies Night will include activities like Salsa Dancing. BSA is NOT just a recreation program. Academic support is the keystone to the program. Any student may participate in BSA, but they must attend academic support each day from 2:15 – 3:15 if they are academically ineligible or at risk of becoming academically ineligible. BSA continues to partner with the school to help students who would not otherwise be able to participate in after school activities. BSA is also working toward preventive programs such as the successful pre-NSL program this summer for ESOL students and the HSA tutoring program held last spring prior to the HSAs. Mr. Melton, a parent, thanked BSA for helping his sons academically and helping them to learn good study habits. Two students also discussed how academic support helped them. Both now have a very strong GPA, can and do play on Blair sports teams, and continue to avail themselves of BSA services. BSA has very few parent/community volunteers. More are needed from 2:15 – 5 pm each day. Approximately 20-25 students participate each day. Blair teachers need to avail themselves of the tutoring assistance available thru BSA. Math teachers seem to send students to BSA academic support, but no other subjects appear to do it.

Graduation Venue: The letter from the Pro-bono attorney is expected the Monday or Tuesday after Thanksgiving. It will then be presented to Nancy Navarro and other new members of the board to reconsider their decision.

Health Room News: Letters are being sent to all students who do not have up-to-date immunizations. They will need to be in compliance by January 1 or they will be excluded from attending school. Vaccination clinics are being held in various locations. Follow-up phone calls from school nurses are also going out to families receiving these letters.

College Tracks: A new program will be brought to Blair by Alumni and current parents of Blair students. This program is for students with little or no support during the college application process and for students where they are the first to attend/apply to college in their family.

Health and PE Department: The Health and PE departments will be holding an open house to have parents look at the new curriculum for Health and PE. This curriculum review will be held December 11 from 3:30 – 4:00 pm . Nancy Newton has agreed to participate. Other volunteers are welcome.

4-H Club proposed to begin at Blair: Beginning next fall a 4-H club is proposed to be offered to Blair High School students as a model for the rest of the county. It will have an urban focus on life skills. A teacher sponsor is being sought, as well as parent volunteers. It was noted that there is a chronic shortage of teachers to sponsor after school clubs and activities at Blair.

Old/Original Blair Coat of Arms: A move is underway to bring the Blair Coat of Arms to Blair’s current location. Currently the Coat of Arms is attached to the Wayne Avenue site, the current site of Silver Spring International Middle School , and Sligo Creek Elementary School . The original artist is being sought as well as masonry/ceramics estimates for removing and remounting the Coat of Arms and repair to the SSI wall.

MCPS will take over all vending machine contracts: Previously this revenue was available to principals for their discretionary use within the school building. Blair has used this revenue to provide school supplies, clothing, and other essentials to students within the Blair population. These revenues will now revert to the county.

By-Laws Committee sought: The PTSA By-laws will expire in March 2007. Committee volunteers to review and revise the by-laws are being sought. Please contact Deborah, Dave, or Nancy if you are interested.

Budget/Treasury review: A committee has been formed to review the budget and audit the treasurer’s books in accordance with the By-laws. The review process will be held in the next month or so.

ListServes/WebSite: (submitted via email)

Online Sales: Online membership: 22 members joined on-line for a net of $786.95. You can sign up for membership on-line until June, so please join the PTSA. On-line Citrus Sales: 277 units sold for a net of $5,149.42. This was the first year that the PTSA has tried this and Barry feels that it was successful. He would recommend doing it again next year and getting it online as soon as possible. We can start the Online Membership sign up before school begins in August.

PTSA List Servs:

PTSA Discussion List (blairptsanet):

This is a members only list that allows for the posting of messages and comments by any member of the list. While individual messages ARE NOT moderated, they are monitored and members posting off topic messages (news not of/& for MBHS), or not conforming to the Netiquette Rules sent to each member upon joining, can be banned at the discretion of the Executive Committee &/or the List Owner (Barry). A copy of the List Netiquette Rules can be viewed at http://ptsa.mbhs.edu/netiquette.shtml (there is a link on the Left Navigation Bar on the Home Page). As of Nov 20, 2006 there are only 678 members.

Message totals: 314 for Sept; 394 for Oct; 185 for Nov (so far).

Announcements List (MBHSAnnouncements):

This List is for announcements only - information that the PTSA Presidents and the MBHS Administration believe to be of importance to all parents and students of Montgomery Blair High School . All Announcements posted to this List will also be posted to the PTSA Discussion List, so it is NOT necessary to belong to both Lists.

As of Nov 20, 2006 there are only 72 members.
Message totals: 22 for Oct; 37 for Nov (so far).

Members can sign up for either list from the PTSA web page ( http://ptsa.mbhs.edu ). Remember to reply to the automatic message with your name and the name & grade of your student. Both of these lists are private lists and people requesting membership on either must be able to demonstrate a legitimate connection to the school in order to be added.

Web Page:

http://ptsa.mbhs.edu The web page is updated almost daily. Please forward any information that you feel would benefit the wider MBHS community.

Page statistics: Still working on getting these from Pete. Barry will try to provide these next month.

HumanServicesAcademy: Lisa Seid is the lead teacher. They are planning a series of activities on Academy Day for each of the 5 strands: Teaching/Education, Justice/Law/Society, Health/Fitness, Psychology/Sociology, and Early Childhood. Parent assistance as proctors is needed from 12 – 2 pm . In March, field trips to see these professions on–site are planned. Any suggestions on possible sites are welcome. Mentors and places for internships are needed for seniors. A nutrition and wellness fair is coming soon. More information is needed for academic planning.

Painless Fundraising: Shop to Care has started at Wheaton Plaza and Montgomery Mall. Blair has the opportunity to be a $10,000 winner if they collect the most receipts at both malls, $5,000 if the most at one; 10 runners-up groups will win $1,000 at each mall. Please contact Carol Smalls for more information or see this link:

http://www.mbhs.edu/newsevents/Westfield.html  or the Silver Chips Article: http://silverchips.mbhs.edu/inside.php?sid=7012 . 

Magnet News: Applications for the magnet are due on 12/8. Testing will be held the first Saturday in January. Sixteen middle schools can apply to Blair; nine middle schools apply to the programs at Poolesville.

Silver Chips was again a Pacemaker Award Winner. Jeffrey Guo and Victoria Yao were chosen as regional finalists in the Siemens Competition.

ESOL Parent Liaison needed! There is a push to have a full-time parent liaison within Blair. This is an MCPS position that the PTSA is asking for as part of our budget priorities for Blair.

Citrus Sale: Sale has ended, netting approximately $9000.

Mini-Grants: 75 applications were received totaling approximately $30,000. The committee had $10,000 to disburse. A committee of parents, students, and staff decided on the funding allocations. The PTSA approved the disbursement of the mini-grants as recommended by the committee. Depending on available funding, additional disbursements may be made later in the year.

Instructional Leadership Team (ILT): Mr. Gainous is very adamant about the PTSA being an integral part of the ILT. PTSA co-presidents have attended leadership training with staff. He wants parents to be full partners in the process. Communication is key! There is discussion of having an announcement hotline for parents to call in addition to the 2 list serves which post InfoFlow announcements because there are so few parents who are members of either list.

Raffle Winners:

Herenia Lopez – Admission to the Babe Ruth Museum

Carol Smalls – Blair HS Informational CD

Annie Rohlin – MD Women’s Basketball tickets

Dates to remember:

12/4 – PTSA Exec Board Meeting, 7:30 pm in the Staff Lounge (changed to 12/11)

12/19 – PTSA Membership Meeting, 7:30 pm in the Media Center with food and musical entertainment. Please bring food/desserts to share!

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.