Montgomery Blair High School PTSA

Minutes of PTSA Meeting --- April 17, 2007

Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

April 17, 2007
PTSA Membership Meeting

Present: Debra Reed-Gillette, Deborah Stoll, Carol Smalls, Bonnie Malkin, Beth Martin, Andrew Partan, Miriam Szapiro, Ran Scannell, Melissa Yorks, Marla Zipin, Shirley Khatis, Katya Partan, Peggy Ottalini, Barbara Tobias, Anna Keller, Sally Taber, Jeanne Philbin, Ole Varmer, Linda Simon, Stephanie Kaufman, Diana Vidutis

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

Dave called the meeting to order at 7:30 pm.

All members are reminded to CLEARLY write their name on the sign-in sheet for each meeting.

Membership minutes for the March meeting were approved as amended and posted.

Beach Week: Wendy Sisson presented “Play it Safe” a beach week program run by Ocean City, Maryland and the Worcester County Health Department. Ocean City strives to keep our seniors safe during Beach week that dreaded time for all parents of graduating seniors. Ocean City will sponsor over 59 free activities in June, including Water sports, other sporting events, Karaoke, Midnight bowling, pancake eating contests, laser tag, sandcastle building contests, free food, snacks, and prizes. Activities run from 10 am until about midnight. T-shirts are also available. If you attend ANY event, you will be provided a wristband that will allow you to have free bus transportation for the week. The Ocean City bus system runs 24 hours per day. In order to enter any event, you simply need to show your drivers license or student ID card. The entire program is run by volunteers whose main goal is to keep the kids SAFE. Check out their website at: www.playitsafeoceancity.com. You can call 1-800-OCOCEAN to find “senior friendly” hotels in the area. The program will also be presented on Comcast ONDEMAND. Beware of programs that say they are sponsored by the school system, county or state, providing Senior Beach Week programs.

Painless Fundraising: This year, with 462 people signed up by the end of the program, Blair earned a total of $5449.59 from the Giant Program. Last year, with 222 people enrolled, Blair earned $2662.75.

Treasurer: The Amended Budget was approved and passed unanimously. This amended budged will provide $1000 for each academy, including the 9 th grade academy for start up planning materials. The By-laws were also approved by a unanimous vote of the membership. It should be noted that the by-laws are now using the new Feb 2007 form from Maryland PTSA. The current balance in all accounts as of March 31 is $27,113.18. April Finance Report

Blair Athletic Boosters: A College Sports Scholarship Information Night is being sponsored by the Athletic Boosters next week. The school will be invited using InfoFlow for students and RoboDialer for parents.

Blazer: The last issue of the Blazer will have a copy deadline of May 11. This issue will include all information for the end of the year, summer, and beginning of next year.

Blair Fair: Blair Fair will be held THIS Friday April 20, 2007 from 5-8 pm. The SGA will be hosting a Carnival Day which will include a rock climbing wall, cotton candy, moon bounce, tattoos and games for students in elementary through high school. This year’s Blair Fair is community inclusive! Please notify and invite all local families to Blair Fair. The SGA is asking for 25 adult volunteers (parents or teachers) to assist with Blair Fair supervision. Please contact Vijay Baharani to volunteer.

School Report/Mr. Gainous: Mr. Gainous had hoped to present a new program to the PTSA this evening called High School Plus. However, in light of the events at Virginia Tech, he discussed school safety at Blair, and in Montgomery County. Historically, Blair was one of the first schools in MCPS to have a school safety committee and a safety plan. Mr. Gainous was one of the first to attend the National Committee for Safe schools, to discuss Blair’s plan with other schools. During a code red at Blair, doors are locked, etc. All students and teachers found behind doors that are found not locked during the drill are treated as “casualties.” Swat teams practice within the Blair and other MCPS schools during non-school hours to learn where possible hiding places, etc are located. Having effective drills means having effective attendance policies. This is why the ID policy and attendance policies within the school are so important. The concession stand is the area where a parent/guardian can find out the location of a child if the students have been evacuated to the stadium during a live code procedure. If students have been evacuated outside of the school area, the fire department blocks University Blvd to allow the students to proceed to the evacuation site. After the school has been evacuated, the police will enter the building. If students are evacuated to an off school site, the Safeway is the parent contact point for finding out information about the students. Blair is on the same power grid as the fire station, which is why it is so rare that Blair loses its power. Effectively, the tragedy that occurred at Virginia Tech would be unlikely to occur in any MCPS school, due to the heightened awareness in this area for safety within the schools and our methods for contacting students/parents etc, and quickly locking down schools.

Grading and Reporting: Bonnie presented a resolution by the Grading and Reporting Committee which proposed to due away with the grade chart and grade trending for the calculating quarter and semester grades. The proposal was to replace the grade chart and trending with a strict percentage scale. The membership voted to table a vote on the resolution until clarification was obtained as to the new proposal’s impact on teacher discretion in forcing quarter and/or semester grades up or down.

Pedestrian Safety: The impact of the new drop off plan for the University Blvd side of the school is still being accessed. The plan began after Spring Break. Flyers were distributed to those parents already dropping off illegally on that side, signs are erected, and surface painting was completed. Students have protested the reduction of 7 student parking spaces due to the new drop off.

Nominating Committee: Nominations for next year’s slate of officers are STILL being recruited. We need a co-president to serve a two year term of office. Please see any PTSA officer to volunteer your time and talents to the PTSA.

Announcements: Maryland Day will be at UMCP on April 28, 2007 – all day! A program on the College Admissions Game will be held at Parkland Middle School from 7-9 pm. The May meeting program will include a question and answer forum with Chris Barcley, from the MCPS Board of Education. Blair’s literacy coaches will also be giving us a presentation on how the literacy program is implemented at Blair and within the cluster. Graduation details from the Senior Parent meeting have been posted to the PTSA website. Each senior will be given 10 tickets to graduation, but can request additional tickets if needed.

Dates to Remember:

Friday April 20: Blair Fair/PTSA Silent Auction/MrMs Blazer

May 9: Board of Directors Meeting 7:30 pm Staff Lounge

May 15: PTSA Membership Meeting 7:30 pm Media Center

May 27: After Prom

June 4: Graduation – COMCAST Center

June 6: PTSA Board of Directors and Membership Meeting 7:30 pm – NOTE NEW DATE!