Montgomery Blair High School PTSA

Minutes of PTSA Meeting --- January , 2007

Minutes of PTSA Meeting --- January 15, 2008

PTSA Membership Meeting

January 15, 2008

Present: Bob Gillette, Dave Ottlalini, Debra Reed-Gillette, Peggy Ottalini, Chih Chow, Valma Yearwood, Carol Smalls, Nancy Newton, Sumih Chi, Beth Martin, Sally Taber, Marcy Fink Campos , Barbara Tobias, Andrew Partan, Katya Partan, Sam Stokes, Marc Hoffman, Holly Hukill

Facilitator: Dave Ottalini
Time Keeper: Bob Gillette
Recorder: Debra Reed-Gillette

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

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

The minutes for the November and December meetings were approved as posted to the PTSA website and listserves.

Treasurer's Report:  The PTSA netted over $10,000 in Citrus Sales this year.  All PTSA line items received to date have been disbursed.  Two minigrants that were returned due to the sponsors leaving will be re-awarded.    An anonymous donation of $1000 was received.  In addition, over $2000 was received for AfterProm for the Barnes and Noble event.  Memberships are still being received.

Principal's Report:  Ms Wanner attended the meeting for Mr. Williams.  The remaining first semester final exam schedule will be as follows:

• Periods 5 & 6 on Wednesday
• Periods 7 & 8 on Thursday
• Make-up Exams on Friday
• Monday is a holiday
• Tuesday is a Professional Day for all teachers and no school for students

January 23^rd will begin the second semester with an Advisory.  Note that all courses in Montgomery County are semesterized, and students receive ½ credit per semester course.  All core classes have final exams:  Math, English, Science, Social Studies, and Foreign Language.  A small number of HSAs will be given in January to some seniors.  As a matter of clarification, if a student takes a course that has an HSA in a state other than Maryland , then the student is exempt from that HSA.

Both the Spring Musical, "Beauty and the Beast", and Spring Break are in March this year.

SGA Report:  The SGA collected over 5000 cans of food and supplies during the November Food drive.   During the voter registration drive, over 250 students were registered to vote.  Upcoming events for the SGA include a Powder Puff game during Spring Spirit week, a blood drive, and a Sadie Hawkins dance.  

Presentation:  Level-10 – Paul Brunsen and Daphne Charles.

Level-10 is a 501(c)(3) non-profit grassroots organization aimed at eliminating the nation's achievement gap through innovative academic solutions.  It has been in existence since 2003 providing programs on how to get into college, closing the achievement gap, tips to ensure successful transitions to college, how to boost your GPA, and how to maximize SAT and HSA scores.  All funding for Level-10 comes through fundraising, grants and foundations.  Additional information is available thru their website at:  http://Level-Ten.org

Presentation:  Parent Academy – Marcia S. Vogel

The Parent Academy programs have come out of the MCPS middle school reform initiatives and have provided a very successful model of collaborating with parents and schools to provide needed information and open dialogue within MCPS.  Parent involvement is the key to success for students and has a direct impact on student achievement.  All Parent Academy workshops are free and offer free childcare by MCSP certified adults.  Interpreters are available upon request.  Translation can be done in Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, French, Korean, and Amharic.  The Parent Academy at Blair on 1/14 will be by MCTFCU on Managing your money.  So far, the Parent Academy has conducted over 41 workshops for over 610 parents.  Over 143 children have participated in the free childcare program.  These workshops and presentations serve a very diverse group of parents.  Most workshops are 1 ½ hours in length, but some can be as short as 45 minutes.  If a workshop is desired at Blair for Blair specific topics please contact Marcia. 

http://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/parentacademy/

After Prom:  Thanks to all who helped make the Barnes and Noble fundraiser so successful.  The committee will be back in touch when it is time to begin making decorations for AfterProm later this spring.

Silent Auction:  There will be a meeting on Sunday the 20^th at Donna's house.

Volunteers:  Blair reported 1000 volunteer hours in December.  We now have a senior class liaison as of today.  Volunteer needs coming on the horizon are Report Cards and Teach Appreciation on February 27 (the MCPS ½ day).

Painless Fundraising:  Blair currently has 391 Giant participators and 380 eScrip participators.  Tallies for Sniders' receipts are due February 1, so please get your 2007 receipts to Carol!

ASC:  Currently the Achievement Steering Committee is working at ensuring all students needing assistance are properly targeted for intervention.  This also involves making sure that all ESOL and Special Needs students are correctly classified.  Getting documentation and paperwork assembled for alternative tests has been daunting.  It is also pointing out that Blair will need additional testing facilitators for all of the different tests requiring accommodations.  All testing facilitators need to be certified teachers.  The committee is trying to ensure that all students needing help are offered the help they need and given it.  They are trying to also ensure that all students are correctly classified and that no student falls through the cracks.

Counseling Advisory:  High School Plus is available for all students who are missing credit for required courses from 2:30 – 4:10 so that they may repeat the course during an extended school day.  The goals that Counseling Advisory are working toward is assisting in getting the word out concerning registration for next year's courses and making the counseling experience more user friendly.  Registering for AP exams will be coming soon.

Reflections:  All Blair Reflections winners will be receiving a gift card.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:10 pm.

Dates to remember:   

• January 18 – Second Marking Period Ends
• January 21 – MLK Holiday , No School
• January 22 – Professional Day, No School for Students
• January 28 – Pre-Registration class visits by counselors begin
• January 30 – Report Cards distributed
• February 19 – PTSA BoD Meeting – 7 pm Media Center
• February 19 – PTSA Membership Meeting – 7:30 pm Media Center

*SAC is the Student Activity Center aka the cafeteria