SES PTSA board Meeting Minutes
- June 13, 2007@ 6.30 p.m.

Members 2006/2007 Board: (those in bold were present)
Doug Wells (president); Kristen Calhoun (president-elect); Nancy Church; (treasurer); Beth Azar (secretary); Claire Irvan (membership coordinator); Melinda Patterson (fundraising); Lisa Bauso (fundraising); Neeley Wells (volunteer coordinator); Katie Smith (volunteer coordinator); Jennifer Freda-Cowie (teacher support); Courtney Lobo (teacher support); Caryn Corwin (parent education); Cindy Ewers (parent education); Robin May (teacher representative); Rebecca Wagner (teacher representative); Anna Goldrich (member-at-large); Mario Galindo (member-at-large); Meg Stalnaker (member-at-large); Beth Waltz (member-at-large)

Members 2007/2008 Board: (those in bold were present)
Nicole Cleary (president); Kristy Pearson-Denny (treasurer); Cynthia Ben-Zaken (secretary); Wendy Rudman (membership coordinator); Anna Goldrich (fundraising); Cindy Ewers (fundraising); Neeley Wells (volunteer coordinator); Michol Williams (volunteer coordinator); Beth Azar (room parent coordinator); Avi Ben-Zaken (capitol improvements); Rebecca Wagner (teacher rep); Robin May (teacher rep); Mia Pisano Yang (Wellness); Cindi Carrel (parent education); Beth Waltz (parent education); Emory ??? (teacher appreciation); Bill Welch (member-at-large); Britt Stoeler (member-at-large); Mario Galindo (member-at-large)

The meeting began at 6:30 pm.

Year in Review

Doug asked various members of this year's board to provide the new board with an overview of the year.

Fundraising: Melinda summarized the fundraising ventures from the year. The biggest was the auction. She suggested that, since we will finish the year with a healthy reserve, fundraising in the future could focus on ventures the school really wants to take on.

The Chinook Book is an easy fundraiser that makes a modest amount of money. Nancy suggested that the books be sold at the SCRIP table at the start of the year.

The magazine sale isn't popular with some, but well-liked by others. Cindy and Anna suggested that they just do it as an online fundraiser next year to encourage people to renew their subscriptions, but not make a big push for sales. People thought this was a good middle ground.

The wreath and poinsettia sale is the one fundraiser left for middle schoolers to bank toward marine biology. Neeley made the point that it occurs during a relatively high intensity time.

Communications: Neeley discussed the strides the school has made in better communicating between staff and parents. She'd like to use Harvest Faire as a model for communicating volunteer needs: providing specific needs in an organized manner with plenty of lead time.

There was a short discussion of Friday envelopes and other ways to get information home every week. The hope is that room parents can work with teachers to find a mechanism that works for each classroom.

Neeley also emphasized the need to get everything filtered through the office so that the secretary knows what's going on and can respond to phone calls and office visits with the right information.

Teacher Support: Courtney and Jennifer talked about how their role got muddied by miscommunication about the job they were supposed to do. Jennifer emphasized the need for the staff to better understand the role of room parents and how they can help.

School community: Doug commented that there are many community events that don't involve fundraising, but that some people don't feel they understand what's going on. Meg asked about a program to match new families with established families to help them transition. Doug emphasized the need to spend a lot of time over the summer to implement the ideas everyone has.

Looking forward: the 2007-2008 budget

Nicole took over the meeting as the incoming president. She said that her main goal is to help the board establish a clear vision of the PTSA's role at SES and to then link that mission to the budget.

Budget: Nancy then gave an overview of the budget for next year. The hope is to meet over the summer and finalize the budget and to vote on it in September.

Nancy asked whether the board wanted to keep money in the budget for lobbying. There was a motion to keep $1,000 in the budget for this purpose. Neeley seconded the motion. The board passed the motion unanimously.

The board discussed how to calculate what we spend on overnights for grades 4-8. Kristen suggested that the treasurer should estimate paying for 100% of overnights for fourth and fifth graders because they have much less ability to fundraise for themselves. The board agreed that it's important to communicate better with teachers and to emphasize to the community that PTSA promises that all children can go on overnights regardless of their ability to pay.

Nancy explained that she left a "blank box" for grounds and school renovations. The PTSA will end the year with about $85,000 in the bank. The board can pick a figure that they are comfortable spending down to and use the remaining funds for renovations.

Doug suggested adding a $10,000 discretionary fund line into next year's budget to pay for items that come up that the board doesn't want to have to send to the general PTSA for a vote. The board agreed to add this to the budget.

The board discussed the idea of teacher grants. The system didn't get used much this year and teachers seemed too busy to use it. Neeley suggested that the board give the teachers a cart blanche gift of $200 for the year. Others suggested Powell's gift cards. Rebecca said that teachers spend an average of about $200/month out of pocket for their classrooms.

Neeley motioned to give the teachers $200 each--core teachers and specials. Beth seconded the motion. The board unanimously passed the motion.

Arts: Because it was running late, Nicole asked that we table any more big discussions for the summer or email. Beth briefly explained that the board needed to decide whether to pursue the idea of spending $5,000 for some kind of music literacy program for K-2. The board generally agreed to move ahead with this and to not put it off for a year. Beth will continue her research and report back to the board this summer.

Summer requests

Nicole suggested that the board take up much of the requests for summer money via email.

The board briefly discussed Sarah's request to fund a summer intern to develop a system for tracking alumni. Cindy said that she would volunteer to get a database set up. The board discussed how much this would cost long-term and how it would be maintained. Sarah said that, once it's set up, her staff would maintain it and would pay the costs for supplies and mailings.

Courtney motioned to fund the project as a start-up grant for up to $1,000. Nancy seconded. The board passed the motion unanimously.

Nicole asked that any more discussion happen via email and said that she'd host a board meeting at her house in July. She hoped to set up a listserv for better board communication.

The meeting adjourned at 8:15.

 

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