Brandt Kindergarten PTO

1. Attendees signed in and provided all contact information. There were approximately 20 parents in attendance, as well as Jessica Peters, Edith Vega and the PTO president from Calabro School.

2. Review of immediate concerns from the PTO meeting on September 10.

• a) Spanish Teacher/specials:
• I) PTO member Vanessa Falco went to the Board of Education (BOE) meeting on Tuesday, September 15th and expressed the PTO’s concern that our children weren’t getting Spanish instruction. This has been temporarily resolved by having Ms. Vega teach Spanish as a 6th special subject. Vanessa has agreed to continue pursuing a separate teacher for Spanish. This is a follow-up item for the next agenda
• II) There was also agreement that Mr. Scott was well received by the children as their new specials teacher.
• III) The issue of individual teachers for each special was addressed and it was decided that the PTO would pursue this as a top priority for 1st grade
• b) Bike Rack:
• I) Bike racks have been ordered for the school. Timing TBD.
• c) Roof playground:
• I) The playground will be installed on 10/16. Hula-hoops, jump ropes, balls, etc. are now available for use by the kindergarten classes during recess.
• d) Nutrition:
• I) Flavored milk has been discontinued, as has breakfast in the classroom. The PTO’s Start-Up Task Force will take up the issue of the quality of the lunch food with provider Chartwells, as well as distribution and clarity of the weekly menu and billing. Ms. Peters will also be meeting with Chartwells. This is a follow-up item for the next agenda
• II) If you want your child to have a snack you must send it with them. The teacher will build snack time in as needed.
• III) The children do not have access to water in the classroom, but it is provided on the 3rd floor.
• e) Drop off/pick up:
• I) The new sign in and sign out system seems to be working relatively well. There are still concerns about the teachers not carrying a list of approved people or verifying Ids, when a non-guardian picks up a child.
• II) There is also a clog of parents at the double-doors where teachers are bringing the children through at the end of the day. It was discussed that parents should stand at the tables, away from the doors, to make drop-off less crowded. Items I and II are follow-up items for the next agenda.
• f) Tools of the Mind:
• I) There is no Tools curriculum for 1st grade. The curriculum that will be used for 1st grade is called Lit Life and the children will be prepared throughout the year with Tools for a transition to this new curriculum.
• II) There was discussion of the PTO’s Student Enrichment committee working with Jessica Peters to have an additional presentation of Tools given to the kindergarten parents, as well as possibly sending a parent representative to a Tools workshop.
• g) 1st Grade:
• I) At this point we don’t know if there will be 1st grade at Brandt or where our kindergarten classes will be attending 1st grade. This will be an ongoing task for the PTO’s Start Up Committee and the School Leadership Committee (SLC).

3. PTO Committees and the SLC:

• a) Based on information from other PTO leaders and Ms. Vega, a decision was made to keep the PTO focused on fundraising, student enrichment and fun activities for Brandt families. This will be handled through committees. Parents at the meeting volunteered for several committees and parents who weren’t at the meeting will also have an opportunity to volunteer. It was suggested that a committee chair be appointed within each committee. That person will speak at each PTO meeting, explaining their progress and goals. The committees include:
• I) The Start-Up Task Force (STF): This committee will be responsible for tackling immediate concerns such as facilities (bike rack, playground) and health and safety (nutrition, sign-in/sign-out) and the long-term issue of a location for 1st grade. The formation of this committee will assist the PTO in staying focused on its students and families, instead of becoming overwhelmed with these other issues.
• II) Parent-Teacher committee: This committee will include a volunteer from each classroom, which can be the class parent or another volunteer. This committee will assist in organizing class parties and activities during teacher appreciation week.
• III) Student Enrichment: This committee will be responsible for planning assemblies or presentations with speakers (firefighter, photographer, etc), school-wide field trips and monitoring what is going on in other kindergarten classes that we might want (science, prep for G&T and tracking in 1st grade, etc.). They will also look into the quality of Brandt’s wraparound care.
• IV) Fundraising: This committee will be responsible for raising money through a variety of avenues. A general request for donations was made, which would help get the PTO started. The Calabro PTO president said that paper boosters have been very effective for her. The sale of cookie dough, wrapping paper, chocolates, etc was also discussed. As well as a silent auction.
• V) Family Fun/Community: This committee would be responsible for organizing things like movie night, pasta night, and other family fun nights. The PTO discussed having a family night or event once a month, beginning with a Halloween party. They would also help coordinate an activity for the children to do with one of the local shelters, like make sandwiches or placemats. There will be a box at each PTO meeting for the collection of non-perishable food items. This can be delivered to the shelter by a different class each month or by a PTO parent.
• VI) There will also be a School Leadership Committee (SLC). The School Leadership Committee is a small group of parents, teachers and administrators that work together to give direction on solving school issues and developing school initiatives, as well as helping students meet the Dibbles and TerraNova testing goals. Ms. Vega will be inviting a few parents and teachers to join the SLC. An SLC representative will update parents at PTO meetings.

4) Meetings and communications:

• a) Future meeting dates are: October 5th, November 9th and December 7th.
• b) There will be a PTO blog with calendar updates, PTO news and the meeting minutes. The address is brandt-pto.blogspot.com The blog will be closed to comments and there was discussion of having it password protected.

5) Organization structure:

• a) Jill Sullivan (Mackenzie’s mom) and Sarah Cavill (Mimi’s mom) were selected as co-chairs and Kathleen Keilman (Charlotte’s mom) will serve as treasurer.

1. Set date & time for next 2 meetings.

• a. Monday, September 21, 7-9pm, Brandt Cafeteria
• b. Monday, October 5, 7-? (9pm latest), Brandt Cafeteria
• c. Propose 1st Monday of each month thereafter (Nov. 2 & Dec 7 for remainder of 2009 schedule)

2. Proposed Committees for PTO

• a. Room Mothers Committee: act as liaison between the classroom mothers. Includes such things as coordinating holiday plans (i.e. Halloween parade, Thanksgiving “meal”, etc.), implementing phone chains, birthday celebration coordination/standard (once a month for all kids born in the month).
• b. Assembly Committee: coordinate and recruit school assemblies for all K classrooms (ex. fire safety, others)
• c. Parent/Teacher Committee ????: coordinate activities for teacher appreciation week (I need to clarify this)
• d. Fundraising Committee: organize all fundraising efforts for PTO, seek out donations for school (from parents, businesses in Hoboken), and report on funds raised and distribution of funds.
• e. Facilities Committee: decide on things that need to be done in the school building (bike racks, roof top playground, garden)
• f. Health & Safety Committee: monitor procedures that ensure safety of our children, like pick-up drop-off process. Address health concerns regarding food choices available to students, cleanliness in regard to spreading of germs, and providing classrooms with necessary tools to keep our kids healthy (hand washing, kid friendly hand sanitizer, tissues, Lysol wipes, etc,)
• g. Enrichment Committee: Communicate to parents on curriculum updates, extracurricular activities and programs, partner with other schools on programs (like science club), gifted & talented tracking for next year.

3. Immediate Concerns that need to be addressed

• a. Spanish Classes: Spanish is not being offered at Brandt but is offered at all other K classrooms in district. This is unacceptable.
• i. Action Plan:
• 1. Speak at BOE Meeting on Tuesday, 9/15 at the Public Portion of the meeting regarding the hiring of Michael Scott who will be hired as the Brandt specials teacher but is not qualified to teach Spanish. (Vanessa will represent us at the meeting) Perhaps she can give an update at meeting?
• 2. Letters to the BOE after the meeting (do we need to make general talking points for those who want to write a letter?)
• 3. Petition (if necessary)
• b. Playground on the roof: should be installed within 5 weeks of this meeting (by 10/16).
• i. We would like the safety of the fence double checked
• ii. How do we address other equipment that should be available up there (i.e. hula hoops, jump ropes, playground balls, etc.)?
• iii. Where to store other equipment so that it is exclusive to the kindergarten students (can we get a shed for storage)
• iv. Can we look into a tarp to extend the “life” on the roof, as it gets colder to block the wind? Something that is removable.
• c. Bike rack at kindergarten entrance:
• i. Should be addressed by the fundraising & facilities committee as a priority
• d. Quality of food offering: Breakfast is too sugary & lunch offering needs to be looked at with Chartwells.
• i. Is there a way to control the menu?
• ii. Can we control what our kids are allowed to eat (only what we pack for them, offering breakfast)
• iii. How is snack addressed in classroom
• iv. Should be addressed by the Health & Safety Committee
• e. Drop Off & Pick Up Procedures: suggested new sign in & sign out procedures to make hand off more official.
• i. Drop off: Parent will sign in student with teacher on a class list clipboard. When teacher leaves the cafeteria she will be at the head of the line & the assistant will be at the end of the line. They will then count their students to make sure that it matches who was signed in on their clipboard before going up the stairs.
• ii. Pick up: Teacher will have class list clipboard so that the students can be signed out. The teacher should also be carrying a list of approved people that are allowed to pick up their students in case the usual pick up person is not there. Parents should make an effort to communicate to the teacher if the usual person will not be picking up their student.

4. Speak with leaders of PTO at other schools

• a. Jill Sullivan to call PTO reps from Wallace, Calabro and Conners to get feedback & suggestions.

5. Board Meetings: we will be asking PTO members to volunteer to take turns attending board meetings. Occasionally, that will involve speaking during the public portion of the meeting to directly address our needs & concerns.

6. Brandt Parent Handbook: Edith Vega & Jessica Peters need parent volunteers to help pull together a parent handbook. This will involve adapting a handbook from another school & making it specific to Brandt. The final handbook will be translated into Spanish using resources provided by the district.

This blog will be a tool to help the Kindergarten parent community stay informed and up-to-date on the activities and discussions of the PTO.