Brandt PTO Meeting Minutes 9/21

Posted by Sarah

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.