MECA HS PTA General Meeting October 16th, 2024

Virtual meeting (zoom)

Attendees: Josh Ehrlich (PTA President), Sarah Kaplan( Principal), Vivian Cruz (Parent Coordinator), Monica Soto (PTA Secretary), Ms. Alisa Sukotskaya (Teacher/presenter),Ms. Ingram (9th grade teacher), Joelle Washington (PTA Treasurer) and 14 other parents/caregivers (list available upon request).

The josh started the meeting after confirming a quorum of PTA executive board members and parents.

Monica Soto PTA secretary scribed the following meeting notes.

1.      Approval of September Meeting minutes: Josh shared the zoom screen and navigated to the MECA PTA website where to find last month’s minutes. Josh went thru each section and highlights of the minutes. After making a motion to approve the meeting, parents and staff voted, and without opposition, minutes were approved.  Josh shared the PTA website address on the chat https://mecahspta.org/ and from there navigate to Parents Resources, then to PTA meeting minutes subsection.

2.      Principal’s Report: Ms. Kaplan shared the following upcoming events:

·         Oct. 29th No classes at MECA but BMCC normal schedule for classes.

·         Nov 1st and Nov 5th school closed

·         MECA school website relaunch soon (guest speaker MS Alisa will add more).

·         Open house coming up on Wednesday Nov. 6 and Saturday Nov. 9.

·         CTE Steering Committee meeting next meeting Nov. 8th.

·         PT Conferences in afternoon on 11/21 and morning on 11/22.

·         Thanksgiving Feast tradition will be Wednesday 11/22. All parents are invited.

·         College representatives will continue visiting MECA. Please see Ms. Ciara for the sign up.

3.      Treasurer’s Report: Joelle informed there are no updates. The balance is the same from last month. Josh added we are putting together some efforts to raise funds. Josh called out for new parents who would like to join those activities. Potential fundraisers to fund:

·         Teacher’s Appreciation Day in May

·         Senior Graduation recipient

Josh added that we would like to repeat the Breakfast Bar soon. Possible other fundraising is partnering with Branding Teacher, Ms. Alisa. Stay tuned for more information.

4.      President’s report

Josh shared the PTA website https://mecahspta.org/ and show that it is constantly being updated with important dates and upcoming events. Josh showed that DOE has a new resources, The Anti-Hate Hotline on the DOE Website. It appears it is a new and additional effort by the DOE. Lastly, Josh would like all parents to join together at an in-person event at MECA. Maybe hosting some dinner, or at a place where we could see the students products/items they had worked on.

5.      Rebranding of MECA School Website and Logo- by Ms. Alisa Sukotskaya (CTE Teacher 11th & 12th Grades):

Ms Alisa was very excited to unveiled the result of a group students that worked during this past summer. The project was to rebrand the MECA school logo and theme.  The students were as if a marketing agency with her and under the HAVAS, one of the biggest marketing agencies. The project was to celebrate the 10 years celebrating MECA and applying the CTE skills students learned.

These are the highlights of the project:

·         Building a new and appealing MECA school website.

·         Revive the MECA Logo with a branding kit to use in items and posters and printing formats.

·         New school mascot

·         New Slogan

·         New Intro Video Welcome to MECA

Ms. Alisa provided a tour of the Redesigned website that is still in production. IT will go live on November 1st.

Ms. Alisa praised the students who worked on the project. It provided students with the opportunity to learn to work on the design of the website. Alisa concluded stating this is only Phase I of the project. A Phase II will continue with rebranding and updating visual displays, posters, murals, walls.

6.      Old business:

Nothing to report.

7.      New Business: no new items

The meeting adjourned without any more questions.

Please reach out via email to ptainfo@mecahspta.org