December 2023 Meeting Minutes

Global Arts PTA Meeting Minutes 

12/11/23 at 6:30 pm - In Person @ Upper Campus

Meeting called to order at 6:05 pm by Dawn Puroway 

Attendees: Ms. Beck, Ms. Bourgoyne, Dawn Puroway, Stephanie Stegeman, Maureen Mullaney, Heather Fahey, Brittany Anderson, Marlee Larson, Tony Wittman, Maureen Nystrom, Jackie Robinson, Demarco Percy, Sara and Kristian Nelson, Jennifer and Kyle Mulligan-Locket, Kaylan and Tom Pundsack, Michelle Klemmer and Carl Oken, Michelle O’brien, Stephanie Anderson and William Palmer, Alicia Ramirez, Hillary Wightman, Rana Emerson, Maren Olsen, Molly O’Connell, Alyssa Olness, Lisa Zinnel, Manda Keller-Ross, Jon Ross, Kate and Clint Christensen, Martha Berit Higera, Leslie Caballero, Emily Harer, Magdalene Whelp, Lisa Zinnel, Amber Day, Rachel Olson, Charlotte Young, Carl Olsen, Leslie Rumsey-Rogers, Suki Akers

Welcome and Introductions - Dawn Puroway (PTA president)

Introduction of Translators in Spanish and Amharic or Oromo. Acknowledgment that the start to this school year and few months have been really hard for either your kids and/or you. Or those who are helping to support others in the school. Ideally we would have come up with some norms about how our meeting would go. But since we didn’t do that at the beginning of the year. 

Norms

• Strive to include all because all belong here

• Respectful language - assertiveness over aggression

• We won’t always agree and that’s okay

Later in the meeting there will be small group discussions which will allow people to share with someone that you haven’t met or haven’t talked to before. It’s a new structure but please let us know what you think of it. 

Explanation of Robert’s rule of order - a few parts of the meeting have to be formal (like calling the meeting to order and voting on the minutes from the month before) because the PTA is a non-profit organization.

Secretary’s Report - Maureen Mullaney Vu (PTA secretary)

Holding off on voting until next month’s meeting. Minutes are posted on the website and on memberhub. Giving folks time to review those minutes before voting at the January meeting.

Treasurer’s Report - Stephanie Stegeman (PTA treasurer)

November Treasurer's Report

Over 600 postcards were sent out to families for the Direct Ask Fundraiser. This is our biggest fundraiser for the year. This is our main way to support the arts residencies. We try to give $10,000 to give a check to Global Arts Plus.  Additionally, funds support giving teachers a $100 reimbursement for classroom supplies.  Right now 5,864 have been raised. Please share and encourage others to give.

Dad, Christian - talked about how moving the photography exhibit was. This is why we send our kids to this school. 

Right now we on track. Last year we were catching up from the pandemic. We are in a much better place now. We start talking about the budget in March, April and vote in May. If that’s something that's passionate to you, please come to those meetings. There’s a detailed copy on the back table. We have fundraisers throughout the year to keep us on track. Our ability to give teachers $100 each year for reimbursement. 

School Continuous Improvement Plan (SCIP) report - Ms Bourgoyne and Ms Beck 

Ms. Beck - School Continuous Improvement Plan

Our plan is similar to schools across the math, literacy and PBIS which is an attendance goal. Math goal is based on MCA scores. 31-36% proficient. 

Complementary Goal - Start taking these tests in 3rd grade. To increase from 22-28% proficient in grades K-4. Assessment is taken in September and again in January and again at the beginning of the year.

28-33 proficient in literacy . Complementary goal is FAST - another assessment goal. Early reading for K. Using those assessments to track growth. Highlight that last year we started using Ufly which is a phonic curriculum. We are seeing a decrease in the number of students who are at high risk this year. Students are loving it. Ufly follows the science of reading.

Dawn Puroway - Is the Ufly program K-2? Are 3, 4th and 5th graders going to be doing any targeted intervention since they started K during covid?. 

Ms Beck - There are looking at additional curriculum to target this. FIRE has been rolled out - 3th and 4th grade curriculum. Putting both of those things into play. WINN teachers at Lower - for K-2. Early literacy foundations. WINN teachers have pulled 3rd graders to help with that. There is a teacher position at Upper. It would be great to have a WINN teacher for 3rd and 4th grade.

Question - How closely have we been tracking students who have not been making progress? Beck - with K-2 it’s a weekly monitoring of Ufly progress. 3-4 - Beck would need to talk to each teacher to see how they are doing on monitoring.

Bourgoyne - Upper may run different groups on FAST in a different way. Blue group vs. Orange grouping would be monitored differently based on data they have for students.

Question - Ufly is making improvement with at risk students. Who are considered the at risk students? Beck - at risk - when we are looking at percentages on assessment they are not proficient. It generally is students of color. Groups are looked at Exceeds/proficient/Does not meet - are high risk.

Ms Young (MLL teacher at Upper) - all the students get a test in the fall which tells us if they are proficient. That’s how we identify - demographics - ELL. We test that 3 times a year. 

Question from chat - How are we tracking from on year to the next school year? - Beck - yes we are looking at that. We have historical data for the last 5 years. We are looking at trends even  back to pre-pandemic. We don’t compare certain tests.

Are we looking at test scores compared to other schools in SPPS? Beck - Yes we are 

Attendance - focus at lower campus is the % or hispanic or two or more races to increase their attendance from 78-86%. Looking at chronic absences. Looking to decrease that number in hispanic or 2 or more race groups.

Berit Higuera (parent) shared how important Ufly is. At one benchmark in one class prior to getting trained in Ufly they were used to 4 out of 24 proficient. After Ufly, 20 out of 24 were meeting benchmarks/proficient. 

Ms. Bourgoyne - Upper Campus SCIP

Again we have the same goals for math and literacy. Complementary goals also.  Grade 5-8 scoring proficient if better in mathematics will increase from 21 - 25% as measured by the MCA III Mathematics Assessment administered in April 2024.

Attendance - 3% of students fall into the 11-19 section of days missing, 2 of those students are over 20 absences in quarter 1. Sometimes we find that the student is no longer with us. This year we are focusing on 5th and 6th grade hispanic students. We are trying to target a lot. Sometimes our language learners - parents don’t call in to report absences. 

December 13th is the mid-year. We are a certified site for AVID

Small group discussions with the following questions as prompts (notes from each small group below):

• Question 1 that has two parts: What do you most value about Global Arts and what is your top concern for your child or children at Global Arts?

  • Share out from each group regarding question 1

• Question 2 that has two parts: How can we support each other and how can the PTA support the whole school community?

  • Share out from each group regarding question 2

• What questions do you have for Global Arts Plus administration?

  • Responses will be collected and given to administration

Notes from small group discussions:

What do you value most about GAP?

• Community - longitudinal relationships

• Expression through the arts/connection that transcends language

• Diversity, arts based educations

• Model for inclusion

• Gatherings

• Outstandings staff and students

• Diversity - wide range of backgrounds

• Excited about arts and creativity - great foundation to develop children as people - a beautiful mixture of people

• Special Ed Programs

What are your top concerns about GAP?

• Rates of Proficiency 

• Lack of catch up

• Children not being heard/supported

• Safety for students, teachers and staff

• Lack of support for teachers and students 

• Better communication needed. More transparency. An ability to raise concerns from a community perspective and a plan to address them and communicate on progress

• We are trying to come together but we need to figure out how to remove communication barriers

• People feel afraid to speak up

• Concerns that new students aren’t getting the support they need

• Losing great teachers/teacher retention

• Budget for ‘24/’25

• Community is fractured

• Chaotic learning environments

• Face school challenges vs. burying them

• Teacher mental health and support

• Listening to each other

• What is the PTA’s power and reach

• Concrete opportunities to help in classrooms and in the community

• Academics/lower reading and math levels

• Teachers not able to adequate teach because of other issues

• Kids slipping through the cracks

• Communication

• Social issues - bullying, making friends

• Chaotic classrooms and children getting hurt

• No communication from administration about physical things happening at school

• Students with IEPs receiving no support

• Parents scared to send their children to school

• Couldn’t staff home-bound program

• Stressed/anxious students

• Lack of control in classroom

• Mental health

• Added on 2nd grade 

• (Sexual) assault in classroom

• Too much passing the buck

How do we support each other?

• Communication platform separate from PTA/E-mails. More democratic communications

• Open space for discussion

• Reaching out to more families to make sure of representation

• Keep attending PTA meetings

• Keep showing up

• Talk to teachers, check in about needs

• Working to support everyone in ways that builds community and doesn’t break it down.

• Advocate for more teachers at district level

How can the PTA support the whole school community?

• Concrete needs for new students

• Basic necessities for kids

• More small groups

• More positive school events or visibility

• Offer more volunteer opportunities

• Host a background check clinic or bring documentation to PTA meeting so they can sign up

• Wellness committee

• Represent parents and teachers as a priority 

* See below for some answers to questions asked of the PTA

What questions do you have for Global Arts Plus administration? (see questions that were asked below)

Adjourn meeting

Minutes submitted by Maureen Mullaney Vu

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Questions for administration were emailed to Principal Jones, Assistant Principal Beck, and Assistant Principal Bourgoyne on December 16th. 

Principal Jones' video response to the questions gathered below at the December 11th PTA meeting can be viewed here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bc_012T-ISs

1. Where are you? (Why was Principal Jones not here tonight?)

2. Where did the Assistant Principals go? (Why did the Assistant Principals leave the meeting?)

3. What can parents do to help the school become safer?

4. Can parents join teacher committees?

5. How can we streamline the process to get PTA initiatives approved?

6. Do admin and the PTA officers meet monthly?

7. What happens to students who are not proficient in reading or math?

8. What can the school do this year to provide more support for students who have behavioral challenges and the teachers who manage them?

9. Does the administration think there is a problem? Is it worse than other years? Are there steps to take this year?

10. Is there a plan to add a principal to manage the campuses separately?

11. What is the incentive for high behavioral needs or neurodivergent kids to help focus on appropriate and respectful behavior?

12. What is the plan to handle placement of special ed students next year? Any reflections on how moving from clustered special needs students to distributed has worked this year?

13. What is the proactive/preventative plan to manage misbehavior/aggression/chaos  through the school?  Are the teachers a part of the creation of these plans?

14. What kind of turnaround time/response time can we expect to our email concerns?

15. What can be done about teacher/staff fear of retaliation?

16. What is the staff turnover rate at GAP in comparison to the district? Why are SPED staff leaving?

17. What is the proactive plan to address the uptick in behavior/chaos? Are teachers a part of this plan/solution?

18. Why are there no exit interviews for teachers? Why did so many leave?

19. How can we retain current staff and staff of color?

20. How can parents best support admin?

21. How can admin share in broad terms what is going on in the classroom while maintaining privacy for students? 

22. What advocacy can parents do at the district level?  How do we get our concerns addressed?  What does the school board do?

23. Should every classroom have a TA?  What would it take for every classroom to have a TA?

24. When do we have an expectation that the website is updated?

25. Can we have a State of the School?

26. How are you making relationships with students and families?

27. How are you supporting students? Do you know their names?

28. My main question is around 7th grade math:  what is the learning / catch up plan for this cohort, and how can parents help?

29. Every school will have a handful of children who act out, and unfortunately, sometimes they act out and it ends up hurting another student. If a child is hurt by another student what should the parents of the hurt child expect from the school (IE: a phone call, a meeting with the teacher, a written report on the event, etc)? What happens to the kiddo that did the hurting (phone call to parents? Is a report written up and sent to someone higher up the ladder? A warning given? Suspension?)? I’m new to SPPS and new to having a child be in formal education so I’m just curious on the what’s, whys, and how’s. 

Questions for the PTA (answered by Dawn Puroway, serving as PTA president)

How often do the administration and PTA officers meet?

The PTA president and Ms Dennis, the GAP Family Liaison (the Family Liaison is the PTA’s point person for the school) meet once every two months or as needed.  They are also in touch frequently by email.  The PTA officers are in touch with the administration mostly by email as needed.

The one thing that we need to look into is the student government at upper campus. 

There is a 7th grade student government class.  If students have an interest in a student government group that is not planned by the school or a club like the Gender Sexuality Alliance or Black Student Union (that meet during the school day and have a staff person advisor), the PTA could potentially provide support for a student government group.

How can the PTA support the winter clothing needs of students?

Lower Campus - The health office will take donations of clean gently used winter gear (particularly needed is snow pants and water proof gloves).

Upper Campus – The PTA has been told that the Family Liaison, administration, and student support team (counselors, social workers, nurse) are working together to come up with a long term solution to winter clothing needs.  PTA president has let this team know (in November 2023) that the PTA would be glad to support a winter clothing drive or other ways to get winter gear and clothing to kids who need it.

How can we diversify the PTA?

• What we currently do:

  • Explain what the PTA does at Open House

  • Encourage people to come to the PTA meetings 

  • Just started having interpreters at December 2023 meeting and asking the bilingual EAs to let families know about the PTA meetings

  • Have childcare available for in person meetings

  • We talk about what the PTA is doing at Lower Campus gatherings

• What could we do?

  • Have a PTA table at sports games at the Upper Campus

  • If affinity groups meet (PTA officers have been told that affinity groups might be organized this school year), ask a representative from the affinity group to come to the PTA meeting or ask the representative what that affinity group is focusing on and/or wanting support with

• If you have thoughts and ideas - please let us know!

Is the communication that we are having democratic? Is it inclusive?

This definitely is an area that needs improvement and we welcome anyone who would like to talk with the PTA officers about how to make this better.

What does the PTA do?  What is the PTA’s role?

• Fundraise for Artist Residencies, staff reimbursement and staff appreciation, basic needs for the health offices (and more, reach out to us if you would like to see the full budget for 2023-2024 school year)

• Build community through events and coordinating classroom connectors

• Support staff with funds and with recruiting and organizing volunteers

• Be a space for all families and staff to be heard

How to start a new PTA committee or idea for the PTA?

The PTA officers welcome ideas for events, committees, and ways to build community!  If you have an idea, please reach out to globalartspluspta@gmail.com  The PTA does have limitations on what the group can do, which may be influenced by the following things –

• If there is money available (the PTA budget for the current school year is set in May of the previous school year)

• If there are the people willing to take on the organization of the idea, event, or committee.

• If the school approves of the idea.  The PTA is a separate organization than the school but because we work so closely with the school (particularly if the event or idea occurs during the school day), there are certain aspects that have to be discussed with, and approved by, the administration.  

Does the PTA need to be more of a voice for parents and teachers and less for admin?

Please reach out to the PTA officers at globalartspluspta@gmail.com with your thoughts about this question.  It is important and we would like to know more about what it would look like for the PTA to be more of a voice for parents and teachers and less for administration.  We also plan to talk about this at the January 18th virtual PTA meeting.

Current volunteer needs

• Help in the cafeteria at Lower Campus Sign up here to help in the cafeteria

• Reach out to your child’s teacher to see if they would like help in their classroom.

• Volunteers are always welcome in Ms Wright’s art class and Ms Kroetch’s music class (Both Ms Wright and Ms Kroetch said that you don’t need to let them know ahead of time)

• Dawn Puroway emailed Principal Jones and Ms Bourgoyne on December 14th to ask if they would like parents to volunteer as hallway monitors and lunchroom monitors at the Upper Campus.  As of Jan 3rd, I have not heard back.

• Maureen Vu is checking with the support staff at Lower Campus to see if there are things that parents could help with at home (like cutting out cards)

• Classroom connectors - the most important job of the classroom connector is to work with the teacher to find out who wants to be on an opt-in class list of parents/caregivers.  If you want to be a classroom connector, email globalartspluspta@gmail.com  The following classrooms do not have classroom connectors yet:

  • 2nd grade - Gallo, Nelson, Lund, Reck

  • 3rd grade - Johnson, Holden

  • 4th grade - Floyd, Gunsten

  • 5th grade - Kreitzer, Mena

Next meeting: January 18th virtual meeting