June 2023 Meeting Minutes

Global Arts PTA Meeting Minutes 

06/12/23 at 6:00 pm

Meeting Participants: Principal Jones, Dawn Puroway, Stephanie Stegeman, Maureen Mullaney Vu, Lynn Bourggoyne, Ericka Dennis, Amy Wittmann, Danielle Beck, Michelle Klemmer, Emily Harer, Nyhamin, Tony Wittmann, Cara Weston, Alyssa Olness

Meeting called to order at 6:02 pm by Dawn Puroway 

Introduction  - Dawn Puroway

Secretary’s Report - Maureen Mullaney Vu

1. May Meeting Minutes Approval - Motioned by: Stephanie Stegeman  Seconded by: Danielle Beck

Treasurer’s Report - Stephanie Stegeman

1. May Report - 

   1. Posted to Memberhub

   2. $2,939 of income

   3. Plant Sale was wrapped up

   4. Amazon Smile Donation for $63

   5. Expenses - Teacher Appreciation, Carnival, Plant Grower, Teacher reimbursements, Upper Campus dance, Final Payment for Spirit Wear

   6. Total Expenses: $20,332

   7. Money will be moved in savings account

   8. Almost $17,000 in checking account. Should start next school year with $7,000 more than we started with last year

   9. Stephanie opened up to questions - none asked

2. Budget 2023-2024

   1. We are hoping to make $13,000 for the direct ask. Numbers are conservative

   2. Added money for Family Tree to come in for 4th-7th graders

   3. Money for health office

   4. Cara Weston  - for Family Tree - are those not part of the school's regular curriculum? 

      1. Principal Jones explained it is not included in the district level. It is now $250 a class for them to come in. 

      2. Dawn mentioned maybe the Health Teacher from Upper Campus can come in and talk about what is covered in her classes. 

      3. Ms. Bourgoyne mentioned she does teach in health class in 3rd quarter. 

   5. Amy Wittmann asked - who is responsible for groundskeeping around the school? Can we contribute to planting around the school? 

      1. Dawn mentioned that we don’t have funding for that at the moment. 

      2. Principal Jones mentioned that maintenance has planted hardy plants that last through the winter. Admin can take a look at what is out there. 

      3. Maureen mentioned that it would be a great idea to get a group of parents involved as a committee. 

      4. Cara Weston that we could tie the volunteering into the parents who are watering plants.

      5. Principal Jones does not know who is responsible for maintenance. Ms. Beck said that it was grounds.

      6. Dawn is happy to reach out to Ms. Manthe to see where she is at and to ask if we can get more volunteers involved.

      7. Ms. Whittman will put together a list as far as what is needed.

Motion to approve Budget - Maureen Mullaney Vu - motioned. Michelle Klemmer seconded.

Principal’s Report - Chreese Jones

1. Thanks for a great school year.

2. Shared some exciting events:

   1. 8th grade recognition tomorrow at 10am. Students can invite a few guests and share in cookies and lemonade.

   2. End of the year trip to Valley Fair for 8th graders

   3. 4th graders - there will be a special recognition for them on Wednesday. Great support from families and PTA

   4. Follow up with Tom Parent in regards to Lower campus grounds. Different options of costs. Grounds will go in and plant and get it ready. But the students will be running on it. Looked into if there is a Grant we can look into. Conversation is still open. It will be slightly greener in the Fall

   5. Working on keeping communications clear - messaging to families.

   6. Our last day with students is Wednesday. Last day for teachers is Thursday, the 15th.

Family Liaison Report - Ms. Dennis

1. Ms. Dennis and Principal Jones met with district level family councils. 

2. Baseball team went to the St. Paul Saints game

3. Family Compact - an agreement between the school, student and families about how we are going to work in partnership to ensure student success.

   1. Each year we have to renew the Compact which is posted on the website. Copies are available in the office. 

   2. Next year MLL parent meetings started in January 2021

   3. Schoology - it is very helpful to keep up with missing assignments.

   4. Ms. Beck - with the SCIP - is it possible to add the importance of attendance

Officer Terms - Dawn Puroway

1. PTA Officer Terms are 2 years. Dawn, Stephanie and Maureen all started at the same time. We are not having elections right now since we are finishing that two year term. Next May there will be elections for PTA officer positions.

2. We look forward to next year to have more people involved with helping to lead various things. For example, Teacher Appreciation week. Dawn is going to put in the chat things we have talked about for potential coordinations 

   1. Staff appreciation

      1. Conference meals

      2. Teacher appreciation week

   2. Events

      1. Family Dance

      2. Carnival

   3. Coat closet/health office contact - Suki

   4. Community Building

      1. Pop-up events

      2. Transportation liaison 

   5. Communication 

   6. Technology 

   7. Gear sale

   8. Fundraising 

      1. Plant Sale - Maren

      2. Direct Ask 

      3. Square 1 Art

3. Changing the language around the word volunteering which doesn’t translate for all communities. Focusing on using the word “helping” instead.

SCIP Report Lynn Bourgoyne

1. Upper SCIP - link shared in chat

2. We have targets for school climate survey. Our goal is 10% more satisfaction by students. 

3. Attendance Goals were met for upper and lower campus. We wanted to go below 20% of students in the highest absence category. Hispanic students are at 16%

4. Lower Campus - attendance for black male students is at 42%. Attendance teams are working hard and will be continuing for next year.

5. Upper Campus has Zellow. We are 100% signed up. 

6. Both Math and Reading are monitored in the same way. FAST scoring is done 3 times a year. It’s a growth indicator from Fall to Winter. We want it to be at least 50%. Upper Campus it was achieved in both Math and Reading except for 8th grade.

7. Lower Campus 3rd and 4th for FAST was over 50% and 60% 4th grade did not make that goal.

8. Ms. Beck - we are seeing the effects of the pandemic.

9. Children who opt out of the MCA test - it will go against the school’s scores. Dawn - opted her child out and didn’t know. That communication to families about this issue is important.

10. MCA is what impacts the reading and math scores that are viewable online.

11. Goals for next year are a little different. This one is asking to pick a measure to monitor ourselves. We will be using the climate data again but in a slightly different way.

12. 2 or more races was at 20 plus absences.

13. Reading and Math will always have an MCA goal. This year, 5th grade and down - they are looking at the explicit core instruction. The reason for that is that some of this curriculum is changing with new math district wide. And some of the reading for certain grade levels is also changing.

14. For Upper Campus it is all about discourse. Discourse means we are looking at the way students talk to each other.  

Principal Jones - Affinity Group meetings were great.

Ms. Dennis - it was the first time that they had all been invited by a Principal to be advised by a Principal.

Carnival Update - Dawn Puroway

1. Very Well Attended

2. 100 people volunteered and lots for multiple shifts. 25 were 7th and 8th grade students. 10 were High School students

3. We did not lose money. We don’t have final numbers but we made a little bit.

4. Tickets were .25c. We sold approx 20,000 tickets. 

5. Planning on doing it again in the Spring Next Year

Principal Jones - Open Houses will be the 31st of August. Dawn Confirmed the PTA will provide refreshments

PTA welcome letter to go out with Principal Jones Welcome Letter.

Stephanie Stegeman - “Any meeting worth having is worth evaluating”. 

Words included - Connecting, Thankful, Grateful, Excited

Meeting adjourned at 7:28 pm Respectfully Submitted by Maureen Mullaney Vu