Minutes

PTA Meeting 11/12/2019

PTA Meeting 11/12/2019



OFFICERS


CO-PRESIDENTS Jessica Freund and Jackie Caputo

VICE PRESIDENT Erika Calabrese

TREASURER Jenine Kenny

SECRETARY Andrea Muchow

CORR. SECRETARY Maria Lundberg

BOE Delegate Kristin Gelzniz


Pledge of Allegiance

Minutes from PTA meeting on 11/12/2019, motion to accept minutes from October 2019 meeting by Melissa Dolinski and Michele Nodell.

Budget reviewed the numbers are not completed we are waiting for money to come in and waiting to pay out Book Fair and KidStuff books, accepted by Kristin and Tracey.

Correspondence:

  • UPK sent a pumpkin thank you and picture to thank PTA for being included for the pumpkin patch.

Membership

  • at a standstill – 239 members

Laura Slattery

  • She is a President of the Board of Education at Sachem. Laura implemented whole child education, she worked hard to shape our district. She discussed SEL (Social, Emotional Learning) presentations for Elementary, Middle and High School. Mentors have visited schools for peer education and have shared their experiences in an assembly like forum. We had wonderful workshops that have previously taken place on vaping and active shooting workshop. Both had a terribly turnout, looking for suggestions on how to encourage more parents to come to these free, educational presentations. Next presentation is in January on addiction and in March on social media. The BOE is discussing a 9 period day for High School and the HPV vaccines. They meet to discuss, committees are made and a decision is made if they send ideas to the upper powers. All committees are listed on the website, all parents are encouraged to join and voice your opinions. All BOE meetings are posted online, if anyone has any BOE questions for Laura she can be reached at lslattery2@sachem.edu.

Mr. Desmond spoke on his 3 P’s

  • playground was damaged he reached out to district office and we are receiving a new slide along with paint to make some much needed touch ups to improve the appearance of the school.

  • The District Office and Architect are coming to Wenonah to go through the school to discuss improvements and ideas.

  • The Blue Light System is almost up and running.

  • Mr. Desmond apologized for the connect ed call only being sent to the primary number listed on the child’s account – he will now select the other numbers to ensure you receive the message if you are not home.

  • The Halloween parade although it was cancelled for the parents it was nice and all teachers dressed up using one theme, Toy Story – the students and faculty had a lot of fun.

  • On 11/6 the faculty had to pay $5 so that they could wear jeans for the day – they raised $135 for Jeans for Troops.

  • Erin will be visiting to help improve literacy.

  • Melissa will be presenting a faculty meeting to make sure that everyone is up to date with BOCES.

  • On 11/21 Diane will be visiting to discuss math curriculum and on 11/26 –

  • faculty will be having a 2-hour technology meeting to utilize in their classroom Kerry McGuire to host.

  • Wenonah is looking for a permanent sub as well as a new school monitor for a few hours a day – you cannot have a student in Wenonah to work as a school monitor.

Michele Nodell

  • spoke about our Trick o Trunk event, it was our best turn out and we raised 203 pounds of food which feeds approximately 68 families. It is Michele’s last year here and she is hoping that someone else steps up to run this event. We only raised $100 but are thinking of ways to raise more money for next year.

Barnes and Noble night

  • turnout was good do not have the final profit from B&N or CPK. Book Fair also went well.

Picture Day

  • pictures have still not been received we should be getting them any day.

  • There have been some bumps in the road, we are looking for a new company – we need people to help us look into a new company – it takes time to hire a new photographer.

  • Picture re-take is 11/20/2019.

Spirit wear

  • orders can be purchased through 11/14, we currently have about 30 orders.

  • They will be sorted out and sent home about 3 weeks from 11/14.

Thanksgiving donations

  • for families in need items like butter, carrots, celery, sweet potatoes, onions, apples, apple juice are donated from our Wenonah families than a basket is made with the supplies we receive from North families in need.

  • If you signed up to donate food you will be receiving a reminder from Heather, drop off at school will probably be 11/26.

Holiday Boutique

  • 12/11 will be delivery and set up the kids can shop on 12/12 and 12/13.

  • We have a new option for parents to pre-pay online and send in the printed receipt to school for proof of payment with a specific code. Whatever the child does not spend will be refunded back to the card.

Breakfast with Santa

  • 12/15 at The Green Turtle, you can pre-order your picture and there will be lots of fun things to purchase like reindeer feed, 50/50 raffles etc.

Miss Chocolate

  • delivery will be 11/21 we need help with delivery.

5th Grade Committee

  • Parents Night Out is this Friday 11/15 from 7-9pm unlimited beer, wine and soda with appetizers a fun night out for parents.

  • Square 1 art will be coming home this week you can order your child’s art creations in many forms, like an ornament, mousepad, cups the possibilities are endless.

  • I-slide fundraiser was a good one when the order comes in there will be an afterschool date/time in which they can be picked up, they will NOT be sent home with the students as a lot of parents will be using them for holiday gifts. Once this order is received we will be able to place another order since this had a good turnout.

  • Turkey and Snowman cut outs– look for the notice to come home to be sold $1 at lunch to be entered to win a holiday basket

  • Ducks Game May 26th – 5th grade band performs all are welcomed to purchase tickets

PTA Meeting 10/10/19

PTA MEETING

October 10, 2019

OFFICERS


CO-PRESIDENTS Jessica Freund and Jackie Caputo

VICE PRESIDENT Erika Calabrese

TREASURER Jenine Kenny

SECRETARY Andrea Muchow

CORR. SECRETARY Maria Lundberg

BOE Delegate Kristin Gelzniz


Pledge of Allegiance

Motion to Accept Prior Meeting Minutes: Kristin Gelzinis & Melissa Dolinski

Motion to Accept Treasurer’s Report: Keith Sontag & Melissa Dolinksi

Budget

  • Motion to Accept on Financial Review Committee Report: Jessica Hill & Stacey O’Neill

  • We were able to raise over $30,000 to help fund all the wonderful activities and field trips that Mrs. Berger organizes for ALL the students in our school.

  • The Financial Review Committee met on 09/30/2019 to review and audit all records of the Wenonah PTA for the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2019.

MEMBERSHIP

  • we are over 200 registered members!!

Mrs. Raleigh

  • READ TO FEED: Our literacy / outreach initiative that connects our child’s daily reading and helping some of the families in our district for Thanksgiving. The paperwork will be coming home toward the end of the October, to begin in November.

General Discussion

PTA Volunteer Opportunities:

  • In the beginning of the year, sent out a form asking for volunteers for all the numerous events we host through out the year.

  • All those who responded with specific events, have been delegated to their chairperson.

  • Those who volunteered, but did not specify an event was given to ALL events.

Looking for Shadows for events for future years:

  • We will be losing these committee members this year and are looking for people to shadow them so they can pick up next year

  • Trick or Trunk

  • BLT

  • 5K

  • Outreach .

PARENT WORKSHOPS

The are numerous workshops coming up for all parents to learn and understand some of the struggles with in our children in today's society:

  • January 15 – Kevin Alter: Opioid Addiction

  • February 12 – Matt Wells, Principal of Cayuga – Cyber and Social Media Safety

  • April 15 – Jon Chiarmonte, SEL Chair & Teacher – Peer Education: Soc/Emo Offering Across the District.

BOX TOPS

  • We are moving to the digital collection of Box Tops… no more clipping boxes, and remembering to send them in.

  • Download the app, connect to Wenonah Elementary School, scan your receipt and continue to earn those box tops for our school!!

5TH GRADE

  • I SLIDE fundraiser –

  • Oct 10 – Wingo - Doors open at 630pm – Mrs. Desmond will be the caller!

  • 5th graders – Wingo T shirts will be sold this year $10. “ Wenonah 2020”

  • Oct 25th – Halloween Dance

  • Oct 30 – 31st – Pumpkin Cutouts

  • School Store will hopefully be up for November

  • November – 20th – Yearbook Group Photos

  • November 26th – 27th – Turkey Cutouts

TRUNK OR TREAT

  • October 28th (Monday) / rain date: October 30 (Wednesday) 6pm – 730 pm.

  • Candy and Canned Goods donations are accepted.

  • Candy for the trunks / cans for Island Harvest.

Mr. Desmond Remarks

HALLOWEEN PARADE

  • will be around Cairo Lane this year

  • parents will be able to stand on the sidewalk or the front grass area to watch our kids parade.

New Construction:

  • New vestibule in the front of the building was quickly and efficiently installed over the summer.

  • Driver’s License is now mandatory to enter the building, which is part of the increase in security measures to the school.

  • Asbestos abatement's made to some of our room have been completed, as well as the stage was sanded and varnished.

The New School Schedule:

  • Now that school starts earlier at 8:45am, this allows for the day to be split up in 9 periods.

  • Periods 1 -4 & 7-9; are core educational times for our teachers to really get into detail for their lessons.

Specials:

  • each grade level have increased their specials as well:

  • Kindergarten: 2 PE, 2 Art, 1 Music, 1 Library

  • Grades 1 & 3: 2 PE, 1 Art, 1 Music, 1 Library

  • Grades 2: 2 Library, 2 PE, 1 Music, 1 Art

  • Grades 4 & 5: 2 PE, 1 Art, 2 Music, 1 Library

Class Size:

  • has reduced across the board in all grades, averaging about 23 kids per class; except for 4th grade, which has 27 kids per class.

Math Curriculum:

  • Teachers have worked hard on the new workbooks.

3rd Grade Ukuleles

  • Mrs. Kim will be starting to introduce our 3rd graders to the Ukulele.

  • Possibly an alternative to the recorders that we normally use in 3rd grade.

Benchmarks:

  • Teachers have already bench marked students on their math, and continue to work on the reading benchmarks.

Around the Building:

  • Kindness Board (students wrote on post it notes, words of kindness, support and positivity.

  • Helping Tree (each student was to write on a hand a time when they did a good deed to help others)

  • Twitter: @WenonahSchool – Tweet daily about the events and activities that our children are doing through out the day

Teacher Professional Development:

  • Teachers started the month of October supporting all everyone’s battle of cancer by wearing various tshirts for their specific support: Breast Cancer Awareness, Dezy Strong shirts,etc.

  • Workshops and Training: Jon Chiaramonte, Lion Quest: social / emotional training as part of the wellness.

  • Linda Bausch – reading workshops to refine and improve our bench marking of the students

OBSERVATIONS:

  • Mr. Desmond has completed some of his Formal Observations of our teachers and was very impressed with the creativity and interaction he found in each of the teachers classes he has met.

LUNCH WITH THE PRINCIPAL:

  • Teachers nominated 1 student from each 5th grade class to have lunch with Mr. Desmond.

3 CLUBS THIS YEAR:

  • Robotics Club led by: Mrs. Fiery

  • Gardening Club led by Mrs. D’Andrea

  • Leadership led by Mrs. Abreu

National Lunch Day

  • will be on Friday

  • numerous teachers including Mr. Desmond will be surprising our students during lunch… where will they appear???

CLASS PARENTS WERE ANNOUNCED

  • Paperwork is in your teacher’s mailboxes.

NEXT MEETING

  • November 12th at 7pm

STAY INFORMED

  • Sign Up for Remind - text @wenonahp to 81010

VOLUNTEER TO HELP

  • Log in to MemberHub to Sign-Up https://wenonah.memberhub.com