Rogers Herr PTA Meeting Minutes November 2, 2009

Meeting began at 5:30 in the Rogers Herr Media Center Sabrena Mervin-Blake, President, presided Minutes were taken by Secretary, Amy Glass. Meeting adjourned at 7:20 pm. Attending: Susan Robinson, Wanda Rudd, Teri Conner, Cathy Leonardi, Sabrena Mervin-Blake, Amy Glass, Jenny Shafer, Drew Sawyer, Shelton Miles

Topic Discussion Action Responsible Approval of Minutes of August Minutes were Minutes 31 and Sep 10th approved with meetings were no changes. distributed prior to the meeting. Principal’s Mr. Sawyer reported Report that school was well underway for the 2nd 9 weeks. The DPS budget process had settled. Dr. Carl Harris has accepted a position as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Education for Policy and Strategic Initiatives with the U.S. Department of Education.

Tours for prospective students are scheduled at 8:00a.m. and 10a.m. on 11/23, 11/30, and 12/7. Students lead the tours.

DPS Middle/High School Fair on 11/15 from 1:00 – 4:00 at Hillside High

The 2010-2011 Email Mr. All interested. magnet school Sawyer if you lottery application can represent deadline is RHMS at the 1/31/2010. The first Fair. drawing is in March. Pearsontown families must complete a magnet application in order to enter RHMS – they are guaranteed a spot, but must complete the application process regardless.

Current enrollment at the school is 639. The cap is 640.

The board We need a good All board discussed holding PTA presence members, as Curriculum Night and turnout for available. and decided on this event. We November 18th will being in the from 6:00-7:30 in auditorium and the Auditorium. then will continue with the team areas. PTA will have a membership table. President’s Ms. Mervin-Blake Report reported that the fundraising committee had met. There is a band fundraiser selling cookie dough. That is a targeted fundraiser which is separate from the school-wide fundraiser.

Durham Council PTA notices will be forwarded to board members. Anyone is welcome to attend if you can. Fundraising Wanda Rudd Add edits to the All interested. Committee reported for the fundraising letter fundraising via email, or committee. The contact Teri group decided on a Conner. direct donation fundraiser since it is Investigate Mr. Sawyer too late in the PayPal online calendar year for a system. catalog fundraiser and other school’s fundraisers are already well underway. The group drafted a letter to send home with students. The discussion included edits to the letter. Goal of fundraiser is $12,000 and participation by the entire RHMS community. Lots of good ideas and discussion. There will be email follow- ups for more detailed input. The letter will be linked on the website. Is PayPal available for convenience? Mr. Sawyer will check on the DPS process. Deadline for the fundraiser will be December 11th. Discussion of receipt book and collections. Receipts will be given for donations and Mr. Sawyer’s staff will take care of receipts and coordinate deposit of funds with Cathy Leonardi, PTA Treasurer.

PTA president will send out a ConnectEd phone message prior to the letter being sent to welcome the school community. Note: This was done on Nov 8th. Treasurer’s We have 23 PTA Reminder that all All board Report members as of our members of the members. September 10th PTA Board meeting. should join the PTA.

We need two Sign over the Cathy Leonardi members from last account and with Mr. Sawyer’s year’s PTA remaining funds. assistance. Executive Committee to close the account and sign over the remaining funds to the new account. Wellness Jenny Shafer is the Committee co-chair of the Wellness committee along with Theresa Cromline. The committee has 3 focus areas for the year. 1) Fall Wellness Need 10-15 All interested. Day is planned for parent November 24th volunteers for from 8a.m. until 12 Fall Wellness noon. Day. Can There will be participate the stations for kids entire time or a including DPS few hours nutrition between 7a.m. department, Lincoln and 1p.m. Community Health Contact Jenny Center doing blood Shafer to pressure checks, volunteer. Bouncing Bulldogs, Hula Hooping, Durham Parks and Recs games. Each team will go through the stations. Interested 2) Intramural parents should basketball league. contact Jenny This was successful for all of these last year. Practice events. 1night/week, games on Friday nights. Parent staffed entirely. Mary Holt, ESL teacher is interested in helping out. Run the league for 4-6 weeks. Co- ed, 6th, 7th and 8th. 6th graders only play other 6th graders. 7th and 8th play together. Run from mid-Jan through mid-Feb. Practices start after 6:30 p.m.

3) Spring event “Stroll & Show”. Scheduled for May 7th. Bring canned food, walk on track as admission to a movie to be shown at school. More details as the date approaches. Parent Susan Robinson Involvement reported that the Parent Involvement committee will send out a survey of teachers asking about their needs. They will also survey parents/guardians asking what kinds of volunteering they would like to do. Reflections The group agreed that this is a good program and that it needs a committee chair on the PTA to help engage students in this program. Next Meeting December 7th, 6:00 p.m. Rogers Herr Media Center