General Assembly Meeting

HFES PTA General Assembly Meeting May 6, 2014

Attendees:

Sherry Zamora Karen Grant Christy Garci Jay Lawing Mary Franks Heidi Smith Sona Bharath Carlene Lydic Jen Kaskas Trish Dickshinski Thermaliz Lopez

· Approval of Minutes All o April minutes were approved

· Treasurer Report o April Income: $ 11,954.60 o April Expenses: $ 2,167.80 o April Balance: $ 40, 703.98

o Thermaliz raised concern about PTA checks not being cashed  requested PTA think about coming up with a procedure for checks not cashed (i.e. SpiritWear reimbursing checks are not being cashed)  DARE shirts o Check was never cashed o Original will be stopped and we will pay again

 Budget for next year o Sherry requested teachers tell Heidi about upcoming requests o Sherry and Heidi will talk together to nail down subscriptions OLD BUSINESS

o After school clubs: . OotM · June 6: End of year ceremony . Mileage Club · Will have award ceremony at the end of year (TBD) · 215 students enrolled · Various parents help out – has been plenty of assistance!

o Boxtops . New coordinators: Marylou Neal will be responsible for collecting, counting and submitting the box tops. . Ferdousi Afroz will handle the monthly flyers, prizes, updating teachers and emails to the PTA. . Cheryl Nordstrom (outgoing coordinator) has offered to make up two binders containing all required information as well as reimbursement forms and procedures. They will come up with an outline / plan, similar to what is in place now, over the summer which they will pass to the board for approval (late Aug) before setting in motion next fall. Cheryl has agreed to assist them at any point if needed. o Teacher Appreciation Week . TAW was a success thanks to parents who contributed for the breakfast and Valerie who coordinated the gift cards and the luncheon. . Wish lists · a couple of parents have commented that getting the lists on the Friday before the event is too late as they would like more time to shop and because some didn’t even see the lists until they opened backpacks on Monday morning. We did request that they go earlier this year but, due to various problems, they did not go out until Friday before TAW.  As there have been issues with wish lists two years in a row, PTA proposes dividing up that task as follows: . Valerie can handle the luncheon and the gift cards . Add an additional person to handle the wishlists. . Josh has offered to come up with a “google form” into which teachers can directly input their information. This will make it much easier for the coordinators to gather and disseminate this information. . Sherry is committed to this happening next year in a more timely manner.

. Several parents have commented that the daily tasks are a bit overwhelming on top of spring sports, homework, etc. and have asked if it could be streamlined a little. One thought offered was to assign certain parents of the class (i.e., A to E, etc.) a specific day to bring in a gift bag or item for the teachers so that parents could concentrate all their efforts for one day. The Board will discuss this in advance of next year’s program to propose potential changes. One possible solution is to divide up the class by days of the week and have students bring in gifts, supplies, letters, etc. on only one day. o ASEP . Spring session is running fine . Starting to get fall registration ready o Mrs. Assadi has expressed interest in using PTA money to attend training and purchase materials for a reading ASEP program for the fall o $275 training o $130 teacher manual . Discussion ensued about the large investment up front and concerns were: o Class may not fill o She may have to drop class for unseen reasons o Class should be taught regardless of how few sign up (min of 3) o Heidi and Carlene mentioned that school could still benefit if class doesn’t succeed because she can provide valuable training to teachers . Vote was held (10; 1 abstained-missed discussion) and request was approved contingent on agreement with Ms. Assadi that she would hold a minimum of one class per session for the 2014-15 school year so long as she obtained a minimum registration of three students.

o Assembly . Assembly of “Pinocchio’s Sister” was well-received.

o Mighty Huskies . Working on website for next school year . Will have program for women to participate on Wednesdays.

o LEAP . No Report . Need replacement chair

o MSAAC . No Report . Uncertain whether chairperson will be continuing o SEAC . No Report . Need replacement chair NEW BUSINESS

o Top Kick Spirit Night · May 30, 2014 · Offered to host events at the facility · Drop off event for kids at facility · Multiple activities for kids · TopKick will provide food and drinks · 150 students max · $15 first child · One paper for registration and waiver · Master Sung strongly suggested advertising a certain target for money · Money earned will target fundraising for technology for school · One concern raised about PTA allowing this event when we have turned down events from other businesses (with the exception of restaurants for spirit nights). At this time, the board is limiting these types of events to those involving the active participation of children and families. The Board will work on fundraising guideslines over the summer to ensure a consistent approach for all businesses. · TopKick would love teachers to come and help out. This will greatly contribute to the success of the event as it is always fun for children to see their teachers and participate in activities with them outside of school hours.

o Helping Hands Fundraiser · Jennifer spent time talking with company consultant that works with the charity · PTA will get a portion of profit · Get $1,000 discount in the consulting fee from the company if we commit to program by May 12 (this date was later extended) · Donations pay for · Food · Transportation · Boxes · Administrative duties · Conference Call (which will be recorded) will be held with the Board and the company at 12:15 on Friday, May 9

o School Supplies · Same company · Flyer to go home on the 16th

· Comments from Administration

o Thank you for a wonderful Staff Appreciation Week and including specialist o Thanks to Sherry for fixing the wishlist issue for Staff Appreciation Week o Complimented board for getting feedback from community for events, working so closely with the school-the effort is very much appreciated o Carlene expressed her appreciation for the PTA for going above and beyond! o Heidi gave geraniums to board as a token of her appreciation for a great year o Master Sung paid for staff luncheon during Staff Appreciation Week o Primrose will help with 5th grade expenses for Promotion Programs and Invitations o Thanks to the Board for paying for the author visit which was a great success! o SOL Testing upcoming: Info came via ConnectEd o BTS night for 2014-15 school year: August 28 (6-645 PM: grades 3-5, AM K 715-8; grades 1-2, PM K) ; Open House: August 29 (9-10) o Budget is affecting HFES o 67 items that have been cut o Our proposed enrollment for next year is 873 students o Tiered approach o We are in tier 4 (below 900 students) o Impacts HFES . No longer have FT Admin Intern (she will be here ½ time, Little River ½ time) . Teaching allotment is increasing . FLES is being eliminated . Summer School eliminated . Our Library Asst. and will change due to seniority . Our Tech. Asst. will stay in her position due to seniority Meeting adjourned at 10:35

Next meeting June 3 at 7:00 pm in the library