Minutes of the Hillside PTO General Meeting

Minutes of the Hillside PTO General Meeting September 16, 2008

In Attendance: Jennifer Morin, Andrea Schnur, Robyn Wright, Maryann Milutinovic, Jill Brochinsky, Robert Erwin, Lily Erwin, Deb Kulak, Pam Reese, Tara Hueston, Theresa Pennington, Daniel Fonder, Laura Mertz, Theo Lambert, Leslie Cooper, Margaret Potter, Irene Rynar, Linda Glenn, Malvia Mills, Tammy Siana, Francine Hectouller, Stacy Weedon, Darlene Lilly, Cheryl Bolles, Laurie McKee, Jay Yang, Lisa Kautz, Christine Pastor, Pat Breslin, Mary Breslin, Louise Sypitz.

Meeting was called to order at 7:50 PM. Introduction of New Executive Board Members Hillside PTO has a new Executive Board this year. Jennifer Morin and Andrea Schnur are co-presidents. Bob and Lily Erwin are co-treasurers. Deborah Kulak is vice president of chairs. This is a new position to help chairpeople. Deborah will call them one month before their event, take care of room use forms, provide them with folders with information, and will try to be at each function. Maryann Multinovic is the publicity secretary. Pam Reese and Jill Brochinsky are vice presidents. Robyn Wright is the corresponding/recording secretary. Minutes Action Item: The minutes of the April 2008 PTO meeting were approved. Motion by Theo Lambert, seconded by Tammy Siana. Treasurer’s Report/Budget Vote The 2008-09 budget was presented for approval. The PTO added the Roots and Shoots Committee and will try to have a fundraiser for it. Some fundraisers were eliminated. The PTO will try to have a school supplies fundraiser, which will be coordinated with teachers and feeder schools. Spirit Wear is back. It wasn’t done last year. The PTO hopes to offer it again at the holidays and to feeder schools. Also, the PTO hopes to institute Hillside Spirit Day. Spirit Wear will be delivered to the school. Parents who purchase it do not need to go to the store. Class gifts. Last year there was a surplus in the PTO budget. There is a new line item for class gifts. The outgoing class gives a gift back to the school. Action Item: The budget was approved, motion by Pam Reese, seconded by Lisa Kautz. Corresponding Secretary’s Report The sixth grade team of Amy Bircsak, Gayle Faulkner, Terry Tunkel, Louise Kelly, Margaret Blood, Colleen Sweeney, and James Thomson thanked the PTO for the back-to-school luncheon. Mrs. Pennington thanked the PTO for the back-to-school luncheon. Co-Presidents’ Report Directory: The co-presidents want it to come out earlier this year. Web Site: They want it up and running this year. Right now, it is in the investigative phase. It will be based on the Hamilton PTO model and will have a newsblog. By-Laws: The PTO is working on updating them this fall, hopefully by November. The Council of Schools is formulating standard recommendations for all PTO by-laws. The Council has not yet completed its work on that. Instant Alert: It is easy to register for the Honeywell System. There will no longer be a phone chain. Hillside will use Honeywell only for emergency closings. Publicity Report Maryann Multinovic reported that the newsletter will come out in October, December, Spring and at the end of the year. She will send a form home telling parents how to find the newsletter on the PTO web site. If anyone has anything to submit to the newsletter, he or she should put it in the PTO basket in the front office or send an email to Maryann. Email is preferred. Vice President of Chairs Report Deb Kulak asked chairpeople to collect their folders. The PTO still needs chairs for teacher appreciation, holiday bazaar, and school supplies. The PTO needs representatives for the Board of Education, Education Foundation, and the Transportation and Food Advisory Committees. The book fair will be held from October 15th to October 21st. We have chairs, but are not yet sure of the evening date.

1 Principal’s Report Mrs. Pennington introduced Dan Fonder, the assistant principal, and Tara Hueston, the teacher representative to the PTO. The school year is off to a good start. The buses are running, and sixth graders are adjusting well to their new schedules. NJ ASK scores were mailed this week. The scoring is different this year. Before a child scoring in the 35-40% range was proficient. Now children must score above 50% to achieve proficiency. Hillside made Annual Yearly Progress. Because the standard for proficiency changed, there will be a discrepancy in Hillside’s performance from last year to this year. Hillside will have a Peace Rally to celebrate Roots and Shoots. Students will explore the outdoor classroom, there will be skits in the gym, and there will be a contest between 5th and 6th graders. In response to a parent question, Mrs. Pennington said that because of higher state standards, there was a dip in the number of children scoring advanced proficient across the board in New Jersey. In response to a parent question about the number of binders the children have, Mrs. Pennington said that parents should bring their concerns to their children’s teams. Teacher Representative’s Report On behalf of Hillside teachers, Tara Hueston thanked the PTO for all the work it does. She welcomed the new members of the board. She described the upcoming Peace Rally. There will be audience participation, it will be about Roots and Shoots, concern for animals and the environment . She also thanked the PTO for the line item for Roots and Shoots. There was between five and ten thousand dollars worth of damage resulting from the vandalism last spring and summer. The Hillside community stood up and helped. The temple donated five thousand dollars. The concert raised two thousand. Board of Education Report Pat Breslin agreed to be the BOE representative for Hillside. There was one major item discussed at the last meeting: The Everyday Math Committee Report. The Report has a good statistical analysis. It compared Everyday Math to non- Everyday Math districts. The comparison groups had better results than the Everyday Math districts. The Everyday Math committee recommended looking at alternative programs. There is about $450,000 set aside if an alternative program is chosen. The assistant superintendent and the Everyday Math Committee have started to review other programs. Everyday Math will face competition in that review and a decision will be made in January or February. Many parents expressed concern about transitioning from Everyday Math to a different program. Mrs. Pennington stated that the Hillside staff is very professional and would be able to handle a transition. New Business The PTO received a grant request from Miss Pannerella. She runs the mileage club and requested $118.36 for a list of prizes and supplies to purchase for the mileage club. The mileage club starts in October and promotes physical fitness. Action Item: The grant request was approved, motion by Laura Mertz, seconded by Irene Rynar. Committee Reports Boxtops and Labels: Irene Rynar said the PTO has 28,000 labels and can go to an online site to purchase things for the school. The website is LabelsforEducation.com. The boxtops program issues checks in December and April. Irene will put a box in the lobby and will advertise the program in the newsletter. The boxtop program gives cash to the PTO while the labels gives the PTO points towards prizes. Gift Cards: The PTO will sell gift cards to stores in November. This was a good fundraiser last year. Gift Wrap: The gift wrap sale will start on September 24th and will end on October 13th. The PTO gets 50 cents on the dollar on this fundraiser. Holiday Bazaar: The PTO has a chair, but needs a co-chair and volunteers. This will take place from December 1 – December 5. Market Day: Tammy Siana reported that Hillside earned $2900 last year. This year the PTO only budgeted $2500. Jen said she was conservative with budgeting because of the economy. Market Day needs volunteers and a co-chair. School Store: Leslie Cooper reported that the first store will be held on October 14th and 15th. She needs volunteers. It will be held three times per year. Spirit Wear: Sales of Spirit Wear will be coordinated with the Student Council. Sixth Grade Rec. Night: This will be held on November 21th. We have chairs and lots of volunteers. Other Business Jen said that any calendar changes will be posted on the Hillside web site.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:45 PM, upon motion by Pam Reese, seconded by Laura Mertz.