Kent Gardens PTA Meeting Minutes

Kent Gardens PTA Meeting Minutes April 7, 2015

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. Eight people were in attendance.

Old Business:  The minutes from the March meeting were adopted.

Principal’s Report:  Support for Eva Townsend has been overwhelming. Parents have been asking what they can do. It would be great if the support lasted through year and not just for now.  Kindergarten orientation is coming up on April 16th. The following day is a strategic planning day for the teachers.  Next year's calendar will be sent out in a KIT soon.  A second round of interns, five of them, will be coming in May. Host families are needed.  The Strategic Planning Committee has been meeting. It will be sending out a survey regarding what parents and teachers would like to see done around the school.  Someone from Fairfax County has come by to look at the grounds. The school is getting a quote on erosion.  Mrs. McGuigan asked the county to come in and look at Kent Gardens’ security-related practices and to share what best practices are. Students are always coming in and out. Possibly in the 3rd Quarter Kent Gardens will have a policy more in line with other schools, where the school is more mindful of how people come and go. Examples would be requiring visitors to go into the office to state their purpose and telling visitors to be prepared to show their IDs. The school will also examine how students come in and out. The school should lock the door during the day.  A security change will be coming to all schools in Fairfax County in which schools will have a video camera and require visitors to show IDs. The first time a visitor enters the school, they will have to register their ID.  Information regarding placement letters for next year will be sent out soon.

Assistant Principal’s Report:  Naglieri testing already took place.  Getting into SOLs season. So far, they are planned for second and third weeks of May.  Today, the school had an assembly with Dancing Eagle Feather. It was a great program and helped ease the students back into learning after spring break.  The school’s setting up the book fair today. The French fair will be in one section. The money has to be kept separate so students will need two checks if they are buying French books too. Tomorrow night is late night and Friday is donuts for dads at the book fair. We still need volunteers.

President’s Report:  With regards to incoming Kindergartners, the PTA will start spreading the word and putting together some dates for Kinder play dates, similar to last summer.  Cobra Connection’s (CC) open rate is only about 30%. The PTA can create a hot link to the CC that teachers can add to the classroom newsletters. Someone noted that the CC’s format is hard to read.  March Madness was a huge success. The school is fortunate to have such an engaged community. The school brought in more than anticipated.  March 16 was the teacher work breakfast. Teachers appreciated it.  Odyssey of the Mind competition was on March 8. Students had wonderful time.  The Silver Diner event was postponed and will be rescheduled.

Upcoming events:  Book fair.  Spring clean-up is on Saturday, 4/11.  Teacher appreciation week in May. The PTA will try to have 3 anchor days where everyone/class does the same thing.  Walk/bike to school day is May 6.  On May 7, we will have an author visit.  May 8 is movie night. We will try to make it an outdoor event. The PTA will look into having sandwiches for sale that night.  The PTA is beginning budget discussions for next year.  Parents should plan on coming to the May 8th meeting to hear about the budget.  The PTA Nominating committee is reaching out to current chairs and trying to get individuals to come on as chairs for next year.  There will be a Pulcinella event next week to support the Food Bus.  The PTA still hasn't hit the $10,000 mark for the Armchair fundraiser.  Summer camp enrollment is off to a really good start. It is a very good schedule and strong program. There will be extended morning and afternoon hours.

Treasurer’s Report:  Financial report was distributed to attendees.  After school academies and Odyssey of the Mind: The numbers are off because salaries have not been paid out yet.  The PTA received a check for $1500 for box tops which will come in next month.  The drama program is also off because of the dates they are paid out and when tuition comes in.  We are going through the numbers this month and discussing next year’s budget.  Fire Up Your Feet expenses category: We have an income category and need to create an expense category for it so the numbers match up. We got money for the school from it. The event was in October and there is another one in May.

Motion to adjourn was made and approved at 7:44pm.