PTO Meeting September 25, 2014 General Meeting

President’s Welcome: Katherine Stethem called the meeting to order at 8:49 a.m. She welcomed all in attendance and described the mission/goals of the BEMS PTO for 2014/2015.

Katherine informed the membership that she has accepted the resignation of Joanie Booker, VP of Communications. SEAC Report: An overall description of first SEAC meeting on September 16th was given. School board members gave an update on two new schools coming, Academies of Loudoun. The Academies will be 2 schools apparently, a Science Academy, similar to TJ and another that will combine Monroe and AOS. She described the Resource Center available to students and families. Also, she shared the statistic that 10% of LOCO students are Special Ed.

The next SEAC meeting will be held on October 1st. Election of 4th VP Diversity and Secretary: Katherine Stethem entertained a motion to elect Cynthia Maynard as VP Diversity and Cindy Hogan as Secretary. Shannon Berg made the motion, Malinda Mahaffey seconded, all approved and the motion carried. President’s Report: by Katherine Stethem Katherine described the philosophy and goals of the PTO. One of the goals is to buy another laptop. The PTO will also assist the school and teachers through service by filling in the gaps and elevating workload.

Principal’s Report: by Mr. Hitchman Mr. Hitchman introduced Deputy Rodriquez.

He stated that by September 30 all reports are due. The reports will be submitted and reviewed and to see if BEMS will be re-designated as a School to Watch. On-site visits to BEMS will be in November.

Spring SOL assessments have been made available. The students did well. Our biggest gain was in Math 8 with a 66 percent pass rate. Algebra went up from 92 to 100 percent pass rate. Geometry is still at 100 percent pass rate. Math 6 had 65 percent pass rate. He wants to increase this. Students with IEP’s increased a lot but still need improvement.

BEMS population went down 400 students from last year but the economic disadvantage student population has increased from 40 to 70 students. There are 50 ELL students. We will continue working with them. There is one teacher to work with all ELL students in all grade levels. The teacher is working with about 20 different languages. We have lost students due to Trailside opening but our demographics have changed.

BEMS students voted for a mascot and school colors for Riverside High School. Future Riverside students at Stone Bridge HS and Tuscarora HS will also get a chance to vote. They hope to open the high school with 950 to 1000 students. Once the mascot and colors have been decided, spirit wear gear will be sold at BEMS.

Mr. Hitchman wanted to thank the PTO for their work with purchasing 30 computers, getting volunteers for the front office, working with Math camp and the Musical. In addition, PTO has made the teachers feel appreciated and improved staff moral through the loss of 30 BEMS teachers due to budget cuts.

He said that in order for BEMS to be more than ordinary, we need to do extra things. Such as, moving Spectrum students to a more pre-engineering experience. Also, he wants to get students more involved in STEM.

BEMS could have a shared bus loop when Riverside opens. A hill will separate the two schools. Safety issues will be addressed with the added entrances. Students would enter the school through their houses. The front lot could turn into additional parking. A decision on this will be made soon.

There will be varsity sports at Riverside HS in the first year such as track. There will not be a varsity football team though. There will be AP classes offered as well.

Parent Liaison: by Kristen Ash There is an increase in families with needs. Kristen will be sending out a document on what is a parent liaison. A parent liaison’s role is to make sure a student gets whatever they need to make their experience at BEMS desirable such as food, eyeglasses, or shelter. We are seeing an increase county- wide of students being underserved. We will be doing food drives and toy drives to help. Kristen’s hours are 8:30-1:00 every day.

Teacher Liaison: by Robert Morissette The teachers love the lunches PTO provides and would like for them to occur more often. Kevin Bartell’s wife's Dad passed away. They would appreciate any support for them.

Communications Report: by Katherine Stethem The VP Communications position will be refilled soon. BASAP will operate with no outside vendors (i.e. teacher run only).

Hospitality Report: by Shannon Berg We will be supporting the teachers with lunches and mailbox treats. They have lost friends and colleagues with the budget cuts this year. PTO put candy bars in their mailboxes to start out the school year. We will be doing teacher lunches every other month. PTO will also do small things for the teachers on the other months. We need people to help with teacher appreciation week. Email Shannon for help with appreciation week at [email protected] .

Volunteers Report: by Cindy Amos We had volunteers to stuff Back-to-School packets, organize school fundraiser cups for students, and help out on picture day. Principal Hitchman was very appreciative for the help. Cindy asked to pass the word on that we still need volunteers. Front office volunteer spots are full but some spots do open up periodically if someone has to cancel. We need school store volunteers and copy volunteers. There are 3 house coordinators to help with special requests from teachers. Ways and Means Report: by Malinda Mahaffey Malinda wants to encourage people to link their grocery store cards. We are also collecting box tops. Some ideas for ways to encourage students to bring in the box tops are a prize machine, or having holiday sheets to attach box tops. The math camp and PSAT were good fundraisers. The current fundraiser she is working on is box meals for kids in or attending the talent show. Another idea for a fundraiser is a possible student/staff basketball game. She is looking for any other ideas for fundraisers.

The next upcoming Spirit Night is Chick-fil-A on Wednesday Oct 1. The Chick-fil-A cow will be at the kiss and ride on Wednesday afternoon.

Diversity: by Cindy Maynard Cindy is looking into forming a Buddy system for students. She wants to promote acknowledgement of the different holidays and cultures possibly through the morning announcements. She hopes is it will provide a great learning opportunity for the students on different cultures.

Membership Report: by Moriah Starbecker Currently PTO membership is at 292 members. This is close to goal of 300 members. Moriah Starbecker stated that she is stepping down from her position as VP of Membership.

Treasurer’s Report: by Bridget Passarelli Bridget reported through 280 PTO memberships, donations, grocery store rebates, Math camp and PSAT, the PTO has raised $21,000 so far.

Katherine Stethem entertained a motion to approve the budget; Bridget Passarelli made the motion; Shannon Berg seconded, all approved and the motion carried.

PTO Meeting adjourned at 10:15 a.m.