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Draft Minutes of November 10, 2008

Meeting was called to order by President, John Hannay at 7:32 PM. Quorum was met and the purpose of PTA was read by delegates. John thanked the delegates for prompt arrival to the meeting.

The minutes from the 10/06/08 meeting were discussed, voted and approved with a correction to Terri Chiu’s name.

John introduced guests Patricia Gordon and Ellen Giles from the BOE and Patti Caplan from the DOE. Special guests Principal’s Mary Day from ARL and Tina Maddox from Homewood were introduced.

BOE Report: Ms. Patricia Gordon, Howard County Board of Education (BOE) attended MD State Department of Education meeting and received MGT report. This report outlined the results of their study before Maryland State Board of Education. Some of the highlights of the discussion were: Establishing the usage of Thorton funding and hopefully state legislature will review. Funding was able to support all local education and help teachers for team planning. Compare programs and follow through best practices. Local agencies review how the funds are used and creating a master plan. The local agencies visited schools and talked to the principals and administrators. Need to establish best practices at elementary school level to lay the foundation. We also need to look at teacher perception of the Principal and the Superintendent. Gordon emphasized the importance of the Thorton funding as it supports various initiatives.

School Superintendent Report: Ms. Patti Caplan stated that the formula for state funding is 25% of school system operating budget. The 2009-10 proposed calendar was discussed with four changes that are proposed.  The changes were highlighted and discussed.  Locals are encouraged to view the proposed changes on the HCPSS website and/or to send a representative to the Dec 11^th public hearing to testify.  It was also encouraged to send thoughts on these changes via email or send testimony in advance to boe@hcpss.org. The school calendar recommendations are a committee process. John indicated that we could discuss on the calendar topic at the end of meeting if needed.

Data from the state regarding assessments was discussed. Challenges regarding disparity between high schools were high-lighted by one of the delegates. Additional support is required for schools that have low test scores and school improvement team do address issues related to test scores. 

Treasurer’s Report: Amy Rivera discussed the budget report. Approx. 1/3 of the local units have sent in their Council dues and local PTA have donated to date $4500 in scholarship donations.  Form 990 for non-profit tax status is due on Nov 15^th. Email to ptachc@gmail.com if you need any assistance regarding the form.

President’s Report: John stated that the reserve fund guidance was verified by MD PTA and it is ok as it is situated and to make sure that it does not get any bigger. We will look into investing the reserve fund for better return. Health and Wellness committee was formed and Ms. Lisa Regnante will chair this committee. Legislative committee was formed to review and move policies with the county and state legislators. Faenita Dilworth and Amy Stratton will co-chair this committee. Delegates were asked to fill in the talent bank skills and information form if you have not already done so.

Special Guests from ARL and Homewood

Tina Maddox (tmaddox@hcpss.org) articulated the need for support from locals for staff support at Homewood. She appreciated the help that she has been getting in terms of gift cards, food (Breakfast and Luncheon), and mail box recognitions. There are about 108 staff members in Homewood and the staff work in a stress environment and staff needs recognition as there is no PTA assist due to the nature of the school.  The goals for Homewood are middle school intervention and support, behavior support for high level of tolerance, Relationship-Resilience and Responsibility, Rise for the challenges. Tina Maddox indicated that gift cards to Borders, Target and grocery stores are welcome and will be given to the staff. Last year yoga for staff and students was given as a stress reducers but this year the school will be unable to fund.

Mary Day (mday@hcpss.org) from ARL indicated that she has a staff of 25 supporting academies at high school. There will be open house on Nov 12^th and Nov 20^th. Food for the staff appreciation is always welcome. ARL students are competing at state and national levels. Help towards competition registration and travel are welcome

 Committee Reports

Project Safe After Prom (PSAP) chairs met with the HCPSS Assistant Superintendent and Administrative Directors of High Schools and discussed successful strategies PTAs and principals can use in working together on Project Safe programs. The PSAP committee will prepare a draft of after prom event security procedures, and solicit comments and suggestions from HCPSS Security Office, high school administrative directors and PSAP chairs.  Finalized security procedures will be shared with Project Safe chairs at the January networking meeting. PTA Council will add a Project Safe After Prom page to its website. Starting in November the committee will send out monthly teen parenting tips to middle and high school PTA presidents and delegates via email. The articles are ready-to-use for publication in eSchool news, PTA newsletters, PTA websites and fliers at parent meetings. The articles provide tips for parents to deal with teen safety issues and promote safe teen behaviors

Curriculum – John reported that the committee is working on general curriculum and HSA.

Family Involvement – Nehemiah Spence reported that the coat drive is going on very well. They are in the process of sorting and putting it on racks so that they are ready to serve for the needy children. Still accepting coats, hats and gloves until Thanksgiving and should be dropped off at the Pupil Personnel Workers office in the ARL. Thank you all for the donations. Remember the book drive is coming up in February.

Health and Wellness – Lisa Regnante reported that the committee is going to review the existing programs, create outlet for communication and to share vision and collective voice. CLES is hosting wellness initiative snack program as a pilot project and a brochure was circulated to the delegates.  Please contact Regnante1@verizon.net if you need more information about the wellness initiative.

MD PTA – Niles Morton reported that the fall convention will be on Nov 14^th and 15^th in Frederick, John and Niles will be attending the conference. Howard County is in good standing at state. Four initiatives for MD PTA are increasing membership, increase training at all levels, communication and good standing.

MISC. - Jane Holcomb emphasized that if you are not getting focus news letter, send an email to ptachc@gmail.com. John indicated that office can send something in mail if you don’t have access to email. Cindy Haller encouraged delegates to fill in the talent bank form and looking for people to work on bullying and harassment. Upcoming policy review regarding loyalty & employment and school construction. Terri Chiu reported that each school can collect hand book on after school guide. Committee is looking to work on best practice for after school activities. Terri sought volunteers and enrolled couple of delegates to work on this ad-hoc committee.

John reiterated that we need to establish priority on topics of interest from locals and be proactive instead of reactive. Based on the input received so far from the locals, Nehemiah walked through a process to organize the input under broader areas; broader PTA, local PTA 18 months – 2 yrs, children – safety, health and success, and PTACHC 18 months – 2 yrs. Nehemiah went over the list classified under these categories. The process would be list, clarify and narrow (eliminate duplicates), divide and vote by the delegates.

New Issues: Atholton HS is working on to go green as part of the environmental program. It was suggested that Veronika Carella, MD PTA Health & Environmental Chair, be contacted regarding recycling and other environmental issues.

Meeting Adjourned at 9:23 PM

Minutes submitted by Venu Iyengar, Recording Secretary