HUNTERS WOODS PTA MINUTES

Hunters Woods Elementary School for the Arts and Sciences

Jan. 3, 2007

The regular meeting of the Hunters Woods PTA was held on January 3, 2007 at Hunters Woods Elementary School. PTA President Maureen Becker called the meeting to order at 7:40pm and the Nov. 1, 2006 PTA meeting minutes were approved with corrections.

Correspondence:

None.

Principal’s Report:

Mrs. Toatley, on behalf of all the staff and teachers, thanked all the PTA members and school parents for the wonderful holiday gifts and for the Sweet Shoppe.

She chose to cover the following issues:

The Connection newspaper – Mrs. Toatley reported that many HWES students participated in the student writing project but she chose to withhold student’s last names for the sake of privacy and for the safety of our students.

Personnel Changes – Mrs. John-Bull, and Mrs. Stewart will be out on leave. Mrs. Fitzgerald will replace Mrs. Stewart for three weeks as a sub until Jan. 22 when the new teacher arrives.

Mrs. Foley has left and it was reported that she was very touched by the plaque in the sculpture garden dedicated to her and her hard work creating the garden. Mary DeArmeco will be the new part-time art teacher. She has worked in Fairfax County before at Franconia Elementary for a few years. She is very experienced and CEDA trained.

Integration Celebration – This Celebration is designed to showcase how we use the arts to teach, incorporating art standards with academic standards.

Fellowship House – Mrs. Toatley thanked Mr. Ware for his field trip to Fellowship House involving students who walked to the House and visited residents.

BART – The student assessment is a pre-SOL test that includes reading and math for 3-6 grades. Teachers will start to administer the BART test to their classes starting Jan. 8th. Teachers are able to view the results online and therefore, can use the results to focus their classroom efforts and shape instruction in areas where the children had difficulty. The test also gives the students familiarity with SOL testing because it is fashioned with the same language.

President’s Report:

Maureen opened with a brief statement concerning the focus of the meeting which was fundraising – ideas and new goals.

Maureen thanked Shreeti Kapoor, Andy Chopivsky and Eleanor Weis for all their hard work during the Book Fair. She thanked Susan Sather for doing a great job on the Sweet Shoppe and Angela Irwin for the successful Carrabba’s night. Also, Maureen thanked Mia for doing a fantastic job organizing the Lost and Found.

Maureen asked all committee chairs to bring a friend who might like to take over their committees next year during the March PTA meeting.

The Fairfax District PTA sent a request for all PTA members to send an e-mail in support of the need for more nurses in the Fairfax County schools. This is a lobbying issue and the more support shown, the stronger own joint voices.

Maureen asked for a volunteer to be in charge of purchasing and installing the Lisa Foley plaque in the sculpture garden.

Teacher’s Report:

The Teacher’s thanked all the PTA members and school parents who donated items to make the Sweet Shoppe so special.

The donation of $10 per needy child during the Book Fair was mentioned as one of the most important parts of the Book Fair. The teacher’s really appreciated the PTA’s support of their students. The donation leveled the field for these students and made the Book Fair fun for everyone.

Mrs. Toatley said that everyone is still talking about Carrabba’s night/Math & Technology night within the school community. She mentioned that it demonstrates HWES’s strong commitment to our community.

Susan Brownsword thanked Mrs. Toatley for waiving the kitchen usage fee so that the Carrabba’s Night was a financial success as well as a community success.

Committee Reports:

Book Fair – Shreeti Kapoor reported that the PTA made a $3200 gross profit - $1200 in school scholarships and teacher discounts equaling $2000 net profit. She thanked all the volunteers for their help and mentioned that the next Book Fair is in April.

School Supplies – Susan Brownsword reported that she needs the teacher’s to update their supply lists for next school year 07-08 during the teacher workdays of Jan. 24-25. She needs to start the process of getting bids for our order.

Snickerdoodle – Susan Brownsword reported that the committee is getting ready to go into the publication phase of the Snickerdoodle process. She said the students are not inputting the data this year and she asked for parent volunteers to help with the manuscripts. The students will do the editing and the parents will do the actual typing input. She requested a volunteer to head up the production phase, mainly using Quark to produce the Snickerdoole product.

Cultural Arts – Patrick Ware lead a discussion about the need for the PTA to help him to determine the mission of the Cultural Arts Program. It was decided that CA should focus on the big picture items, exposing all the school to arts, which are not necessarily connected to the current curriculum.

Mrs. Toatley asked us to maintain the CA Program’s flexibility in spending so when opportunities arise, we can take advantage of it outside a grade, curriculum specific purpose.

The meeting agreed that the general fund should be available for entire school performances and the mini-grants should be reserved for more academic, grade-oriented programs.

International Festival – Raba Letteri said that the Festival will not cost the PTA any money and will be structured like a typical potluck with each dish being accompanied by a list of ingredients to prevent any allergy issues.

Reflection Committee – Hilary Bradley asked about the Silent Auction night and combining events.

Unfinished Business:

Hunters Horn – Susan Sather stated that she needs all articles by Friday, Jan. 5 th.

Skate Night – Susan Sather reported that tickets are $6 prepaid and $7 at the door. The PTA is selling penguin necklaces for $1.00 as a fundraiser.

Silent Auction – Susan Sather stated that she needs someone to help research previous auction donors and/or help with fundraising. The auction will be held on March 23 rd. The last week of January will be the first working meeting for the auction for all volunteers for this committee.

Mrs. Parmiter requested a mini-grant for $133 for 19 books for Kids Discovery. The grant was approved unanimously.

Treasurer’s Report:

Deborah Lannen went over the budget and stated that the Book Fair was down $300 from last year’s revenue.

Fundraising Discussion:

Lead by Maureen Becker, the meetings participants had a general conversation about whether to stop the fall sale of Sally Foster gift wrap and begin a one-time request for a donation for each family at the school. It was decided that PTA members would talk to Oakhill Elementary and ask how this policy has worked for their school.

There was a discussion about starting a school foundation for donations that would make all donations deductible and therefore, perhaps more attractive to school donors. Thomas Jefferson HS was given as an example. It was decided that the process of founding and administrating a school foundation would be too complex and time consuming to attempt at this time.

Maureen requested that we have another, smaller meeting to further discuss these fundraising issues.

Raba Letteri put forth the idea of having a school flea market, where all the students could donate items and the proceeds would benefit the school. She stated she would be willing to head up this committee and is going to look into the Fairfax County Schools limitations on this type of activity.

Patrick Ware asked for mini-grant of $150 to cover the cost of having a pianist accompany the 4-6 grade choral concerts. The grant was passed unanimously.

The next PTA meeting will be held on Feb. 7 th, 2006.

Maureen adjourned the meeting at 9:18pm.