OLD BETHPAGE PTA GENERAL MEETING Tuesday, June 14th, 2011 9:30 A.M. in the Library `
The meeting was called to order and Laura Fox welcomed everyone to the PTA meeting. A request that the attendance sheets be signed was made.
The Share folder was presented and passed to members for review during meeting.
New Report Card format presentation by Mrs. Gray and Mr. Matassa
Induction of the 2011 – 2012 PTA Executive Board.
Report Card Presentation by Mr.Matassa and Mrs.Gray:
Mrs. Gray introduced Mr. Matassa to the meeting. Mr. Matassa is part of the district wide new report card format committee.
The report card format is changing to a three period reporting that will include both social and academic measures for each period. In addition, Specials will be included for each report card period.
Teacher comments will be included for each of the three reporting periods. Social and Academic sections will be graded by different measures. Academic measures are 1 –below expectation, 2 – approaching expectation and 3 – at expectation. Social measures will be graded by E – excelling, S – Satisfactory, NI – Needs Improvement and U – Unsatisfactory.
There were several reasons for the new report card format. The main reasons are: 1) preparation for the new NYS curriculum requirements and 2) the current format doesn’t provide parents with enough information on their child’s progress each reporting period.
There will be separate report cards for all grades 1-4.
Changes to the Parent / Teacher conferences are: the conferences will take place over a three
day period to allow more time for each meeting. There is discussion to have three conferences,
with the second conference being optional based on your child’s year to date progress. We are looking for feedback from Parents regarding the new format and reporting changes.
Please provide us with any feedback you may have. The new format is close to being finalized.
Induction of the 2011- 2012 PTA Executive Board:
Thank you to the 2011 Nominating Committee: Donna Lupia, Adria Kaminsky, Chrissi Canino and Heidi Beattie.
All current 2010-2011 officers please stand, thank you for a great year.
Mrs. Gray announces the 2011-2012 officers. All officers stand and are inducted by Mrs. Gray.Congratulations!
The newly elected 2011-2012 officers are:
President Laura Fox,Executive Vice President Jill Schecter, VP Arts-in-Education Silvia Accovelli, VP Communications Heidi Beattie, VP Finance Jennifer Hilber, VP Membership Maria Pascarella, VP Ways and Means Donna Lupia, Treasurer Michele Betz, Recording Secretary Christine Farrell, Assistant Recording Secretary Christine Canino, Corresponding Secretary Marni Gordon, Historian Ellen Harchut, Council Delegates: Barbi Silverstone, Jennifer Frisch, Adria Kaminsky, Chari Nacson & Gail Soffer, Alternate Council Delegates: Cindy Chen, Suzanne Colon, Lisa Mintz, Marcy Villavicencio & Elysa Wigler
President’s Report – Laura Fox:
Mrs. Fox welcomed everyone to the meeting and stated that she can’t believe this is the last meeting of the school year. This year, Mrs. Fox had a really terrific time and stated that what she enjoyed the most is the opportunity to work with such wonderfully talented women who contribute their time and energy to make Old Bethpage a more nurturing place for our children.
Mrs. Fox thanked Mrs. Gray and Mr. Richman for all their support this year.
Finally, one of Mrs. Fox’s goals for our meetings throughout the year was to keep them brief. It was usually the practice at each meeting to thank everyone who had chaired committees, etc, but in the interest of time Mrs. Fox eliminated that practice because it went too long. Tonight, the agenda is actually short and Mrs. Fox would like to take a few minutes to recognize and thank everyone who has helped her this year. Whether you were able to give a lot of your time, or even just an hour when it was really needed, Mrs. Fox appreciates it!!!
Mrs. Fox has a thank you and a little something for you so when your name is called, please come up, first our PTA Board: Jill Schecter, VP: was a terrific support to Mrs. Fox in terms of her experience as a PTA President in the Kindergarten Center and she is looking forward to working with her next year. Jill also chaired Fun Books, Blood Drive and Bylaws.
Ali Kusinitz: VP Communications, Website, Yearbook, Picture Day and 4th Grade Breakfast Chari Nacson: VP Cultural Arts: for her outstanding job on Cultural Arts Jenn Hilber: VP Finance, Website Support and 1st Grade Captain Lisa Moskowitz: VP Membership
Donna Lupia: VP Fundraising for her outstanding job! Michele Betz: Treasurer, Hospitality, Book Fair, Family Picnic, Staff Appreciation, and Wingo Christine Farrell: Recording Secretary, Kindergarten Orientation and always there to help out Josephine Ferretti: Assistant Recording Secretary, Fall Festival, Hip Pickles, 4th Grade Breakfast, Curriculum Committee Laura Campbell: Corresponding Secretary, Picture Day, Loads of help with the Holiday Boutique and help with flyers and collections Randi Schiebel: Historian, Cookbook, Staff Appreciation Luncheon Joanne Eterno: amazing job with Birthday Book Club, Curriculum Committee Jenn Frisch: Health Committee, Site Based Committee, Square Dance (always so supportive – Founders Day Buddy) Barbi Silverstone: Council Rep, and amazing job as Budget Representative, really there when I needed her Gail Soffer: Coucil Rep, Curriculum, always there to help
Adria Kaminsky: Council Rep, Holiday Boutique and Old Bethpage Night Out Stephanie Bernstein: Council Rep, always at PTA meetings Mary Sussman – Council Rep, beautiful tribute to Mr. Richman, have loved working with her
Special thank you for all our chairs, please come up when you name is called: Jenn Spatz; Directory, Kathy Schenck: Candy Gift Wrap, Maria Pascarella: Box Tops, Danielle Melle:T-shirts, Ali Trovato: Fourth Grade T-shirts, Suzanne Colon: Field Day, Marcy Villavacencio / Jen Biren: Book Club, Jen Biren / Melissa Endelson: Ducks Game, Ellen Harcut: Islanders Game, Stacey Hitsky: Smencils, Heidi Beattie / Loretta Mullen: Plant Sale and Pretzels, Marian LoGatto: Book Fair and Wingo, Jill Young: Ladies Night Out, Dawn Lomello: Holiday Boutique and Field Day, Maureen Cook / Paula Gilman / Heidi Beattie: PARP, Silvia Accoveli: Hospitality, Lisa Mintz: Technology, Jennifer Barton / Maureen Cook: Nutrition Committee, Alison Gelfman: Site Based Committee, Tracey Randel: Coat Drive, Food Drive (tremendous help to Mrs. Fox), Marni Gordon: kept track of all event RSVPs, Nancy Lubrano: Title IX and Staff Appreciation, Chrissi Canino: running the school supplies, Elysa Wigler: Relay for Life.
The 2011-2012 Committee Form will be posted on the website and sent home. Please look over the form and volunteer to chair a committee next school year. If you know a committee you would like to chair for next year now, please come up and tell Mrs. Fox. Thank You!!
For our new 2011-2012 Executive Board, our summer meeting will be Monday, August 1st at 7:30 pm. Probably a wine and dessert meeting, details TBD …
A new date is needed for our next Book Club meeting. The selected book is 1-2-3 Magic by Tom Phlen. For next year, we will have 6-8 weeks to read our selected book. Please come and join our book club next year.
Report of Officers:
Treasurer – Michele Betz, Treasurer – current balance is $13,421.
Fundraising – Donna Lupia, VP Ways and Means – The final smencil sale will be next Wednesday.
A flyer will be sent home. Smencils will not be a fundraiser next year. Thank you to Heidi Beattie and Loretta Mullen for chairing this year’s Plant Sale. The sale went very well. Thank you to Heidi and Loretta for all their work on this year’s Pretzel sales. Thank you to Melissa Endelson and Jen Biren for chairing the LI Duck Game. The game was lots of fun. This year’s fundraising went very well. Next year, we will discontinue the candy / gift wrap fundraiser and replace it with other events, such as: Parent’s Night Out. We are looking for volunteers to chair / run events for next year, a flyer will be coming soon via email and paper. Please volunteer and get involved. We would like to have everyone involved. Thank you to all our volunteers this year and all the support for our programs.
Cultural Arts – Chari Nacson, VP Arts and Education – Fourth grade school song CDS have been delivered. Thank you to all the teachers for their help. We had a great year with many Cultural Arts programs. We have money left in our budget this year. It is hard to schedule programs in May / June with the state testing and year end school events. Next year, we will be scheduling some new programs. Silvia Accovelli will be the VP Arts and Education for 2011 – 2012. Membership – Lisa Moskowitz, VP Membership – We have 320 members this year. This is an increase from last year. Membership drive was closed in March.
Mrs. Gray’s Report:
Thank you to our PTA President, Laura Fox, for an unbelievable great year filled with lots of new ideas and events.
Next year, a new report card format will be implemented district wide. The report card will report on the student’s progess three times a year for both social and academic measures. Mr. Matassa will present the new format at tonight’s meeting.
At next year’s back to school night, the teachers will give a brief update on the new format, which will be finalized at that time.
Committee Reports: Family Picnic – Michele Betz: It was a great night of fun for our families. Thank you to all who
volunteered. Field Day – Due to the weather, the first grade field day was changed to Friday am. Both field days
were great. The children and parents had fun at this special event. Fourth Grade Breakfast – This event is currently being scheduled. More details to follow. WOW – Laura Fox: This will be a new special writing week in the November. Similar to how PARP is
for reading, this event will focus on writing. The program will run for two weeks. Caroline Bock is the chairperson. Please join us in planning this new exciting program.
New Business:
A vote was taken for the approval of the May 2011 minutes. A motion was made by Donna Lupia to approve and second by Michele Betz. All were in favor, no one opposed, and no one abstained. The minutes stand approved.
A motion to adjourn was made. Motion was seconded. All approved and the motion was carried.
Announcements:
September 13th at 7:30 pm – next PTA meeting September 15th – Back to School Night
September 21st, 2011 by Heidi Beattie Leave a reply »
