President’s Report – 10/10 PTA Meeting

Thanks to all who attended our Oct PTA meeting. We are trying to keep our meetings much shorter than last year and it’s working!

Student Council members Kaylyn and Savi joined us at the beginning to report on a fall art contest, taking photos for TOW’s Instagram account, and the food drive from Nov. 7-18 with Laguna Pantry for Kindness Week.

President Sarah Durand asked for a Yearbook Editor and Crystal Jerabek and Shaheen Sheik-Sadhal stepped up to take this important job as co-chairs!

Membership chair Tiffany Frey reported on new memberships: with the addition of 75 members through Bonanza ticket sales, we now have a total of 385 (so we’re going for 400!!). The current campaign is for teacher and staff participation.

Mr. Conlon reported on great feedback from Arts Workshop, and thanked all for a hugely successful Bonanza. He also spoke about exciting lessons taking place in the new STEM lab.

Treasurer Laura Jumani presented the Budget to Actual Report, Treasurer’s Report and a number of motions to ensure we keep the budget on track. Bonanza expenses went over budget by $600, but that included the purchase of canvas banners that will be used in future years.

After-school chair Phyllis Fang reported some great stats on After-School Session 1. Our enrollments are up, 85% classes are filled and high-demand classes are filling in 15 minutes! We ran ASP#1 on the old Thriva online registration system, goal to move to REC1 for ASP#2 with signups in December prior to holiday break.

Bonanza chair Gorjana Riedel did a wrap up on the Bonanza and we had a short thorns and roses discussion. We agreed that the volunteer process was much improved, the event was well organized, and more inflatables were key to its success with higher attendance this year. The silent auction was hugely successful and brought in almost $10k (almost double last year!). We’ll need to change the placement of the dunk tank for next year and think about the ticket system, which was confusing. We’ll also think about the selection of food and what works best and how much variety we need. Overall people liked the CLC contributed cardboard box creativity area and the live band. We will survey students about inflatables and activities to find out what they liked the best.

Crystal Jerabek and Shaheen Sheik-Sadhal worked with Jennifer Baker on the Reflections Arts Workshops last week and reported on the success of the program. Kids were asking for continued workshops and were very engaged in the areas of film, photography, visual arts, dance, literature, and music. We agreed it was great for the PTA to support something very creative to compliment the Art Masters program, which has more of an art history approach.

Family Art Night chair Christina Shook talked about the Nov 4 watercolor project. Response to the sign up was fantastic already. She is hoping to find a chair to continue this program next year.

Room Parent Coodinator Lisa Britt will meet with Room Parent volunteers this Thursday at 8am in the PLC room to review responsibilities, yearbook needs, teacher gifts guidelines, and coordinating volunteers for other activities/events.

We voted to create a Special Ed Liaison PTA position to help build a bridge between the general population and families with unique needs. Halloween costume drive will start next week 10/18-10/20 at dropoff, plus a box in office. Boys & Girls Club staff member Damien Enriquez reported Lang Park branch has openings for Kinder through 5th grade students and talked about their after school clubs and activities.

We hope you will all join us for our next meeting on Monday, November 14 at 8am in the MPR.

Thanks,

Sarah Durand
TOW PTA President