President’s Report – 9/12 PTA Meeting

Thanks to so many who came to our Sept PTA meeting. And huge thanks to so many of you who dove in this summer and last week in full force and started making things happen!

During the meeting, I went over Robert’s Rules of Order, which guide our discussions and encouraged members to submit agenda items (if you want to talk about something) to contact@towpta.org. I shared that we are working on childcare for future meetings. I also went over reminders that there are no campaigning or political discussions at a PTA meeting. The PTA can support issues, but never candidates. If you have an issue that you would like PTA to take a position on, you can bring it to Kathleen Fey, who is our Advocacy Representative on PTA Council.

Vice President Christine Sarkisian was thanked for her hard work on the Teacher Welcome Back lunch. And, Facebook and Twitter are up and running for the PTA thanks to Stacey Pollack. We talked about the need for a Yearbook chair and a Reflections chair. Membership and Advocacy chair Tiffany Frey gave an update on membership numbers (which were at 225) and shared the PTA Advocacy Communicator.

Principal Conlon updated us on the size of the school, we did not have much of a dip in enrollment despite the large class that graduated and have many new families this year. He talked about the 4CLE classrooms in 5th grade and the plans underway to roll out the upgrades in the 1st grade classrooms.

We adopted the year-end Treasurer’s Report for 2015/2016 and the semi-annual audit report for 2015/2016. We also approved the programs, fundraisers and calendar for 2016/2017. Treasurer Laura Jumani led a detailed discussion of our 2016/2017 budget. We are starting the year in a strong financial position with increased cash reserves of approximately $80,000. Due to the slight decrease in enrollment, we are budgeting a $28,000 decrease in total revenue for this year. We will continue to support the teachers and grade-levels with the same fixed amount per grade next year ($1,500 per grade plus $500-$800 per classroom). We are adding a paid coordinator position to the Outdoor Classroom and Garden program. We will continue to fund the Art Masters program, as well as add two additional arts programs: Segerstrom Arts Teach assemblies and a day of Arts Reflections Workshops in the Fall. We will continue to support prizing/incentives for Reading Counts. We will add a $1,000 scholarship for a LBHS graduate who attended TOW, as well as a TOW student grant program. We are planning for the move from Thriva to REC1 for payment processing, which will decrease our web registration fees. We also renewed our annual contracts and licenses.

Bonanza chair Gorjana Reidel talked about plans for the 2nd annual Bonanza. We need sponsors and auction items right away. We are trying to use volunteers better in a more organized way. Tickets will be used for dunk tank and PTA sponsored food this year, so we don’t burden volunteers with handling cash. We will be reaching out to get high school volunteers as well as parents. Kelly Osborne reported on how the garden program will work this year and encouraged everyone to attend the garden workday on Sept 25. Fall Fundraiser chair Sheri Morgan shared that she had kicked off the fundraiser with teachers and showed some new Silver Graphics items that were on display at Back to School night.

We approved adding a list of tutors to the PTA website. (Unfortunately, it was determined after the meeting that PTA website cannot host this list. We suggest parents connect with other parents for tutoring options.)

We hope you will all join us for our next meeting on Oct 10 at 8am in the MPR.

Thanks,

Sarah Durand
TOW PTA President