February Meeting Minutes

Lobbestael Elementary

Parent Teacher Club

Meeting Minutes

February 13, 2013 @ 6:30pm

Attendance (13): Jenica T, Dace D., B. Polega, Kris D., Lisa L., Amy L., Susan S., Jennifer H., S. Thieme, E. Fuller, Mr. O, Tiffany, Ann U

1. /2. Welcome, Introductions, and Norms: Susan S.

·         Begin meeting on time.

·         Turn off cell phones.

·         Be respectful.

·         One person speaks at a time.

·         Stay on topic.

·         Discussions shall be limited

·         Motions will be made and seconded.

·         Majority vote passes motion.

3. Mission Statement: Susan S.

The Parent Teacher Club’s agenda is to lend support, both moral and financial, to cooperate with teachers, the administration and community to promote positive attitudes towards learning and education.

4. Secretary Minutes: Jenica T.

Motion to accept minutes as presented: 1^st Lisa and 2^nd Kris. Motion passed unanimously.

5. Treasury Report: Dace D.

Motion to accept budget as presented: 1^st Jenica and 2^nd Ann. Motion passed unanimously.

6. Principal Report: Ms. Polega

a) MEAP scores are back and information will be sent home and discussed in the next newsletter. Improvements were made in 6 out of 8 areas.

b) Feburary 25^th - Lobbestael will be hosting a visiting author.

c) March 7^th - Lobbestael will be having a family reading night

      d) April 16^th - Lobbestael will be having a family math night

      e) May 2^nd  - Lobbestael will be having a family writing night.

7. Parent Advisory Committee: Kelli W. (Lisa L. reported)

Committee discussed the following topics: Title 1 (313 Funds), Curriculum changes, Foundations vs. Bridges, AP and Dual enrollment classes, food and nutrition and teacher appreciation. For more information please visit, www.lobbestaelptc.blogspot.com to read the complete write up on these topics.

8. Old Business

Restaurant Night Lisa L., Louise L., Ann U.

·         Bath City Bistro (Fri, 2.19.13) – Asking for 10% of sales all day

o   Flyers went out and must be turned in to count

·         McDonald’s(Tues, 3.12.13 from 4-7pm)

o   Volunteers will be needed to help in the dining room.

·         Stevie B’s (Thurs., 4.11.13 from 3-9pm)

·         McDonald’s (Tues, 5.7.13 from 4-7pm)

Box Tops & Campbell Labels – Tammy F.

·         Box Tops: $566.40 check expected 4.15.13

·         Labels: 8,453 collected. 3000+ = 20 free scholastic books. Tammy will confirm offer still available.

Ice Skate Event (Follow UP) Jennifer H.

·         131 people attended. Event went well.

Kindergarten Round Up (Follow Up) Susan S.

·         Flyer approved by Ms. Polega and is ready to go.

Swim night – (Fri., 3.8.13 - 6:30-8:30pm)

·         Flyer ready and will go out on Tuesday.

Spring Conference Idea Box (Thurs, 3.21.13) Dace D.

·         No report.

Bake Sale (Thurs, 3.21.13) Ann U.

·      No report.

Book Fair (Thurs, 3.21.13) Kristen W.

·         Flyer is done and needs to be approved.

·         There will be a poster raffle.

·         Set up will take place on Tuesday, the 19^th after school and is all set with volunteers

·         Break down will be 3/21 and 3/22

Basket Raffle (Thurs, 3.21.13) Jenica T. & Amy L.

·         A raffle license will need to be purchased. Dace to work with Ms. Polega on this.

·         Tammy completed building use form.

·         Sign up to be placed in teachers’ lounge by Tuesday, Feb 26^th.

Roller Skating Party (Fri., 4.26.13) – Lisa L. & Dace D.

·         Contract has been turned it.

·         Flyer is in the works.

“End of the Year Celebration” (tentative, Tues., 6.4.13)– Jennifer H. / Ms. Polega

·      No report – to be discussed further at next board meeting.

10. New Business

Main Fundraiser (for next school year)

·         Pros and cons were discussed continuing with the Fun Run or trying something new such as, cookie dough or entertainment books.

·         Everyone leaned towards keeping with the Fun Run with the support of the Lobbestael staff and a large committee.  Meeting members agreed/decided to continue with the Fun Run.

·         It was suggested that the PTC reach out to those who run the Fun Run at South River and also anyone else who has success with their schools’ Fun Run.

PALS week (Mon. – Fri. 5.6.13-5.10.13) – Jenica & Lisa

·         Jenica will chair event and coordinate a committee.

·         A budget of $300 is already set.

11. Budget Requests

          a) Flower of the Month Fundraiser – Kelli W.

·         Was considered and the group decided not to pursue this idea at this time due to the amount of fundraisers already in place.

b) Razz Kids – Ms. Page

·         Subscription was extended through June 24, 2013.

·         1 year subscription cost $1169.35

·         Motion to fund Razz kids at the cost of $1,169.35: 1^st Kristen and 2^nd Lisa. Motion passed unanimously.

          c) 5^th Grade Field Trip – Mr. O

·         Requesting funds of $1,651.95 to offset the cost of the 5^th grade ski trip.

·         52 of the 59 5^th graders are attending, they each paid $6 to participate and $5 for helmet rental.

·         Mt. Holly offered a discounted rate of $30 for skiers and $40 for snowboarders.

·         Motion to pay for the full amount requested $1,651.95: 1^st Lisa and 2^nd by Tiffany. Motion passed unanimously.

          d) Science Olympiad – Earl F.

·         Requested $630.00 to cover Science Olympiad costs such as; building supplies, books, spirit gear and pizza party.

·         Motion to pay for the full amount requested $630.00: 1^st Lisa and 2^nd by Ann. Motion passed unanimously.

          e) Media Center - Susan S.

·         Requested to use scholastic funds to purchase 2 copies of the ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kids’ Series.

·         Library bound copies were encouraged.

·         Kristen to look into availability of these books, with library binding from Scholastic.

F) 4^th Grade harriet Tubman In House Field Trip – Mr. Westerhof

·         Taken care of by Ms. Polega

12. Open Topic Forum

Pouch Brigades – Tiffany

·         Presented flyer on collecting drink pouches from the lunchroom to help fundraiser.

·         This has been done in the past and was deemed unsanitary and a lot of work for minimal return. It was noted that the pouches no longer have to be washed out.

·         It was suggested that this idea be presented to the student representatives, Mrs. Skelis and Mrs. Doppke.

13. Agenda Items

Old Business/Follow-Up: Restaurant Night, Box Tops, Spring Conf. Idea box, book sale, bake sale, basket raffle, roller skating, end of year celebration, PALS week

New Business:

14. Adjournment – 8:23pm

PTC Meeting (3.13.13), 6:30pm in the media room

Lobbestael Basket Raffle

The PTC will be holding its annual Basket Raffle during spring conferences on Thursday, March 21^st.

Please consider supporting the PTC by donating an item to help create a themed basket to be auctioned off.

All baskets will be displayed during conferences and the raffle winners will be chosen at the end of the day. 

(Winners will not need to be present at the drawing.)

Baskets themes per grade are: 

Kindergarten - Eat Here

(Examples include:  gift cards for dining)

1st Grade - Health & Wellness

(Examples include:  items or gift cards for - the gym, exercise, outdoors, massage, classes)

2nd Grade - Car Care
(Examples include: gas gift cards, automotive supplies)

3rd Grade - Game Night

(Examples include:  any and all games - card, board, video & sports items)

4th Grade - Shop 'Til You Drop

(Examples include:  gift cards for shopping)

5th Grade - Lego

(Examples include:  anything and everything Lego)

Please return donated items to your teacher by Friday March, 15^th. 

For more information please contact lobbestaelptc@gmail.com

Thank you in advance for you generous support of this fundraiser!

Parent Advisory Committee Review

Parent Advisory Committee

Review from 2/5/13 Meeting

The first thing I’d like to say is Kudos to The Lobbestael PTC for all their hard work and commitment to supporting the children, teachers and parents of Lobbestael.  I spoke with a mom from another school’s PTC at the meeting last night and they have only 2-3 people attend their meetings and have a lack of parent involvement.  So, hat’s off to all of you for your dedication!

Title 1 (31A Funds)

-          Title 1 is a federal education supplemental resource (student specific) which is allocated per school based on need of reduced/low income.  The goal is to provide additional funds to schools/children to assist in funding for such things as: additional teachers, parent involvement plans, staff development, early interventions programs, materials (ipads/technology) and paraprofessionals.

-          To receive funds, each school must provide a plan to incorporate and have it reviewed annually. 

-          Lobbestael is not a Title 1 school

-          Within the last 5 years Lanse Creuse ‘Free/Reduced’ or low income has increased from 18% to 35%.

Review of previous meeting’s Foundations vs. Bridges

-          See attached two documents.  There are five advisory committee’s (Parent, Student, Teacher, support services and community feedback) that participated in identifying strengths and weaknesses within the district.  By reviewing you can see the commonalities across the board.

-          Top Strength/foundations are found in the middle color coded block for the Parent Advisory Group.

o   Top Strength varied but included facilities buses, parent portal, great teachers, quality programs etc.

-          Top weakness/bridge can be found in the 2^nd page which is also color coded for the Parent Advisory Group.

o   Top Weakness was class size.

§  The group had a long discussion on this issue. The district knows this is a problem but it is not easily fixed.  For example, average class size is 35 students by taking one child out of each class would incur approx.. $350k in additional funding, by taking 5 children (which is really what we would need) the additional funding raises to approx.. 1.7 million.  The district is losing funds constantly due to various laws and proposals being passed (proposal 1 stopped ability to hire new teachers, cannot use millage for it, required money to go to technology etc.).

Budget Talk (the next meeting is all about Budget, this was a small portion and was discussed due to our discussions of district weaknesses)

-          District receives $7,398 per child

-          Last year the largest revenue loss was due to the district losing 238 children of these 117 children lost in the K-12 and the remainder in the Alternative School.  It was explained that the alternative schools enrollment requirements were not strict enough and after reviewing the successfulness of these students the district has updated their Alternative School enrollment requirements to avoid issues like this in the future.

Curriculum Changes

-          The new Common Core Curriculum is being followed by almost all states.  First to be implemented will be English and Math followed by Science and Social Studies.

-          The goal of this new curriculum is to simplify the curriculum overall.  This allows less requirements so teachers can get in depth on more important topics.  Issues rose in the past because there were so many requirements; teachers were not able to dive into subjects like they needed. 

-          Other top rated countries utilizing common core include Finland and New Zealand

-          Next year will be the last MEEPS testing and will be replaced with Smarter Balance Testing.  Go to www.smarterbalance.org to learn more about it.  It is very different, what is tested, how it’s tested etc.

-          New curriculum and testing will be a challenge but they are cautiously optimistic

-          Mrs. Polega, please give us an update on how the pilot programs in Lobbestael are doing.

AP vs. Duel Enrollment Classes

-          At the high school level parents are frustrated in knowing how to advise their own children whether they should take AP or Duel Enrollment classes because of colleges not accepting credits. 

A college night will be held on April 18^th at 6:30pm in the Pankow Center.  There will be 100 colleges represented.  This will be a great forum for any high school student to learn more about this.

Food and Nutrition – Tanya Nofs

-          This took the discussion back to a unanimous weakness of longer elementary lunches.  One of the main causes of these short lunches which include recess is due to the union contracts which allow teachers 30 minute lunches which translate to the children getting 30 minutes.  Obviously the younger children need more assistance getting food, opening containers etc. and by the time this happens their 10 minutes are up.  A main concern is that we are not teaching our children to have a positive relationship with food.

-          Again, this is a challenge and there are no easy answers, by extending lunches etc. would mean pulling time from other required programs and/or extending the school day which directly impacts the need for additional buses etc.

-          It was stated, it is much better for the students to have Recess first than lunch but classes need to rotate through the cafeteria which requires some to eat first than recess.

-          Ms. Nofs discussed the changes in federal requirements implemented via the current administration.  These requirements do not fit the true nutritional needs of students. 

-          If anyone would like more information regarding this, I can get more data for you.

Superintendent CHALLENGE

-          It’s easy to complain and to point out issues, bridges etc.  She is challenging us to help turn district talk from negative to positive.  Check out the Facebook Page and see positive stories.  Get the word out to other parents to start talking in the community about the positives going on in the district, approx. 35% of the community has children in school so the only way to get the word out to those not directly impacted is to talk up how great we are!

Parent CHALLENGE

-          Teachers need more recognition.  Currently, many budget changes, curriculum changes and many other challenges can cause moral to decrease.  It was suggested that we do our best to send a note or do something to show them they make a difference…even as a simple verbal thanks.

o   Suggestion – when the PTC puts on the teacher appreciation lunch…prior, send out note to parents asking to write a story or a thank you to a particular teacher/support staff etc. which would be distributed at this time.  These messages could also be posted on the district FB page.