WSPTA General Membership Meeting
April 19, 2010
PTA President Anne Marie Frascella called the meeting to order at 8:00pm*
Welcome, thank you all for coming, a special thank you to, it has been a long week, and these meetings are so important so we are really glad you make the time to come.
Please be sure to sign in and to put your name in for the door prize. All the information for this month is at the front table.
Please review the minutes from our March meeting.
Motion to approve: Anne P.
2nd: Susan M.
Turn the time to Ms. Morales
Ms. Morales: Thank you. This month is our NJ ASK testing month. Next week starts with the 7th and 8th grades. If you are the parent of one of these children, please remind them to get a good night’s sleep and have a good breakfast, every morning, but in particular next week! This same information is true for the 5th and 6th graders who will be tested the week after next and then wrap up with the 3rd and 4th graders. Please keep their stress levels down so they can do the best they can.
AMF: if anyone has any questions for Ms. Morales please ask now.
Q – Do we have any confirmed dates for any of the 8th grade events?
A – Confirmed we have June 21st for the awards assembly, other than that we are still in discussion. The brunch should be that week as well.
AMF: We have no teachers with us tonight, so we will go right into Reports.
Officer Reports:
1st VP – Joy Gurreri
Nothing in this capacity.
2nd VP – Lisa Keyzer
Excused for family reasons
Treasurer: Sue Katz
Early estimates for the Tricky Tray:
Brought in over $24,000
Expenses were around $7,000
Total profit: $17,000
This is the highest profit ever, great job everyone. Real numbers once all receipts are in.
Corresponding Secretary: Anne Padovano
Thank you from Ms. Grattagliano for Giving Tree items
Recording Secretary: Yvette Stoker
Nothing to report tonight
Tricky Tray: Thanks to everyone for such a great turnout and a great night. This was our most successful Tricky Tray ever. I don’t think anyone missed the hotel setting. This is one of the many great examples of what the PTA can accomplish if we work together. Everything ran perfectly.
There were some things brought to our attention and we will note everything on the committee report for the team who works on it next year. A great way to organize that is to have one last meeting with the committee and share thoughts on what was great, what was not so good etc. Of course with every huge success there are always some who were not satisfied, we will note all the comments and address them next year, all in all, there were no major problems at all! Thanks to all.
Tricky Tray 2011 scheduled for April 30th!
5th Grade Fun Night - Kathy D.: Another great event for kids. Mrs. Matteo and Mr. T ran things, the kids had such fun learning about exercise and staying fit and eating good foods. There were tons of healthy snacks and it was a great night for all.
Drama: Tech week for Guys and Dolls is this week. Performances are the 23rd and 24th at Lakeland.
AMF: just so everyone is aware, rows are being reserved and the teachers have been invited to attend free of charge as our gift to them. We have emailed all of them with this info.
Tom P.: A quick note on Beauty and the Beast, we are on schedule for performances May 7th and 8th, there will be 2 performances on the 8th. Even if your kids are not in it, bring your kids to see the shows, what a great way to spend time together. We will be selling light up roses and there will be a scene in the 2nd act that will be interactive with the audience and their roses. The great thing is that whatever we don’t sell we can return for credit, don’t have to eat it.
AMF: We should be advertising these shows in the trends for the community and the neighboring towns. Flyers should also go up around town.
Website: The Wanaque PTA has a Facebook page, be sure and become a fan and check out the updates as often as possible.
Reading Activities: Kathy Dykstra – Still working on an activity for 2nd and 3rd grades. We want to do a PJ party for them but are having trouble with dates. Toy Story 3 is coming out soon so we are thinking of doing a theme around those characters for this party.
We also still want to do a Chess night, still thinking through the particulars.
AMF – there are more funds for these kinds of programs just come up with and idea let us know and the money is yours to host the event. Our kids love for us to be involved so go for it!
Giving Tree: Wendy Weisse – Debby Sloat and I have worked together and bought a bunch of things with the Box Tops points we had accumulated. We are working on sorting and distributing right now. The updated file has gone to Karin, just waiting for her to up load it.
School Apparel: Sue will have a table set up at the drama performances both Guys and Dolls and Beauty and the Beast. We can consider ordering extra tee shirts from the performances to sell at the shows; the only trouble is if we do not sell them we lose the investment. Might be a consideration for the boys in the show since they don’t get flowers.
Skate Night: Also a huge success. This event fell on a busy night and parents stepped up and split responsibilities as there was great attendance at all events that night. Thank you for participating. The organizers were hoping the money raised would be used in the library; however we cannot earmark monies from any event for any one thing. The money all goes into one pot and if there is one organization that needs something they just need to ask and we can distribute funds to that account, but everything has to go into a general fund first.
Next year we are scheduled for March 18th, Ice Vault also mentioned that if we wanted to have an additional night in September we could.
Wendy’s Night: Believe it or not we made $336 at this event – it was so easy, we just went to dinner and got a check. It was even a bad weather day and a busy week then too and we still were supported – we should do more of these for sure!
Nominating Committee: We need a nominating committee for the positions open next year. If you would like to be on the committee, let us know. Basically you nominate people for the positions whose terms are up this year. The offices are:
2nd VP
Recording Secretary
Treasurer
We will also be appointing committee chairs.
Creating a Garden - AMF: I received a letter from the Ringwood Farmer’s Market regarding creating a garden for Wanaque School. We need to see if teachers are interested in integrating this concept into the curriculum. If Ms. Morales OKs the project we would have to dedicate a portion of school property and plant a garden. If anyone is interested in heading up this committee, let me know. This would be a great learning experience.
Comment: perfect process for 6th-8th graders. Maybe can plan it for next spring.
AMF: I know the person who is doing this project in another school. I can get her to come talk to us about what works best and how her school is incorporating the project.
Comment: Peter Cooper School got a grant to do this. We might want to try that too.
Fundraising Committee: We want to seek out new opportunities for fundraising so we don’t get bored. We do great stuff, but there is so much out there and we could be doing more! There is a company called Fun Services holding a dinner May 5th from 6-9pm at the Brownstone. They specialize in all sorts of fund raising and will have lots of ideas for us. We will report on it next month.
Q – Is there something we can do to involve more and some new volunteers for PTA?
A – In addition to Back to School night I think we should send an email blast and post something on the website and Facebook, maybe that will help get more people involved.
Teacher Appreciation: Lisa K. is not here, we are not sure of the theme but the event is the first week in May. If you are interested in helping out let us know.
Secretaries Day: This is April 22 and we will be sure and send something nice to our secretaries here in the school.
Field Day: Coming up fast! We need volunteers, there is a sign up sheet, please sign up to do something that day. Mrs. Matteo and Michele Adams have begun planning and there is lots to do. We are all crossing our fingers that the weather cooperates as well and we actually have Field Day this year!
Planners: We are getting ready to order planners for next year. We will meet with the teachers from the different grade levels to see what their individual needs are and then place the order. We have used the same company for a number of years; we recently received some information from another company willing to beat any price. If you would like to help us choose the planners and work with the vendors, let me know.
Cultural Arts – Joy G. : this week Liberty Science Center is coming in to do classroom workshops with the 3rd and 4th grades. The 2nd week of May they will be coming back for 5th grade.
Q – Is there anything in the works for 2nd grade?
A – Not at this time, if you have any ideas or would like to see something in particular, let me know and we will look into it. I also have a bunch of things you can go through if you want to see what is available.
AMF: What about Mr. Goodbody? I think we could still get him to come in and the kids love him. He is reasonable too.
Q – What is Mr. Goodbody?
A – The gym teachers had him in a few years back. He comes in a suit that depicts the inside of your body and teaches about nutrition and health. It is only appropriate for the younger grades, but they love it. As long as we can tie it in to the curriculum, I think we should try it, we will talk to the 2nd grade teachers.
Bingo: - the next Bingo date is 5/21.
Old Business: Be sure and sign up your Stop and Shop card with the rewards program, it is super easy, just go to stioandshop.com and get started.
New Business: None
Announcements:
Be sure and VOTE tomorrow!!!
The art show and science fairs are also going on come by and see all your kids’ hard work and then VOTE!!!
Our next meeting will be May 10th at 7:30.
Motion to adjourn: Anne P.
2nd: Joy G.
Meeting is adjourned until May 10, 2010 7:30pm
*This evening’s meeting was preceded by a Meet the Candidates hour for the incumbent and new BOE candidates to introduce themselves and present their platforms.
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Respectfully submitted but not approved 4/23/2010
