WSPTA General Membership Meeting
October 19, 2009
PTA President Anne Marie Frascella called meeting to order at 7:35pm
Anne Marie (AMF) welcomed everyone to the meeting. Great turnout again. Thank you also to all the teachers who are here.
We will get straight to the agenda, would like to introduce our superintendent Dr. Richard Weisenfeld.
Dr. Weisenfeld:
Want to go into more detail on the specifics of the Academic support program provided here at Wanaque. Goes back to the “No Child Left Behind” law passed in 2002. Up to that point every child was entitled to a free and appropriate education. After this law, each child is now expected to be proficient in two areas of study: math and language arts. This is a paradigm shift from what was traditionally acceptable for education. Children are now tested every year in grades 3-8 and once in high school. The rules here have changed as well.
Each year there is one week of testing and one week of make ups. Before the day of testing, teachers are not permitted to open their test booklets and therefore have no idea what is contained inside. Only full-time teachers are allowed to facilitate the testing.
If we have students in the district who are sent to schools for their specific disabilities, their scores are sent to us and calculated in to our scores. Scores are collected as a whole, including all sub-groups, ESL, Special Education, ethnically diverse students – all in one whole. The impact is perhaps felt hardest in high school. So grades 3-8 are tested to address the shortcomings to prepare for high school, if a student does not achieve proficiency by high school, they do not receive a diploma.
Tests are scored and we are suspect to who is grading essay questions. Most likely they are uncertified and their work is timed for cost efficiency, so they are working piecemeal and perhaps not even reading the whole essay in some cases. Regardless, we have to accept the scores and work from there. The state dictates the measure or standard to which our children are deemed proficient or not.
By 2014 all children must be 100% proficient in the state of NJ on the NJ ASK. This covers all children regardless of where they come from or what their capabilities are. The expectation is the same for all.
The second paradigm shift – the state has ratcheted up the curriculum standards. Algebra is currently the highest group for math in 8th grade; by 2014 it will be mainstream math. High schoolers will have much more emphasis on science and math requirements. This is not a bad thing, but if you are not proficient in 3-8th grade you will not be able to handle the work load in high school.
Unfortunately those students who score advanced proficient do not balance the lower scores. The monies have to be allocated to building up the children who fall below the proficiency line. If the school goes 2 years without improvement in scores, it is considered a failing school – this not only diminishes the public education system, it also lowers property value and community support.
We brought in a summer program for kids who needed extra help, no cost to the families, and parents did not send the kids to the classes.
We have after school programs – Academic Support – to address the needs of the kids. Classes are small and focused. A host of teachers and people are on board with the program to help and our principals are charged with making sure it gets done.
If your child is not proficient, get him/her help. Whether it is our school programs or outside, it doesn’t matter, but we must have these children addressed now before they fall farther behind. To that end we cannot have PTA programs stand in the way of getting the children the academic help they need. We cannot run programs at the same time as the academic support programs and ask the children to choose, academics has to come first. Until they achieve proficiency they must participate in some form of academic support.
Q: Why can’t we have both and schedule classes around the drama program or other programs the kids want to participate in?
Dr. W: Where we can, that is the goal, but we cannot guarantee that. If we need 5 math teachers, we have to schedule when it works for them.
Q: What about before school academics?
Dr. W: Not sure we would have much luck with getting students here before school. I would like to work with the PTA so that all kids get what they need. If I don’t give my best I cannot expect them to give theirs.
Q: There was a web-based program we were using for a while to help kids get extra practice on the things they learned that day. Are teachers only using it for evaluation?
Dr. W: We have reviewed 3 programs and are going to look at 2 more at the convention next week. We do not want to spend money on something less than what we need; we need something more than Study Island though.
Q: It just seems that a web-based program might be able to accomplish some of these things and would be fun at the same time.
Dr. W: If there are no more questions, Go Yankees! Have a great month and remember you can come to me individually with your questions at any time.
AMF: now we would like to introduce Rob Adams, the president of our Board of Education (BOE)
Rob: Great to see so many of you here tonight. Glad Dr. Weisenfeld reminded us of how important the state scores are to the future of the kids. A lot of what we do we have to do, we have to live within the parameters the state sets.
On a happier note, we identified a need a few years back for science labs in the schools. They cost several hundred thousand dollars each. The president has offers stimulus money for schools, we applied and were rejected. We also sent the application to the state. They liked the idea and will match 40%. We still need to raise $300,000 but 40% is a big chunk from the state. So we decided to let the voters make the decision. We will put this up for referendum in the spring. This is exciting. To be able to put this into the schools would be an amazing opportunity for our kids, we would love to see this happen.
Remember the BOE meeting is Tuesday at 7pm in the Haskell school gym.
AMF: next we would like to introduce our new principal, Ms, Celia Morales
Ms. Morales: thank you for all for coming tonight. We are off to a great start here. To address the questions of Study Island, not enough of our teacher are up to speed on this program. We need to get technology to train everyone – it is a great program and we will be working to use it to its best capacity this year.
The Academic Support program is all settled in and ready to go. Classes were set up, teachers are on board and we will have follow up regularly. If your child is expected to be there and cannot, please let us know, the school is responsible for the child if he or she is enrolled in after school programs and we need to have that documented. Likewise if there is a situation where the teacher has to change the schedule we will be sure to alert the parents, so far there is nothing in place for substitutes for Academic Support.
Q: What if your child is proficient or advanced, are there programs for them at this point?
CM: Right now there are no programs for these children. If they want to get additional support, they are welcome to join the class as long as there is room, each class is capped at 10 stude3nts.
Dr. W: Right now we are geared for remedial work – not for the proficient or advanced kids. The new curriculum has differentiated strands for our advanced students.
R. Adams: We are aware and sensitive to the fact that we need to address the advanced students as well.
Q: Is there any way for us to get passwords for online resources on the Homework Hero sites? It is great to have online text books and everything, but if the kids cannot access them they are useless. There is a personal tutor on the left side of the page that is a great resource for supporting what is learned on a given day, but we have to be able to get there!
CM: Not enough teachers are using their Homework Hero pages effectively either, we will mention that in our workshop.
AMF: will we be having Student of the Month assemblies again?
CM: End of each marking period to highlight the children who did well.
AMF: Just wanted to thank the teachers here tonight. They put in a full day with the kids and then either stay or come back to be with us, so thanks very much. If any of you have anything you would like to discuss?
V. Andresen: 5th grade science and social studies are looking to secure a membership with the Newark Museum. For $150 we can get collections in the school for 2 weeks at a time to support the course of study. Artifacts and other items the museum has on display on loan to the school. We are asking that the PTA support this.
AMF: Motion to support the 5th grade request?
Motion: Brian Katz
2nd: Joy Gurreri
AMF: Some other requests we have had from the teachers include:
1. Microwave for the teachers’ lounge
a. Motion: Lori S. 2nd: Lisa K.
2. Shelves over the copy machine for supplies
- Motion: Anne P. 2nd: Lisa S.
3. Support for the 4th grade trip to Sandy Hook in place of a grade-specific assembly
- Motion: Lisa K. 2nd: Sue B.
Officer Reports:
1st VP – Joy Gurreri
Nothing to report tonight..
2nd VP – Lisa Keyzer
Nothing to report in this capacity. Waiting on dates still for Bingo – hoping for November
Treasurer: Sue Katz
We need to approve the budget, basically the numbers are the same as last year with some minor additions here and there. We added the following line items:
Children’s Tricky Tray
Welcoming Committee
Our taxes are with the accountant and on track for November submission.
Motion: Anne P.
2nd: Yvette S.
Corresponding Secretary: Anne Padovano
We had thank you notes from the following people, if you would like to review them please see me after the meeting:
Mrs. Spirko
Tina Brindisi
Lori Zucola
Recording Secretary: Yvette Stoker
Nothing to report tonight
AMF: Now we will go to our standing Chairs. We will start with Theresa Earnest and drama.
Theresa: The K-2 program is on schedule for December 18 & 19 in our gym. Pictures will be taken November 3, please refer to the website for more details.
The 3-5 program has sign ups posted on the website and flyers go home this week
6-8 is also on schedule, rehearsals for all are going very well.
Cultural Arts: 6th and 7th grades will have an assembly called “Teen Truth” on bullying. The movie we are showing shows pieces of the Columbine shootings, it is in black and white and is filmed very tastefully so as not to upset the kids but still deliver the message. Parents are invited to view it the night before, 10/21 in our library.
AMF: Permission slips went home – make sure you think about it, it is an important message for the kids. They should see it.
Joy G: You have to find something to move them, this should do it.
Q: Can 8th graders who did not see it go to the showing?
CM: Let’s see how many we are talking about.
Q: What about the younger kids, what are we doing to train them on the issues with bullying?
CM: Each grade gets something. “Sticks and Stones” is another program the police have developed for internet bullying that will be shared with the students in appropriate grades. There will be other programs as well. We have to teach that even a joke can have terrible consequences.
Q: It is so important for everyone to be involved with their kids, we are the only ones who can really change behavior.
AMF: We will have grade-appropriate assemblies all year to address all these issues and more, they will be tied to curriculum and will start soon!
Fundraising: Our fall fundraiser brought in about $8,000 which is right in line with last year, we were concerned that with the economic times we might see a drop, but it is right there.
The second fundraiser will be cookie dough. Wendy Weisse and Linda Stepanchek have volunteered to run this for us, more info coming.
Kids Stuff books will be here soon, Sue Mazar will let us know when they are ready to go.
Box Tops: Debby - Box tops is a great program and doing very well this year. This Friday is the deadline for the first campaign. We are expecting a check for about $700 in December. Next one due in April. High collectors get a pizza party at the end of the year, the winning class for each campaign gets a coupon for the snack cart for each child in the class and the kids really love it – keep on collecting! Some reminders: Please be sure the labels are not expired, you can either send them in with your child or drop them in the big box in the main office, again, just be sure the teacher’s name is on the baggie.
Kids’ Tricky Tray: Trish - Thanks for all the donations. Reminders: on November 20 in the gym. 6:30 start – we will begin calling numbers at 7:30. Tickets will be $5 per child and will include some prize tickets, a snack and a drink. Adults will be $2 and are obviously not allowed to win. No drop offs for sure and siblings under 4 will be free. Kids from PreK – 5 will be invited.
Tricky Tray: Lori Sahanas – Schedules for April 17th. Still waiting approval from the board. Either way it will be at the high school and will be a lot of fun!
Website: Karin DelSignore Karin is not here tonight, remember that the best way in to any of the resources is through the PTA website www.wanaquepta.com . If there is anything you would likeposted, please send it to karin@room1design.com in whatever format works for you. PDF and word works best.
Reading Activities: Kathy Dykstra – the Reading Scavenger Hunt was a great success, thank you to so many of you who helped that night and in preparation for it. We had just under 60 kids and they were well behaved and had a blast. There will be programs for pre-k through 1 and then 2nd and 3rd grade as well, super hero parties to support our theme and some other really great activities, stay tuned, more info to come!
AMF: A special thank you to Kathy, this was a ton of work but a ton of fun too.
Kathy D: We are also thinking of organizing a Chess Club for after school. One or 2 times per month for 5th – 8th. We will look into the cost.
Theresa E: You should call the high school, their chess team would love to mentor the kids here and teach them too!
Membership: Donna Bernardon – still ongoing. 100% of the staff are members so congratulations to them! We are already higher than last year for membership. The NJ PTA kit should be here soon and we will print cards and get them out.
8th grade committee: Lisa Keyzer – There will be a meeting for 8th grade parents interested in helping on 10/26 at 7pm in the Haskell tech room.
School Apparel: Sue Bruno – we are going to do some cash and carry for school apparel this year. You will still be able to order, but we think cash and carry might work out better too. This is not a profit activity, we charge what we get charged so the prices are reasonable. We will have the following items:
T-Shirts Sweats Headbands (winter) Scarves
PJ Pant Hats Hoodies Zipper jackets
We will be at the Holiday Bazaar, kid’s tricky tray and Drama events.
Giving Tree: Wendy Weisse – the Giving Trees will be up this week. Each teacher will write on the leaves what their wish is for their classroom – this will be up all year for us to help out. Some items are small, tissues, wipes etc, others are bigger, cameras, electronics etc.
AMF: Please remember any announcements between meetings will be posted on the website.
Motion to adjourn: Anne P.
2nd: Trish A.
Meeting is adjourned until November 9th
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Respectfully submitted but not approved 11/6/2009
