Teach Boosters Club Board Meeting, November 7, 2014

(As corrected.)

Teach Boosters Club Board Meeting, November 7, 2014

Present: Kimberley Wormley, Laura Cooper, Altee Vigil, Mike Berger, Robyn O’Leary, Melissa Keller, Terrie Marshall, Teresa Larsen, Brian Olson, James McMillen and Donde Hubbley.  Paige arrived later in the meeting. 

Kimberley called the meeting to order and asked people to review the many things that we have to celebrate (see attached), such as exceeding our fundraising goals for all the scheduled fundraisers so far this year.  The schedule of future Boosters meetings will be appended to these minutes.

Next was approval of past minutes: these were posted ahead of time on the Teach school website.  Melinda moved to accept the minutes as amended; Kimberley seconded the motion which passed with all in favor, none opposed or abstaining. 

There was then discussion of changing the Boosters board composition in order to be in compliance with our bylaws.  Laura Cooper reviewed that the bylaws state that the board must be comprised of seven members, one of whom must be a staff person appointed by the school principal.  At the May meeting, seven board members were voted, in, but none were staff.  Laura volunteered to continue as secretary but step down as a board member, thereby making room for Mr. McMillen to appoint a staff member.  Kimberley moved that Laura remain as secretary but vacate her space on the Boosters board, and James McMillen appointed himself as staff representative.   Melinda seconded this motion, which passed with all present in favor, none opposed or abstaining. 

Teresa Larsen, library tech, was present.  She asked that the Boosters form a Battle of the Books committee.  Robyn O’Leary identified herself as the chair of this event.  There was discussion of the Battle event, with the following areas covered: Mr. McMillen requested that it be more parent-driven than teacher-driven.  The library tech could assist by tracking student AR tests leading up to the event.  Teresa said she would help individual classes stage mock battles in advance of the Battle so that students know what to expect.  Mr. McMillen will check to see who the teacher rep is for this event (Mr. Crabb or Mrs. Robson).  There was discussion of AR tests and if the system is open; Teresa stated that it is indeed open until 3 pm M, Tu, W and Friday.  Melissa asked about Society of Women Engineers students being involved and there was discussion of background checks that the district requires (TB test and completion of volunteer paperwork). 

Teresa Larsen gave the Boosters a purchase order that the district librarian had put together for building the Teach reference library, and asked if Boosters would like to help fund this purchase.  ***ACTION ITEM: Kimberley will check to see what has been spent of the Scholastic credit.***  There was a discussion of how best to utilize resources for purchasing reference materials, and the feeling was that these tend to not be widely utilized in school libraries.  Mr. McMillen said that one option would be to use money to fund a device available in classrooms that would connect to online resources with be appropriate filters.  Teresa brought up that students have e-books available for use, and all present said that they would love a mini seminar in order to know how to do this.  ****ACTION ITEM: One suggestion was for Teresa to send home a sheet that explains how to connect with these books.****  Brian said that the amount of the proposed purchase order is about $1064.  Teresa explained that when ordering books for the school library, the district approves purchases and orders books through a particular website.  But there is also the option of Teresa ordering some books/materials directly through Amazon or another vendor, and obtaining reimbursement through the Boosters if the Boosters Club wishes to assist in this way. 

The Boosters will take the Scholastic proposed book order under consideration and make a decision at the next meeting.  Some questions raised were: What do teachers feel they need based on their lesson plans for the year?  What books does Teach actually have, all told (most are still boxed up since library shelving is not yet in)?  What is needed to help with teaching the new science standards?  Mr. McMillen said that science specialists may be present at each school site as early as next year to assist with science standards resources.  The library shelving is coming later in November.  Robyn proposed that the Boosters table the library discussion until the library is unpacked and the staff can make their classroom needs known. 

Paige arrived at this point in the meeting. 

Altee Vigil and Erica Stewart are co-chairs of the Derby Days event.  Altee said that they are moving ahead with planning for the event.  They want to keep the theme but are searching for a new venue, as Teach has outgrown the Café Roma space which has been generously given in the past by Vanessa and Marco Rizzo. There was a brief review of the Derby Days event for those unfamiliar with it.  It is a fundraising evening that is adults only, with a silent auction, as well as a mock “race” between horses that are decorated by each class.  Different venues were discussed: the SLO Country Club ($2000 for venue, $50-60 plate), Elks Club ($800 for venue, $35 plate), John Rourke’s new barn with a casino night (John would not charge for the space, $2850 for AMS, a group that would run gaming tables, no sit-down dinner but instead hors d’ouevres with caterer so cost will depend, approximately $30/ticket).  There was also discussion of possibly using food truck/wineries/brewery to pour.  *****ACTION ITEM: Altee will check with John Rourke about his fire/liability coverage.*****  There was discussion of how to help the evening move so that people don’t get bored and leave prior to the silent auction as had been observed by Altee at another event. 

After much discussion, all present felt that Derby Days being held at the Rourke Barn was a great idea.   Saturday, May 16^th, 2015 was discussed as a date.  Altee will go ahead and move towards that goal, getting answers to questions about liability, etc. 

Paige shared info on the Scrip program.  She has sent home additional paper order forms.  Brian is handling checks so that people do not have to go through the Presto Pay process.  There was discussion about some of the reasons that this program is under-utilized such as people using their “points” rewards credit cards and not wanting to pay ahead of time as is the case for gift cards. 

Mr. McMillen then gave his principals’ report.  First item was the Gaga ball pit.  Jim Schimmer has made the pit and it is now stored between classrooms on the Teach campus.  Mr. McMillen would like for the pit to be pulled out once a month or so, assembled on Monday and torn down on Friday afternoon.  He is hoping Boosters could ask for volunteers via Face Book to do that so that the pit can be better utilized. 

Mr. McMillen covered a new behavior system that is being implemented, due to noticing that when he’s not on campus, there is a slight rise in playground “incidents.”  The new system will consist of “positive” slips and “refocus” slips.  The positive slips will get put into a container in the classroom and there will be drawings during the month for spirit wear, etc.  Refocus slips will be filled out by teachers or the principal.  (See the attached slip as an example.)  Laura Cooper asked about having something similar to the SLOCA practice of writing something about the character trait they are studying on chalkboards around the SLOCA campus (i.e. how have you demonstrated “Kindness” today?).  ****ACTION ITEM: Mr. McMillen will explore where a board like this could go.  Donde pointed out that the student council might take that on as a project for the year.****

There was then discussion of the sound system that is currently being shared between Teach and Bishops Peak.  Mr. McMillen said that he and Mr. Block have determined that this was a BP purchase.  Bill Gaines has put together a “dream system” proposal (attached to these minutes) for Teach.  There was discussion of renting rather than buying, which avoids the problem of technology becoming quickly outdated.  Bill Gaines has also rented BP/Teach in the past.  ****ACTION ITEM: Kimberley said that Melinda and she talked about a friend who might be able to lend equipment, possibly including lights.****  The talent show is coming up on January 29^th and a sound system will be needed for that, as well as for the 6^th grade play.  Robyn asked how sound/lighting is traditionally funded at other school sites.  Mr. McMillen said that about $200 is what he could come up with in district funding towards a system.  Kimberley asked if we could get by with rental of what we need for January, then form a parent committee, get some proposals together, then make a formal motion and buy equipment. 

****ACTION ITEM:  Kimberley will set up a committee to figure out the use of excess funds from previous years.  One question the committee will address is how large the rainy day fund needs to be.  Brian will help advise the committee.****  Mr. McMillen said that he would advise doing short term rental of sound/lighting equipment for this year, and then put together a prioritized list of sound/light items which he will get from Bill Gaines.  Once a system is decided upon, if we can learn about it in advance, Donde will see if students could help run the sound/lights. 

Mr. McMillen then discussed the passage of Measure D.  Every site is supposed to form a facilities committee that will help determine how that site’s little bit of Measure D funds will get spent.  At Teach, Mr. McMillen has established that we need bell/intercom system.  Other ideas are the “common area” for which Jim Schimmer, among others, has been lobbying (trees, etc.).  Mr. McMillen would like parent involvement from Boosters to help with this facilities committee.  ****ACTION ITEM:  Kimberley and Mike said that they would both be interested in serving, to help be good stewards of the funds being utilized.****  There was discussion of the lease with SLOCA which runs for another 4 years.  Kimberley pointed out that Teach will be hosting the district ???? meeting on January 22^nd, 2015.  There was discussion about having an opportunity to talk a bit about the opportunities and challenges for the new Teach site.  There was also discussion of where Teach is in the hierarchy of Measure D funding (Mr. McMillen says that we are similar to Sinshiemer in that this site was retrofitted at the same time about 13 years ago). 

Mr. McMillen would like Teach to be a one-to-one school site (one student to one electronic device).  We were given money to replace computers that are 8 years old or older.  There are options with those funds.  Some that were discussed were iPads or Google Chrome notebooks.  Apple apparently does not furnish adequate tech support to school sites using Apple products, as Mr. McMillen has found through firsthand experience.  There is also a website that might be utilized for funding such as Donors Choose (this is a site for private online donation; teachers put what their needs are on the website and donors match funds).   There may be other opportunities like private grant money, matching funds, etc., in order to make Teach a one-to-one site by the end of the year.   

****ACTION ITEM: Donde will send Kimberley an email and Kim will send that to Kristen Admundsen…  ??????****

There being no more time to continue the meeting and no other pressing business, Mr. McMillen moved to adjourn the meeting.  Brian Olson seconded the motion with all present in favor, none opposed or abstaining. 

Respectfully submitted,

Laura Cooper, secretary for Boosters