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Supporting Teach Elementary, a 2018 National Blue Ribbon School, where students grow grit by choosing the challenge of accelerated academics
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Teach Derby Casino Night is fast approaching!
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Teach From The Air
Aerial Photograph taken by DRONE last week!
(Many
thanks to T. Twisselman Photography and assistant Drew Kyle and to Alex
Wilkerson for making the arrangements.)
What a cool picture.
Friday, April 17, 2015
Teach Boosters Meeting Minutes, April 17, 2015
Agenda:
- Move Meeting date: Meet on Thursday May 7 @ 8:30 am rather than Friday May 1 @ 12:30 pm. Also meet Thursday June 4 @ 8:30 rather than Friday June 5 @ 12:30 pm
- Next year’s recommended pledge amount
- Approve minutes from 3-16-15
- Treasurer’s report (2014-15 budget status, next year’s budget, update on Strategic Planning Committee)
- Principal’s report
- Current Events: Volunteer Tea April 22, International Day April 30?, Staff Appreciation Week begins May 4, Craft Fair Fri May 8, 2:30 to 5:30
- Reports from Board members
- Upcoming Events: Bike to School May 6; Derby Casino Night Sat May 16; 6th Grade Play Thurs May 21; Battle of the Books Fri May 22; next year’s Pancake Breakfast (CeRae)
- Reports from Grade reps
- To Celebrate: Kick It fundraiser and Family picnic (Summer & Amy), Book Fair (Mignon), Home Depot donation (Kurt), Open House (Board and Hospitality Committee), Chairpersons prompted to document best practices (Kim)
- Action Items: Tax Deductibility of Tiger Games donations (Brian), Outstanding Pledge installment payments (Brian), 6th Grade play video sales (James and Brian), Next year’s budget (Brian), Next year’s leadership committee (Kimberley), Chairperson vacancies (Kristin); Next year’s Pancake Breakfast (CeRae)
- Needs: Inventory Battle of the Books, Accelerated Readers Utilization Assessment
- Exhibits?
Present: Kimberley Wormley, Kurt Rightmyer, Terri Marshall, James McMillen, CeRae Speidel, Mike Berger, Wendy Sylvester and Laura Cooper
Absent: Brian Olson, Melinda Keller, Robyn O’Leary
There was agreement among those present to move the next two Teach Boosters Club meetings to 8:30 a.m. on the second Thursday (May 14th and June 4th).
Kimberley has asked Brian, treasurer, to meet with teachers to determine their needs for the 2015-16 year so that we can then formulate the shortfall between the all-school fundraisers and what is needed to cover the entire budget.
The March minutes had been sent out ahead of time, and the secretary reviewed some minor changes that had been made to them. Kimberley moved to approve the minutes as amended, Terri seconded the motion with all present in favor, none opposed or abstaining.
Principal’s report: open enrollment has closed and due to the number of families that applied, there will have to be a lottery system. All families with 6th graders will be accepted (some of the current 5th graders will be attending Los Osos Middle School for their 6th grade year). There were not enough 4th graders to warrant another class, but this was discussed. Principal McMillen pointed out that we’re limited by current space constraints. The lottery date is April 29th. Measure D funds will be coming in for Teach; the focus is on high schools currently. We were told to form a committee to make recommendations. Part of these funds will be used for bathroom renovation. We’ll be meeting with a landscape architect at the start of the year to review options for the front of the classroom area/shade issues. The district may let school fields go brown as a result of the drought. We have a go-ahead for the garden area and simply need to pick a location for the garden area. There was discussion of possibly integrating 6th grade murals and/or tiles into the garden walls. CeRae brought up the idea of 6th graders doing a mural on a moveable board and have posters made from that which students could buy; one of these could be framed and put in the library. ****ACTION ITEM: CeRae will put some thought into this…****
Wendy presented the donation from Whole Foods that she obtained through the garden grant: a $2000 check, a book of garden curricula, seeds, etc… Whole Foods wants to keep in touch in terms of how we use the funds/materials. There is no time limit or specifications placed on how these funds are used. There was discussion of if runoff water could be re-claimed for garden use, and if Cal Poly students might help with this (e.g. engineering senior project?). Teach students could be involved, for example as part of a school-wide IEI project. ****ACTION ITEM: Kimberley will communicate with Teach teachers about this possibility for next year… Wendy said to please cc her and Jim Schimmer. Kimberley will discuss with Brian how to earmark that $2000 Whole Foods check for this specific purpose.****
Current Events: Movie Day April 30th (This is an after school movie which is a fund raiser for the student council); Girls Who Code meets every Thursday at Teach and has generated interest at the district level (Dr. Prater, other principals): Vanessa Davis is chairing Bike to School Day May 6th (check for an email).
Wendy said Nara is working on International Day April 30th; ****ACTION ITEM: Wendy will ask her about status of volunteers, etc. Kimberley will follow up with Nara and Eva…***** The date was moved to May 30th. Testing week is the last week of April and first week of May.
There was a recommendation for there to be Fall and winter sessions of Electives next year rather than Winter/Spring as things are very busy in the Spring. Kick It Games will also be moved to the fall.
The 6th Grade play is coming up on May 21. Dondi has identified 2 student videographers but no camera. James has an HD camcorder. There was discussion of attempting to get a parent involved to be the videographer but no specific action item emerged.
Re: Home Depot donation: Kurt said that Home Depot has told him that they do not yet have the mister systems in. When everything is in, then, Kurt hopes, everything can be picked up. James will ask the district about large coolers to protect lunches from heat/direct sun. The district has re-usable ice packs that can be used.
CeRae has volunteered to be the chair for Pancake Breakfast, the date has been set for September 13, 2015 and we are on the Elks Club calendar for this date.
Kimberley has asked Kristin Amundsen who is the Volunteer Coordinator and she is going to be contacting current chair persons and volunteers to see who will be continuing for next year and who will be vacating. Once vacancies are known, there was a recommendation to form a nominating committee of socially connected people who would recruit, then see where the gaps are after that.
There was discussion of the way chaperones are selected for the CIMI trip in particular and the feeling on the part of parents present was that transparency about the process is needed. Parents also requested that there be a place on the chaperone application for comments and that one spot be kept open for a new 6th grade family member, since the chaperones for CIMI are selected before teachers get much opportunity to know new 6th grade parents. There were three action items generated as a result of this discussion.
****ACTION ITEM #1: Kimberley will send an email to James mentioning the discussion about selection of chaperones so that he can pass these parents requests along to teachers.****
****ACTION ITEM #2: James will ask CIMI if it would discount one student’s tuition for the trip this fall as this student has a medical issue. ****
*****ACTION ITEM #3: The wording of the letter from teachers to potential parent chaperones needs to be changed substantially. Kimberley will follow up in an email to staff. *****
The timing of the letter to families of outgoing 5th graders about the recommended donation amount was discussed. It should be no earlier than May 26th and no later than June 11th.
In terms of Battle of the Books: it is not clear if it will be happening this year. ****ACTION ITEM: Kimberley will follow up with Robyn to determine the status of this year’s Battle of the Books and to recommend a stronger parent involvement for next year. BB also needs to be a line item in next year’s budget.**** The nominating committee would need to put special emphasis on parent volunteer to get the event rolling throughout the year.
The Accelerated readers program utilization is still unknown.
Terri moved to end the meeting, Kimberley seconded the motion which passed with all in favor.
Respectfully submitted,
Laura Cooper
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