Minutes of May Meeting
The Minutes of the May 1, PTA meeting will be approved at the June 5 meeting. Reports of any errors or omissions should be sent to Kathy Dudek at dudekjk@sbcglobal.net.
Central School PTA Minutes
Tuesday May 1, 2007
Introduction: The meeting began at 9:05 am at the Central School Library. The PTA officers in attendance: Nancy Hopkins, Lisa Aulerich-Marciniak, Allyn Pilewski, Maddalena Flight, Sue Miller, Cathy Louthen, Lisa Veon, Rick LaBelle, Kathy Dudek, and Michelle Hejna. Guests in Attendance: School District Superintendent, Dr. Lamberson; and Central School Principal, Dr. Limperis, Teacher Representative, Susan Scaggs, and Pride Students from Hauser Alex Layng, and Kate Walsh.
Pride Report: Alex Layng and Kate Walsh, two students from Hauser who the Central PTA sponsored gave a report on the Pride 2007 Conference they attended in West Virginia. 91 Students from Hauser attended this year.
Minutes: The April 3, 2007 minutes were approved by Michelle Hejna and seconded by
Lisa Veon. A correction of the March Minutes was brought to vote and approved by Mary Jo Robling and seconded by Linda LaBelle. The revision is recorded on the Central PTA News Website.
President’s Report: Nancy Hopkins received back 76% of the teacher surveys. The results were very positive. The only programs receiving more negative than positive comments were Grandparents Day (due to space and disruption of the classroom, and children who do not have a grandparent feeling left out) and Science in the Can, which ran smoothly this year but it did not coincide with what was taught in the classroom. The information from the survey will be passed on to the new Executive Board for review.
Nancy passed a graphics design that PTA member Janan Cain designed for Central School PTA. It was designed for our Spiritware or any other items for which the PTA needs a logo. The design is a very attractive Roadrunner Bird and it was well received.
Also, $40.00 was spent to purchase 2 library books as a Memorial, in the name of a former student Tracy Williams Escobedo who recently passed away. Tracy was a student who attended all the district schools except Hollywood School. Hauser too, is in the process of collecting money to purchase a Brick on our walkway in her honor. [She was 13 years old].
Hospitality: Lisa Veon requested funds of $90 to pay for the 5th grade DARE graduation party. Budgeted for the program was $50.00 for a donation to the North Riverside Police Department to provide this program for the 5th Graders. A motion was made by Lisa Veon to move $90 from Hospitality to the DARE Program line to provide a graduation celebration. The motion was seconded by Kathy Dudek.
Superintendent’s Report: Dr Lamberson reported that the Enrollment Study group findings will be put on-line for review. No changes will be needed for next year. We will be pushing 1400 for enrollment for next year. This is the largest enrollment since 1972. Central School up until now was the overflow school. The overflow school now has shifted to Ames. This means that Ames will go from a two section to a 3-section school in some grades.
A question was raised from the floor regarding the power outage of the Central/Hauser Campus: what is the procedure in place for notifying parents and will we have to make up the missed school day? Dr. Lamberson stated that we do not have to make up the day. The district is looking into ways of notifying parents when the electricity is out, or if school is closed due to another reason. In this instance, the power was out and the phones did not work. What systems are out there to handle the calling of parents? Also, if there is a need to evacuate the school for any reason we need a way to communicate to the parents an off site pick-up of students. This is all under review.
The Traffic Safety Study is underway for the district.
Principal’s Report: Dr. Limperis reported that the district is in the process of interviewing potential candidates to fill the positions open for next year.
She reminded parents to fill out the Student Information Form. This is not a form to be used to select a teacher, but an informational form to let the staff know of any special needs or concerns about the student or if you want your child to be, or not be, grouped with another student. Please use this form to let the administration know of any issues regarding the placement of your children so they may have a successful academic year.
On June 7th the Awards Ceremonies are divided into 2 sessions, the 3rd, 4th, 5th grade ceremonies will be combined this year followed by the 5th grade Class Picnic and Clapout. The other Award Ceremony will be for K through 2nd grade.
District 96 Social Studies Curriculum has been revised for K-8 and the changes will be
•KDG Individual Child in relation to family, neighborhood, world.
•1st Family, school, neighborhood
•2nd People & Places
•3rd Community, Local Government
•4th U.S. Regions, Illinois History
•5th World Cultures & Regions
•6th Ancient History, Western Civilization
•7th U.S. Govt., U.S. Constitution, U.S. History, Colonization-Death of Lincoln/ End of Civil War
•8th U.S. History-Reconstruction-to Present-Illinois Govt., Illinois Constitution
K-4 will use Scott-Foresman textbook series and 5th-8th will use McDougall-Littel the text books will feature connections to technology with links online.
Artifact Trunks will be made for each grade and the district will be looking to the PTA for volunteers to help to fill with items that were used in pioneer life)
Committee Reports
Garden Gurus: Jennie Straka passed a sign-up sheet looking for volunteers for watering duties over the summer.
Book Fair: MaryJo Robling/Lisa Marciniak the total for the book sale was $11,100.00 dollars, with $5,300.00 dollars going to Central School to purchase items from the Scholastic catalogs. $1,300 will go to purchase books for the library, $2,000 to purchase DVD players. Sales doubled on the Todd Neumann (guest storyteller) day.
Teacher’s Report: Mrs. Scaggs, 1st grade teacher, thanked the PTA for all that you do.
Children’s classroom work was passed around.
Cultural Arts Field Trips: Fran Sitkiewicz 4th and 5th grade Cultural Arts field trips 4th grade is going to Frank Lloyd Wright Studio/Oak Park and 5th grade is going on May 30 on a Walking Architectual Tour of Chicago and a Docent Lead Art Institute Museum visit. The training day for the parents as docents will be May 17. Fran will take the parents downtown and do the tour and a lunch.
5th Grade Activities: Cheryl Bennett reported that the 5th grade went to the Hauser 5th grade games in April and she showed the T-Shirt designed for the Central School 5th Grade students. Coming up is the Springfield Field Trip on May 18, and the Class Picnic and the 5th grade Clap out on June 7.
Pavers: Nikki Hajer reported that 5 bricks were sold on the installment plan, 2 full payment bricks, and she is planning an end of the year/graduation promotion for the year. 16 Pavers have been sold year to date with a $1,360 profit.
Teacher Appreciation Week: Michelle Hejna and Allyn Pilewski thanked PTA members for the great donations for the daily drawing. The week starts with a poster on Friday, May 4 at each teacher’s door. Send your child early at 8 am with a pencil to write a note to their teachers and give thanks.
Teacher Appreciation Luncheon: Maura Doherty. Please sign up for lunch on May 8 for $8.00 with the teachers 11:30-1:00 pm.
Other Business: Dawn Gmitro briefly stated that the Artist in Residence Recycled Art was well received by the students and the teachers.
The meeting adjourned at 10:35 am.
The minutes respectively submitted by Kathy Dudek, Recording Secretary.