PTA Board Meeting Minutes – February 8, 2022
7:00 pm via ZOOM
Meeting ID: 864 5941 6022
Passcode: wildcats
ATTENDANCE:
BOARD MEMBERS
- Kristen Ramer Liang
- Tina Lilley
- Kate Scher
- Megan Wildenradt
- Kathleen Donahoe
- Anna Hume
- Kellie Pecoraro
- Sara Lukas
- Renee Hartnett
- Tricia Schalekamp
- Leah Lansberry Austin
- Kate Mathews
- Courtney Sievers
NON-BOARD
- Cindy Watters
- Susan Hernandez
- Liz Young
- Sandra Klay
- Anjean Bosch
- Erika Morales
- Allison Parker
- Erin Drury SCPTA
7:00 Meeting Called to Order, Land Acknowledgement
7:10 Guest Speaker: Erin Dury, Seattle Council PTSA
- Discussion on how SPS is funded, how our PTA dollars impact and affect the funding, and what all this means for your school and your PTA.
- 105 schools
- 90 have PTA (Parent Teacher Association) or PTO (Parent Teacher Organization)
- PTAs advocate for the adequate funding of schools from governmental sources. They do not replace funds not supplied by governments.
- Fundraising is not the primary purpose of a PTA
Take Back Resolution (2019)
- Fundraising exacerbates critical inequities in our system
- 2018-19 PTA fundraising numbers in Seattle
- Per school $0 – $455, 561
- Per student $0 – 1,394
- Seattle PTSA is supporting #TakeBackPTA
Cindy Watters pointed out that some schools get more LAP (discretionary) dollars per student than others and lots of PTA funding is making up for that to help students whose families might be less financially stable than their “wealthy” neighborhoods.
Tricia Schalekamp added via chat: Cindy’s comment (data from SPS site) 2021-2022 Lap Funding is $24,492 for Northgate & $12,816 for Whittier
PTA/PTO Revenue per student (‘18-’19)
- North $323
- Central $282
- West $286
- Southeast $67
Most fundraising happens in the North and West areas of SPS. Strong correlation between those areas and the historic redlining activities that happened.
SCPTSA looking for people who want to have a conversation with the Seattle Public Schools in the Take Back conversation & school funding policies.
Most fundraising happens in the North and West areas of SPS. Strong correlation between those areas and the historic redlining activities that happened.
SE Coalition is still seeking funds… they may do an equal distribution of funds this year, or they may do more of a equity based distribution (ie; free/reduced lunch #s)
Tina asked what the $14K was used for… just to know what types of needs the SE schools have. Masks, library books, water bottles
You may contact Erin here if you would like more info/have questions. erin.dury@scptsa.org
7:40 Presidents Update/Housekeeping (Kristen/Tina/Leah)
- Approval of January Board Meeting Minutes – passed
- PTA Community Meeting 3/15 – critical staffing budget requests and vote
- Nominating Committee Update (Leah) – 1st mtg this week, more updates next month
7:50 Principal & Staff Updates (Cindy)
- Budget Preview
- Schools never have enough money
- Enrollment projections – we think we will be down about 38 students – 80 – 5th graders moving on, 72 Kindergarteners projected to come, plus attrition
- Megan asked if legislation passes to use 2019 enrollment numbers, if that will help us. Cindy said maybe because it might be used to cover for this year
- We expect to get budget from the district on 2/28
- COVID $ from government is paying for playground supervision, Katie Dahlen
- We are paying Nurse Marissa extra to help with contact tracing
- Cindy offered to have a bigger conversation about budgeting if anyone is interested
- Kathleen asked if we’ll get more COVID relief money next year. Cindy said we don’t know
- Kate S added via chat: “ESSER III dollars currently end on 9/30/22 and there’s no public discussion of it renewing again that I’ve found”
Tina asked about BLT meeting… meeting just happened. Starting to discuss who is staying/leaving. Teachers are torn about PTA funding… they LOVE having a reading specialist (Ms Trilby)
- Black Lives Matter Recap
- Great week
- Cindy complimented the teachers – thoughtful & intentional, especially about BLM. They cultivate curiosity daily and are doing a great job!
- Another bulletin board made by Ms Mayo to highlight BLM.
- BLM week started in Seattle.
- Lays the foundation for kids to be thinkers and future leaders/activists/voters/disrupters
- Prides of March Drive
- Partner with Tent City 3 at Phinney Lutheran Church, sanctioned tent city –
- Starting 6th/7th of March
- Each week is different theme with different grades helping to organize what we’re collecting and why
- Student ambassadors to collect items
- She’d like to partner with PTA to collect items
- Tying to virtues of compassion and kindness
- She plans to build in some spirit days too
- Kristen brought up the book drive to diversify our library books – Cindy would like to still do it.
Kathleen asked for COVID update
- LESS covid! Enough of a drop that we can resume vision/hearing screening
- District says 2/7 in-person audiences for secondary schools will be ok, so maybe in March we can resume singing indoors (with masks)
Susan thanked Cindy for getting the IA positions at Whittier
8:10 Treasurer’s Report
- Budget Update (January reports): Balance Sheet, Budget vs Actuals, Profit & Loss
- Budget Survey Update
- Budget Committee Update
$128K up $8K from Annual Give
Biggest expense was $3K for IXL
8:30 Chair Reports
- Spring Fling (Sandra)
- Meeting tomorrow night for Spring Fling
- Procurement
- Membership – Silver Membership Award!
- 102% membership over last year
- Achievement of the Silver Membership Award indicates your PTA has enrolled members equaling at least 105% of your PTA’s total membership last year.
8:45 Meeting Adjourned
Social hour (if you are able to join) via Zoom
Reminder of Upcoming Dates:
2/8, 2/10 Virtual School Tours – 2/8 9am, 2/10 6:30pm
2/21 – 2/25 NO SCHOOL (Mid-Winter Break)
3/8 March PTA Board Meeting
3/15 March PTA Community Meeting