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PTA Board Meeting Minutes – March 8, 2022

Whittier PTA Board Meeting

March 8, 2022

7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

ZOOM Meeting

7:04    Meeting Called to Order, Approval of February Board Meeting Minutes

Kathleen motioned, Courtney seconded – Meeting minutes approved. (vote was at 8:46 pm)

Land Acknowledgement by Kristen Liang

7:05    Staff Update 

7:15    Principal Update

  • Student Guest Speakers – Emma Kocher & Julia Liang
  • EMMA – 5th Grade Celebration
    • 5th grade classes could take a day off to go to a park, have pizza & play games
    • Stay at school – all 3 classes could have different activities ie; movies, arts & crafts, games
    • Parks – salmon bay, carkeek, Kirke – going somewhere because then the other classes won’t be there
    • Emma is happy to be on an organizing committee
  • JULIA – Bathrooms, Library – non-fiction books, Food Quality at Lunch
    • Bathrooms – toilets should have seat covers to be more sanitary (flushable covers)
    • Library – Doesn’t have a lot of diversity, especially about people. For example, people who helped make our community the way it is now.
      • (Cindy posed question:  How we could get more diverse books?) A:  School families could donate books about certain topics
    • School Lunches – The food should be better quality.
      • Half of the pasta wasn’t cooked in one of the lunches. Food is soggy and they don’t want to touch it. 
  • (Cindy Question: How could we make the food better?)  A:  Food is in a freezer and heated up in a microwave… they should check it to make sure it’s fully cooked 
  • Julia agreed to be on a Food Service Committee
  • MASKING UPDATE
    • No update tonight, but she has a meeting tomorrow about masking. Her hunch/best guess  is that SPS will probably follow what other schools in the general area are doing with masks. 
    • Masks are included in the MOU (memorandum of understanding). Cindy doesn’t think it requires a vote, but she thinks that it is just agreement between leadership teams
  • BUDGET – not great, not horrible
    • Down 1 homeroom teacher
    • She’s working on getting universal intervention support… She thinks it’s inequitable to not have the same support available to Whittier as other schools in this department. 
  • SCHOOL
    • Prides of March – loosely organized but hoping it’ll be better next year
    • Cindy wants to support “safe conversations” Kids are picking up on current events… Russia/Ukraine, LGTBQ issues
    • Spirit Days – low barrier to participation, no purchases for these days, something you don’t really have to plan for – No heavy lifts! 
    • Door decorating at the end of the month! Parents will be able to help, but 80% of the door will be done by the kids. Doors will show who the classroom is as a community.

7:30    President’s Report – Kristen & Tina

  • 3/15 Community Meeting (platform, presentation, member voting)
  • Spring Fling Update – Sandra
    • Great committee, about 15 volunteers who are rocking & rolling
    • 5-9 pm, no kids – set-up/tear-down earlier/later than that window
    • We can use the blacktop and the gym – will be using it for 
    • Food Truck – Dantes – hot dogs, Veraci – Pizza
    • There will be drinking – out on the street. No alcohol on school premises
    • Games – Corn Hole, other outdoor games
    • Sandra has a permit – WA State liquor & cannabis board, will also get block party permit
      • Planning to let neighbors know that the event will be happening
    • Expenses – Minimal – trying to use things from school.. ie;  tables, canopies from family
    • Decor Team
    • Standing meeting 7-9 pm 
    • Special Guest DJ might be a possibility… 
    • Procurement – Elliott has been doing an amazing job. He’s contacted 88 businesses. Mix of printed emails, online forms too. 6 donations so far, but many more coming. 20 more in-person drops planned for this week.
  • Virtual School Tours Update – Megan, Sara, Tricia
    • Good turnout for the virtual tours
  • Room Rep Emails – Kate
    • Wants us to consolidate requests via her so we don’t overwhelm room reps

7:50    Treasurer’s Report – Renee

  • Budget Update (February reports): Balance Sheet, Budget vs Actuals, Profit & Loss
  • Budget Survey Update
    • 166 responses
    • Interest in funding staffing 89%
    • Funding equity initiatives 72%
      • People like specific
    • Funding various PTA initiatives priority in survey results
      • enrichment activities 
      • academic enrichment 
      • equity 
      • field trips 
      • community events
  • Budget Committee Update
    • budget numbers from district are not good
  • Staffing Grant Request for 2022/23
    • 2.5 PCP funded next year (vs 3 for this year)
    • staffing 90K – this keeps it so we retain staffing levels of reading specialists and PCP
    • Reading Interventionist serves a larger group of students than any homeroom teachers
    • Kathleen asked what happens if we don’t make fundraising numbers. Renee said fundraising forecasts are pretty conservative and that people want to know what they need to give.
    • Another comment was made that we need to continue/increase advocacy efforts to change the way things are funded… “BOTH/AND” re: Fundraising and Advocacy
  • VOTE – Courtney motioned to put a $90K staffing grant up for approval at the Community Meeting; Kathleen seconded 

8:10    Nominating Committee Update – Leah

  • Received responses from half of the board
  • Still need more people to get involved
  • Talked about bringing FACE (Family and Community Engagement) committee efforts back

8:20      Chair Reports

9:04    Meeting Adjourned

Social hour (if you are able to join) via Zoom

Reminder of Upcoming Dates:

3/15 Spring PTA Community Meeting

3/24 EDI Committee Meeting

4/11-4/15 Spring Break (NO SCHOOL)

4/19 Monthly PTA Board Meeting