PTA Board Meeting Minutes – March 8, 2022

Whittier PTA Board Meeting

March 8, 2022

7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

ZOOM Meeting

Meeting ID: 864 5941 6022 Passcode: wildcats

ATTENDANCE

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

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