Author: Communications

Whittier PTA Board Meeting

March 8, 2022

7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

ZOOM Meeting

Meeting ID: 864 5941 6022  Passcode: wildcats

ATTENDANCE 

1. Kristen Ramer Liang
2. Tina Lilley
3. Anna Hume
4. Kathleen Donahoe
5. Tricia Schalekamp
6. Renee Hartnett
7. Kate Scher
8. Kate Mathews
9. Kellie Pecoraro
10. Courtney Sievers
11. Megan Wildenradt
12. Leah Lansberry-Austin
13. Sara Lukas
14. Sandra Klay
15. Cindy Watters
16. Emma Kocher
17. Julia Liang

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

7:00 pm via ZOOM

Meeting ID: 864 5941 6022

Passcode: wildcats

ATTENDANCE:

BOARD MEMBERS

1. Kristen Ramer Liang
2. Tina Lilley
3. Kate Scher
4. Megan Wildenradt
5. Kathleen Donahoe
6. Anna Hume
7. Kellie Pecoraro
8. Sara Lukas
9. Renee Hartnett
10. Tricia Schalekamp
11. Leah Lansberry Austin
12. Kate Mathews
13. Courtney Sievers

NON-BOARD

1. Cindy Watters
2. Susan Hernandez
3. Liz Young
4. Sandra Klay
5. Anjean Bosch
6. Erika Morales
7. Allison Parker
8. 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.

https://www.seattleschools.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/6114.pdf

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)

https://sites.google.com/view/southeast-seattle-schools-fund/

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

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WhittierPTA2022

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

7:00 pm via ZOOM

Meeting called to order at 7:03pm 

ATTENDANCE

Board Members

• Tina Lilley
• Kristen Liang
• Amy Bryan
• Anna Hume
• Kate Scher
• Megan Wildenradt
• Renee Harnett
• Tricia Schalekamp
• Kathleen Donahoe
• Sara Lukas
• Kellie Pecoraro
• Brad Nelson
• Leah Lansberry-Austin
• Courtney Sievers
• Kate Mathews
• Todd Simonson

Non-Board Community Members

• Reid Mathews – student 
• Kendall Scales – student
• Lyn Visick – student
• Cindy Watters = Principal
• An-Lon Chen
• Sandy Hawley
• Will Kruse
• Susan Hernandez
• Ashley Schiavone
• Charlie Cartwright
• Jon Overman

7:00      Meeting Called to Order, Land Acknowledgement – read by Lyn Visick

7:10     Whittier Student Updates: Reid Mathews, Kendall Scales, Lyn Visick

Reid Mathews – Mr. Collin’s Class –  This year is better than the last couple we had. Stronger connection between teachers & students. He wants to make it more comfortable for the younger students at Whittier. 

Kendall Scales – Ms Childers Class – Wants to add unscented hand moisturizer. She likes that 4th/5th graders get to be helpful and she would also like to have more opportunities to help. 

Lyn Visick – Mr. Keener’s Class – Likes that there are more gender neutral bathrooms available. He would like to help people understand gender and individual bathroom choice. Lyn would like to see more gender neutral spaces.

Question from Tina – What do you consider gender neutral spaces? Lyn:  Bathrooms… Cindy suggested that we remove the gender binary component ie; boys & girls lining up, clothing

Kathleen Donahoe – asked for First Friday ideas: Reid – craft projects Lyn – Book exchange

7:25     Presidents Update/Housekeeping (Kristen/Tina)

Renee motioned to approve both November and December meeting minutes, Tricia seconded.

❖    Approval of November 2021 Meeting Minutes         –  APPROVED

❖    Approval of December 2021 Meeting Minutes          – APPROVED

❖    Opportunities:

➢    Virtual School Tours, 2/8 @ 9am, 2/10 @ 6:30pm

■      2/8  – Sara & Megan 

■      2/10 – Tricia & Megan

■      Suggestion from Susan – to provide special education information so people don’t have to solicit/ask questions about it

➢    Yearbook Club (Tracy)  

■      Looking for help with layout/formatting

➢    Family Directory (Amy/Todd)

■      Looking for a way to compile a school directory

■      Anna – suggested we send out a DID YOU KNOW that Konstella can be a way to connect? 

■      An-Lon mentioned that What’s App can be a super good tool, so maybe we pitch it that way

➢    March Food/Book Drive – Need some leadership for the food drive

■      Cindy – each week could be a different type of drive – ie; sock drive, food drive, book drive

■      She really wants the kids to help own the community aspect of it. Parents can help connect to the network. 

■      Sandy Hawley – suggested this shelter  https://lihi.org/about/

❖    Funding Proposals:

➢    Recess Supervisions

■      Want bright yellow jackets for recess supervisors. Could be used for field trip chaperones in the future. Same type of jacket that Safety Patrol uses. Cindy would like 10 in various sizes. 

■      ~ $400 (10 x $30 each)

➢    Wildcat Spirit Fence Art – https://www.putincups.com/

■      Fence art would be about $2000

■      It would liven up the fence, be a focal point and show of school spirit. 

■      Volunteer opportunity for parents

Amy Bryan motioned to approve safety vests, Anna & Kristen seconded the motion. – PASSED

Board to review the Fence Art funding proposal. Perhaps the community can be involved in deciding what the art looks like. 

7:30      Principal & Staff Updates (Cindy)

COVID – we have had cases at school. Nurse Marissa has been amazing and has done contact tracing, notifying people of exposures, and has been our resident “HEALTH EXPERT”

Exposures in 3 classrooms, but only 5 kids needed to be quarantined. IF KIDS ARE VACCINATED, they don’t have to be quarantined! We have a fantastic vaccination at Whittier which is helping with minimal quarantines. We will monitor for symptoms and provide tests when needed to exposed kids. 

Remote Learning – Whittier is ready to transition kids to remote learning within 2 hours. Laptops/ipads won’t be sent home unless it’s absolutely necessary. 

Q: She’s heard that schools are running out of rapid tests… what is our supply of tests like? 

A: We have enough antigen test for a few more weeks. We also have PCR tests. We’re being very strategic with timing of testing… waiting for 5 days 

Q: Are we following CDC guidance of positive test but only 5 day quarantine

A: We are strongly encouraging 7 day quarantine

Whittier is approaching 90% vaccination rate with our students, and we’re taking a very hard stance on quarantining non-vaccinated students. (Vax rate is figured out by Nurse Marissa checking the state database and counting.)

Re:  Teachers who are positive, they are also being handled on a case by case basis with close guidance from Nurse Marissa.

Q: HOW ARE TEACHERS DOING?

A:  They are feeling like a lot of us, a little anxious but they don’t want remote learning too. They are AMAZING. Little acknowledgements make a big difference! Coffee, notes… anything that says “We see you, we know how hard you’re working”

Every staff member felt seen after the holiday gifts

NEW STAFF MEMBER – new K teacher Lola O’Rourke 

Cindy is hopeful that clubs can start happening soon. – Yearbook club, Newspaper Club starting – 1st newspaper coming out in a few weeks

Mask Drive – she has enough to give 1 to each teacher/staff for now  50 total staff (18 teachers)  – if you can, please purchase masks for the community.

Q:  Do we need to fill out the covid test permission form that SPS sent out? A: NO

Q: I heard from a friend at a neighboring school that they are blanket testing. Are we blanket testing? A: No

7:50      Treasurer’s Report

• Budget Update (December reports): Balance Sheet, Budget vs Actuals, Profit & Loss
• Budget Survey (release Jan.?) & Town Hall (Community Meeting) Overview (Jan. 18)
  
  
• Everything looking good budget wise. Largest expense was the staffing expense
• Need volunteers for the Budget Committee – work to start up later this month
• Renee wants to do a budget survey 

8:10      Nominating Committee – Vote Needed to Approve Members

8:15      Chair Reports 

❖    Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

➢    Black Lives Matter at School Week, 2/7 – 2/11

❖    Legislative Update

MEGAN – Voting deadline is 2/8

➢    Vote to endorse levies/

➢    VOTE #1 – Motion – Kathleen Donahoe, Second – Sara Lukas
I (Name) motion that the (Your PTSA Name) endorse a yes vote on the Seattle Public School Proposition 1 to renew the Educational Programs and Operations (EP&O) Levy vote in February 2022.

VOTE #2 Motion – Kathleen Donahoe, Second – Sara Lukas
I (Name) motion that the (Your PTSA Name) endorse a yes vote on the Seattle Public School Proposition 2 to renew the Buildings, Tech, Academics/Athletics (BTA) Levy vote in February 2022.

❖    Discussion: Does the Whittier PTA want to donate to Schools First? 

❖    Fundraising – Spring Fling update + Jog-A-Thon check-in

8:45      Meeting Adjourned / Social hour (if you are able to join) via Zoom

Adjourned at 8:55 pm

Reminder of Upcoming Dates:

1/17                 NO SCHOOL (MLK Day)

1/18                 PTA Budget Town Hall (Community Meeting)

2/7 – 2/11         Black Lives Matter at School Week

2/8                   PTA Board Meeting

2/8, 2/10          Virtual School Tours – 2/8 9am, 2/10 6:30pm

2/21 – 2/25       NO SCHOOL (Mid-Winter Break)

Notes, Reports & Resources

Thank you!

❖    Amy B. Nurse Marissa, Principal Watters – Mask Wishlist

❖    Kathleen, Courtney, Sandra, Martine – January First Friday, Winter Wishes 

Resources:

❖    Standing Rules

❖    PTA Mission Statement

❖    2021-22 Budget

❖    Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Toolkit (for Nominating Committee)

❖    PTA meeting schedule

Chair Updates: 

❖    Communications (Kate S.)

➢    We just sent out our 7th Wildchat for the year! I’d love to get content from more board and community members. Please submit ideas (even if it’s just a couple sentences! Or a great photo!) to communications@whittierptaseattle.org. 

➢    Our Konstella userbase has reached 660 with around 325 active members that read announcements. Committee creation on Konstella doesn’t seem to help with recruiting volunteers, though, so we may need a new approach.

➢    The PTA FB page has 169 follows + 116 likes. Our Instagram has 90 followers. Class FB groups really vary in reach and activity level. The K group, for example, has 32 members and almost no activity. The 5th grade group has 105 members and more discussion. I continue to support these pages, but note reach is low. I also can’t post across all Class FB groups in one session or the PTA FB account gets temporarily banned.

❖    EDI (Anna)

❖    Membership (Tricia)

➢    November 2021 we earned the PTA Bronze Membership Award – enrolled 1 more membership than the prior year

➢    January 2022 membership 

➢    

❖    FACE (Events/Hospitality/Outreach) (Kathleen/Courtney/Todd)

❖    Advocacy (Megan)

➢    Focus on Advocacy Week is coming up – January 17-21st. There will be a call to action each day that we will share via Konstella and social media. You can learn more here. The week kicks off with a virtual legislative day and I hope to join meetings with Reps Frame and Berry. 

➢    Levy ballots will be mailed on Jan 19th and they are due on February 8th.  There are many ways we can support this which I will be sharing info on over the next few weeks.

❖    Volunteers (Kristin)

Notes: