Author: Communications

• BOARD MEMBERS / CHAIRS IN ATTENDANCE
• Kate Lindsay Scher – Co-President 
• Allie DeLong Thomas – Co-President 
• Renee Hartnett – Vice President / Spirit Gear 
• Melissa Ivancevich – Co-Secretary 
• Emily Robertson – Co-Secretary 
• Michelle Nemeth – Treasurer 
• Meg Herscher – Communications Chair 
• Ashley Schiavone – Fundraising Co-Chair 
• Jess Templeton – Fundraising Co-Chair 
• Kathleen Donahoe – Hospitality Co-Chair 
• Jess Twardzik – Hospitality Co-Chair 
• Meg Pietz – Events Chair 
• Emily Schweiger – Family and Community Engagement – Outreach Chair Laura Zingg – Programs Co-Chair; Student Directory 
• Jen Foreman – Programs Co-Chair 
• Jon Overman – Legislative Representative 
• Anjean Vanden Bosch – Membership Chair 
• Kristin Laughlin – Volunteer Coordinator 
• Kiana Swearingen – Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Co-Chair 
• Jill Muscatel – Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Co-Chair 
• Megan Wildenradt – Website Editor 
• John Shaw – Tech Support 
• Brie Gardner – Back To Business Co-Chair 
• Leah Lansberry – Back To Business Co-Chair; Yearbook Co-Chair Anika Anand – Yearbook Co-Chair 
• Jared Cortese – Fall Festival Chair 
• David Peabody – Move-a-thon 
• Elan Simonson – Spring Fling Chair 
• Sara Lukas – Room Parent Coordinator 
• Nicole Kaczmarek – Member at Large 
• Lana Sturmer – Member at Large 
• Courtney Sievers – Member at Large

COMMUNITY MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE

• Principal Watters 
• Hanni Pichel 
• Dafna Amster Kahn 
• Gustavo Franco 
• Rena Giannoulakis (Spring Fling Co-Chair)
• Rachel Wold (PTA member)

Meeting Called to Order at 7:02 PM 

WELCOME

Agenda 

• Link to Agenda 
• Link to Meeting Presentation

Welcome

Table & Zoom Chat Informal Introductions

PRESIDENT UPDATES

• Goals and Meetings Reviews 
• Dashboard Review 
  • Exceeded annual give goal by almost $4500 (goal: $130,000; raised $134,448.40)
• Monthly meeting format adjustment 
• Budget Priorities/strategic planning survey results 
  • 46 responses 
  • Staffing and educational enrichment are top priorities 
  • Specialists supported 
  • Math Agency overwhelmingly supported 
  • Fundraising – people want to keep it as is, though there was more interest in a higher annual give option 
  • Preference for Zoom – plan to offer hybrid, but open to other ideas (alternate months?)
  • Principal Watters – most likely communication to be read, followed by class rep
  • Lots of interest in after school programs 
• Levy Overview 
  • Special election February 11th 
  • BEX VI 
  • EP&O 
• Advocacy Work Session update 
  • Billion Dollar Bake Sale (created by North Beach parents to raise awareness about education funding), work being done by the Salmon Bay community 

PRINCIPAL WATTERS UPDATE

• MLK Activities Friday
• Math Agency 
  • Over 50 kids involved (27 intervention, 25 in extension) 

• Recess supervision updates – more teachers outside and goes well 
• Hiring two more teachers 
• Wildcats wonder April 25th, 2025 – need keynote speaker 
  • Theme: We want to make our world safe, healthy, fair, and fun
  • Also looking for speakers ~90 minute time commitment 

● 5 new families have joined Whittier – getting them added to class lists, etc.

TEAM AND CHAIR UPDATES

Move-a-thon (David): 

• Friday April 4th 
• Need new ideas for swag 
• Logo contest, maybe it gets printed on a bandana 
• Might need more than $2/kid to get this made 
• Could use a donor/sponsor that might donate money to the event and then have their name on things 

Hospitality (Kahtleen): 

• Stocking the teacher’s lounge next week 
• 2 dream items on the Wish List – air fryer and ice machine(?)

After School Programs (Laura): 

• Registration opened 
• Space available in 3-4 programs primarily K-2 
• Hip hop dance class 
• Parkour class 
• Clubs start Monday Jan 27th and go through mid March

Book Fair and Winter Performance grades (Anjean): 

• Book fair was a success! 
• Total raised at Book Fair: $6,865 (up from last year’s $6,019) 
• Waiting for Phinney Books total sales 
• Seeking feedback for next year’s planning

Spring Fling (Elan): 

• Start planning in earnest for February 
• Looking for 1-2 more core committee volunteers – procurement, marketing & communications 
• Timing is late in the year 
• Entertainment 
• Experiences, vacation homes, awesome donations

 EDI (Jill): 

• Author Jaya Ramesh March 4th 
• Drag Queen Story Time and other events coming up 
• Come to the next EDI meeting!

Advocacy (Jon): 

• Check out advocacy website on PTA site 
• Kudos to Kate 
• Legislature – state revenue not looking as good as projections 
• Need constituents emailing and calling 
• Rainy Day Resource podcast (overview of school funding issues) 
• Feb 10th – 14th WA State PTA focus on advocacy

Comms update (Meg): 

• First Wildchat of 2025 scheduled for distribution tomorrow!

Events (Kate): 

• Whittier Mariner Game (Friday, April 25th) 
• Tickets secure; should be announced/available this week! 
• Co-Chairs needed for Family Dance & Game Night (Thurs, March 20th)

Volunteers (all open positions)

Outreach: 

• Helping Hands Report – 120 gift cards

EDI Belonging Practice (Kiana) 

• How can we apply inclusion to Whittier events specifically?

Treasurer’s report (Michelle): 

November 

■ Income–Annual Give $8005 

■ Expense–Whittier Support Grant $25,011, Fall Festival $3277, Membership $1909 

December 

■ Income–Annual Give $8056 

■ Expense–nothing of note

 VOTING FOR PTA MEMBERS

• November Meeting Minutes 
  • Kathleen D Motioned 
  • Seconded 
  • Approved 

Kudos & Thank Yous 

Open Floor for Community

Meeting Adjourned 8:40 pm

• BOARD MEMBERS / CHAIRS IN ATTENDANCE
• Kate Lindsay Scher – Co-President 
• Allie DeLong Thomas – Co-President 
• Renee Hartnett – Vice President / Spirit Gear  
• Emily Robertson – Co-Secretary 
• Michelle Nemeth – Treasurer 
• Meg Herscher – Communications Chair 
• Ashley Schiavone – Fundraising Co-Chair 
• Kathleen Donahoe – Hospitality Co-Chair 
• Meg Pietz – Events Chair 
• Emily Schweiger – Family and Community Engagement
• Outreach Chair Laura Zingg – Programs Co-Chair; Student Directory 
• Jen Foreman – Programs Co-Chair 
• Jon Overman – Legislative Representative 
• Anjean Vanden Bosch – Membership Chair 
• Kristin Laughlin – Volunteer Coordinator 
• Kiana Swearingen – Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Co-Chair 
• Jill Muscatel – Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Co-Chair 
• Megan Wildenradt – Website Editor 
• John Shaw – Tech Support 
• Brie Gardner – Back To Business Co-Chair 
• Anika Anand – Yearbook Co-Chair 
• Jared Cortese – Fall Festival Chair 
• David Peabody – Move-a-thon 
• Elan Simonson – Spring Fling Chair 
• Nicole Kaczmarek – Member at Large 
  
  

COMMUNITY MEMBERS IN ATTENDANCE

• Principal Watters 
• Melissa Caviezel 
• Mary Ann Rozance 
• Haydee Wise-Pinson
• Ashley Sullivan 
• Brianna Mercker 
• Rachel Wold 
• Brian Wold 
• Katie Stiver 

Meeting Called to Order at 7:06 PM 

WELCOME

Agenda (transition from meeting with Director Clark) 

• Link to Agenda 
• Link to Meeting Presentation

Belonging Practice 

PRESIDENT UPDATES

• Goals and Meetings Reviews 
• Dashboard Review 
• Lots of Events November December 
• Membership is at 166 
• Budget Priorities survey 

PRINCIPAL WATTERS UPDATE

• Whittier will benefit from Bex and a grant from the state when we get a new roof
• School wide celebration 11/22 
• Conferences 

TEAM AND CHAIR UPDATES

 EDI: 

• Inclusion and belonging 
• Creating opportunities for people in marginalized communities to be heard and seen 

Events: 

• Caregiver Happy Hours report (Meg P)
• Wildcats Ice Skate (Bonnie) 52 people registered (so far less than last year)
• Friday April 25th Mariners vs Marlins 
• Book Fair and Winter Performance grades 3,4,5 (Anjean) in partnership with Phinney Books 12/5

Treasurer Report:

• October Financials 
• Income: Annual Give October, Fall Festival 
• Biggest expense: $20,000 (⅓ payment) to Math Agency 

Hospitality: 

• Awesome ice cream bar for teachers on 10/17! 
• Mexican taco bar by 4th grade families on 11/20! 
• Planning a “gift of time” for teachers in December 
• Any Rosellini’s connections for discount/gift cards? (or other nearby places- met market?). 
• Will be planning spring events; please share any fun ideas if you have them.

Financial Review Committee results summary (Elan) 

• Happens every year 
• Accountability 
• Satisfies insurance requirements 
• No unusual findings 
• Impressed with accomplishments with a small budget – for example funding specialists, nurse hours, etc. Smart decisions such as no longer carrying inventory for hoodies (not having to manage sales tax collection) 
• Bumps in the road mostly administrative (for example last year’s budget wasn’t available), google drive posed challenges with permissions and navigating a directory – this may have been solved by getting together earlier in the summer. 
• Thanks to all the committee members 

VP: 

• Reflections – no submissions yet (need to get the word out to more parents) Theme is: Accepting Imperfections 

Nominating Committee: 

• Need volunteers, will be voting tonight on initial members 

Outreach: 

• Helping Hands Drive details 11/20 – 12/13 (paypal in by 12/12) – grab a mitten on your way to conferences 
• Helping Hands assistant volunteer 

Fundraising: Annual Give summary (Ashley Schiavone) 

• Closing out annual give $122,839 (89% of goal) 
• CatShark Delivery Service 
• 73% participation 

Fall Carnival (Jared) 

• John Shaw, Dunca, Lana
• Big success, getting the community together 300 – 350 students 
• Met budget of $1500 for expenses (costs offset by concessions sales) 
• 52 volunteers, including siblings and highschoolers 
• 16 activities and games 
• 2 Food trucks, beverages and cotton candy 
• 2 hrs instead of 2 hrs 30 min years past 
• 25 families used vouchers to enjoy event without barriers 
• Make popcorn 1.5 hrs ahead of time next year 
• Volunteer requests for January-March activities 

Advocacy: 

• WSTPA Legislative Assembly update 
• Seattle Rezone update 
• Legislation is going to be huge this year 

Secretary: 

• AIM Insurance Renewal 
• Our policy, which renews annually, expires 11/30 and will be $485 assuming there are no changes. 
• PDFs are in the Secretary’s shared folder: AIM Insurance Summary and AIM Insurance Expiration Notice 
• Recommendation would be to renew the policy as-is unless anyone on the board has reason to propose increased limits in any of the categories. For background, last year we added the media liability policy. 
• Emily can pay/renew by logging into our online account and then will submit a reimbursement form to Michelle. 
• Once we have the updated insurance certificate, we will need to review to confirm SPS is listed as an additional insured for building rentals, and then 
• upload the updated certificate to the Master Library reservation system. 

Communications: 

• PTA Comms Activity 9/02 – 11/15 
• 25 activities / events / topics 
• 110+ promotions 
• 3 Primary Channels: Wildchat, Konstella, Take Home Tuesday 
• Room Rep support and partnership with Cindy (Community Update) 
• Average 5 promotions per event 
• Meetings/Smaller Events: Avg 3 
• Community Events: Avg 8 
• Max: 17+ for Annual Give 
• School Days without Wildchat or Konstella Emails to Families: 22 

Programs: 

• Winter program line-up 
• Coordinator help for our Winter Session (1/27 – 3/28)
• Duties: 
  • Unlocking classrooms 
  • Helping with attendance and pick-up 
  • On-call to support instructors, if needed 
  • Mainly hang out in the school building and read a book, catch-up on work, or just enjoy some quiet time 
  • The Program team will help you complete an additional background check. You will also receive a scholarship to enroll your student(s) in one of our winter programs 
• Volunteer slots 
• Monday – 2:10 – 3:30 
• Tuesday – 2:10 – 4:00 
• Thursday – 2:10 – 3:30

VOTING FOR PTA MEMBERS

• Nominating Committee Sarah, Kathleen, Renee 
  • Meg Piets Motioned 
  • Ashley Schiavone Seconded 
  • Approved 
• October Meeting Minutes 
  • Kathleen D Motioned 
  • Mike Seconded 
  • Approved 
• Board: Financial Review Results 
  • Anika Motioned 
  • Board member Seconded 
  • Approved

Meeting Adjourned 8:36 pm