Minutes of Meeting

Attendees

Cathie Sweeney Patricia Peeney

MaryPat Burke Jen King

Christine Polsinelli Colleen Benedetto

Michele Calderon Michelle Budka

Cathy Conroy Karen Normington

Linda Plemenik Melissa Peterson

Pamela Yagielski Kim Lavery

Beth Fritzeen Amy Cremo

Lisa Dangerfield Maureen Ciotoli

Anne Cardany Robyn Dietershagen

Clara Bisaillon Laura Carroll

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 7:05 pm.

Approval of Minutes

The minutes of the June 15, 2005 meeting were accepted as posted.

President’s Report – Cathie Sweeney and MaryPat Burke

This year’s PTA representatives were introduced.
Lori Temple will be sending out a notice about this year’s Box Tops program – she has lots of great ideas she would like to implement.
Jeanne Butler has offered to put together a yearbook this year.
A report on upcoming planned activities was on the tables. Everyone was asked to contact a co-president if they would be interested in chairing and event.
Copies of Sacandaga’s Child Sexual Abuse Policy were also available to look over.
Last June, money was approved to buy fans for all the classrooms. There are still about 3 classrooms in need of a fan and these will be provided.
Teachers were also given a choice of pencil sharpeners or electric staplers for their classrooms. These were provided by soup label funds.
Over the summer, Corey Schneider, an Eagle Scout, put together an outside reading garden – it is a locked area, landscaped, and is available for classes to use. There is a possibility of asking the scouts to maintain the area.
Sacandaga merchandise (t-shirts, pencil bags, etc) has been re-ordered for Meet the Teacher night.
Christine would like to have an assistant treasurer to help count money at events. Everyone was reminded that it is necessary to have all monies counted by 2 individuals.
Michele Calderon is making a new contact list for board members.
Michelle Budka offered to do a quarterly PTA newsletter again this year as it was well received last lear. Contact Michelle if you have anything you want included in the newsletter. Printing dates TBA..

Treasurer’s Report – Christine Polsinelli

All in attendance received a copy of the proposed 2005 – 2006 budget for review. The actual balance on hand is $10,650.98.
The proposed budget was discussed and reviewed. Changes to be made are as follows: Retirement/Sunshine fund to be grouped with Hospitality. $150.00 added to new school Picture Fund to help families who cannot afford to purchase a portrait package. Computer Software expense of $400.00 to help get Treasurer’s software program up and running.
Procedures were reviewed for handling PTA money. Christine stressed using tax-exempt forms, as sales tax will not be reimbursed to individuals.
Linda Plemenik made a motion to accept the budget as proposed. The motion was seconded by Cathy Conroy. All that were able to vote did so and the budget was passed.

Principal’s Report – presented by Kim Lavery

Mr. Tobiassen was not able to be in attendance as he was attending a special presentation for a close friend tonight.
The year is starting off well and there has been a smooth transition for staff and students. Sacandaga is housing a new special education program for the district this year in K-1 and has new staff on board to support this program – Lois Long, teacher, Renee Evenden, speech teacher, and Mary Wisniewski, teaching assistant.
Also a welcome to Jessica McLaughlin as new school psychologist, Carol McTernan, who is filling in for Becky DiCaprio, Lauren Reznitsky as our new Kindergarten teacher and Andy DiCaprio in 3^rd grade.
Meet the teacher night is September 20^th for grades 3 – 5 and September 27^th for grades K – 2.
Our school is also supporting the district wide initiative for Hurricane relief entitled H20 To Go. Adirondack beverage will provide and transport bottled water to areas affected by Hurricane Katrina for .10 per bottle. This continues through the end of the week and has been going well.
Changes in the annual Fall achievement-testing program: the cognitive tests of skills for Grade 3 students will take place in a few weeks and all other testing will take place through the state-testing program (Grades 3 – 8). Aside from the Grade 5 Social Studies assessment in November, the rest of the testing will occur in January (ELA), March (Math) and May (Science grade 4).
It was noted that the math assessment in March for 5^th graders is the same week as the circus program. Cathy Conroy already has some calls in attempting to change the week of the circus program.

Teacher’s Report – Kim Lavery

A thank you note was read from the staff concerning the pencil sharpeners and electric staplers.
The teachers greatly appreciated the fans with today’s hot weather.
There will be a Bouncy Bounce, an inflatable castle and a Dinosaur slide at the Back to School Picnic, along with 2 paid attendants. The cost is $1 per child for the night. It is not yet known if they can use the gym for set up in case of rain, but there will be no charge if weather forces a cancellation.
Staff is asking that PTA Council discuss the field trip policy – PTA’s in other schools have been providing funds for field trips. Sacandaga is the only building that has not since funding was cut from the budget.
Linda Liggett had noted that for 19 classes to have an in-house program from the Scotia Glenville Children’s Museum, there would be a budget shortfall. This was not brought to a vote since this expense is now built into the program budget.

Standing Committee Reports

Homeroom Parents (Lisa Dangerfield) Updated classroom lists are being worked on and will be distributed in the near future. A list of homeroom parents will be passed out in the future, and the teachers will each have a main homeroom parent to contact. There was some discussion as to raising the amount collected from classroom parents for party money to $2.00 as homeroom parents often put in their own money to conserve funds for the end of the year party. The possibility of collecting an additional $1 towards the end of the year for this party was considered. MaryPat Burke proposed that PTA sponsor a school wide end of the year ice cream party, in individual classrooms, instead of parents paying the additional money. A motion was made on this proposal and approved. Homeroom moms will inform their teachers of this change.
Banking (Anne Cardany) School banking will begin next month. The kids earn an interest rate of 3.92% - they will have a table set up at Meet the Teacher night with information for parents.
Back to School Picnic (Michelle Budka) So far, 68 dinners have been preordered. After presale date is passed, there will be no telephone orders. Extra dinners will be ordered an sold at a first come, first serve basis at the door. There was some discussion as to the logistics of the picnic, as there will be a high school home football game that night. Michelle also stressed that volunteers are needed at the tables.

PTA Council (Maureen Ciotoli) The next council meeting is September 29^th at Glandaal. If you want anything presented, please see a council rep. A reminder that PTA Council is sponsoring a welcome meeting for the new superintendent, Susan Swartz, on September 19^th from 7 – 9 pm in the Middle School cafeteria.

Ways and Means (Karen Normington) September 30^th is the start of the fall fundraiser, and it runs until October 13^th. Samples will be coming in next week for display at Meet the Teacher nights. If kids don’t want the prizes on the prize folder, they can choose a book bonus item instead from a list of books. The theme this year is Ocean of Prizes – fish bookmarks will be distributed, and kids who sell 7 items are entered in a drawing for a $25 Gift Certificate to Toys R Us. The classroom that sells the most gets to adopt a whale, and will receive regular information about their adopted whale. The fundraiser is scheduled to end October 13^th, wrapping it up before the 5^th Grade fundraiser. All orders will be in prior to Thanksgiving. Also, Picture Day is October 5^th. There are 8 Ambassador passes available to help pay for packages for those families who cannot do so. This will be coordinated by Linda Liggett. There is a need for volunteers to help with picture day, getting kids set up, etc.

Programs (Linda Plemenik) The Bubblemania program looks fantastic for Family Fun Night. Kathy Conroy is working on switching Circus Week. There will be Nutrition and Bully programs this year by State law. Mrs. Wurz sent in a flyer about a Radio Disney fitness program – it is a whole year fitness competition between schools and if your school wins you get a Radio Disney program at your school. There was discussion on starting a Junior Great Books program as a possible before school club. There is a cost of $100 per facilitator for training, and a cost of $12.95/semester per child. Possibly PTA could sponsor half the cost and help those who can’t afford the other half of the cost as well. There was discussion of possibly replacing PARP with this, due to dwindling participation.

Membership (Melissa Peterson) PTA membership envelopes are going out the day after the first Meet the Teacher night this year to cut back on the collection of money on that night.

Soup Labels (Clara Bisaillon) Nothing has begun with this program yet but she is hoping to get a flyer out on this soon.

Fabulous Fridays (Linda Plemenik) The dates are listed as 2/3, 2/10 and 2/17, but will instead be 1/27, 2/3 and 2/10. They are trying to have a choice of 15 – 20 programs per day and are looking for ideas on classes and volunteers to teach. The sessions can be either one week or run over a series of weeks and can be limited as to a certain grade level.

Cub Scouts (Jen King) She has a copy of the schedule of pack meetings to give to Linda Liggett.

New Business – Open Floor

Cathy Conroy stated that the PTA will do improvements to the sign in front of the school this weekend, adding stone and plantings.
Cathy Conroy also noted that the PTA should do a thank you to Corey Schneider for doing the Reading Garden. Michelle Budka will make a certificate and try to present it at the next PTA meeting.

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 9:03 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Michele Calderon

PTA Secretary

Attachments (for file copy only)

Meeting Agenda

Sacandaga PTA Proposed Budget 2005 – 2006

Sacandaga PTA 2005 – 2006 Plan