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Henry C. Hall Middle School PTA EXECUTIVE BOARD MINUTES
Meeting of Tuesday, September 17, 2002
1:15pm • Hall Middle School
- PRESIDENT’S WELCOME:
Introductions & Board Members Present:
Claudia Gropper, Jim Orrell, Kathie Cummins, Karen Deist, Cynthia
Peterson, Becky Reed, Barbara Solomon, Bob Cone, Ann Arabian, Rebecca
Sarokin, Ann Morrison, Susan Wirta, Trish Mihalek, Liz Krakow, Suman
Vyas, Diana Putterman
Board members absent: Susy Vrouvas
- APPROVAL OF MINUTES
There was a suggestion from Barbara Solomon that a line in the Minutes
was out of place. Ann Arabian said it’s been corrected. Barbara
Solomon moved to re-adopt the minutes. It was seconded and the minutes
were approved.
- TREASURER’S REPORT
Kathie Cummins said the PTA had done a good job last year since
there was $20,000 in the account. She had to change the checking account
to a non-interest bearing business account. Since the majority of the
money isn’t used until the end of year, she asked if it was okay
to put money into a 6-month CD and earn 1%. The request was approved.
Kathie reported that Renie Dupar thought she would need $200 more than
was budgeted for the Chalk Festival.
Kathie then asked the PTA Executive Board for $200 more. The request
was approved.
Kathie clarified that the total income on the budget sheet included
$20,000 left over from last year.
- PRESIDENT’S REPORT
- Lunch Program
Jamba Juice starts tomorrow for $3/smoothie. Barbara Gossel
and Kathie Cummins will handle Jamba Juice. Barbara has plenty of
helpers. They have ordered 150 smoothies that come pre-made in a
special container. We pay $2.25 for each and make 75 cents on each
smoothie.
TJs: 177 students signed up for Mondays (pasta) and 141
for Tuesdays (Mexican). TJs makes a lot less than the old lunch
program. The PTA could go back to the old program (after the construction
is completed). However, there would be many problems under the new
regulations (e.g., have to weigh turkey for sandwiches; need to
add a specific amount of tomatoes, lettuce; only certain people
can handle food; need to take temperature of pizza), so PTA may
not go back to the old program.
- Membership
Half of the Hall families have joined. Last year only 73 families
had joined at this time.
- Parent Ed
Coordinator Benna Norman is concerned that parents don’t show
up for the Parent Ed meetings held at night. Ann Arabian made up
an informal survey to see how we could get a better turn out, and
passed it around the room. It was explained that the Parent Ed program
has speakers come in and talk about topics relevant to the age of
middle school kids. Programs are typically held in the evening.
At Neil Cummins, getting parents to attend evening Parent Ed meetings
is a struggle, too, so Becky Reed wondered if a PARENT FORUM might
be more popular where parents could gather informally and share
concerns.
- Chalk Festival
The festival will be held on the brand new pavement. As co-coordinators,
Jennifer Vournas and Renie Dupar are on top of it! They have volunteers.
“Chalk and Rock” is the theme.
Schedule:
• 12:00 Hall Band
• 12:30-2:30 there will be a DJ who uses student participation
• 2:30 Acapella ‘til Dawn, a youth singing group, will
perform
• Last half hour - bagpipers???
- QSP Magazine Sale
Proceeds from the sale go to the Student Council. There will be
an assembly. Student Council decides (with their advisors) what
to do with the proceeds. In the past they have donated some money
to charity. PTA needs parents to collect the money from QSP sales.
- Dance
The first dance is Oct. 25 and is sponsored by the Larkspur Rec
Center with Dick Whitley in charge. The dance will be in the San
Clemente gym. Student Council does the decorating. The dance is
from 7pm-10pm. PTA provides the chaperones. 7th and 8th Grade VPs
trade off finding chaperones (7th grade will handle this first dance).
They need to find 14 parents. Chaperones start at 6:45 and leave
at 10. The VPs will send the Bulletin Editors a blurb soliciting
chaperones.
- PRINCIPAL’S REPORT — Bob Cone
- Staff Development Day
This Friday (Sept. 20) there is no school. The theme of the Staff
Development Day is “Differentiated Instruction” --How
to teach to 25 students who are on different levels and still make
sure that everyone is challenged. Trish Mihalek will be working
with the staff. There will be one final in-service day in October
on how to improve instruction for every child.
- GATE
The District gives $4,000 for Hall’s “GATE” programs:
Mathletes, Spelling Bee, and Geography Bee. These programs aren’t
advertised as GATE-ONLY but GATE students get in first, and nobody
is turned away.
- FOSS
Ted Stoeckley works with the Lawrence Hall of Science and has arranged
for the 6th graders to work with FOSS materials teaching force and
motion. There are 92 6th graders and the program can take 20-25
kids from the class. It’s a 6-week program after school. The
purpose is to try out the materials to perfect them. It gives us
the opportunity for enrichment for our kids. We also get free copies
of the fine-tuned material.
- Faculty Meeting
At the next Faculty meeting, Youth-in-Arts will do a presentation.
Hall gets 72 hours of their time. The intent is to integrate arts
into all subjects.
- Student Council Campaign
The Student Council election is coming up. Students run for Student
Council, not for a certain office. The candidates have already listed
their preferences for offices, and the positions are assigned according
to the number of votes received. This way the kids are not running
against each other and it’s not a popularity contest. To run,
each candidate needs to get 30 signatures, and hand in the list
to Heather Henderson or Ted Stoeckley. The Student Council assembly
will be held Sept. 27 at Piper Park (arranged through Larkspur Rec).
It will be held at 11:50 am and the kids will be sitting on the
grass. Candidates will stand in front of the student body and give
a speech. Everyone votes. Students are told not to talk about their
votes. Results are announced at the end of the day.
- Field Trips
Next Tuesday will be the first 7th-grade field trip. The 7th-grade
studies different cultures in Social Studies classes. This year
the 7th graders will visit the Rodef Shalom Synagogue in San Rafael,
which is a great tour to learn about Jewish traditions. They also
go to the Mill Valley Mosque to learn about Muslim tradition and
faith, and to St. Pat’s to learn about the Christian faith.
7th-grade VPs round up the drivers.
- After School Study Hall
Last year the Larkspur Parks and Rec. sponsored a study hall after
school. This year Larkspur Rec is taking over After-School-Sports
activities, too: cross country, football, and basketball, etc. Chris
Samet is going to be supervising (participation is on a fee basis).
We will have first use of the gym after school for our kids’
sports, before other groups such as CYO basketball and volleyball.
- Bridge Club
The weekly bulletin will announce that the Bridge Club is starting
up on Friday afternoons at lunch. The program can take any number
of students divisible by 4.
- Washington DC
Teacher Eliott Rodgers is taking the 8th graders to Washington DC
next spring. Although the PTA funds various “scholarships”
for kids, PTA can’t help kids with paying for their trips
to DC. Parents can partially sponsor a kid, so if you are interested,
tell Mr. Rodgers (note: the school will look at kids who qualify
for free and reduced lunches). Questions regarding the DC trip should
be directed to the Mr. Rodgers. Technically, this is not a school-sponsored
event.
- Emergency Phone Tree
After the gas leak last spring, it was decided that a new question
should be added to the Emergency Cards allowing your child, in the
event of an emergency, to be released into the custody of any parent
with whom the child and the school feels comfortable. To avoid any
glitches in the phone tree, Point People must carry their list at
all times (e.g., stick a copy in their car, wallet, and desk at
work). PTA will give Point People two copies of the phone tree list.
Bonnie Kaiser is producing the Emergency Phone Tree again.
- Fire Drill
There was an unscheduled fire drill earlier in the day, and the
system works! The alarm was very loud and the lights went off. They
need to adjust the loudness and find out why the alarm went off.
- PTA TEACHER REP REPORT
Trish Mihalek is the PTA teacher rep. She said she is happy to be here
and hasn’t had this role for a few years. She will report back to the
teachers and she will bring teachers’ input back to the PTA.
- SUPERINTENDENT’S REPORT
Jim Orrell, interim superintendent, said it’s been an interesting
month. He arrived a month and half ago, and thanks to all the hard work
of staff and parent volunteers, school started on time.
He also found an unusually dedicated staff and high involvement from
parents--kids are getting a good education! He’s been associated
with MCOE for 35 years.
The Board will meet on Sept. 26th and proceed with the superintendent
search. They composed a questionnaire and are talking to other districts.
The concept of sharing a superintendent with another district probably
won’t fly. The Board and administration are also looking at the
budget and where we really are. A $450,000 surplus was identified in
the paper. They should know by the 26th where we really are. The Board
will revisit some of the budget decisions and cuts made last spring.
This is a great district. Jim Orrell said you can call him anytime,
his door is open. His first question will be, “Have you talked
about this issue with the teacher or principal involved?” It doesn’t
mean he won’t listen or care.
He doesn’t know how long he will be here—until Sept. 30
at least, but probably 4-5 months.
- NEW BUSINESS
- Pumpkin Carving
Rebecca Sarokin and Claudia Gropper said they need to know more
about the traditional 6th-grade pumpkin carving activities on Thursday,
Oct. 31st. They will talk with Mr. Cone. The activity is usually
held in a hallway that doesn’t exist any more. There will be something
in the bulletin regarding the activity.
- Hall Musical
Becky Reed said she would like to hold a meeting to discuss the
possibility of a student musical. She received numerous calls from
Neil Cummins parents expressing an interest, and her daughter said
lots of Hall kids would be interested, too. Parents should talk
to Becky after the meeting. She expressed that it may be hard to
get gym space for a drama program in the future, so she recommended
we get it entrenched now. There will be a separate play at Neil
Cummins (probably just 3rd-5th graders).
- Hall Field
An article in the Twin Cities Times raised a ruckus regarding the
new field at Hall. Jim Orrell said he doesn’t know where the
story came from. He went on to say that a lot of dirt is piled out
there. First we need to fix the dirt, so it doesn’t wash away
during winter, and get it graded. The District may put money into
the field, and Larkspur Rec pledged to put $200,000-300,000 into
the field, and an anonymous donor pledged $300,000. So, can it be
done for $1M. They can do a million-dollar field with a standard
soccer field lengthwise, but for $1.5M we can get two crosswise
fields. Yet we have to balance all that is left to be done at Neil
Cummins and Hall. The article said the field would have artificial
turf as do the new fields at Marin Catholic and Marin Academy. This
cuts down on watering and maintenance (saves $25,000) is available
year round, and is safer for the kids. We need it and the community
needs it, but we have to balance against available resources. It
isn’t quite as done a deal as the article suggested.
- Special Day Class
In response to noise in the hallway being made by a Special Day
Student, Mr. Cone said that the Special Day Class here enrolls children
with emotional and physical needs. A few kids will flop on the ground
and cry and scream. Students are used to it, and it’s nothing
to worry about. This becomes part of the normal day, and as the
students grow up, they are more comfortable with “special”
kids.
MEETING ADJOURNED
Meeting adjourned at 2:15pm.
Submitted by Karen Deist (substituting for Susy Vrouvas)
[minutes approved at Executive Board meeting of Oct. 15, 2002]
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