Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 12:03.
Opening/General announcements: Welcome to everyone. There is a lot coming up in October. A calendar of events and an updated roster is available for everyone. Kristina Beckham (Book Fair Chair) no longer has children at Cardinal Forest. Angela Montoya has volunteered to take over as Book Fair Chair. Carolyn Kitrinos will be responsible for decorations and Beth Schomber will handle the money. A Principal's Coffee will be held at 10am on Wed, Oct 4th in the Courtyard Garden. Light refreshments will be available.
Approval of minutes from June 7, 2006: The minutes were unavailable.
Principal's Report: Welcome. Thank you to everyone who helped with the Welcome Back luncheon on Monday and the breakfast refreshments on Tuesday for the staff. We ate well. It was such a great welcome back for all the staff.
The school year opening was very smooth. We did have a significant change in the master schedule this year. This year, on the first day of school, EVERY teacher was teaching. We decided as a staff that setting those routines on the first day of school would greatly and positively impact the students' transition into the new school year.
Please be aware of a potential safety hazard at Kiss and Ride. I encourage everyone to please give your hugs and kisses as you get into the car rather than at the kiss and ride drop off point in order to help speed the process. Of course, please continue to drive safely. We will be trying a different dismissal order. First, we will dismiss the Kiss and Ride students. Then 2 or 3 minutes later, we will dismiss the walkers.
I'd like to introduce Rebecca Costello, our new vice principal. She and I were able to visit every classroom for 15-20 minutes in the first 3 days of school. We let the students know that our job is to keep the students safe. We want to try to get to know as many students as possible, by name.
Back-To-School Night was great. Please come early to the 4-6 grades Back-To-School Night. The meeting will kick off at exactly 6:30 pm. There will be two sessions to attend in case you have more than one classroom to visit.
BART testing is currently happening in grade 3-6, to inform teachers about skills sets. Grades 4, 5, and 6 will take an end of the previous year test in Math and Language Arts. Grade 3 will do something similar that reviews 2nd grade subject matter.
Please join us at the Principal's Coffee Wed, 4 Oct. I will be there to answer any questions that you may have. I love to discuss instruction. I see myself as an instructional leader in the school and want to set forth a positive course for our school to head. Teachers will continue to build their repertoire of skills.
For example, Ms. Cooper, has come to discuss our new Strategies Lab:
Last year we discussed that enrichment was going on in the classrooms of Cardinal Forest, already. She received $2,000 to build a Strategies Lab to help students practice thinking "outside of the box". She used this money to purchase games or "strategies" to help students with this. After demonstrating a few of the "strategies" that will be in the Lab, she explained that the Lab will be open on Thursdays and Fridays and that her goal is to have every classroom come to the lab at least once a month. She is looking for volunteers to run the Lab. There will be a training session so that volunteers will know how to play the games/strategies and how to record the "aha moments" that the students will have in the Lab. Please contact Joanna McMahan (our volunteer coordinator) if you'd like to volunteer to work in the new Strategies Lab.
Our Human Relations Committee at Cardinal Forest our diverse community and is finding different ways to honor the different cultures in our community. 15 Sept thru 15 Oct will be Spanish Heritage Month. We are also looking to educate students about Ramadan and other cultural events. We would like to get the different flags back up on the walls of the cafeteria.
I am excited about the option of meeting in the afternoon or the evening. I think it really allows parents who work to stay involved. Thanks for everything the PTA does.
Treasurer's Report: A new layout is being used for the report. There will actually be two reports, one for the yearly balance and one for the monthly balance. We have deposited funds from E Script, donations, Model's fundraiser, dues, and interest.
Teacher Liaison's Reports: Mr. Allard wants to remind everyone that your old computer cartridges can be brought to the school. Please bring them in!!! Every grade now has a presentation cart that has an LCD projector, a digital camera, and a printer. Thanks from the teachers for a wonderful welcome back!! The PTA here is wonderful - thanks!!! There is a new smart board that can be easily moved to where it is needed. The students are able to stand in front of it and actually touch the board to move the icons or make things happen in the image. It will be demonstrated in the library during Back-To-School Night.
Committee Reports
Business Partners: Pet Medical Center is no longer a partner. Whole Foods is still a partner but their participation is minimal. We are pursuing new business partners to help mentor students and to help with technology. If you know of any business we could approach, please let Vicky Trump know. We are mostly looking for a business that can donate their time to help mentor students and technology.
Fall Fundraiser: This is going smoothly. There was not a lot of interest in our table at the open house, but then we were able to put out candy and suddenly it was a popular place to be! There have been several requests for more order forms. Volunteers are already lined up to help with counting orders and with delivery and distribution.
FLEX: There will be 5 Spanish classes, 2 French classes and 2 sign language classes this year. We are looking for 5-6 classrooms for the FLEX program to use.
Membership: We have about 188 members so far. We are looking for 100% participation and encourage all teachers to join.
Garden Club: The Discovery Garden project has been abandoned and is being replaced by transforming the Garden Courtyard into a Children's Garden. Susan Lepley and Angela Montoya along with Katy Wilhelm and Marcie Bassler have formed a committee to plan and implement the project. The first project will be a birdhouse collection. Each grade level and special will decorate a birdhouse to be placed in the garden.
T-Shirt sales: We almost sold out of our hands-on supply of shirts. Everything we have will be out at the back to school night. After that, we will take orders. Should we try an idea that the shirt supplier had - to sell a special edition, tie-tyed shirt? Yes, go for it.
Old Business: none
New Business
Pyramid Race: All elementary schools in our pyramid will compete for the most participants in this race. Each student will receive a t-shirt. The school with the most participants will get to keep the traveling trophy for the year. The race is scheduled for October 14th at Washington Irving Middle School. The cost to participate is two cans of food that will be donated to a local food bank. The Marine Corps Marathon Healthy Kids Fun Run is Saturday, October 28th. Cardinal Forest will provide bus transportation for all participants in the race.
Volunteer Needs: Joanna will make a binder to keep all of the volunteer forms in. It will be next to the new PTA mailbox.
Discount Cards: New Discount Cards will be available next week. Look for the order forms in the Tuesday folders.
The next PTA meeting will be Tuesday, October 24th at 7:00 pm.
October PTA Calendar
| October 4 | Principal's Coffee |
| October 13 | Fundraiser Orders Due |
| October 14 | Pyramid Challenge Race |
| October 17 | Pizza Night and Book Fair |
| October 17 thru October 20 | Book Fair |
| October 24 | PTA Meeting 7pm |
This page was updated on Thursday, September 21, 2006