Cardinal Forest PTA Meeting Minutes, March 20, 2007
Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 12:05.
Opening/General announcements Susan Lepley welcomed everyone and introduced guest speaker, Courtney Bulger, the Director of Business and Industry Relations.
Approval of minutes from January 17, 2007 Minutes were approved.
Principal's Report A Lot has been going on in the life of our school. Thanks to all of the volunteers we have here on a daily basis. Family Movie Night was fabulously attended and a real "feel good" event! We're beginning to forge some new traditions here.
SOL schedules will be in the newsletter so you can see how we are spreading the tests out. After seven years of testing, I chose to spread the tests out. Our school trend is leaning towards Math so Math will be our last test at the end of the testing window. Plan to attend the SOL Parent night at the April PTA meeting.
Our Safety Audit walk through was last week. Our building is great. Our yard has some soccer goals that are in bad shape that I thought belonged to the after school program. However, they belong to West Springfield High School. They will be removed soon.
He also observed our Kiss-N-Ride program. He recommends taking the ropes down after the busses have cleared. We have issues with parents coming in the "Do Not Enter" side of the loop. They also will pass busses in the loop while their lights are flashing (This is against the law!) Parents must always walk their child in if they are late. These are some of the safety issues we are working on.
Students are learning their Student ID numbers. This is to prepare them for Middle school. We are working towards card-less lunches. Grades 1-3 will only have a 3-digit number. What happens if a child keys in the wrong number? The lunch ladies will catch it! They are awesome and know all of the kids.
There is a bunch of firewood in the back on the schoolyard, beyond the tennis courts. Please come by and get some. It is FREE!
Volunteer Appreciation Open House will be April 16, 10-1. (National Volunteer Week) This year will be a little different. The social committee is planning an open house in (hopefully) the garden courtyard outside the library. Parents may come in throughout the day, whenever their schedules allow. We hope to touch a lot more parents with this format. This is an opportunity for us to say thanks to all of our wonderful volunteers. These parents a re huge part of our school's success!
Treasurer's Report We have finally gotten money from the E Script program. 4th grade has cashed out on their fundraiser. We need to re-look the food services line because we have overspent by 500%.
Food Services Line Discussion: What happens if the PTA does not pay to feed a student who has no money and brings no lunch? The child goes without food! The sticker or stamp to let parents know that they owe the PTA money for the meal that PTA purchased is not working well. The stamps wash off, the stickers fall off or removed. Can food service manager make calls to let parent know that they owe the PTA money? Not likely. There is a time factor involved in that the manager is only allowed to work so many hours per day. Can there be a "note collector" job for a student each day to gather notes home to parents about money that needs to be repaid to the PTA? Can notes like this be put into Tuesday Folders? Are students getting extras and running out of money? Often the students buy extras at lunchtime. The cafeteria has them available but does not push them. A parent always has the option to put a NO EXTRAS on their child's lunch card. Can we track who is charging so many meals and having the PTA pay for it? If there is a real financial problem then there is a program available to help parents pay for lunches & breakfasts for their children, but some of the "repeat offenders" are not getting lunch paid for by the PTA because of financial hardship! This issue was addressed in September and we have a policy and action plan in place. This will be reviewed again at the end of the school year and if necessary, a committee will be formed to further investigate the issue.
Teacher Liaison's Reports The 6th grade basketball game is 7pm, March 28. Come watch. It is very entertaining! Math/Science Day will be all day, March 29. There will be a carnival type theme. Heritage Night was GREAT! Thanks. We are interested in purchasing a few new flags that would help showcase the various cultures in the school that we do not have flags for, yet. We'd like to request some type of hanging system for the flags. Right now that are hung up with tape and fall down almost every day. Maybe 3M hooks would be better? Economics Family Fun Night is coming up, K-2, April 18 and 3-6 April 25.
Committee Reports
Business Partnership - Special Guest Courtney Bulger Every business I meet with has a purpose. I meet with all types of businesses. Fairfax County has 35 formal faith partnerships. There is mostly small business and retail around Cardinal Forest. Part of this is helping to build a community where we want to live and work. Businesses want good rapport with their community. West Springfield pyramid has 25 different small businesses. People may ask why restaurants want us. They want to be part of the community. For example, Joey cards for Outback. Every Outback adopts two local schools. Schools decide how to use any incentives the business supplies. Less than 3% of all coupons are ever redeemed! We try to attribute goals to fit the schools needs. All incentives are tied to academic achievement goals! We are always looking. Several local restaurants are interested in working with Cardinal Forest: Burger King, McDonalds, Friendlies, Fellowship Baptist
I encourage a "Partner's" bulletin board that shows our agreement tied to our school's goals. Vicky Trump is our school contact. She is looking for folks to sit on a committee to work on school business partners and to decide on our goals. We would also like to have at least two teachers on the committee, preferable one k-2 teacher and one 3-6 teacher.
Nominating Committee
We are still looking to fill key positions!!! If you are interested in serving on next year's board, or you know someone who you think would do a good job, contact Jennifer Wink or Susan Lepley.
Yard/Plant Sale This fundraiser is set for April 28, 9-3 (rain date May 5. If you'd like to purchase a yard sale space, call Laura Lamoureux 703-569-0482. Each spot will cost $15. There will also be plants and flowers available for purchase. Pam Lauder will handle publicity. We are looking for wagons to borrow the day of the plant sale. Also, we need several volunteers to help load/unload the truck at 7am and 3pm.
Garden Club This will kick off after Spring Break. It is for grades 4-6 and will be filled on a first come- first served basis.
Old Business
** The next PTA meeting will be Tuesday, April 17 at 7pm. It will also be a parent workshop.
This page was updated on Friday, May 04, 2007