Somers High School PTSA

General Membership Meeting

November 15, 2007

Somers High School Media Center

Members Present: Carol Winter, Laura Stark, Terri Henderson, Nora Kopec, Kathy Brewer, Laura Braica, Gary Cotzin, Jean Mandirola and Amanda Vesce

I. Meeting called to order: 7:05 p.m. by Jean Mandirola

II. Previous Meeting Minutes: No changes; Motion made to accept previous minutes by Carol Winter, seconded by Laura Stark. Unanimously approved.

III. Correspondence:

· Received Insurance form and Loss Prevention Guidelines

· Received request from freshman class, advisor, Matt Macaluso for $250 to repair Four Town Fair Taco booth. Request has been submitted to JJ Wassmuth to send out check.

IV. Treasurer’s Report:

· Report presentation waived. Updated report will be forwarded.

· Request made to submit $250 check to freshman class – see above.

· Request made to stop payment on check that was originally sent to company running Safe Grad trip. Apparently deposit was not received.

V. President’s Report:

· Jean requested that any member who is working on a committee/project to thoroughly document all steps in any process. The plan is to put a notebook together so the people taking over the tasks have a point of reference.

VI. Principal’s Report: Gary Cotzin reported the following:

· Alternative Education – in the process of reviewing an alternative program for those students who are not succeeding academically; goal is to ensure fewer dropouts.

· MRSA – Gary has met with all staff, including custodians, nurse and sports staff to address the necessary issues

· NEASC – submitted first response (6 month period) to address initial key areas of concern; several have been rectified involving administration – hired superintendent, administrators and director of curriculum; many areas are in progress, including hazardous materials plan, condensing mission. More information to follow after report is received back.

· Renaissance Program – is up and running; seems to be well-received by staff and students, especially student of the month

· Breathalyzers – used at the Halloween dance for the first time; no issues; students did not appear concerned

· Budget – Submitted and included adds to staff in World Language and Math

· CAPT / SAT PowerPoint presentation – included highlights of facts provided to the BOE at last meeting:

o CAPT – according to state requirements, do well; but always room for improvement. With our District Regional Grouping (DRG) we are: #1 in Math, #7 in Science, #6 in Reading, #10 in Writing

o SAT – In the math section last year, we were approximately 20 points ahead of state requirement; Verbal we fell within the range

o AP exams – all students will take the exams; scores have continued to improve

· Elective Curriculum update – Business, Art and Music was presented to the BOE, in process of reviewing other programs. No changes will take place for the 2008/09 year, but possibly in the following year. Teachers are encouraged to promote electives as at least 10 students are required to run a class. Several electives offer articulated college credits with Asnuntuck Community College. Tech Ed is looking at electives to support and define specific career paths.

VII. Board Members’ Reports:

Ø Membership – Nora Kopec

v 77 paid members to date

v Will be distributing updated volunteer lists to each committee chairperson

v Nora entered membership data on National PTSA website, printed out and distributed member cards

v Working with committee to revise and streamline membership form – suggestions were made about investigating on-line sign-ups.

Ø Safe Grad – Carol Winter

v Confirmed cost of boat trip -- $1680 for 4 hours

v Had Safe Grad meeting prior to PTSA meeting (considering changing time of meeting to encourage more attendees), Carol and Terri Henderson discussed several ideas, including, themes for the trip (i.e. Hawaiian) and suggested asking the students for their input

v NEED VOLUNTEERS to help with planning and food; Karyn O’Donnell will coordinate permission slips and parent chaperones

v Discussion about using breathalyzer prior to students boarding busses. Question is who will administer? (Gary cannot as the students will have graduated and are technically no longer his responsibility.) Suggest that an EMT may be able to administer. Will be furthered discussed at future meeting.

Ø Scholarship Fund – Laura Stark

v Fund raising letters will be distribute at the end of November

v Removed many businesses from list if they have not contributed in the past couple of years; targeting Barnes and Noble, Starbucks and Office Depot

v Discussed the need to understand the criteria and guidelines for the scholarship. Laura will research with State PTSA and discuss further with Guidance Department

Ø Staff Appreciation – Kathy Brewer

v No report at this time

Ø Parent Directory – Kathy Brewer and Jean Mandirola

v 91 parents have submitted forms for the directory

v Data entry is complete

v In process of creating document

v Plan to distribute by end of November

Ø By-Law Review – committee pending

v Jean reviewed by-laws; will be suggesting some wording changes. Last review was conducted in 2005.

Ø Fundraising

v Shopping Spree (Laura & Amanda)

· Have 21 confirmed vendors/crafters

· Advertising done in local papers; flyer distributed by PTA, PTSA and Gary Cotzin

v Fruit Sale (Jean, Laura & Nora)

· Sale is in progress

· Gary distributed blast e-mail about the fundraiser

· Forms will go out with report cards

· Have rec’d comments that it can be difficult to place orders since you have to request an order sheet then return it

· Jean will research with State PTSA if there is a way to order on-line

v Clean Comedian (Jean)

· No report at this time

v Mohegan Sun bus trip (Carol & Diane)

· Four busses in total (includes one for Boosters); tickets will be printed be end of month

· Bus leads are: Kathy Kelly, Carol Winter and Diane Georgantis

· Need check for deposit on busses

v Variety Show concession sales

· No report

v Mother’s Day Plant sale

· No report

v Diploma sale (Gail)

· No report

VIII. Old Business: PTSA book/audit reconciliation. Kathy Brewer collected books from past secretary and has past Treasurer reports. Matt Kopec will assist with the review.

IX. New Business:

· Jean presented Cookie Dough fundraiser – need to decide whether we will order mix versus frozen; majority seemed to favor frozen.

· Jean suggested that this fund raiser be used by seniors trying to raise money for Safe Grad trip. Concerns were discussed about how to track the sales for each student, who will coordinate and maintain the records?

X. Other Discussions:

· Any flyers for PTSA-related events can be given to Linda Perkinson (secretary in the main office) who will post on the PTSA bulletin board

· Since the sophomore and junior classes did not request funding from the PTSA for any specific activity, there was discussion about giving $500 to the school to provide for any student with a financial hardship who would not be able to participate in an activity. Jean Mandirola made a motion to provide$500 in the school activity fund to be administered by Gary Cotzin on an as needed basis. Kathy Brewer seconded the motion, unanimously approved.

· Discussion about restructuring the committees within the PTSA to resemble the PTA – it was suggested that there should be one fundraising committee responsible for all fundraising. Will be further discussed at a future meeting.

XI. Meeting Adjournment: Motion made at 9:15 p.m. by Jean Mandirola to adjourn meeting; seconded by Kathy Brewer. Unanimously approved.

Respectfully submitted,

Amanda A. Vesce