HSES PTA General Membership Meeting

November 13, 2007

HSES iPod Area

The HSES PTA General Membership meeting convened at 7:05pm on November 13, 2007 in the HSES iPod. 13 PTA members were in attendance.

The purpose of the general membership meeting was to review and vote on the changes to the bylaws.

Jeannie passed around copies of the agenda and a list of the changes to the bylaws. One notable change was to the terminology used to describe the name of the ‘PTA Executive Board.’ The new name will be the ‘PTA Board of Directors’ as directed by the Maryland PTA. The PTA Officers will be known as the Executive Board. Jeannie reviewed all the other changes made.

A motion was made by Monica Machovec to accept the changes to the bylaws. The motion was seconded, no one opposed and the motion carried.

Meeting adjourned at 7:11pm.

HSES PTA Board of Directors meeting

November 13, 2007

HSES iPod Area

The HSES PTA Board of Directors meeting convened at 7:13pm on November 13, 2007 in the HSES iPod. 13 PTA members were in attendance.

Jeannie began by passing around an agenda. There was a discussion of the need to trim the budget due to the fundraiser not making the expected income. There was a suggestion from Laurie Speelman that the PTA could sell t-shirts. Her 5^th grade Earth Force team suggested that they sell HumanATees, which are t-shirts that display endangered species. She is going to look into the Earth Force team selling them since the PTA is responsible for three additional events to offset each fundraiser.

The Civility policy was discussed. It’s a great policy to promote. Mr. Heisey is trying to get more copies of the magnetic ‘Choose Civility’ bumper stickers. He’d like get copies for each family that attends the parent-teacher conferences.

Principal's Report (Glenn Heisey):

PickATime has helped 480 out of 570 students’ parents schedule their parent-teacher conferences. The program enables parents to see all conferences that have been scheduled for their children that attend Hollifield, Patapsco, and/or Mt. Hebron. The program emails a confirmation and then another email as a reminder closer to the conference time. This scheduling was normally handled by the staff. It has been a great success and few problems were reported.

Mr. Heisey would like to resurrect the “Coffee with the Principal.” Topics to discuss are the new technology program and have the new technology teachers available. Other ideas include the discussion of the countywide civility program.

There was some discussion of the problems of the illegal parking in the parking lots and problems on parking in the drop-off circle.

Mr. Heisey had a handout of the description of the countywide 6 plus 1 Writing Traits program. He was looking for the best way to get this information out to parents. An overview of the program will be available around the parent-teacher conferences. Mr. Heisey and Jeannie have discussed the possibility of the PTA offering a PTA parent program to explain the 6 plus 1 Writing Traits.

Treasurer's Report (Laura Smith):

A copy of the treasurer’s report was handed out. It was noted that the fundraiser grossed about $23,000 with a net of $11,000 to the school. This is short of the goal.

Staff Report (Kathy Beavan):

The book fair is in full swing. Kids are given a book list that they can use to indicated to their parents some personnel choices. Orders are due Nov 15. The fair has after school hours this week and Monday of next week. .

Report cards were issues today. This week is American Education Week. Many parents visited on Monday.

Friday is PTA Bingo. Staff is donating prizes.

Green School Program – Mrs. Laurie Speelman

Mrs. Speelman described what the Green School Program was and how Hollifield Station was getting involved. The goal of the program is to develop and integrate environmental education issues into classroom. It takes two years to become a green school. Only four schools in Howard County are considered green schools. A nomination committee made up of administration, teachers, students, and parents. The program needs to be implemented and the participation documents.

There are three objectives to the program.

I. Curriculum and Instruction.

Part I has three elements. 1) Instruction, 2) professional development, and 3) celebration.

Instruction (by class):

Kindergarten: Making stepping stones for butterfly garden, water plants, read temperatures and create written logs.

First grade: Creating a bayscape outside the first grade.

Second grade: Studying butterfly gardens and life histories and will plant a garden to provide shelter and food for the butterflies.

Third grade: Studying the importance of recycling. Every Tuesday go and collect and weigh. Collected 4,000 pounds or 2 tons in 10 weeks. Goal is 12 tons by March.

Fourth grade: Investigating birds native to Maryland and building bluebird boxes.

Fifth grade: Oyster reef bowls will be created for the Chesapeake Bay. Teachers are writing a grant to pay for a field trip. The fifth grade can also be a part of during one day/week meeting during recess to be a part of the Earth Force team. There are currently 21 students. Half of the students are creating a butterfly garden. And half of the group is creating a newspaper about being green.

Part II School Operation and Maintenance Requirements have 7 elements of which 4 need to be met. These include energy conservation, habitat restoration, water conservation, and responsible transportation (e.g., combining events to reduce the requirement of multiple trips).

Part III School Community Requirement to partner with the local community or at the school. Partnering with school community members such as master gardeners to help implement solutions at the school.

Currently there are 18 teachers and paraeducators involved and four parents. All are volunteers.

Committee Reports

After School Programs (Helen Morse):

Survey went out to parents regarding their interest in after school programs. There were 120 responses. The surveys were translated into Korean and Spanish of the 60 Korean surveys sent 40 were returned and 7 of the 21 Spanish surveys were returned.

Hospitality (Coral French):

This is the upcoming teacher/staff dinner scheduled for Monday, the 19^th. Volunteers are needed for set-up, serving and clean-up. Pizza and a salad bar will be available from 4:30-5:30. Help is required for set-up starting at 2:30.

Each month there will be mailbox treats for each month: This month a bag of peanuts with labels saying “we’re nuts about you!” was given to all the teachers. PTA members have agreed to help do something similar for the Homewood School which doesn’t have a PTA.

Teacher Appreciation week will be May 5-9, 2008.

Membership (Monica Machovec):

Currently there are 421 members.

Nominations (Tammy Foyles):

Tammy is meeting with Gwen to discuss nominations and awards.

School Spirit (Christine Daugherty):

Bingo Night is scheduled for Friday night. So far only 50 people have responded. Donations are finally up. The cost is $2.50 per person or $10 per family. The event will be held in the cafeteria on Friday night 7-9 pm.

On Thursday night there are multiple PTA events: Spirit Wear pickup, Health and Safety (refreshments of healthy cider and whole wheat pretzels), QSP pick-up, and Green program’s paper drive.

Volunteer Coordinator (Peter Chang):

Peter brought copies of the survey sent to non-English speaking parents on how to get them more involved in the school. Peter is serving as a Korean speaking PTA Liaison.

Ways & Means (Lisa Greco):

Lisa needs volunteers for the QSP pick-up at dismissal time. Please call Lisa.

Yearbook (Karen Jury): The yearbook is being sold in January. The cost is about $18 and the price will be $20.

President's Report (Jeannie DeCray):

Coat drive went well. Jeannie delivered the coats last week.

Meeting adjourned at 8:25 pm.