Hunters Woods PTA Minutes

Hunters Woods Elementary School for the Arts and Sciences

October 4, 2006

The regular meeting of the Hunters Woods PTA was held on October 4, 2006 at Hunters Woods Elementary School. PTA President Maureen Becker called the meeting to order at 7:30pm.

Correspondence:

Marina Matthes read thank you letters from grateful staff including Olivia Toatley, new teachers – Jill Stewart and Ms. Fisher, Ms. Barber, and previous teacher - Lauren Angel.

President’s Report:

Maureen began the meeting by discussing the need for brevity during the meeting and ending the meeting by 8:30.

Maureen made a plea for more volunteers for the Fall Harvest Festival and mentioned the recent e-mail sent out to PTA members, describing the need for more involvement or the possibility of not being able to have the Festival this year. Maureen also described how the Festival’s responsibilities were divided to make the job more manageable and diversified.

Micki Moravitz volunteered to co-chair the Festival games but emphasized the need for more people to be involved. Marina Matthes will be the Primary grade volunteer coordinator but we still need an Upper grade volunteer. Blakely Meyers will be the cakewalk coordinator. The 6 th Grade Obstacle Course needs a volunteer to put out the flyer and handle the coordination of the obstacle assembly with the gym teacher.

Maureen made a plea for a Fall Book Fair coordinator. Shreeti Kapoor volunteer to co-chair but needs support for days that she works. The dates are Dec. 4-8 th, 5 days with 2 evening commitments. Previously, there have been 3 co-chairs to divide the work and all previous volunteers are available to help the new volunteers.

Hillary Bradley mentioned the need to organize Reflections, the arts recognition achievement program.

Maureen reminded everyone for Tami Holsten, that Oct. 9-13 is Cafeteria and Custodial staff appreciation week and called for bakers.

Maureen reminded everyone that Oct. 16-20 is Bus Driver and Crossing Guard appreciation week and passes around a baker’s volunteer sheet. A flyer will be coming out asking for volunteers on the morning of Oct. 19 th.

Maureen asked for all PTA members to go to the VA PTA website, www.vapta.org, to read and vote on the VA PTA Legislative Proposals for 2006. PTA members can also download ballots off of the website and send them to Maureen via the Tuesday folders.

Maureen reminded everyone that all committee chairs must be registered PTA members.

Treasury Report:

Deborah Lannen presented the budget to the meeting and reported that the budget had been approved by PTA member vote. She thanked all members who helped in the classroom voting process.

Some line items on the budget presented at the meeting have no amounts because there has not been spending in them at this time.

Teacher’s Report:

Carol DeFilippo, Reading Specialist, thanked all the PTA members for their support and for the wonderful welcome back breakfast.

Committee Reports:

Oldest and Only – Susan Sather mentioned that Friday, Oct. 13 th, is the date for working on the O & O Tuesday folders. She asked for volunteers and would like to work between 12:00-3:00pm. Ms. Skerker will ask the teachers to put all the Tuesday folders together to facilitate the O & O task.

Hunters Horn – Susan Sather reported that articles are due on Oct. 4 th for the newsletter due on Oct. 17 th.

Directory – Susan Sather passed out draft copies of the directory and asked all parents to make corrections on the DRAFT copy in the school office or to e-mail changes to her directly. Pam Light reported that $2272.00 total have been sold in advertising for the directory. She has received $1707.00 as of the PTA meeting.

Gift Wrap – Nancy Mamros reported that the Gift Wrap Committee is accepting orders until Oct. 11 th. She reminded teachers to turn in all orders as soon as possible to the committee. Volunteers are needed for the Oct 12 th and Friday, Nov. 3 rd for organizing the orders and getting them to classrooms in time for teacher conferences.

Hospitality – Susan Sather requested that PTA members consider contributing snacks for the monthly PTA meetings and Principal coffees.

Carrabbas Dinner – Angela Irwin reported that the restaurant needs to charge $3 per person for the meal, which differs from last year. Carrabbas paid all expenses for the dinner last year. She also reported that the PTA will need to provide desserts for the dinner and Ms. Skerker volunteered to ask the teachers if they would bring cookies for the dinner. Maureen Becker motioned to cover the cost to provide all teachers with a free dinner. This motion was passed unanimously.

Sock Hop – Shashi Ravishankar reported that this years Sock Hop will be held on Oct. 13 th and that she needs volunteers to make bake goods to sell, which should be packaged to sell and placed in the teacher’s lounge. She also needs volunteers to staff the event. A flyer will be sent out with the Oct. 10 th Tuesday folders. Maureen Becker requested that Shashi send a copy of the flyer to Kelly Midura for the website and to include in the flyer a note saying that parents cannot drop off students at the dance.

Outdoor Beautification – Catherine Linberg reported that Nov. 2 nd and 3 rd will be the 3 rd Annual Pumpkin Drive during the morning student drop off at Kiss and Ride. Students are requested to give pumpkins to the Pumpkin Lady or tell her where they are in the car so she can retrieve them. A request was made for NO slimy pumpkins to be donated.

Sponsorship – Pam Light reported that the Sylvan Learning Center would like to donate small items with their logo to be given as prizes at HWES. Everyone discussed different possibilities for the prizes including using them during the Harvest Festival or for the Silent Auction.

Room Parents – Susan Sather reported that she needs the teachers to provide the names of all room parents so she can send them a room parent guide.

Snickerdoodle – Susan Brownsword gave an introduction to the literary magazine and asked for volunteers to help with the manuscript, production and other responsibilities associated with the production of the magazine.

Principal’s Report:

Vice Principals, Ms. Skerker and Ms. Mentzer, reported that Olivia Toatley was not available this month because of a family obligation. The Vice Principles’ reported that all children have settled well into their classes and everyone is doing well. The school has had Fire drills and Tornado drills in accordance with FCPS rules.

The Vice Principals’ reported that we have a new 4 th grade teacher to replace Ms. Mentzer. Ms. Mentzer thanked all the staff and others who have been so helpful to her in the classroom. All PTA members applauded Ms. Mentzer for her efforts in her classroom.

The Vice Principals’ reported that there is a new dismissal procedure at the school, called Silent Dismissal. The Silent Dismissal program uses the closed circuit TV in each classroom to show buses arriving and which grade level’s buses are ready to be loaded. Without so much noise in the halls, the school is much more orderly and quiet. Buses will be loaded in the following order, K-1, 2-3 and the 4-6. Mr. Grant and Mr. Smith are in charge of getting all the buses loaded and on their way. We have another Bus Evacuation drill coming up soon.

They also reported that all Kiss & Ride students will be released at 3:05pm and will be asked to stand under their grade signs at the side of the building. The attending adults will call out each child’s name and then that child can come forward and enter their car. Parents are asked to loop around the Kiss & Ride circle if their students are not present to help the flow of traffic.

The Behavior Support Program will be the topic on next month’s Principal’s coffee. It will take at least one full year for the school to begin implementing this important program, which emphasizes four major principles – 1. Responsibility, 2. Respect, 3. Honesty, and 4. Compassion. Teaching these principles is a major goal of the Fairfax County Board.

Unfinished Business:

Maureen Becker reported that there was a teacher mini-grant application for a performance for the K-2 grades by the Magpie performers on Oct. 25 th. The performance is structured to support the science curriculum. Susan Slather motioned to approve the mini-grant and Shashi Ravishankar seconded the motion. The motion was passed by a majority of the present PTA members.

Reminder: Individual Photo Day is Oct. 12 th.

The next PTA meeting will be held Nov. 1, 2006 at 7:30pm at the school.

Meeting was adjourned at 8:28pm.