HUNTERS WOODS PTA MINUTES

Hunters Woods Elementary School for the Arts and Sciences

October 10, 2007

 

The regular meeting of the Hunters Woods PTA was held on October 10, 2007 at Hunters Woods Elementary School library. PTA President Maureen Becker called the meeting to order at 7:35pm.

 

The September 4, 2007 PTA meeting minutes were approved with corrections, specifically the addition of attachments of supporting material such as mini-grants, etc.

 

Correspondence: none.

 

Treasurer’s Report:

The VA PTA auditing committee (comprised of three HWES parents) approved the HWES accounts as presented. Some improvement suggestions were given by the auditing committee in response to irregularities found in other VA PTA’s and are general improvements that the state is requesting of the PTA memberships as a whole. The VA PTA Auditing Improvement Suggestions were submitted for the record.

 

One important suggestion was the changing of accounts to a bank with lower fees for the PTA’s accounting needs. Deborah Lannen will be investigating other banks with less or no fees for our accounting needs.

 

Another important suggestion was that all PTA contracts signed with third parties should be approved and signed by the HWES PTA President for insurance liability issues.

 

Deborah Lannen distributed copies of the September Budget to all attending members.

 

President’s Report:

Maureen Becker is pleased to report that most important PTA committees are well covered and there are few current openings. Maureen announced that we need to start training a new Webmaster and Kelly Horton Geer has volunteered to take over that position for next year. Congratulations to Raba Letteri for making a profit with Apparel sales this year. A thank you to the Gift Wrap committee and a reminder that this committee could use volunteers on Nov. 2^nd to help sort and deliver school orders.

 

Teacher’s Report:

Thank you to Jennifer Davis-Heffner for taking over the Yearbook committee. The Art department wish list was very successful with many donations from parents. The new Art aprons have arrived and are working wonderfully in the classrooms.

 

Committee Reports:

Membership Dues – A general discussion was held to review and to vote on the changes to the HWES PTA membership dues for 2007-08.   The original vote on the membership dues that took place during the budget meeting required a 30 day notification to the general membership.  In order for the new dues structure to be in compliance with the mandated Virginia PTA bylaws, the notification was sent in the form of a KIT (Attachment 1) to the entire HWES and in Tuesday folders prior to the PTA meeting.   The meeting participants discussed the KIT and the membership dues changes.  

 

Susan Brownsword made a motion for a family membership to the Hunters Woods PTA at a cost of $10.00.  Included in the dues amount is one membership to the National, State and County PTA organizations; additional memberships to these organizations can be purchased by members in the same household at cost - $2.75.  Susan Sather added an amendment to the motion to discuss the 2008-2009 membership dues at the March PTA meeting.

 

Sixteen PTA members voted with 13 yes, 2 opposed and 1 abstained votes.  A 2/3rd's majority vote was achieved and the motion passed. 

 

Yearbook – Jennifer Davis-Heffner is now co-chair with the art teachers. Some changes have been made the structure of the yearbook from 64 to 72 pages, with 100 extra copies to sell and a new publisher, PhotoCron. The new price of the yearbook will be $14.81, therefore the student cost will remain at $16.00 per copy.

 

A proposed budget was distributed and is attached as Attachment 2. T-shirts and 2 to 4 new cameras will be purchased to support the Yearbook students. T-shirts were approved for purchase by the PTA for Yearbook students because they are working in service to the HWES community as a whole. There was a general consensus that students in other enriching activities or on competitive teams would need to purchase their t-shirts individually.

 

Risograph – Reminder to all committees needing Risograph help – please have your flyer to Mrs. Toatley by the Thursday deadline or your copies will be delayed and miss the Tuesday folders for the next week.

 

PTA Office – Help is still needed to sort through the many supplies that have accumulated in the PTA office. There are ample decorations for all occasions so please use what we have before purchasing additional items.

 

Origional Art Works Fundraiser – Marina Matthes reported upon the progress of this fundraiser and demonstrated some of the art projects that will be made and available for sale by our students.

 

Directory – Susan Sather reported that the directory will soon be available and that if needed, class lists are currently available. Susan Sather motioned for the PTA to no longer sell advertising to fund the directory. The directory will now have a fee associated with it to pay for its production. This motion was seconded and passed by the majority of voting members.

 

Outdoor Beautification – On October 13, there will be a workday, starting at 9:30am. No bathroom facilities will be available to avoid the cost of opening the school. November 1-2 will be the 4^th annual Pumpkin composting drive; drop off pumpkins at Kiss-n-Ride.

 

There is a need for a Marquee Maintenance volunteer. Anyone interested should contact Catherine Linberg.

 

Principal’s Report:

Mrs. Mentzer represented the principals and reported that there are numerous recruits for the vacant Vice Principal job and the administration is currently doing second interviews in the hiring process.

 

She also reported that the Fairfax County Building Facilities Management department has built a retaining wall the side of the playground outside of Exit 5 to help with the erosion problems and keep the playground drier and dirt free.

 

Mini-Grants:

Descriptions of two mini-grants were read and Catherine Linberg motioned to vote on them. This motion was seconded and the majority voted yes. The mini-grants are attached as Attachment 3.

 

New Business:

Maureen Becker read the 2008 VA PTA Proposed Legislative Program Ballot and took a meeting vote. The ballot is attached as Attachment 4.

 

The next PTA meeting will be held on November 7, 2007.

 

The meeting was adjourned the meeting at 10:05pm.

                                                                        ________________________________

                                                                        Jennifer Arakelian, Recording Secretary

 

 

The minutes were:

__________    approved as written.

__________    approved as corrected.

Date:   ________________________