PTA General Meeting Agenda & Minutes 10.05.23

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PTA General Meeting Agenda & Minutes 10.05.23

Board members present: John Ritz, Aaron Goffin, Leanne Holm

Call To Order: [1800]

Meeting format

• Roberts Rules
• Voting

Icebreaker

• NB; Lots of time to set up the AV
• Introductions
• Bingo!

Review and approval of minutes from last meeting  (motion needed):

• Approved without objection

Changes

• There is a fundraising chair for 2023 – Scott
• There is/was no appointed nominating committee
  • 3 members may form an ad-hoc committee

Admin Update

• Heather Gordon – principal at Buckman
  • Buckman is fully staffed
    • Individual call-outs
  • Still working through rules and procedures
  • Developing systems on operations and instructional side
  • Plug for site counsel’ – Principal advisory group – volunteers welcome
    • Q: What’s the commitment?
      • 4-5 meetings a year, hybrid, 90-120 mins
      • Agenda comes out ahead of time
      • Budget, professional dev, school goals, etc?
• Q: Elaborate on the systems that weren’t here before?  Also, after school let out change?
  • Climate systems – tiered levels of support
    • Level 1 – entire school
    • Bear hug tickets
    • Classroom recognition
    • Pluto spaces
    • Community Circles
    • More standardization by classroom, “best practices”
  • Instructional
    • More overlap between classes on content
• Q: Why was Australia swapped to Pluto?
  • Lost to time.
  • Terrible no good very bad day book, kids learned Australia was a penal colony, swapped to history-free Pluto.
• Q: Will assessment scores be shared pro-actively with parents?
  • Yes, probably quarterly.

PAT Presentation

• Delayed

Financial Report

• Projecting a deficit
• Best case projection ~$30k for the school year
• Expenditures ~$37k
• Upcoming fundraisers are the main sources
  • In between periods are very slim
• So far expenditures ~$8k
  • Admin, books, snacks, supplies
• All money brought in split 50/50 PTA/SUN
• 49 members as of today (goal is 80)
• Q: Is the office providing snacks to kids?
  • Should be split with SES.
  • To Follow up with Heather.

PAT Presentation

• Guest speaker from PAT president
• 219 days into bargaining
• Slideshow will be shared virtually
• Cooling off period – 30 days off, impasse has been declared!
• District can give 7 days notice, or union gives 10 days notice for strike
• Demands –
  • More educational supports
  • More spec ed, mental health, salary and benefits, planning time (13th district in area for planning time)
  • COLA would be level with Beaverton
  • 440m of planning time at all levels (for the year)
  • HVAC, cleanliness (rodent droppings)
• Call for
  • Speak at board meetings
  • Hand out flyers
  • Escalating to door knocking and lawn signs
  • Support your teachers, let them know it’s ok to want for better
  • Blue on Tuesdays
  • Participate in rallies and pickets, before board meeting
  • Make a motion to send a solidarity statement to board/State
• Solidarity statement
  • Giving admin a direction teachers want to go in
  • Decrease in teaching staff, increase in admin staff
  • Enrollment down in elem, not in middle/high
  • 71% (down from 88%) kindergarten catchment
  • Need schools that benefit Portland citizens, not administrative resumes
• Earliest we could go on strike end of Oct
  • Need vote first
  • Need to give 10 days notice
  • Bargaining can continue
• District admin goals are not necessarily school goals
• Spec ed cuts are leading to gen ed issues
• The iceberg is being hit right now, need to change the situation

New Business pulled forward

• Secretary, Communications Chair & co-chair
• Motion to make John S secretary – passed
• Comm chair is a lot of work – makes sense to split
  • Monia Sayed
    • Motion passes
  • Jessica Werner (has done the yearbook)
    • Motion for co-chair, passes

Committee Reports

• Fundraising (Scott)
  • Get coupons as prizes for fundraising goal
  • 70/80 PTA members goal
  • ? Leads for restaurants/food sources for food
  • Buckman Moves
• Room Parent (Korrin)
  • Rockness class needs room parent(s)!
  • More fun to have two!
• Groundskeeping (Laura)
• Art Show & Sell (Nicole)
  • Nicole and Christine
  • March 9th 2024 – apps open Nov 1st
  • Flier in ~2 weeks, call for artists
  • Kid signups @new year
  • 2023 – $16k in profit, $7k in kid art
  • Oct 19th happy hour in newsletter, needs to be added to Konstella
• Buckman Bears (Megan)
  • Buckman Bear’s Club
  • Social networking – any local activity
  • Wish trees, tiny libraries
  • Soon: neighborhood group adventuring
• Foundation (Laura Stevens)
  • Dining out events in Oct – 10-15% of revenue goes back to the school
    • $4k last year
• Fall Festival (Theresa)

SUN – Katie

• Last year – grant to host multicultural family engagement events, leads to:
• Next thurs – Vania V
  • Mexican ceramics artist
  • Dios de los muertos
  • On the record – free second hand energy
  • Call for hands to cart food, etc.
• ⅓ of fundraiser going to SUN for scholarships
• Q: if a strike is called, will SUN strike?
  • A: SUN is non-union, but supports the teachers.  The buildings would be closed.  
  • Corollary – Champions must be in a licensed facility

Unfinished Business

• Review and approval of Standing Rules

New Business

• Nominations and voting for board positions: Secretary, Communications Co-Chairs
• Announcement of Fundraising Chair

Program Announcements

• Oregon PTA membership updates
  • Buckman moves fundraiser next week
  • Incentives! – See your e-comms.

• Fall Festival (Theresa)
  • All kids get free tickets
  • Aim is to build community
  • $$$ is not the drive
  • Word is there is some sponsorship

Q: Put out an optional donation box?

• Option to buy more tickets at fall festival

Adjournment

[19:34]

Action Items

Signature of Board Member: 

—

PTA Mission: 

The overall purpose of PTA is to make every child’s potential a reality by engaging and empowering families and communities to advocate for all children.

Land Acknowledgement:

“Every community owes its existence and vitality to generations from around the world who contributed their hopes, dreams, and energy to making the history that led to this moment. Some were brought here against their will, some were drawn to leave their distant homes in hope of a better life, and some have lived on this land for more generations than can be counted. Multnomah county rests on traditional village sites of the Multnomah, Kathlamet, Clackamas, bands of Chinook, Tualatin Kalapuya, Molalla and many other Tribes who made their homes along the Columbia River. We pay respects to their elders past and present. Truth and acknowledgment are critical to building mutual respect and connection across all barriers of heritage and difference. We begin this effort to acknowledge what has been buried by honoring the truth.”