PTA Meeting held on January 16, 2025 

# of Attendees –  24

Review Minutes from December PTA Meeting: 

  • o Approved by –  Rachel Denehy
  • o Seconded by – Kurstin Laue 

 

Pledge of Allegiance was said by:  Halley Cavinee

  •  Treasurer’s Report – Theresa Cavinee
  • Starting Balance as of December 19th – $40,015.01
        • New money in December  (post 19th)
          • Total Income = $0.00
  • Expenses – 
          • Holly Rock – $1695.00
          • Kids Kastle – $3531.62
          • Holiday Luncheon – $550.00
          • Worlds Finest – $2895.00
          • Charge that will be reversed (Fraud) – $3.58 
          • Total Expenses=  $8675.2
  • Ending Balance $31,339.81
  • Starting Balance January 1 –  $31,339.81
    • Income
      • World’s Finest – $420
      • Fraud Reversal (Nov + Oct) – $7.20
      • Card Party (Ticket Sales) – $1050
      • Amazon Return – $21.76
      • Total Income = $1498.96
  • Expenses – 
    • Card Party (Ribbon) – $38.90
    • Total Expense = $38.90
  • Ending Balance as of January 16th – $32,799.87

Principals Report – Julie Porras

  • Principal Porras wished everyone a Happy New Year. The school is at 94% attendance. A lot of schools have dipped and we are doing great at maintaining, especially with this cold weather. January is mid-year assessment time. The goal is to gauge student progress through MAP and  acadience assessments.  Teachers share that progress and set goals. Upon return from the break the school held a musical IQ for the 3rd-6th grades and received positive feedback. They played bongos and learned about different music and culture. Principal Porras will try to bring them back in for other grades. 
  • State exams start in early to mid-May. After school programs will start next week. The school is not able to service every child at the moment but we are working on it. It’s a good opportunity to strengthen math and ELA skills in a small group.
  • On Saturday, 8th graders have a future city competition. They are working to create a future city model that exists 100 years from now. They had to do research and create models. Ms Heil will be taking them. Hopefully in a few weeks they will be able to share with other students and parents. 
  • Next week, the superintendent will be visiting to see how things are going.
  • Playground Update – Principal Porras will be getting the construction restart date. They stopped in mid-october but she is not privy as to why it stopped. We were told that they were going to restart in early December, but she never got an answer. 

President’s Report – Melissa Rosado / Jo-Ann Cautillo

Card Party Announcements

  • The Card Party flyer went out to every grade. Please reach out if you did not receive it. It will be on March 14th at Scavellos with a disco theme. We started looking for decorations, planning, and soliciting businesses. The link for the Amazon wish list is up. Gifts come right to the school and we wrap it. Share this list with family and friends. All price ranges are appreciated, small or large. You can order tickets by filling out a paper if you are old school or online. We are limited to space so get tickets as soon as possible
  • Every year we ask class parents to make a themed basket . Each class gets their own month and we ask parents to donate to the pta or donate items or money for the basket. Anything you get for the holidays that you don’t want big or small we put them with other gifts. The school provides medium sized baskets. They are always a big hit. Question from Artenida Bylo:  Who do we give the $5 dollars to? Answer: The teacher will collect it and will give it to the class parent rep. We record how much comes in. Letters will be sent home from the class parent rep.
  • Jo-Ann reminded everyone that it’s a cash only night and discussed some of the highlights such as the Birthday Box and the Grand Prize. One of the bigger prizes is a vacation package with a place to stay and possibly airfare. There are auctions that night as well. People were encouraged to purchase tickets. People typically buy a whole table but you can buy individual tickets. We wrap over February break. All volunteers are appreciated. We have about 4 almost full tables already and it’s only January so we will sell out this year.  The first wrapping night will be on movie night. We are constantly chatting to get the greatest deals. We have almost 60 gifts so far. Last year we had 300 gifts and our goal is 350. We solicit big business so if you know anyone from Verizon, Yankees, Mets for big prizes and monetary donations let us know. Clark Construction company gave us $2000 so that will go towards our expenses. They can use it as a tax write-off. 

 

New Business: 

Movie Night / Wrapping Night

  • On 1/31/25, we will host a movie night showing Wild Robot. We hosted a movie night in the pit last year with popcorn and goodies and chips. We charged $5 dollars per family and the teachers donated the goodies. Candy is sold for $1-$3. Parents can wrap that night from the card party committee. $793 profit last year which was way more than anticipated. Bay plaza donates popcorn and we will sell hotdogs and pretzels and chips for $1-3. Children must be accompanied by an adult and students cannot roam around school. Let us know if you can volunteer. Doors open a few minutes before 6 and the movie starts at 6pm.

Picture Retake

  • Lasting Impressions will be holding a Retake day on 1/22/25. You have to bring your package back in and they wont charge a fee. The 8th grade graduation picture will be done that day too. For 8th grade, everyone is photographed with 5-6 poses and then a group picture. They will be sent home with personal log-in information and you’ll be able to view all of the photos and then you can choose whatever package you like. You can reach out to them with any issues. This is just for the graduation photos. You can choose multiple poses. Noreen sent home a letter to the 8th graders explaining the process. Blast for parents will be sent home announcing the retakes tomorrow for other grades. There are a couple new students. Noreen told Melissa that we got no complaints about photos from any of the parents. 

Old Business:

Movie Theater Fundraiser

  • We sold 60 bundles and ended 1/31/24 bringing in $457.50.  It was an easy fundraiser with no expenses attached. Anyone who bought it benefited. No brainer – will do it again. It will be 4-6 weeks before we get the check. It was a good time to hold this fundraiser as a lot of movies were coming out. 

Adjournment: 

Last minute Card Party questions were answered regarding tables and seating. Melissa thanked attendees for showing up, supporting, and helping in any way .

  • The meeting was adjourned at : 7:52pm