Want to know what happens at a PTA? Did you miss a meeting and want to know what you missed? Then check out the minutes of each meeting below.

PTA Meeting held on November 13, 2025  / # of Attendees – 21

Presentation of the Agenda and Pledge of Allegiance: Rachel Denehy / Walter Natiw
Review Minutes from October PTA Meeting: Approved by – Kelly Cassidy / Satrupa Ragoonanan

Treasurer’s Report – Theresa Cavinee

  • Starting Balance as of October 17th – $29,996.30
    • Income
      • World’s Finest – $1620
      • Fee Return from Bank – $15
      • Swag – $195
      • Election Day – $415
      • School Tool Box – $489.07 ○ Movie Night – $820
      • Total Income = $3,554.07
    • Expenses
      • Prizes – $503.36
      • Scholarship Check Deposited- $100.00
      • Swag – $1342.50
      • Petty Cash -$100
      • Movie Night Concessions (BJs) – 196.73
      • Election Day Supplies – $75.98
      • Total Expense = $2,318.57
    • Ending Balance as of October 31st – $31,261.8
  • Starting Balance as of November 1st – $31,261.8
    • Income
      • WF – $1620.00
      • Movie night – $120
      • Swag – $275
      • Slime – $445
      • Election Day – $7,894
      • Petty Cash Return- $300
      • Total Income = $10,654.00
    • Expenses –
      • Supplies – $118.14 Fish – $24.33
      • Petty Cash Wd- $200
      • Concessions ED (BJs) – $130.17
      • Prizes – $338.02
      • Reimbursement Pumpkins – $330.00
      • Total Expense = $1,140.66
  • Ending Balance as of November 13 – $40,775.14

Election Day

President’s Report – Rachel Denehy

Old Business:

  • Fall Online Pop-Up Shop/ Ongoing Swag Sales
    • Spirit Fridays- Wear P.S. 175 Shark Gear or School colors (white and blue)
    • Will be ready by mid-week next week– Rachel will pick up – should have items by Friday!
  • World’s Finest Chocolate Fundraiser (10/21-11/15)
    • Still have a few boxes left. To be counted for the class that sells the most, make your purchase by the 15th of the month.
  • Movie Night- “K-Pop Demon Hunters” (10/24) was a success and was highly attended.
  • Pumpkin Patch (10/27)
    • Thank you to Joe Menon, Jackie and Eddie Ciarletta for bringing the pumpkins to P.S. 175! Everyone came home with a pumpkin.
    • Thank you, P.S. 175 Staff, for helping to unload, stack, and make this event so fun for our kids!
  • Picture Day (10/29) – Pictures should be coming in a few weeks, and the day ran smoothly.
  • Election Day (11/4) -Almost 80 prizes won! Music was a hit. Thank you for all of the help from the Shark Representatives and the Parents, Staff and City Island Businesses for donating to the Election Day Raffle
  • Slime Activity at the City Island Community Center (11/8 2:30-4PM)
    • P.S. 175 PTA + Artful Attic + City Island Community Center hosted a Slime Making Activity.
    • Thank you to Cheryl Riordan for making the CICC available to us. 10-12 tables of kids, glue, and slime!

Principals Report – Principal Porras

  • Julie thanked the PTA Board and parents for being so impactful in such a short time. She noted Election Day, all of the people who came to vote, and then came to hang out, spend money, and have fun.
  • PTC – It was a great turnout with close to 200 people who attended the conference. If you didn’t get a chance to meet with the teacher, you can always reach out before the 21st to make an appointment. At the SLT meeting, they discussed the playground and how they are seeing more movement, at a faster pace, trying to get the job done before the cold weather. Tomorrow, they will be bringing materials for the asphalt, so the 2nd and 3rd lunch periods will be staying in tomorrow for safety reasons. We are going to have the P.S. 175 3rd annual Thanksgiving Parade on the 26th at 1:30pm. Parents will be invited. Our kids marched around the school building last year. Our Art teacher will help with the floats. As we get into December, we will be
    planning other events so that all students and families feel included in festivities. As of Monday, our attendance is at 94%. Incentives are in place and seem to be working.

New Business:

  • Regal Movie Tickets Bundle Sale (Now- 1/6/26)
    • 2 tickets for $30. You can buy as many bundles as you’d like. They send you an email and you can redeem the tickets with no expiration date.
  • Holiday Shoppe (12/9-12/11) – We hold a holiday shop at the school where the kids can come up with X amount of dollars and have a budget for all their loved ones. This will take place in the library. The company, Kids Kastle, sent us a bunch of gift items at varying prices. Kids purchase whatever gift they can afford. On the last day, we clean up and we ship back whatever we don’t sell.
    • Volunteers are needed on 12/8 (Set-up in the afternoon), 12/9 (Sales during school hours), 12/10 (Sales during school hours), and 12/11 (Sales and Clean-up).
  • Hollyrock 12/23- A company comes in and puts on a game show for the kids, like a live show audience, where they have to answer questions or do dances. It’s really silly and a fun highlight for the kids.
  • Solstice Celebration 12/22 – Details to follow
  • Special Shout out to Courtney Cooper! She has been helping with the website to have a cool new look.
  • Card Party 2026 – Election Day is a mini-Card Party. Card Party is about 3 times the amount of gifts as Election Day. The date this year is March 13th at Scavello’s on the Island. We will launch a poll here with the choices Western/Country, Vegas, and Wonderland (a spin on Alice in Wonderland). The poll results were Western 27% (3/11), Vegas 27% (3/11), and Wonderland 45% (5/11).
  • Movie Night and Slime – Movie night netted around $702.25, and Slime netted around $450. Zeffy has a certain payout period, so we don’t have the exact money for Slime. The Community Center was free, and we gave a donation to Artful Attic. We hope to collaborate with them on another arts and crafts event. Suggestions are encouraged.

Rachel and Denise provided more details about the card party, including the number of gifts, different price categories, teacher raffles, the grand prize, and that the price per head includes dinner.

Parent Questions:

  1. Kelly Cassidy – Is it possible to consider another movie night? – Another movie is scheduled for possibly January 23rd. We are open to suggestions for the next movie night. Another one is in the works soon after as well.
  2. Christal Forti – What exactly is Hollyrock? Is there a school holiday pageant that parents attend? – Explained above in the Hollyrock section of the notes. Julie added that the 3K and 4K teachers may want to do something in their classroom for a holiday pageant that parents might be invited to.
  3. Melissa Cebellero can you send the movie ticket link via text or email? – The link is available on the PTA website if you want to purchase now.

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at: 7:45pm.

P.S. 175 PTA Meeting held on October 16, 2025 # of Attendees – 29

Presentation of the Agenda and Pledge of Allegiance: Rachel / John Denehy

Review Minutes from September PTA Meeting: Approved by – Kelly C. / Shanon M.

Treasurer’s Report – Theresa Cavinee

Starting Balance as of September 12th – $43,950.09

  • Income
    • Membership – $625.00
    • Swag – $1612.00
    • Election Day – $5.00
    • Donation – $140.00
    • 50/50 – $88.00
    • Amazon Return – $99.99
    • Replenished from Scholarship Accts – $300.00
    • Total Income = $2869.99
  • Expenses –
    • Card Replacement Fee – $15.00
    • Scholarship Check Deposited- $100.00
    • School Start Up Fund – $1800.00
    • School Events – $650.00
    • Lexia (EdTech) – $14,310.00
    • Supplies – $72.97
    • Total Expense = 16,947.97

Ending Balance as of September 30th – $29,872.11

Starting Balance as of October 1st – $29,872.11

  • Income
    • Membership – $25.00
    • Swag – $160.00
    • Pop Up Shop – $218.00
    • Election Day – $944.00
    • Total Income = $1,347.00
  • Expenses –
    • Reimbursement Prizes – $309.31
    • Website – $99.00
    • Prizes (Deals) – $503.26
    • Prizes (Amazon) – $862.27
    • Wrapping Supplies – $67.23
    • Total Expense = $1,841.07

Ending Balance as of October 16th – $29,378.04

Principals Report – Principal Porras

Meet the Teacher- About 160 families in attendance. Ice cream was appreciated. Lexia is up and running. Student government is now in place and will be meeting monthly. We are at 93% attendance. Chronic absence is 10 or more absences in a year. Kids are looking forward to shopping at the PBIS store. Three times a year students take MAP assessments (Grades 3-8) and Acadiance (Grades K-2) which determines areas of strength and needs. PTC will be on November 6th (remote). She used to do “Dessert with the Principal” but now it is “Shine with the Principal”. The first Perfect Attendance and Citizen of the Month recognition was a success.

Reminder to hand in blue cards and income inquiry forms. We have until the end of November. We don’t receive Title One currently, but the past few years it has fluctuated from 52% to 56% to 57%. A school has to hit 60% to get thousands of dollars of funding for programs, teachers, materials, supplies, or extra activities.

Sensory room grant was approved for calming opportunities, as a teaching tool, or just to use when a student needs a minute to be calm. SCA is visiting us this week to make a plan.

Playground update – Principal Porras had a meeting today with DSF and SCA and was told that most of the work that has to be done isn’t reliant on the general contractor anymore which was a large part of the holdup. The equipment has been delivered. This should be 2-3 weeks until black top goes down. We are very fortunate to have an opportunity to use the playground next door.

President’s Report – Rachel Denehy

All information on Title One forms is confidential and necessary to get as much funding as we can.

Old Business:

  • Meet the Teacher Night- Huge Success. About ¾ of the total P.S. 175 Families attended Meet the Teacher Night. Distributed 250 Mr. Softee tickets to the families that participated.
  • Viva la Sound- Fun Family Day! Live music, learning about Long Island Sound, Bio Bus
  • CIOR + PTA Sponsored Bingo Card! 30 Lucky winners who completed a Bingo Card on the day of Viva La Sound were entered into a drawing to win CIOR Shirt or P.S 175 shorts

New Business:

  • Fall Online Pop-Up Shop/ Ongoing Swag Sales
  • Spirit Friday- Wear P.S. 175 Shark Gear or School colors (white and blue).
  • World’s Finest Chocolate Fundraiser (10/21) – Spend $60 to receive a box of 60 candy bars so if you sell the whole box you make your money back.
  • Movie Night- “K-Pop Demon Hunters” (10/24). Doors open at 6pm – movie starts at 6:30pm. Enjoy popcorn and hotdogs and refreshments. There is a signup sheet which will bring you to sign up $5 for family and each child must be accompanied by an adult.
  • Pumpkin Patch (10/27) – Thank you to Joe Menon for coordinating pumpkins for P.S. 175
  • Picture Day (10/29) – Forms went out.
  • Election Day (11/4) -Thank you for all of the help from the Shark Representatives and the Parents for donating to the Election Day Raffle. Walk around the cafeteria and put your tickets into whichever raffle you choose and at the end of the night we choose the winner.
  • Slime Activity at the City Island Community Center (11/8 2:30-4PM) – P.S. 175 PTA + Artful Attic + City Island Community Center will be hosting a Slime Making Activity. Students must be accompanied by an adult.

Budget Approval

Approved by: Kelly Cassidy and seconded by Jason Wirtz

Fundraising Updates:

  • Election Day – We raised $949.00 from the parents and caregivers of P.S. 175.
  • Swag Sales – Sold $3010 this year surprising the entire 24/25 school year by $200.

Report cards -New parents need to make a NYC Schools account. Mr Santi will help get your child’s OASIS number. This also shows state testing scores in grades 3-8 and previous years MAP scores.

Parent Questions:

  • Kelly Cassidy – Will that information on setting up the MySchools account be sent out to parents? / Tina will be sending out a detailed email explaining the process.
  • Denise – Friendly reminder for parents to choose their background for picture day.
  • Valeri – Some parents are having trouble getting emails from the school. / This is a glitch on ATS and GAMMA. Call the main office.
  • Debreena – Question regarding Monthly Attendance Awards. / Awards -Most Improved, “Shine with the Principal”, and Dojo Points are also given to reward students.
  • Yeimy Casale: Question Regarding Class Dojo Points. / Most at home is 3 points w/o paying. We would never require parents to pay for Class Dojo.

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at: 8:02pm.

PTA Meeting held on September 11, 2025

# of Attendees – 36

Presentation of the Agenda

Pledge of Allegiance: Rachel Denehy

  • A moment of Silence to reflect on the events of 9/11 was taken.

Introduction of the Board for the 2025-2026 School Year

  • Rachel Denehy (President), Theresa Cavinee (Treasurer), Denise McGarry (Corresponding Secretary), Jackie Ciarletta (Rec. Secretary)
  • An honorary plaque was presented to former Co-Presidents Melissa Rosado & Jo-Ann Cautillo for their hard work and dedication.

Review Minutes from June PTA Meeting :

  • Approved by – Jo-Ann Cautillo and Seconded by Kelly Cassidy

Treasurer’s Report – Theresa Cavinee

  • Starting Balance August 1st – $43,137.66
    • Income
      • Swag- $15.00
      • Total Income = $15.00
    • Expenses –
      • PTA supplies – $57.48
      • Web Site Fee – $19.99
      • Amazon Prime – $129.00
      • Total Expense = $206.47
    • Ending Balance as of August 31st – $42,946.19
    • Starting Balance September 1st – $43,137.66
      • Income
        • Membership – $300.00
        • Swag – $1144
        • Total Income = $1444.00
      • Expenses –
        • PTA supplies – $116.34
        • School Events – $278.46
        • 8th grade – $25.50
        • Misc – $99.99
        • Total Expense = $520.29
    • Ending Balance as of September 11th – $43,950.09

Fundraising

  • Swag – $1,410.00
  • Memberships – $650.00
  • Pop Up Shop – $218.00
  • School Tool Box – $489.07
  • Total raised in September – $2,767.07

Principals Report – Principal Porras

  • Principal Porras welcomed the new PTA Board and all of the parents. Ms. Montenaire will be the acting Assistant Principal. She has worked in the school for almost 20 years and is familiar with the students, traditions, structures and parents. We also have an art teacher. Each class will have Art weekly. We will get to meet new teachers on Wednesday, Sept. 17th.
  • School yard – The goal was Sept 2025 but is now pushed back to Mid-Oct. They meet every 2 weeks with the SCA. The school has been able to accommodate changes with recess/using the park next door to the school. ELA and Math exams were a success.

President’s Report – Rachel Denehy

  • P.S. 175 Membership and Membership Perks: If you sign up for membership, a $5 Shark Bucks coupon will be given to use on P.S.175 Swag Store. If you attend 3 PTA meetings, receive a 2nd $5 Shark Bucks Coupon.
  • Shark Swag Spirit Day on Fridays going forward. Denise added that we cannot use the coupon on the online shop, but can be used on the items in the school.

Old Business:

  • School Tool Box – The School Tool Box was successful and Pop-Up Shop orders will be distributed by Monday. The next one is in November.

New Business:

  • Shark Representatives (Class Parents- 1-2 per class)
    • Denise explained the responsibilities of a Shark Representative: Ambassador for each individual class, Liaison for class with PTA, Collect parent/caregiver contact for class chat, Coordinate collection for Election Day and Card Party class baskets
  • School Swag Sale ○ Outdoor sales are concluded, however, sales can always be made online at cityislandpta.org and at most of our events
  • Back to School Night September 17 – 4:30-7:30
    • Fun night to meet your child’s teacher! Mr. Softee from 5-7:30 (1 ticket per person, students must be accompanied by a caregiver).
  • Election Day Donations
    • Volunteer by asking for donations from friends or businesses, both on CI and elsewhere, or you can volunteer by helping that day.
    • Shark Representative assists in collection from class
  • Review of the Oct. budget approval (PTA Board) will be at the next meeting
  • Viva La Sound
    • This event will be held on Saturday September 13th from 10am-3pm and the hourly activities were shared.
    • Kids should have received Bingo Cards for this. There will be a PTA table selling swag where we will raffle off 20 Shark Shorts and 10 CIOR Shirts.

Report from Mr. Cowan’s (Director of NY Edge):

  • Monthly after-school events are being planned – A kickball game, Paint n’ Sip night, movie night, a karaoke night, and a comic con. There will likely be a free Flu Clinic where people can receive their shots (a collaboration with Walgreens) and a possible partnership with NYC Campus Pantry, a monthly donation site where kids will distribute bags of food to families in need. Also, possibly a collaboration with Wrestlers for Change, a non-profit group that does wrestling shows and motivational speeches. Parents who want to come and talk on the platform are more than welcome to join in.

Proposed Calendar for the Year:

  • Rachel Displayed the PTA of PS 175’s Event Calendar.

Denise reminded parents – If you have an 8th-grade student, we will put “Class of 2026” on the back of their Shark shirt at no cost.

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at: 7:47

Archived meetings: