Beach Parent Organization
Agenda
Monday, Dec. 3, 2007
Please see the Wednesday News for the meeting location and address
Hot Cider and social - 6:30 pm
Call to Order and Introductions - 7:00 pm
Beach Website Update - Len Gilbert
Secretary’s Report - Sherrie Jewett
Principal’s Message - Julie Valdez
BPO President’s Report - Sue Lin
BPO Treasurer’s Report - Amal Smith
Committee Reports
Troop 4 Scouts - Cathy Parker
Grounds and Garden - Lisa Joyce
After School Enrichment - Laura Katter
SCRIP - Tina Coleman
Adjourn at 9:00 pm
December 12, 2007 at 5:52 am |
The Meeting Minutes will be posted soon after they are routed to attendees for edits in email.
January 6, 2008 at 12:15 am |
Call to order – 7:10 pm.
Attendees – Sue Lin, Sherrie Jewett, Mark Aikawa, Sara Judd, Kimberly Moses, Margaret Ovenden, Lisa Joyce, Laura Katter, Sabrina Casey, Jean Jarvis, Tina Coleman, Michelle Turner, Eddie Ngo, Roy Tolles, Joe Loduca, Julie Valdez, Deidre Coen, Pam Rafanelli, Carolina Klochow, Amal Smith, Sue Lin, Len Gilbert, Cathy Parker, Angela Hom
Secretary’s Report – Sherrie Jewett November 7 meeting minutes were approved.
BPO Website Update – Len Gilbert
• Len Gilbert developed a new website for the Beach Parents Organization (BPO) based on requirements for ease-of-use, quick communication to parents, links to related school websites, and the need for BPO to continue to work at ways to reduce paper.
• The new website, http://www.Beachparents.org, was demonstrated at the meeting and is ready to be used. It was well received. This is a public site and that means you do not need a password to read it. More content will be developed as we begin to use it. There are different security levels for people who need to author and publish information. Contact Len Gilbert at len_gilbert@yahoo.com, our web master, to be able to post information to this website and to provide feedback on it.
• The current Yahoo group Beach-parents can still be used for any documents that require password protection. There is a link from the new site to it too.
• There was a discussion about making sure the site has similar navigation to middle & high school websites so that parents will not have to spend time learning how to use them as they move through the school system. Len pointed out that the high school website is being developed as a custom site. This is the most expensive option and probably not the best use of BPO funds but the committee agreed to find out what aproach is being used with those sites. The BPO site was developed using WordPress, one of the top web publishing tools in the country and is broadly used by profit, non-profit, and government entities (see http://wordpress.com/notable-users/). Large usage indicates the site will be more economically maintainable in the future than a custom developed web site.
• Julie Valdez noted that district-wide the administration is discussing what documents and information should be made available electronically and that may include how to support parent organizations. Administration staff is meeting soon to discuss this topic. Ms. Valdez will try to provide Megan Nakahara with details on the new website http://www.beachparents.org and its goals in preparation for the meeting.
Principal Report – Julie Valdez
• Ms. Valdez provided an update on last month’s BPO approval to fund new computers and a server for the lab. The new lab computers are in the process of being installed. The server is already installed and running. Ms. Griffin has been able to work very quickly and plans to complete installation before the winter break.
• Cooperative Adventures program is scheduled and will facilitate four activities for 5th grade & two activities for 4th grade. The Piedmont Education Foundation funded this program. Ms. Valdez hopes to have the program director come to a BPO meeting, maybe in February, to explain more about details of the program.
• Ms. Griffin, Ms. Sawicki, & Ms. Valdez will be trained to use the new Smart Board (an electronic white board). This was also funded by the Piedmont Education Foundation. 4th grade teacher Ms. Sawicki, will pilot the Smart Board in her classroom. Ms. Valdez will also use it for staff meetings.
• Several library grants were also funded by the foundation.
• Several requests for funding of assemblies & software were not fully funded so requests will likely come up as requests to the BPO to provide complete funding of them.
• The District is looking to increase math support for students and teachers. Ms. Valdez will request an increase in Math Enrichment Teacher to go from a 30% to 60% Full-Time-Equivalent. $30,000 is the current budget for this position. In January, Ms. Valdez will ask for $15,000 more to complete this school year. In the future, it will be $60,000 annually and this includes salary and benefits. The goal is to have more time spent with teachers. Ms Valdez’s goals for this extra time is to contribute to team teaching in the classroom, provide curriculum planning and differentiated teaching plans. Ms. Valdez intends that this increase will be for all ends of the learning spectrum and not just for more small group specialized instruction. She will present more detailed background information at the January meeting for the formal request to the BPO to fund this increase in budget. Please e:mail, call, or visit Ms. Valdez with your questions and tell her what you would like to know and she will incorporate it into the information that will be presented in January. Please ask any questions and provide input on what you would like to see in it.
• Ms. Valdez emphasized that her door is always open so please, please, please come in and say hello, discuss needs, and ask questions.
President’s Report – Sue Lin
• There is a very important workshop this Saturday 9am-1pm on Measure E for the community to provide feedback on the plans for all Piedmont schools. The workshop structure will be small groups discussing the plans and issues to provide feedback. There are three plans/alternatives with budget estimates for each. Beach School is in the “yellow” category so that means in an earth quake it could lose use of buildings for 2-3 years. There were three categories for buildings and plans to address each one. Participants will be grouped randomly and asked to put on their “district hats” to provide feedback on the plans and approaches. 75-80 people have RSVP’d and will participate. Ms. Wilson will represent Beach School staff as Ms. Valdez has another commitment. Anyone can come even last minute but may be too late to have a lunch reserved.
• Beach Dads are interested in using PayPal (fees approx. 2.9% plus 30 cents per transaction) to expedite the ordering of tickets online for the Winter Parent Social in January. The BPO has agreed to set up a new and dedicated account for online credit card processing activities to allow the Beach Dads to encourage quick ticket sales (online with credit card payment) and to keep track of ticket sales without exceeding the capacity (130 couples) of the Piedmont Community Center for the event. This will serve as a model for upcoming BPO online payments for other committees.
• The BPO T-shirts have come in and will be available soon. Nagisa Yamamoto was so organized in executing this effort.
• Thank you to all BPO committees for helping go green & reduce paper. Also, for being so great & efficient in doing your jobs.
Treasurer’s Report – Amal Smith
• Currently, the balance sheet is cash rich due to fund raising sources from last year & the beginning of this year. This will decrease throughout the year due to expenses an standing items such as teachers’ aids salaries and benefits. This is given to the PUSD. Budget is set up very conservatively to ensure we meet our standing commitments.
Committee Reports
• Troop 4 Scouts – Cathy Parker. This is not a Beach committee but their organization, the Boy Scouts, is required to obtain a sponsor and approval to continue meeting at Beach School. There are 31 older boys in the troop. It’s the oldest troop in Piedmont since the 1920s. They would like to do a service project for Beach School. Troop 4 would like to continue meeting at Beach School and have the BPO be their sponsor. A motion was approved to continue being the sponsor.
• Grounds & Gardens – Lisa Joyce. Last weekend there was a huge effort in the garden. 500 bulbs planted, the raised bed space was doubled in size to provide outdoor classroom space, there is a new small storage shed stocked with tools, and many maintenance tasks were completed. The 5th graders led by Ms. Bomberg’s (3rd grade teacher) daughter created new signs for the native plant area. It was an amazing day with many accomplishments! Ms Raf (2nd grade teacher) worked the whole day & even brought hot cocoa for the kids. Donations and discounts came from Ashby Lumber & Truitt & White so the expected cost was much less than planned. They even received some free lumber. The Beach School library has a new section that is related to plants and gardening too. The Curriculum that was purchased recently will be in the library garden section. Please get involved. Anyone can help. The storage shed is locked but Lisa will give you the combination to it. The first effort with the garden room parents will be to plant the new beds.
• After School Enrichment – Laura Katter. Fall typically has high participation and then there is a drop off in spring. There are some ideas for increasing participation in the spring. This year sessions will align with Rec. Center program calendar. There will be new classes added and currently working on getting: drama class – Cal Shakes, possibly mosaics, French for 4-5th graders, and others that are not quite confirmed. There was a question on can we offer some things that the 5th graders could use for transitioning to middle school like key boarding? There may be an issue with using the computer lab and ensuring the lab equipment is treated well and being able to staff a class with someone familiar with the lab. It might be possible to use the Smart Boards. Julie Valdez will also look into the key boarding opportunity.
• SCRIP – Tina Coleman. Sales have been steady and similar to last year. There is a push this season for purchasing SCRIP for Beach school support staff. This year there are gift cards! The Wed. News will have a flyer about it and plans to distribute cards at the winter holiday concert on Wed, Dec 19th. Buy See’s candy SCRIP and 23% of the sales amount goes to Beach. This is the best percentage. You can have a standing order so that SCRIP is delivered to your doorstep once a month. This can be a budgeting tool. Peets Coffee returns 8% of sales to Beach.
• Diversity – Angela Hom will present a budget request at Jan meeting for the April 7-11thth Tri-School Diversity week. The focus that week will be Africa. Assembly & projects are being planned for it.
• Spring Fling – Carolina Klockow. Spring Fling fundraiser is planned for Saturday, May 10, 2008. All volunteer spots are filled. Much of the work will start up in January with an emphasis in the school classroom projects.
Other Announcements/Discussion
• There are serious traffic issues and dangerous situations occurring during morning drop off of students on Linda & Lake Avenues. Ms. Valdez will put out a strong message in the Wednesday News, discuss with Piedmont Police, ask about posting street loading zone signs, & go out on the streets to personally monitor the situation. There was discussion on other options that could help with the congestion and reduction of unsafe drop-off behaviors. How about creating a white zone for drop-offs on Lake Ave? How about a chaperoned walking bus or “walk pool”? Ms. Valdez supports these types of ideas but noted that something like a walking bus has to be organized by another entity vs. the school because it is off-campus and an issue for district liability. It was pointed out that the parent Green Committee may be a good starting point to ask if they could organize something around the walking bus idea.
Meeting adjourned at 9:10 pm