BPO Meeting Minutes 2/11/08

Call to order – 7:30 pm.

Attendees – Sue Lin, Kimberely Moses, Carolina Klockow, Michael Brady, Anne Marshall, Joe Loduca, Margaret Ovenden, Michelle Tume, Lupe Dryburgh, Julie Valdez, Robert Houser, Eliza Chin, Angela Hom, Jean Jarvis, Teresa Stricker

Piedmont Unified School District (PUSD) Budget Update – Michael Brady

Michael Brady, Assistant Superintendent, presented the interim finance report as of December 2077. This report is a multi-year General Fund Budget for 2007-08 and projected budgets for two future years. The current year presents a balanced budget but the State has put forward a budget that causes a crisis for our PUSD budget. But the district is not asking for more money. They will take the rest of the year to carefully analyze the budget. There are a lot of uncertainties in the projected numbers.

There is a 3% reserve required and that is met this year; however, in 2008-09 and 2009-10 there is a potential shortfall. The state is cutting so impacts are throughout all California local school districts.

The shortfall amount for the two future years is $1.7 million and PUSD is focusing their attention on that amount. Part of that can be met by a potential increase in parcel tax of 5%. There are also retirements and a few teachers reduced due to a reduced number of students in the district.

Currently, assuming the parcel tax increase and employee/teacher attrition, the $1.7 million need can be reduced to $700,000 (that amount equates to 8.5 teachers). The district has time and is analyzing the situation. But, the District is the only one, that Mr. Brady knows of, who is NOT going to deliver pink slips in March. Lay off notices would have to go out March 15 for teachers. Temporary teachers don’t have to be notified then so the district has some time & those notices could go out by the end of the school year. Classified employees are typically given a forty-five day notice.

There was a question on could we hold a special fundraising campaign for this difference so that we don’t risk losing programs or teachers. Mr. Brady informed us that the District is not asking for an additional giving campaign or changes to parent club budgets. They are not asking for anything at this point as the budget situation is just for our information. But, the district is asking for continued support at the current amount of $200 per student.

Alameda County reviews the school district budgets and it must be able to see reserves so the district may ask, in the future, to point to parent club reserves to help meet this requirement as a “qualified” budget. The current year is a “certified” budget and this means the district is able to meet their obligations and reserves with their own budget but next year it may be a qualified budget to maintain their reserves and credit standing with the county.

All districts in the state are planning some kind of pink slip distribution for March 15th. Piedmont is not going to do that and has time to analyze the budget and options for future years.

Secretary’s Report – January 7 meeting minutes were approved.

Treasurer’s Report – Sue Lin for Amal Smith

P&L as of Feb 10 was presented but not much activity this month.

President’s Report – Sue Lin

There is a BPO Budget committee consisting of Joe Loduca, Sue Lin, Amal Smith, Eddie Ngo, and Ms Valdez. They have met a couple of times. They are gathering information so will be asking committees for current status and projections for next year after their Monday Feb 25th meeting. They are discussing priorities with Ms. Valdez and then will present to BPO for further discussion.

Save our Schools – Is a campaign that you can help with very little time. It is about sending a message to legislators about our need to know how much money we have because 88% of budget is personnel. This is a simple campaign to participate in and you can just send an email with canned information. There are events and a press conference that you can drop in & volunteer. Monday is a press conference with eighteen superintendents from Alameda County. More information is being sent from Megan & room parents.

Associated Parents Clubs of Piedmont is asking parent clubs to raise their dues from $50 to $60 and raise the cost of additional directories from $10 to $15. This increase is being requested to help fund the online registration project. The online system will allow parent clubs to collect for committees, hot lunch fees, and memberships and the cost of processing credit card fees online needs to be covered.

Motion approved for APCP membership ($60) and directory ($15) increases.

The summer mailer forms will be online. Registration for school Kindergarten & new students will be online. March 18 is the official registration date for next fall elementary schools. There will still be some paper forms for people who do not have computer access.

The Spring Fling fund an item (Spring 2007) for Beach raised $4,030. CHIMES, for the music department, has asked for a baritone, 3 trumpets, and mouthpieces for $4,283. They would also really like to have more trumpets, trombones and violins. But this discussion and approval was postponed because Michael Brady is knowledgeable about another state grant for music so no motion was necessary tonight.

There have been many requests by committee members to provide their reports earlier in the BPO meetings. There was a brief discussion and attendees agreed that an earlier start time would not impact attendance in a negative way.

Motion to move monthly BPO meeting to start at 7pm was approved. The March 3rd meeting will start at 7pm.

Principal Report – Julie Valdez

Ms. Valdez gave an update on the math specialist increase in time and how that time is being used. The Math Specialist is spending two full days with small group instruction including Olympiads. The third day is used to coach others on differentiated instruction and lesson delivery, assembling resources, and analyzing different assessment tools. The specialist will also be collaborating with math specialists at other schools & visiting other schools to find out about other successful methods.

On Feb 28 3:30-5pm the curriculum committee is meeting and the topic is middle school math curriculum.

In the hall, in front of Ms. Valdez’s office, is a sampling of math curriculum to be implemented in late spring or early fall. They requested five preliminary publishers’ materials and will have presentations on their programs. Parents are welcome to take a look at the material. It is quite a process to look at & review these materials. If you have any questions, please ask Ms. Valdez. Teachers are very good at analyzing this material and Ms. Valdez completely trusts this process.

Math Solutions (Marlyn Burns) professional facilitators are also providing input. Math Solutions is a professional development program. The teachers have observed teaching at each grade level. This was an Education Foundation supported program.

The American Heart Association Jump Rope campaign at Beach School raised $3,500. It has been a positive impact school wide and further reaching than the event day and continues on and off the playground. A quick walk or ride through the neighborhoods view kids jumping outside with the jump ropes funded by the BPO for the campaign. Possibly, consider it a budgeted item for next year.

There are two aide positions open. Emily Hogue has been filling Ms. Sawicki’s 4th grade aide position. There is a 5th grade aide position open too (due to a move to Oregon) so will be interviewing for a replacement. Let people know about it!

The Smart Board (an electronic whiteboard with computer interface and touch capability) in 4th grade Ms. Sawicki’s classroom is almost fully installed. This was funded by the Piedmont Educational Foundation. Please look in Room 10 in about a month to see it in action.

Committee Reports

• Piedmont Educational Foundation – Lupe Dryburgh. A grant written by Stephanie Griffin for the Smart Board is such a well written grant request that have been using it as a model for the elementary schools. The endowment fund has a goal of $5 million goal with the hopes of being able to generate $250,000 per year to give to the District; currently the fund stands at $3.7.The foundation also provides grants and typically has a fall and spring grant cycle. The Piedmont School District Superintendent has asked the foundation to not have this spring request cycle due to the budget crisis. They will continue the professional development funding for teachers. This is not something that is typical for other districts and the teachers are very appreciative of it.

• The foundation is working on things to help communicate better what the foundation is and what it does:

o There are liasons at each school

o They will put more articles and letters out and they now have a web site www.piedmontedfoundation.org

o Explain grant projects like Beach’s garden and solar panels because other schools are not taking full advantage of it.

o Mailings – there was a November mailing to entire community (4000 households) bringing in over $100,000 to the Foundation Fund (for grants) and over $41,000 for the Endowment.

• Piedmont Appreciating Diversity – Angela Hom. Cultures week is April 7-11 and it’s objective is to provide a school supported enrichment experience to celebrate diversity of various world cultures. The focus for the planned week is Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This Diversity Committee is requesting $1,000 from BPO to help cover the expenses. This event is also going on at Wildwood & Havens and their parent boards approved their amounts which are prorated based on number of students. There was a question on why it is costing so much. There are more activities planned this year – workshops, assemblies, music, food and donating maps to the library.

Motion approved to fund the request for this year. But we need evaluate for next year and especially from teachers’ point of view if this is too much activity for a week and impact on planned delivered curriculum.

• Parent Education – Margaret Ovenden. Children’s Environmental Contaminants will be at the Beach auditorium on April 2 from 7-8:45pm. We want speakers to focus on things that are concrete and actionable and not have parents leave feeling hopeless. Margaret also discussed another event hosted by the Beach Goes Green committee that is in it’s planning phase for early May. It will include a Green School’s Initiative slide show. Anyone interested in joining the green committee, just contact Margaret.

• Nominating Committee – Joe Loduca. We still have open spots for next year’s board. There was an early start and that has been helpful. The list of positions is online at www.beachparents.org and we will publicize again via room parents or Megan.

• Hot Lunch – Kimberly Moses. There is an estimated $10,000 profit for this year. The Hot Lunch committee is looking at improvements for next year and even another food service option Revolution food service in Emeryville. Improvements are looking at streamlining the process & better food. There have been some improvements this year but could do better next year too. We need help for bagel day this year and there is only one more left!!! Contact Kimberly if you can help!

• Beach Dad’s – Bob Houser discussed the results of the Winter Jazz event. The intent of the community event was not fund-raising but they did net approximately $1000. They also tried to limit disposable serving ware. They event raised $500 for the Christopher Rodrigues fund through CD sales and bar tips. There are plans for an May 3 Camp Augusta work weekend to rebuild a small building. The group plans to invite Wildwood & Havens Dads’ clubs. The Beach Dad’s Club next meeting is March 4. And they will also participate in the 2nd annual softball game against the Wildwood Dad’s Club in the spring.

• Teacher appreciation committee – Bob Houser also gave a status for Marianna Caponigro. The committee has purchased bowls and spoons so no disposable material is used. Ms. Valdez commented that amazing food has been set up for teachers on minimum days & special days. The teachers discussed a way to say thank you so possibly will have something of a volunteer appreciation event too.

Candidates

• City Council – Dean Barbieri is up for re-election. He has lived in Piedmont for 27 years and has kids in college. Dean presented recent accomplishments of the current City Council including the garbage contract that was renegotiated.

• City Council – Margaret Fujioka. Margaret is running to make a difference in this town. She wants to give back to the community and this is a next step for her. There are so many important things coming up for this town such as the Civic Center Master plan & it is important to work towards consensus on it and the many other issues that come to city council. Margaret values education and there are so many overlapping issues with the city & schools so looking forward to working with school board. She also noted the importance of having a representative who is a woman and to have a woman’s vote on the council. It’s an important role model for our daughters. Campaigning is very important because there are three people running for two positions. Margaret explained her work experience as an Oakland City attorney and her volunteer experiences as they relate to this council position.

• City Council – Ryan Gilbert spoke at the Jan 7 BPO meeting.

• School Board – Martha Jones. Martha was on the BPO board for years. She has lived in Piedmont since 1985. She is an economist & has worked with the curriculum council. She is stepping up her involvement. She did see problems with the middle & high schools ability to meet the needs of each student. She has the skills & time now to help them do it. Ph.d educational finance.

• School Board President – June Monarch. June is running for re-election and has her profile posted on www.smartvoter.org that is hosted by League of Women Voters. Her goal is to promote enthusiasm for learning & especially life-long learning and to see K-12 fully funded throughout the state not just in Piedmont. She is heading up the effort of volunteers in the letter writing campaign and would like you to participate as a voice from Piedmont and send 3 letters to Gov & Senator & to your friends. She wants work towards providing safe & well maintained facilities. She invests a lot of time in meetings and is a liaison on 8-10 committees. She is a stay at home board member. Every week she reviews communications packets from the superintendent & schools to prepare for her duties.

Meeting adjourned 9:40 pm