Bryant PTSA Board Meeting Minutes – March 2018

March 13, 2018, 7:00pm
Bryant Library

Welcome and Introductions, Kim Love

Approve October Meeting Minutes
One correction/meeting minutes will stand

Officer/Standing Committee Reports

  1. Treasurer’s Report (7:10 – 7:15) Brita Willis & Nelly Goodnoe
    • Collected 140k in Annual Campaign so far, 5k per month roughly
    • Closed Bank of America Certificate of Deposit
    • Silent Auction wrapped up, very successful.
    • Bryant Blast coming up
    • Art Programs coming up
    • Grade Level Community Grants are still happening, need to put tout word to get those up and running
    • Total Cash: 400k
    • Total cash saved to be allocated- 185k in expenses still coming up this year
    • 82k budget reserve
    • 5k holding for clubs
    • Unallocated buffer to be determined
  2. Bryant Leadership Team, Kim Love
    • Building Leadership Team meets first Thursday of each month. This month was staffing numbers. See Dan’s report below for more details.
  3. Legislative Chairs, Jean Charette & Shelley Prosise
    • Advocacy week:
      • Postcard campaign was very successful. Roughly 300 postcards sent out. Will likely do one more push before school year ends. A lot of focus now is on gun violence measures. Also have a few weeks to advocate for the budget for the teacher’s salaries.
      • Resolution for Advocating for Gun Violence Prevention Measures:
      • Put out by SPS; ask for Bryant Elementary to add its name to one of the several schools that have passed this resolution.
      • Two key events are the National Walk Out and March for our Lives. Desire for all students to feel safe and secure in their school environment. This resolution is in following with Washington State National PTA and lists several criteria. (See document distributed in the meeting).
      • Motion made to adopt the resolution above. Motion seconded and passed.
  4. Principal’s Report, Dan Sanger
    • This year our projected numbers are a little lower than currently
    • Most of north end schools are undergoing concerted effort to lower enrollment.
    • This year there will be no displacement, class size down to 20-22 all the way to 3rd grade. Additional state funding was allocated, but may only last for this year. Mr. Sanger’s waiver for this year was approved; so next year there will be a full-time counselor at Bryant.
    • Other highlights:
      • We currently have two student newspapers!
      • Math Champ students came in 3rd place.
      • Bryant Play is about to begin.
      • Global Reading team won semi-finals! Proceeding to finals on Tuesday.

Special Committee Reports
None

Special Orders
None

New Business                                                                              

  1. Partnership Award – HIP, Jerry Berger
    • Bryant was the first school that asked to give food instead of takes food. There are now three schools doing this. Presented Bryant with a plaque to honor the Bryant Community for being a part of the Hunger Intervention Program. Presented to Julie and LeAnn.
    • Volunteering opportunities are available through the Hunger Intervention website: hungerintervention.org
  1. Playground Improvement  – City of Seattle Grant,  Julie Pearson & Kevin Gallagher
    • Plan to revise the playground from a community standpoint. The first phase of several is to look at the play structure, then the “green” space, then playground surface. There are City of Seattle monies available. Looking for a sponsor for this project, namely the PTSA.  Only basics are in place at this point, but sponsor is required to put in a proposal. Looking at forming a steering committee then ancillary support from community and Bryant families. The grant is a matching grant, largest available is 100k.  Another possibility is a sponsored playground by Alaska Air or another airline. Volunteer Coordinator will put out ask to get a few parents on board in these early stages.
    • Likely to wait to get PTA buy-in until next year when the project is already underway.
    • Three meetings have happened so far towards this goal- grant making, steering committee formation, and project management meetings.
    • ADA accessibility is a top priority. Please provide feedback to the committee as it arises about other playgrounds in the city!
  1. Staff First Aid Training, Tate Loftin
    • Ms. Loftin serves as back-up to School RN, involved with safety amongst students and has extensive First Aid/CPR training. This type of training is not required in SPS by anyone but LASER and PE staff, not other staff/teachers. Ms. Loftin feels this is a safety concern: more and more students with serious medical concerns. Many staff would like to be trained; yet time and cost get in the way of this desire. Ms. Loftin has conducted trainings with funding from her own pocket and pockets of participants. She selected a company for this year’s training after many hours of research-procpr.org. This company combines videos, instruction, and practice time. First Aid and CPR training materials will be led by Ms. Loftin, videos and on-line certification/testing provided by this company. Once paid, certification and access to training materials is available f or two years. Ms. Loftin talked the company into a reduction to $20/per person. Asking for money to pay for staff to do this training- it will be conducted on an early release day to provide greater access to teachers. 28 staff members have signed up, but nine more staff are critical to be at this training, totaling $740. Funding required up front.
    • Idea discussed to have this as a line item in the budget- will discuss this at a later time.
    • Motion to cover up to $800 to cover First Aid/CPR for all staff. Motion passed.
  2. Proposal to move remaining Global Reading funds, Anne Aliverti
    • Typically funds are used for a field trip for Global Readers to downtown SPL, but representative there has retired and filed trip not an option, Suggestion to move those funds to purchase more fiction books and an ice cream party for Global Readers. Motion to take $475 of unallocated funds to Bryant Library funds.
  3. Selection of Nominating Committee, Kim Love
    • Required to nominate members of the nominating committee- three members:
      • Tammy Shorr/Ann Sonin/Yvonne Roberts
      • Motion made to nominate the three members. Motion seconded and approved.
  4. Replacement solution for Sumac/ Chosen Payment, Nelly Goodnoe & Sara Fenzl
    • Sumac is currently being used for Annual Campaign and Island Wood, and it is tied into the credit card payments. Request to change on-line payment software from Sumac/Chosen Payment to Giving Fuel effective immediately, with the first project being Island Wood.  Motion made, seconded, and approved.
  5. Disinfecting School procedure, Sara Fenzl
    • Question about enrollment during January with illnesses, second question about whether or not disinfecting a school is a possibility. School District does a once yearly per budget, over the summer. Idea is to create a Sign-Up genius and volunteer effort to disinfect school. There are only certain types of chemicals that can be used.
    • Will research it and report back.