January 9, 2018 7:00pm
Bryant Library

Welcome and Introductions,Kim Love & Julie Orhazda

Approve December Meeting Minutes
Correction needs to be made to list the last Wednesday for the monthly fundraising meeting.

Officer/Standing Committee Reports

1. Treasurer’s Report, Brita Willis
   • Not much spending this month, a lot of self-starting clubs (Chess, Drama)
   • Looking for two volunteers to help with mid-year financial review coming up in Feb.
     Tammy will contact potential volunteers with a blurb written about volunteer help needed.
2. Legislative Report, Shelley Prosise & Jean Charette
   • Nothing to report today- new resolutions are being worked on and should have more info next month.
   • Seattle Council is having general meeting Feb. 5th, will have PTSA reps there. District Budget Director will be present at that meeting.
3. Fundraising Team Report, Leeann Huntington & Sara Fenzl
   • Continued with monthly meetings, finalized format of Google doc that includes events and communication around events. Idea is to stagger messaging of different events. Ideas welcome about how to promote usage of Google doc. This is to be used by committees that are selling things/asking for volunteers/etc. Board drop-box may be best suppository or use dropbox.
4. Bryant Leadership Team, Kim Love
   • Discussed family engagement and were asked to narrow focus on two projects. Ideas include:
     • Day before school starts school-wide initiative for informal meet and greet to build relationships and assuage nerves about school starting. Focus on new families. This would be a joint PTSA/Building event and could replace 1st Day Tea, but as a more casual and fun way to engage families. This is still in early planning stages and yet to be discussed with staff. Idea to minimize time on teachers. Next steps are to form a small group to talk in more detail with teachers about what this would look like.
     • Another idea is to entrust students in helping and supporting each other
     • Training Video concept, with possible student involvement.
5. Principal’s Report, Dan Sanger
   • Receieved early budget report today at District Office that was quite positive!
   • Budget will be used to channel into high poverty schools/free and reduced lunch, as well as literacy support and PTA’s help in maintaining Reading Specialist position. Talk of reducing student-teacher ratio.
   • Enrollment will still use conservative formula in providing staffing, however above news makes this prospect much more bearable.
   • Article in NYT sited Seattle School District as 3rd highest in student growth in K-3 in the USA.
   • CSIP (comprehensive site improvement plan) will be looked a the end of this year for the following year, which is a difference from previous years when this plan was looked at in the beginning of current school year.

Special Committee Reports
None

Special Orders
None

New Business                                                                          

1. Teacher Assessment Days, Connie Bernard, Amy Alphin
   • Collaborative Literacy Leaders Ms. Bernard and Ms. Alphin reported on the new comprehensive literature program. District also adopted a K-5reading assessment, which is significant for equity in the district. This year’s assessment is new and much longer than previous years…
   • Takes bout 20-25 minutes per student per book for assessment.  Each kids needs to read 3-5 books most likely. Ms. Bernard walked us through what an assessment is like and why it takes a long time to conduct each assessment.
   • Assessment takes longer, but benefits are many. Wonderful to work with a kid 1:1. Assessments occur 2-3x/year to show growth, more so for students of concern, and in-depth assessments allow for a deeper understanding of where a student is.
   • Assessment data is also used for small reading group placements in K-2.
   • Currently teachers have used 20 full sub days for assessments: 4055.25- we have four days left (per treasurer) for the year. Survey sent out asking how much more time teachers feel they need for the year. 9 teachers said 1 year, 10 teachers said 2 more days, 2 teachers said more than 2 days would be needed.
   • Asking for 25 teachers to each have one more sub day. (25 days). =  $5500. For 37 days (1.5days per teacher) =  $8140.
   • Motion to increase sub time to $8200. Seconded and motion passed.
2. PCC Gift Card, Kim Love
   • Two weeks ago PCC gave us $150. What to do with the money?
     • Table discussion and come back to next PTSA meeting with ideas. Vote on ideas at next meeting
3. Future of Book Fair, Anne Aliverti
   • Ideal situation would be one new book per year per kid in library each year. (10, 200)
   • We actually get $3500 (3k from PTA/500 from Bryant). Also need to replace classics that are aging out.
   • Book fair profits have decreased dramatically
   • Other funding sources include Donors Choose and Graphic Novels Club – both sources are not necessarily constant and reliable.
   • May need to move away from the book fair. Not worth the money we are making.
   • Request for sub-committee on how we can think about funding in the future.
   • Ideas include read-a-thon/author event at UW Bookstore, etc./Friends of the Library
   • Please let Anne Aliverti know if you are interested in the sub-committee.
   • Book Fair to be cancelled for the future with idea to replace with other ideas.
4. Bank deposit slips & endorsement stamps (8:05-8:10)   Nelly Goodnoe
   • No need for approval, requesting carbon copy deposit slips.

Announcements:

Kids and Race, 1/22/17 at Wedgwood Elementary

February Board Meeting 2/13/17
7pm meeting, 7:30 Bullying Speaker (order agenda to interest parents)
Request will be put into LASER to cover childcare

Blast: Need Volunteer Coordinator and Raffle Basket Leads

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bryant PTSA Board Meeting
December 5, 2017
Bryant Library

Notice of Meeting
Bryant Weekly, Bryant Calendar, School Posters

In Attendance: Julie Ohrazda, Kim Love, Liz Arjun, Nelly Goodnoe, Brita Willis, Whitney Griesbach, Leeann Huntington, Tammy Shorr Shelley Prosise, Jean Charette, Ann Sonnen, Michelle Ireton, Jennifer Mahlum, Anne Aliverti, Dan Sanger, Katherine Mackinnon, Eric Noble

Welcome and Introductions  

Approved November Board Meeting Minutes with amendment:
Leeann and Sara will provide doughnuts to teachers (not cards) for Annual Campaign thank you.

Officer/Standing Committee Reports

1. Treasurer’s Recap Report – Nelly Goodnoe & Brita Willis
   • Still receiving pledge amounts from annual campaign
   • Sprit Wear sales at 6K, down from LY.  Next will include a pink option
2. Fundraising Chair Report – Leeann Huntington
   • *Fundraising committee will be creating a master fundraising calendar.  Different avenues to be explored.
   • Fundraising committee (Michelle Ireton, Nelly Goodnoe, Anne Sonnen, Sara Fenzel, Leeann Huntington, Mary Catherine Schmitt, Jen Kennedy) will be meeting last Wednesday of each month
3. Legislative Chairs Report – Shelley Prosise & Jean Charette
   • recap of co-sponsored event “Are Our Schools Fully Funded” held at Eckstein Middle School
   • Idea: Invite Joelyn Berge (from SPS) to talk about budget.  Have breakout sessions to determine action items
4. Bryant Leadership Team – Kim Love
   • no report
5. Principal’s Report – Dan Sanger
   • Goal setting has been completed by teachers
   • New choir teach has roughly 30 students

Special Committee Reports – None

Special Orders – None

New Business

1. Scholastic News Magazine request – Nelly Goodnoe
   Reading specialist requested PTSA pay for 10 subscriptions to Scholastic New Magazine
   • Motion approved: PTSA pay for 10 Scholastic News Magazine Subscription for $70
2. Speaker Series – Julie Ohrazda
   • First speaker series on Dec 7th.  Second speaker series talk Jan. 22nd.
3. Blast Recruitment – Julie Ohrazda
   • Blast committee is looking for 2 more parents for Raffle Baskets and a Blast Coordinator to learn from Julie this year

7:47 Meeting adjourned

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bryant PTSA Board Meeting Minutes
November 14, 2017
Bryant Library

Welcome and Introductions, Julie Ohrazda & Kim Love

Approve September Board Meeting Minutes
Approved

Officer/Standing Committee Reports

1. Treasurer’s Recap Report (7:10-7:15) Nelly Goodnoe & Brita Willis
   1. Annual campaign collected $111k in donations thus far/should be 158k with fulfilled pledges
   2. Q4 contract under budget
   3. Spirit-wear tracked online through square, 6k total thus far
2. Fundraising Chair Report (7:15-7:20) Leeann Huntington & Sara Fenzel
   1. Next year we will try combo of pledge cards and on-line donation ability
   2. Will gather requirements for on-line payment methods next month
   3. Create more clarity around pledge cards
   4. Prize for 100% classroom participation next year = pizza party. Feedback was this year’s goal was too vague
   5. Will coordinate pledge card with movie night: turn in your pledge card and PTSA will pay for your popcorn
   6. Thank teachers ahead of time next year with donuts, also have luncheon a week earlier
   7. Amount now is 111k, set to be 158k compared to last year’s 116k at this time last year
   8. Lower fundraising in general across the school system
3. Volunteer Coordinator – verification fee request (7:20- 7:25) Ann Marie Paterson
   1. New vetting procedure: if you are not a WA state resident for at least 3 years then you are background checked on a national level by a service hired by the district. This is at a cost of $31/person. Will soon be recruiting UW students that will more likely be from out of state. Request for fund in reserve for reimbursement for these background checks. Challenge is other schools that do not have the ability to establish this type of fund and potential volunteers that are likely out of state/homeless/recent immigrants/etc. Payment is due via credit card, which is also a challenge.  This is clearly an equity issue. Volunteer Coordinator will speak to District Board Member at Zoka office hours to discuss equity conversation that occurred at this meeting. Comments, thoughts, and concerns are welcome to add to conversation.
   2. Motion to set aside $300 to cover funds for college students applying to volunteer and fit into above category. Motion approved.
4. Legislative Chairs Report (7:25- 7:30) Shelley Prosise & Jean Charette
   1. Co-legislative chair from Eckstein invited us to co-host an event at Eckstein on November 30th at 7pm titled: “Are our schools amply funded?” Co-sponsor entails having name on flyer and helping to market the event. Possible funds needed for flyer.
   2. Variety of resolutions at assembly:
      1. Mental health needs of children
      2. Trauma informed care
      3. LGTBQ inclusion
      4. Increasing access and affordability to secondary and higher education
   3. 663 people responded to survey that led to these top four issues
   4. Looking for feedback and thoughts around on these top four issues. Proposal to have another meeting to discuss this further and how we can address these concerns.
5. Bryant Leadership Team (7:30-7:35) Kim Love
   1. Discussed calendar for early release days. Calendar is being finalized soon. If you have questions about calendar, see Kim Love.
   2. Discussed building goals and what we would like to accomplish as a building including
      1. Engaging more families is a big topic. Especially for lunchroom volunteer recruitment. Ideas included a video series showing what the role of lunchroom volunteer is. Not understanding the role is a big barrier for volunteers.
      2. Also changing Curriculum Night to more of a connections opportunity between families rather than a one-way conversation. More concrete plans coming soon.
6. Principal’s Report (7:35- 7:45) Dan Sanger
   1. BLT is focusing on 3 primary goals:
      1. Implementing new literacy curriculum with fidelity. Challenges come from assessment increases yet general perception is that this is a thoughtful program.
      2. Becoming more culturally competent as a building. This is a major component of the literacy curriculum.
      3. Meet students where they are on their individual learning progression.
   2. BLT has set of tasks-
      1. Create a budget
      2. Create a professional development calendar.  On early release days teachers get an additional hour of work and assessment time. The other hour is for professional development.  This is a new and exciting development that is coming out of committees. Committees are really focused on meeting primary goals set out by BLT. The umbrella of all committess is belonging and inclusion. This is streamlining quite well with what the district is planning and the district goals.
   3. Announcement: new choir teacher! Article in Bryant Weekly. Choir will happen on Mondays.

Special Committee Reports
None

Special Orders
None

New Business

1. Grant summary, Nelly Goodnoe
2. Grant request (sub time & volunteer coordinator), Nelly Goodnoe
   1. Motion to increase budget for sub days. Motion approved.
   2. 2 K classes and 4 1st grade classes asking for payment for Splash Math. Motion to change budget line item from A-Z  reading to Classroom Software.
3. Teacher assessment days’ budget request, Julie Pearson (absent)
4. School of Excellence survey results, Julie Ohrazda
   1. Create a culture and climate to include all families.
   2. In line with BLT and District goals.
5. Winterfest format (8:25- 8:30) December 14th, Kim Love
   Instead of just music, idea to make it a literacy and music focus. Sing along a possibility for each class and possibly choir will perform a little bit. Author visit will occur before music piece. Idea of inclusion and community participation came up in order to recruit more members. Idea to get 5th graders to have a bake sale. More concerted effort to get people to come. Parents can drop off kids and shop book fair during the Winterfest.
6. School Supply Initiative, Kim Love
   Instead of supply list coming home from kids, have PTSA buy supplies and parents give money for supplies. Kids would only be responsible for backpacks and lunchbox. Idea is to get a little extra money to donate to other schools. Will save money overall.
7. Laser childcare for General Mtgs, Kim Love
   1. Request to LASER to provide childcare for general meetings and speaker nights. LASER requests that we provide pizza. Motion to set aside $600 for pizza funding for LASER speaker nights.
      Motion approved.

November 30th Eckstein Event

December 14th Winterfest.

October 10th, 2017, 7pm
Bryant Lunchroom

Welcome and Introductions, Julie Ohrazda & Kim Love   

Approve June General Meeting Minutes (approved)

Officer/Standing Committee Reports

1. Treasurer’s report (Nelly Goodnoe & Brita Willis)
   • Brita reviewed projected budget.
   • $161k collected from Annual Campaign last year to be used this year.
   • See attached report. Copies distributed at meeting as well as posted on-line.
2. Volunteer Coordinator’s Report  (Tammy Shorr & Janie Booth)
   • 160 Volunteer packets filled out, they have been distributed so that parents can reach out to interested volunteers.
   • Two volunteers to run the Reflections Committee,
   • Still looking for Artist in Residence as well as Bryant Blast volunteers.
   • Still a gap in playground/recess that needs to be addressed.
   • Leadership encouraged to ask parents about volunteering at Bryant.
3. Fundraising Chair Report – (Leann Huntington & Sara Fenzl)
   • Annual campaign launched on the 9th, we are currently slightly below other years.
   • Some glitches in cards that were distributed which is causing a delay. Hoping the lower numbers can be attributed to this glitch.
   • Leann emailed committee heads to remind them this is a blackout period for reaching out for anything other than Annual Campaign in order to funnel all communications towards encouraging to give to Annual Campaign.
   • Campaign started a little earlier in order to cause less disruption in Halloween Party planning for room parents, which may also be contributing to the lower numbers.
   • Annual Campaign is the only direct ask to parents, the rest of fundraising is directed towards community building. 80% of funds are garnered in Annual Campaign.
   • Past campaigns have been focused on grade level participation with a grade level pizza party for grade that has the most cards turned in. Last year was a 94% turn in rate, this year trying for 95%, and reward will be a school-wide popsicle party. This is meant to motivate older grades that typically have lower rates.
   • Also considering a Bryant Café happy hour for parents post- Annual Campaign.
4. Bryant Building Leadership Team  (Kim Love)
   • During the BLT meeting, Team went over building’s professional development calendar, overview of school year, and discovered points of focus and goals are for the year.
   • Goals are leaning towards engagement, much like PTSA goals.

New Business

1. Approving Standing Rules- (Kim Love)
   • Only change is standards of affiliation checklist and requirements.
   • Change read aloud by Kim.  Standing Rules approved.
2. Approve General Budget (Nelly Goodnoe and Brita Willis).
   • Brita read items changed from spring budget approval including leftover funds allocation: 22k in reserve.
   • Playground supervisor position is moving from 2 to 3 hours per week.
   • Access to Britannica On-line funding approved.
   • 3k grants allocated to divide money per grade level to hold grade level events.
   • Budget is available for viewing on-line.
   • Budget approved.
3. Playground Supervision:
   • As a board we discussed over email we decided to fund an additional playground supervisor for safety of children and difficulty in gaining parent volunteers.
   • Approved to increase playground supervision budget by 2k for this coming year as a one-time budget increase.
   • Playground supervision is funded in entirety by PTSA.
   • Volunteer Coordinators are working to explore different ways to fund playground supervision, and are in process of looking at how other school buildings are handling this issue as well as how to tweak the volunteer role within the school.  In consideration are increased numbers of school students and increased number of working parents in the school cohort as well as bell changes.
   • There are currently significant daily gaps in the lunchroom and recess.
   • Discussed potential disciplinary differences happening in the lunchroom in an attempt to control lunchtime chaos.
   • Discussed Best Practices for Lunch, with the idea that lunch should occur after lunch. Barrier to this recommendation is hand-washing requirements.
4. Home Street Bank : Nelly Goodnoe.
   • Motion :We agree that Leeann Huntington, Lauren Abraham, Jennifer Mahlum are coming off accounts at HomeStreet Bank.  We agree that Kim Love, Nelly Goodnoe, Brita Willis will be new signers for Bryant Elementary PTSA accounts at HomeStreet Bank.”
   • Motion approved.
5. School of Excellence (Julie Ohrazda)
   • We will move forward with program. Survey of 20 questions will be sent out to parents and staff after Annual Campaign. From survey a baseline will be established to come up with an Action Plan.
   • End of year we will take another survey to add to national database.
   • We will be offering Kids and Race program at Eckstein auditorium in coming months. Same program offered at View Ridge on the 17th.
6. Building Security Concerns (Kelli Hessler)
   • Concern that main doors are left open all day and is requesting a locked entry with an intercom to gain entry. Has explored other schools and some area schools are doing this.
   • Suggestion to reach out to Thornton Creek that has adapted this system and how it has impacted staff since it is new to them.
   • Others feel that front door buzzer is not a deterrent. May be useful to look at statistics about effectiveness of buzzer system. This may also have an impact on volume of parents dropping off late kids, etc.
   • Kim Love suggested education about what to do when there is an emergency and how to make things safer and easier for reunification with families in event of emergency.
   • There is not a known policy by SPS for security at schools.
   • Possibility to have security director at Children’s to conduct a survey of school and make recommendations for increasing security.
   • Payment for security would have to be covered by Bryant/PTSA.
   • Discussion led to looking into an audit, discussing what are best practices for security, and engaging school as a culture in the idea of maintaining security.

 

 

 

 

 

Bryant PTSA Board Meeting
September 12, 2017
Meeting Time: 7:00
Meeting Location: Bryant Library

Welcome and Introductions  Julie Ohrazda & Kim Love

Guest Speaker: Jill Geary – SPS Board:

• District goes all the way to Eastlake and up to Wedgwood (most affluent district in Seattle)
• 2.5 million granted for Magnuson Community Center improvements
• 4-5 mil designated for Lake City Community Center
  • Lake City is one of poorest areas of Seattle
• Teachers with sub training only less than 10% in Seattle, roughly 50% in middle of WA
  • Seattle monies going to WA state due to this
• Legislative agenda for coming year will be set in meetings coming up in next few weeks
• 3k homeless kids in SPS, or 1 out of 18 kids
• If practices do not match policies and procedures, please notify what you observe/experience in an email to the Board.
• Input on Student Assignment Plan needs to go into email now to board if you have input
• 400 million dollar backlog on facilities maintenance
• Families moving south of the city, so less resources for SPS due to cost of living going up in the city
• Recommendation to parents- positive attitude towards your school and the education of your kids has shown to have one of the biggest outcomes for kids.
• Jill will be at Zoka on Blakely after drop-off on Tuesdays to talk to parents

PTSA Goals for 2017-18:

• Increase volunteerism
• Community Engagement within grade levels
• Connecting parents within the school through events aligned with LASER’s Parent Night Out

Approve May Board Meeting Minutes

Officer/Standing Committee Reports (Nelly Goodnoe & Brita Willis)

1. Treasurer’s Recap Report
   1. Treasure’s Report 2016-2017 read aloud by Brita Willis (see report)
   2. General Meeting in October will approve budget
   3. Budget presented again, everything is same except the budget for field trip has changed as well as the 22,000 moving over to unallocated funds. This total will not be confirmed until last invoice from SPS.
2. Volunteer Coordinators Report Tammy Shorr
   1. Collecting new family packets and already have over 75 new volunteer forms
   2. Will hold a couple of New Volunteer Orientations to further educate parents on the roles
   3. Committee chairs will be inputting names and reaching out to new volunteers immediately so that they are engaged right away
   4. Immediate need for Reflections Chair
      1. Reflections is a national competition for student art
      2. Role involves putting up sign, solicitation of art, finding a jury to review art after building puts up art
      3. City, State, and National rounds of competition
      4. Work commitment to role is mostly in October- November
   5. Sign up Genius for Lunch and Playground coming out soon
      1. No pressure for time commitment- give what you can!
3. Fundraising Chair Report Leeann Huntington & Sara Fenzel
   1. Annual Campaign launces October 9th-October 20th
   2. Meeting with staff on September 20th to discuss promoting
   3. Ask for a black-out period for communication to parents by committees so that communication is limited to Annual Campaign
   4. Amount of requested amount to be determined at Fundraising Meeting tomorrow
4. Principal’s Report  Dan Sanger
   1. Smooth start to the year thus far
   2. Helpful to have Ks start later
   3. Hired Amy Shanafelt. (former co-president) in front office! – reach out to her now but please cc Dan or Julie until she is fully trained
   4. Process of finalizing hiring of new office assistant, announcement in coming week
   5. New reading curriculum for teachers- collaborative classrooms
      1. Curriculum has received great response from teachers
   6. PLCs have had great teamwork
   7. Mostly all returning staff at Bryant this year, so ready to go this year!
   8. Deeper into RULER this year, voted unanimously to continue the program this year
   9. Collaboration with PTSA for events around equity/scheduling speakers
   10. Big Thank you to Julie and Dan for all your efforts in staffing the front office
5. Bryant Forums:
   1. Bullying
   2. Mindful Parenting
   3. Equity

Special Committee Reports
None

Special Orders
None

New Business

1. Conflict of Interest Statement Whitney Griesbach
   1. Signed by Board and turned in
2. PCI Compliance Documents Nelly Goodnoe
   1. Form needs to be signed if you are Exec. Board or if you may use credit card on behalf of Bryant
      1. Please talk to Nelly 2-4 weeks before an event to get Stripe set-up or PCI form signed
3. Present Standing rules Kim Love
   1. Only change this year is checklist only to be used as an internal document- wording changed.
   2. Wording change read aloud/ approved
4. Grade Level Grants for community events  Kim Love
   1. Grants for social events for parents to get to know one another
   2. Requirements: free event, community building, all families of each grade invited to event
   3. Up to $500 for the grant
   4. Grant advertisement through the Weekly
   5. Motion made and approved to allocate $3k towards $500 grants to each grade for community engagement
5. PTA School of Excellence Julie Ohrazda
   1. Recognition program that supports partnerships between families and schools
   2. Provides tools an support to increase engagement
   3. Recognition plus $2k reward
   4. Standards include:
      1. welcoming all families through a welcome breakfast,
      2. communicating effectively about student learning,
      3. supporting student success,
      4. speaking for every child to make sure all students have access and are treated fairly,
      5. sharing power
      6. collaborating with community to connect students/parents/staff to expand civic engagement
   5. Process involves:
      1. Taking survey of school staff/families
      2. Making goals based on survey
      3. Track progress towards goals
   6. Julie offered that School of Excellence may align nicely with equity goals already set out for the year
   7. Initial application needs to be submitted by October 1st
   8. Decision to set-up time to discuss further and get more info about time commitment
6. LASER
   1. There will be a LASER rep at every PTSA meeting
   2. Waitlist kids have been given offer to bus to Laurelhurst
   3. LASER Parent Night Out and Camps are open to all, not just current LASER enrollees
   4. Wednesday 1/2 days can’t be covered by non-LASER families
7. Library funding – Encyclopedia Britannica  Anne Aliverti
   1. Can’t afford reference materials in library
   2. On line is the trend, and this program has been acclaimed by many teachers
   3. Subscription is $595 for the year, families can have access to it as well
   4. Motion made and approved for October start year-long subscription