Welcome and Introductions

Approve November Meeting Minutes
Provisionally approved

Officer/Standing Committee Reports

1. Brita Willis & Lorraine Sawicki: Treasurer’s Report
   • Continuing to collect campaign money, have collected 147k of the 180k pledged
   • Bank fees = $4100
   • Acting as a fiscal sponsor for the Read-A-Thon$5/per student that submit forms for Read-A-Thon
   • Asking teachers to encourage kids to fill out the form and turning it in regardless of sponsors
   • See Treasurer’s Report for approved funds for the year
   • Doing fine on cash
2. Tammy Shorr & Janie Booth: Volunteer Coordinators Report Volunteers are reaching volunteer burn-out, mid-year social is in order    
3. Leeann Huntington, Sara Fenz and Allison Broadgate: Fundraising Chair Report
   1. No report
4. Jean Charette, Yvonne Roberts & Diane Frye:  Legislative Chairs
5. Next month will have motions to support Schools First, a campaign body that can campaign for levys
   • Will determine the amount needed/when it can be allocated to Schools First
   • Money that will be requested is already earmarked
   • Looking at campaign work beyond Bryant- PCC, etc.
   • January is a big month due to votes in Feb
   • One page description of levys will be included with minutes and also through the Bryant Weekly
   • Legislature will be discussing adjusting the levy cap this coming legislative session
   • Climate change/homelessness, etc. is taking precedence over school funding at the moment

 Special Committee Reports                                                         

1. Bryant Leadership Team report: Kim Love
   • Reaching out to district to find right time to conduct another assessment (prior to testing)
   • Looking at data around bullying and social-emotional wellness
     • PBIS works with RULER (positive behavior intervention support), does not replace RULER (mood charts, etc.  will still be used)
     • Discipline Matrix used for consequences when expectations are not met
   • Request for parent night about SEL and Discipline Matrix explanation/roll-out
2. Principal Report: Charmaine Marshall
   • Power Point for proposed budget shown at last week’s Principal Meeting, see Budget Work session handout
     • 2/28 is date of allocation of budget
     • Summary of growing deficit (pg. 6) $42mil 2019-20 deficit, proposal to cut 53million from budget
     • Proposals include cutting librarians to ½ time, no elementary counselors (Bryant counselor acquired through a waiver), losing VP, or teacher cuts.
     • These cuts are WITH levy passing
     • Sam Fogg volunteered to discuss ways to testify in Olympia: politicians trade in stories and testimonies might be the most powerful way to sway legislatures. In the absence of being able to go to Olympia, sending an email with your story is impactful.
     • Focus Day in Olympia is Feb 11^th. (day before Levy vote)
     • Javier Valdez is our State Senator and may need additional pressure to pass levy as well as education around why levy is important “We cannot function if levy does not pass”
     • McCleary decision was not really written with Seattle in mind
     • Seattle is a more expensive district and property taxes here went up but money is going to schools in Eastern Washington in order to promote equity
     • Support for education funding plummets outside of Seattle, even on eastside
   • Proposal to put Congressmen’s names/contact info in Bryant Weekly to keep parents informed and promote advocacy for levy passage. Kim Love to implement.
3. Brycentennial:
   • 1:15 School Wide Assembly/5:30-7pm Open House
   • Bryant Gear for Thursday!
   • 100 year Celebration picture will be part of slide show
   • K classes distributed flyers around the neighborhood

7:45-8:25 New Business

1. Professional Development Funding (Charmaine Marshall)
   • Ask for choir stipend for $750 for program assemblies         
   • Ask for $750 stipend for four 3 hour sessions of mentoring and supporting teachers in the building
   • Ask for Race and Equity Team support stipends of an additional $1500 stipend for teachers for attendance at Saturday workshops and Black Lives Matter curriculum/professional development
2. ELL Funding Request: Ask for $2679 for following: (Charmaine Marshall)
   • Supplemental curriculum to extend SIPPS to grades 3-5 for extra literacy support (Mackenzie, has 20+ kids)
   • Special Ed teachers
   • Pauline Pfohl, our ELL teacher, 20+ kids
   • Motion made and passed to approve funding for EEL Funding and purchase of CCC SIPPS
     1. Discussion around whether or not state of WA needs to be funding this, however PTSA will fund for now. Federal obligation put into question, as well as the state obligation.
3. Board to refocus goals and revisit stipend funding, no vote held today
   • Bryant Read-a-Thon Vote (skipped)
4. Garden Buddies and Bryant Comm. Garden (Tammy Shorr)
   • Monthly work parties starting with 5^th grade and going down to K, working on general maintenance in garden
   • This is in place of Garden Maintenance Chair previously run by Samantha Fogg. (no longer able to fulfill this role)
   • Working with district to coordinate efforts
   • Idea to look to Master Gardeners or neighborhood gardeners for volunteer help
   • Discussion around whether or not to keep garden space open due to safety concerns. Ultimately the space is owned by district
   • Shed has been funded but it is on hold because district has put it on hold- next meeting will discuss what to do with allocated funds
5. General Meeting Speakers Input- ideas include: (Whitney Griesbach)
   • How to talk to kids about politics
   • Literacy and goals of school – how can parents help support literacy in the home?
     • Resources are available for literacy that district has and parents don’t know about.
     • Speaker on how to access those resources- offered for free by tech ed
     • Math Night (resources for parents to support kids in math at home)
     • PBIS Education night-facilitating communication and language at home that supports PBIS (once teachers and staff feel more familiar with the PBIS curriculum)
     • Sex Ed
     • Race and Equity/Hate Speech (UW professors)
     • School Safety
     • Empowerment and Resiliency/Mindfulness with Youth
     • Screen Time education
6. Closing Home Street Bank Account
   1. Move funds to Bank of America, Home Street holds reserves but can be held in Savings at B of A account
   2. Motion to close Home Street account, Brita Willis and Lorraine S. have permission to close account and transfer to B of A. Motion seconded and approved.

Welcome and Introductions

EP&O Levy Presentation JoLynn Berge, Chief Financial Officer

• Four year budget outlook reviewed:
• Deficit happening already
• Expenditures are outpacing revenue
• McCleary was supposed to be for enrichment, it is actually not working that way. McCleary resulted in winners and losers, Seattle not a winner. More funding for some schools, very little for others, including Seattle that is a high levy school. High levy schools did not receive as much funding
• Levy funding was at 4100 per student, but it is going down due to statewide cap, so that in 2019-20, we can collect 2500 per student ONLY. Statewide cap varies from district to district. SPS wants taxpayers to decide what local levies will be.
• SPS levy decreased by 38.5%- the more a school district has the more it loses. (ex Bellevue only went down 11%)
• Local levy is $2500, not state level levy. Some news reports state that SPS was dishonest in asking for more, but SPS has been straightforward about intentions.
• Asking for another levy with additional (capacity) .52 per 1k, only can happen if legislative change is made. If we got both capacity and local, we would have the same amount as we started out with in 2014. (1.05 per 1k)
• Most districts are at 1.50 per 1k. Our net tax bill for education is about half of what it is in Yakima.
• Net difference from before and after McCleary: Seattle had an 11% increases, Shoreline 24%, Bellevue 19%, etc.
• Is McCleary fully funded?-Full Day K, lower class sizes, transportation funded, compensation lift,
• Is k-12 fully funded? NO. Supreme court has ruled that amount of funding is adequate; legislature is released from any other requirements/oversight for the year.
• Seattle needs 70 million to provide special ed. Only being provided 2 million for 2019.
• Gaps in funding with principal salaries, classified staff gap in funding. SPS hires more staff than state allocates, and pay more than state allocates.
• If we were to fully fund the Initiative 1531,  (which has been delayed) we would get 780 more FTEs.
• Despite this, Seattle gets great results. Graduation gap closing, college readiness is increasing.
• QUESTIONS: SPS schools are funded based somewhat on poverty levels in the area.Does rate of Special Ed funding go up when population of Special ED kids goes up? In short, NO. Feds will not meet this demand, up to state to backfill. We have made great strides in identifying special needs but no great strides in funding.
• Prop 1 is 1% or less of SPS revenue. Levy in Feb is to continue functioning and will provide 15% of funding can’t really function or balance budget without it.
• Overall enrollment is down in SPS. Most likely due to housing costs rising. Current enrollment is 53k. Budgeting for a lower enrollment year for 2019-20.
• Levy in February- hopeful about outcome because Prop 1 passed by a big margin.

 

Approve September General Meeting Minutes

Minutes approved tentatively approved

 

Officer/Standing Committee Reports

• Brita Willis & Lorraine Sawicki: Treasurer’s Report
  • October brought amazing Annual Campaign! 179k! Last year was 155k.
  • Collected 133K in cash thus far, employer matching is 30k of total campaign.
  • Credit card charges totaled 3k
  • School supplies paid for, 4k sent to local elementary school. Remaining balance of 6500 is to be used later in school year
  • Will continue to use Giving Fuel platform
  • Tax form completed and filed
  • Current buffer is 42k
• Tammy Shorr & Janie Booth: Volunteer Coordinators Report
  No report
• Leeann Huntington, Sara Fenz and Allison Broadgate: Fundraising Chair Report
  • Pizza party: 13 classrooms had 100% participation and had pizza party this past Friday
  • Otter pop party will happen as well for all school on the 15th.
• Jean Charette, Yvonne Roberts & Diane Frye:  Legislative Chairs
  • Bryant participation was very high for legislative action
  • Voted on top 5 issues and a link for more info for people will be provided
  • Levy Update will also go out
  • WA State PTSA calling upon DSHS to change definition of gender, call out to request volunteers to help make phone calls, telephone scripts have been written by Sam Fogg.

Special Committee Reports

• Bryant Leadership Team report:
  • Continuous school improvement plan (CSIP) is being worked on. Right now focus in on equity issues.
  • Two big goal areas are a sense of belonging for students as well as reading
  • Discussed Social Emotional surveys and whether or not Bryant will deploy a survey on our own besides the spring one that is required. Goal to get this survey out before Winter Break.
• Principal Report: Charmaine Marshall
  • Getting Brycentennial Celebration ready to go. School wide assembly at 1:15 on December 13th, and 5:30pm on the 13th for an Open House.  Contacting local politicians as well as media.  Honoring staff that have been here the longest as part of the anniversary date.
  • Reaching out to reunion committees to find people that were in the earliest classes
  • Reaching out to staff alumni
  • Budget of $1500 requested- current ask from PTSA is 1k. (For Brycentennial). Motion passed for $1500.
  • IDEA Project fund request- (Interactive Disability Education Awareness). One week of disability awareness.  Fee $2k, ask for funding.  Motion approved and seconded.
  • PTSA approved $50 for assembly through email to invite Native American Speaker.
  • Max Guerrer-Tomoda Counselor is asking for $500 for a library and $200 for sensory books, $700 total. Motion approved and seconded.
  • Also conducting a Multicultural Event on January 31st, a night event.

Kim Love: New Business

• Bryant Library Read-A-Thon
  • No Book Fair this December for various reasons. Proposal to have a Read-A-Thon instead. We need $20 per kid per year for library supplies, but right now funding is a lot through grants and afterschool programs. Books also need to be replaced as they wear out over time.
  • Read-A-Thon- parents can sponsor their kids or just give a flat donation per kid, using Pledge Star. Read-A-Thon will happen over Winter Break.
• School Supplies Update:
  • Will conduct re-ordering for mid-year shipment during first week of December
  • Supply orders will be reconsidered in terms of flow and amount needed for next year
  • Will discuss other ways to keep charitable aspect in place, as school supplies will be a line item on PTSA budget
• Resolution on Civil Discourse/Community Safety
  • Resolution tabled for more discussion offline

Welcome and Introductions, Kim Love & Whitney Griesbach

Approve June General Meeting Minutes
Minutes approved

Officer/Standing Committee Reports

Principal Charmaine Marshall & Asst. Principal Melissa Somoza

1. Charmaine Marshall: PBIS Emotion Learning/Support
   Vision and Mission:
   • 2nd year/social and emotional support intertwined with curriculum.
   • Question to consider: How do we meet needs of student with anxiety/self-esteem, etc., regardless of socioeconomic status?
   • Results of student and parent data survey from last year:
     • 283 students 3-5th grade surveyed
     • 56% overall on Healthy Community ratings (61% in Seattle overall)
       • Very low scores on “students treat each other with respect”: 35%
       • Parent Data: Welcoming community 81%, (a little above average)
       • School has successfully overcome barriers between staff and families = 49%, also quite low
   • School response to low stats:
     • Counselor that is going to be doing lunch groups/go into classroom and meet with kids that have exhibited anxious behaviors
     • Discovery that many/most students are high achieving which seems to correlate with high anxiety
       • We have not purchased curriculum for kids that are higher levels: level 2 or 3, to meet needs and provide interventions for higher functioning kids, goal to look into purchasing this
     • SEL is a major component of experience at Bryant, especially around anxiety
     • Working to temper classroom to meet the needs of high-achieving/high anxiety in kids
     • CCC designed to start out with early successes to establish baseline of success to increase learning.
     • Working in partnerships to listen to each other: more student voice and less teacher voice
     • Collaborative writing to establish early voice
     • Increased circle time as a community as well
2. Melissa Somoza: Positive Behavior Intervention Support (PBIS)
   • 3 tiers of support to capture all kids and their intervention needs
     • Tier ONE: School wide- systems to put into place
     • Tier Two: Classroom environment and Small Group Strategies
     • Tier 3: Targeted Individuals
   • Supplement to RULER
   • Starting to establish behavior expectations for playground/classroom/etc.
   • Fusing and defining collective knowledge of teachers to create clear expectations without surprises for kids
   • Three Phases:
     • Phase 1: Whole school expectations and the belief that when kids misbehave it is an opportunity to support them and create change.
     • Using RULER:
       • Mood Meter and Road Map (how do I feel, what happened and how can I strategize for next time, who/what are my resources?)
3. Brita Willis & Lorraine Sawicki: Treasurer’s Report
   • 4k will be given to a local school, leftover from school supplies
   • 155k collected from last year’s annual campaign, bigger number than expected
   • PTSA to cover 7k of 31k total cost of Island Wood
   • Will track credit card fees through Giving Fuel platform
     • Some parents have opted to cover credit card fees. Total fees charge this year = 1100
   • New section at bottom of treasurer report: net activity for self-supporting programs and restricted funds/everything else the same.
   • Possible talk of moving Annual Campaign  funds to other schools. Only in discussion at this point, no consensus.
   • Possibility of Survey Monkey to find out what could be done with excess funds raised in future Annual Campaigns, will readdress after this year’s Annual Campaign.
4. Tammy Shorr & Janie Booth : Volunteer Coordinators Report
   • Volunteer Support is quite robust this year
   • Committee Leaders should have lists of volunteers coming your way
   • Happy hours to continue!
   • Media blackout until 10/26 for Annual Campaign
5. Leeann Huntington, Sara Fenz and Allison Broadgate: Fundraising Chair Report
   • Website is up, you can participate or donate now. Frist communication Tuesday until 10/26. Participation rates can be checked daily.
   • Door prizes at Movie Night for those who have already participated in the Annual Campaign
   • Movie night 10/19, fundraising for Islandwood
6. Kim Love Bryant Leadership Team
   • De-emphasize Halloween Celebration to support cultures that do not celebrate.
   • More in Bryant Weekly.
7. Jean Charette,Yvonne Roberts & Diane Frye: Legislative Chairs
   • Two Levies coming up and SPS needs to have these passed – critical for the budgets.
   • Will provide community outreach to raise awareness about these levies.
   • Vote is in February of 2019

Special Committee Reports
None

Special
None

New Business

1. Approve Standing Rules Bylaws, Kim Love
   • Kim read changes to standing rules
   • Motion to approve changes to standing rules, motion approved
2. Approve General Budget 2017-2018
   • Changes to budget read by Brita
   • Motion to approve budget/motion approved
3. LASER
   • Committed to SEL curriculum which is important to LASER community