- Liberty Elementary School
- Meeting Minutes
March 2019 PTA General Meeting Minutes
Liberty PTA – General Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, March 5th, 2019 – 3:00PM
- Call to Order at 3:02 PM
- PTA Workshop: STEMmerday presented by Vice Principal Alex Gray.
Alex Gray – I am sharing the new map: new rooms, new themes for the year. STEMmerday is this Saturday. Doors will open at 10 a.m. and end at 2:30 p.m. If you’re looking at the map and planning out your day, the yellow rooms require signup. Make sure to schedule around your Battle Bots times. The championship battle starts at 2 p.m. There will be things outside. We will have a NOVEC power demonstration (safety tips, make some sounds, etc.) and egg drop. Our overall theme is Harry Potter, aligning with our Matball stuff. We have some new rooms. Our Harry Potter wing is Diagon Alley. Quidditch drones, wingardium leviosa, Gringotts roller coaster, care of magical creatures (petting zoo), etc. Each grade level, students put in their own design challenges to be picked to create a room. Six rooms: kindergarten is creating flowers and vases for Mothers’ Day. 1st grade is dinosaur fun (create a species of dinosaur). 2nd grade: Twilight Zone. 3rd Grade: Pokémon. 4th grade: Liberty LEGO Challenge. 5th Grade: Journey Through Oz. MERGE Virtual Reality, Shark Tank (5th graders did a Shark Tank PBL designing new items to help with hearing impaired and visually impaired people; winners showcasing designs with some challenges). We are using DASH Robotics in the classroom. This will be the basis for Battle Bots. Getting away from Sphero ball which should make things exciting. We are doing a Goose Chase challenge. It’s an online scavenger hunt through the Goose Chase app. We will have cool prizes with those. 10 am-noon and noon-2 where winners will win prizes for their class. That will be stationed in the SMART Lab. You can get the app on your phone and pick up iPad in SMART Lab to do it too. We are really focusing on student-centered activities, getting kids involved in what it is and what it looks like. Do make sure that you get to the rooms to sign up to plan your day. They’re flying the drones in the classroom. They are inside-friendly and foam.
Alicia Coleman – A lot of people don’t sign up for their time. If you are a no-show, they do allow standbys in.
Jen Robinette – I’m trying to figure out where to put the flags for the Harry Potter theme.
Alex Gray – Put them down here then move them to the main hallway.
- President’s Report – Jen Robinette
- PTA General Meeting called to order at 3:10 p.m. We are in the final stretch of the school year! This is March!
- STEMmerday – PTA still needs volunteers to help with setting up, sending in food donations, etc. We have a lot of volunteers to feed. PTA will order pizza for volunteers but breakfast items are supplied by the rest of the community. If you have anyone able to send in some donations to help feed our volunteers before starting their long day, that would be helpful. I’m looking forward to STEMmerday. It’s the last one for me! The PTA will be confined to the concessions area.
- Matball – We had several shirts that were sold. Teachers’ shirts will be delivered hopefully within the next two weeks. We will get everyone up and dressed by having our shirts. This is a big event and we’ll talk more about it in a little bit.
- Teacher Appreciation Week – This will close out the school year.
- Board and Chairs – We are looking for people to fill in our board and chairs for next year. I’ve bolded things we are looking for on the agenda. STEMmerday is a great opportunity to talk to parents and see if they want to be involved. Even just reminding them that there are positions available, ask if they want to co-chair a position. We have a lot to fill for next year. I’m hoping by next month’s vote that we can fill a majority of those that are good for the next school year.
- Principal’s Remarks – Paul Pack: We are really gearing up toward a busy month with STEMmerday and Matball. We had some Odyssey of the Mind teams at Woodgrove High School. There are a lot of student events this month and it culminates with STEMmerday. For this year at STEMmerday, we are conflicted with the play across the street regarding high school volunteers. I will send out a ConnectED message asking for volunteers 16 or older. We will need about 25 or 30 volunteers. Chelsea Diana and Katie Krauss are doing the signups for volunteers right now. The point is not to have parents volunteer, but if there are older siblings to help we would love to have that. They get lunch, a gift, and satisfaction to know they helped build a future generation of America. Plus, they get service hours. The PTA is working in partnership on these two events. We have student-teachers in the back helping with childcare. They are brand-new. Thank you for doing that!
- Treasurer’s Report – Lisa Geurin
- We made $245 in sales for Odyssey of the Mind night that we hosted here.
- Chuck E Cheese’s spirit night: made $928 for the school which is the most we have ever made for any spirit night. Needless to say, we have booked a second one of those for May 31. We were hesitant for this but it’s a cut of anyone during the set hours. We didn’t have a ton of Liberty people but we get a percentage of whoever goes. For holidays that’s awesome. It’s a longer span of time too.
- Recording Secretary – Jill DeLorenzo Motion to approve meeting minutes by Becky Pierce, Poonam Upadhyaya seconds motion to approve meeting minutes. All in favor of approving them, yes. None opposed.
- VP of Fundraising – William Perry
- Spirit Nights – We have McDonald’s this month on the 28th. We don’t have any spirit nights in April because it’s a short month, so we doubled up in May. This means we have Chick-fil-A and Chuck E. Cheese’s.
- VP of Events - Smitha Tumuluri – Report by Jen Robinette. Smitha has been working through activities happening right now including 5th grade promotions. This is the biggest coordinating job coming up other than Matball which is almost finished off.
- VP Committees/Volunteer Coordinator Report – Poonam Upadhyaya – This Saturday we have STEMmerday. The concessions volunteer signup looks really good compared to food signups. We have most of the times filled in. 11-12 we need 1 more, 1-2 we need 2, and then we need some crew for cleanup then it’s taken care of. For food, we have about 50% of the signup completed. The PTA can do some filling in but it’s our preference to have donations. The signup is really very open-ended. The breakfast itself lasts all day because people will jump in there to grab snacks also. We can have the items pushed to the side for lunch. The next thing that will happen is the Matball signup going out for teachers first. They get priority. Once the teachers have all filled in the spots they want, we will send it out to the rest of the community.
- Corresponding Secretary Report – Tez Nettimi – No report.
- Committee Reports:
- After School Enrichment – Jen Robinette. ASEP started this month. Jill was able to help coordinate the after-school. We had very few hiccups and vendors have been on time. We had a couple students accidentally gone home but other than that it was pretty smooth. There were some parents who came late and didn’t realize they had to be picked up. In general, all parents must pick up their children or whoever is designated in 6Crickets.
- American Education Week – Alisha Vaughn. We have time before next year!
- Back to School Teacher Luncheon
- Bingo – Jen Robinette. This chair position is open for next year. We learned a lot of lessons on the way and there will be a good handbook being handed over for next year. This is a fairly easy event to run. We want someone who enjoys the
- Box Tops – Karin Lisack. Due this Friday, March 8. Make a reminder to your students. Top classes get a popcorn party and top students get a small prize.
- Children’s Diversity Night – Need a 2019/2020 Chair. Sandy Toor can talk to anyone interested in chairing this. This is in October so we are actively looking for someone here.
- Eagle Eye Dads – William Perry. We are looking for a chair for next year to help relieve some of the responsibilities for next year. William would like to pass the baton for next year. It’s a well-oiled machine. We do get a lot of dads signing up. We are usually filled up every Monday and Friday. Anyone looking to head this up, please talk to William. Alex has a couple names of people who might sign up to help.
- Fifth Grade Celebration Parent – Coy Brown-Taylor. Smitha – All of the vendors are logged in, orders are put in. We need to pay Coy back because she has the invoices. She has a few more questions. That’s the Friday event, the celebrations. Friday, June 7 is the last day of school. Thursday, June 6 is the talent show and the last piece of the puzzle. Coy cannot do this. I need to see if someone wants to take the initiative and do this. That’ll be for the talent show stuff. The Friday part is under control except a few logistics questions and some money reimbursements.
- Laps for Liberty – Need a 2019/2020 Chair. This is one that could be co-chaired. We have Anne in house who has managed to make it pretty automatic. This is the primary fundraiser that has a lot on the front end but not a lot on the back end, meaning it’s over fairly quickly. Paul - Loudoun County is looking to revisit the fundraising policy but one is thanks to the Boosterthon company. One of the things is that it’s not super competitive here, but Boosterthon does do that. The last thing we need to do as a school is add to the anxieties of the kids. Loudoun County is looking at Laps for Liberty as a model for this. Also, they are looking at how much money is leaving the school. The work that has been done for Laps has impacted the greater Loudoun area.
- Matball – Jen Robinette. Details are done. We need volunteers. Kids are very excited about Harry Potter theme. The spirit stuff I brought in are wands, colored boom sticks for enthusiasm in the gym and camaraderie of houses. That’s where novelty items are being shifted. We will keep everything under $2. Admissions is $5 per person, $15 per family. Paul – It will be worth it because we are all out to win. The admin team all likes each other now, but the day of… We tried to tie the two events together with the thread. The second-grade hallway is Diagon Alley. We are trying to build momentum at STEMmerday. Perhaps we could have the rosters out by the flags. Jen – We have printed out the crests for all of the classrooms. It’s a lot cheaper to go to Office Depot to print them out.
- MSAAC – Need a 2019/2020 Chair. Paul – We haven’t had anyone Minority Student Achievement Council. If you’re keeping up with everything in Loudoun County, not to have a reaction to those topical events, it’s a group that’s trying to advocate for all students, not certain races or ethnicities. It’s important that our school is represented by someone who is not only gaining the information and bringing it back to us, but also as a school this large in Loudoun County, if there’s someone sitting here that can fill the position for the end of the year, the meetings are 90 minutes and under. The superintendent speaks there. I’d love to have someone for that position. Maybe we can have a richer conversation at these meetings. Natalia Beardsley used to do it. There’s a lot of really smart people in this room that could do it. It would be a favor to our kids if someone could have that position until the end of this year. The meetings are the third Wednesday of every month in Ashburn. We try to attend some as well. They divide the rooms up into different clusters so you sit with people in the same community as you. It’s kind of a working meeting, dialogue, well-run. You can email me afterward if you are interested in. We could ask the teachers to help, but they’re ultimately looking for parents of the community members in this school. I could also put it in the Friday communication. STEMmerday is also a good day to ask parents.
- Newsletter – Jill DeLorenzo – a brief overview of the March 2019 newsletter. The newsletter was distributed on Friday, March 1.
- Odyssey of the Mind – Tez Nettimi – Smitha – I think it went smooth. We had good representation. This year we had four teams so compared to last few years it was a bit low. That’s it.
- Reflections – Need a 2019/2020 chair. Science Olympiad will also be open. This is run by National PTA. Every year they come out with a theme. There are different categories. You submit entries and then they are judged.
- Room Parent Coordinator – Sandy Toor – Sandy will be leaving us next year so her position is open. This is just communicating with room parents and helping guide them. She put together a beautiful packet which will be passed on. Helping them collect money, etc. So, the transition will be fairly smooth. This position could be consolidated with the Volunteer Coordinator if absolutely needed. It’s always good to find other people to help head up things so the board isn’t overwhelmed.
- School Dance – Need a 2019/2020 chair. Kerri won’t take it on for next year. This comes up fairly quickly and ends quickly as well. There is a budget in place and just a matter of getting food, etc.
- Supply Kits – Lisa Morales. Paul – All the teams went over the school supply list and went over revisions. Lisa was awesome about this. Next year, on the supply list for all grade levels will be headphones and earbuds. This way we won’t need to buy these with Laps for Liberty money.
- SEAC – Alisha Vaughn – Info is in the newsletter. A lot of the stuff they talk about gets pushed out through the Peachjar app. All the parent resources stuff is so great. I’m going to the meeting tomorrow night.
- Social Media – Jill DeLorenzo/ Jen Robinette – Jill has taken over and helping out with all the things I haven’t been able to do. If there’s anything else that needs to be out there, please let us know. We have a couple parents’ Facebook groups where we push all of our information through. It still seems like we aren’t hitting everyone. Any help is appreciated.
- Spirit Wear – Jeff Geurin – We are doing the spring push. The session opened yesterday and will go to March 22. It’ll be our last one for the year. Now is the chance to order anything. There are more old-school logos on this order.
- Teacher Appreciation Week – Alisha Vaughn. I have it under control! I have a spreadsheet for all the parties with catering contacts, teacher gift vendors to reach out to, etc. It’ll be a baseball theme this year. It is spring and I already have really cool decoration ideas. My husband will build us a little concessions stand. We will have all kinds of fun stuff for the teachers. Famous Toastery wants our business again and they’ll give us a discount. Everyone really loved their food. They asked if we wanted more macaroni and cheese! Yes, because it was a hit. They support a lot of schools in the county and are one of the few places that give a discount for schools. I talked to some mom friends who will help with decorating and cleanup.
- Welcome Back Luncheon – Alisha Vaughn. This happens after the Open House for the students.
- Website – Jen Robinette/Jill DeLorenzo/William Perry – Matball information is on the front of liberty-pta.com. If parents are asking you where to find things, a lot of them will be underneath the Events tab. Volunteer stuff has a link on the main page. Paul – If you ever want anything to go on the scroll, just send me an email and we will get it up there.
- Adjourn at 3:47 p.m.
Sign-in sheet attached.