MS 54 Booker T. Washington Middle School
Meeting called to order at 7:15 pm
Larry Woods and Juanita Douglas, PTA Co-Presidents, Presiding
a. Gift Wrap/Magazine Fund Drive extended to November 7th
b. Grant Committee Meeting, Thursday, 10/27 at 8 am in room 333. Parents are encouraged to attend and help out!
c. Winter Gala/Auction Committee meeting Tuesday, 10/25 at 8 am. Parents are encouraged to attend and help out!
d. Parent Workshop, Thursday, 10/27 at 6 pm “How to Talk so your Kids will Listen, and Listen so your kids will talk”. Please email Anne Pejovich (apejovich@nycboe.net) if you are interested in attending.
e. School Leadership Team (SLT) next meeting Thursday, 11/3 at 7:00 am in the library. Parents welcome to observe meeting.
f. Parent Teacher Conferences in November
g. Picture Day 11/15-16, look for notice which will specify which day your child’s picture will be taken.
II. The Memorial Service for Dean Carrington was held earlier this evening. It was well attended by staff, parents and students.
III. Minutes (9/20) reviewed; motion to adopted minutes, seconded; passed by show of hands.
a.
Security
i. All students will be receiving photo IDs shortly. Photo’s will be taken by class of each child starting Friday, 10/21. IDs will be color coded by grade. Teachers and staff will also be receiving IDs. The ID will include a bar code so children can take books out of the library. Lanyards will be available for purchase if desired. Dr. Elster requests that all children carry or wear their IDs while in school.
ii. A staff member is posted in the courtyard every morning starting at 7:30 am; there is no supervision prior to 7:30 am. Staff members are also outside monitoring the bus stop and school premises at dismissal.
b. School Construction Project. Beginning the first week of November, the school will be re-tiled. Tile is old and contains asbestos, so all tile will be replaced. The contractors will be working by section, 3 classrooms at a time. During the re-tiling it is anticipated that students in classrooms being retiled will be moved to a temporary classroom. Disruption should be no more than 3 days per classroom. They will be setting up containment areas and air quality will be checked nightly. Work will take place from 6 pm – 6 am and on weekends. The Beacon Program (weekends) will move to other another location during this project.
c. Laptops. Gale Brewer’s office is providing financing for laptops for the 6th grade. It is expected that rather than a laptop per child there will be a laptop cart (with laptops) provided per floor.
d. Due to budget changes, Dr. Elster has had to excess the Assistant Principal for the Charles Drew Program, Mr. Darrel Stinchomb. Until he is assigned to another school, Mr. Stinchomb will be at the school. They are working on plans to cover Mr. Stinchomb’s duties to ensure full coverage for the program without disruptions.
i. SLT discussed possible parent involvement to push the issue with the region.
ii. There are currently three other Assistant Principals and a Program Director at the school.
e. SLT has had first meeting and will be working on the goals for the year, in addition working on the CEP (Comprehensive Educational Plan).
f. Parent Teachers Conferences. Teachers will be voting shortly on whether or not to have afternoon and evening conferences on one day, 11/15. Notices will go home shortly.
g. All students will be receiving test prep in class to prepare them for the upcoming ELA and Math tests next year.
i. ELA (English Language Arts) testing will be the week of January 17th
ii. Math testing will be the week of March 13th
h.
Academic Intervention Services: Students performing below grade level have
been targeted for additional services; letters have gone home to parents. Services include: push-in, Saturday academy (Region 10, located at Family Academy
for our students), and afterschool tutoring on Tuesday and Thursday (3-5
pm). If you have received a letter for
your child, please get them in to some of the additional help being provided;
it is free. Tutoring in after school
will be at a 5:1 ratio.
i.
Ms. Pinsen, a teacher in the Drew program, said many
children have not taken advantage of the services being offered. She HIGHLY encourages parents to get their
children into one or both of the after school programs as it is critically
important for their academic success.
She also requested that if parents know of other parents who have not
responded, please encourage them to have their children take advantage of these
services.
ii.
There is a new 7th grade retention
policy. Those children who are not
meeting grade standards will be in danger of being left back. Letters will go home in January.
Co Presidents Report
a. Fund raising is off to a good start. Capital drive is slightly ahead of where we were last year at this time. There will be two additional appeals for the drive during this school year.
b. No John Pizzarelli concert, which was a big fund raiser; looking to replace this fund raiser with a winter gala. Please help out.
c. Campaign for Fiscal Equity. More information in January. Governor Pataki has appealed the decision in the appellate court; it is expected that the case will be moved to the Supreme court. It is very political; parents will be needed to pressure politicians. Please do your part when asked to call or write our politicians.
d. Discussion of lunch forms as possible avenue to explore for increasing funding to school.
e. Discussion of food services & quality of food.
Treasurers Report
f. Back to School BBQ brought in $1700 net
g. Raffle winner (50/50) donated proceeds back to PTA
h. Capital Fund drive: $22,000 raised thus far, halfway to goal. Only 120 MS 54 families (out of approximately 1,000) have contributed so far. The PTA Goal is 100% participation; any amount is very much appreciated. We have received as little at 50 cents.
i. Teachers will receive $100 grants each, budget line item.
j. Track and basketball teams will get uniforms, line item on budget.
k. Supplies line item includes $4,000 for school ID cards.
l. Some items are flow-through and net out (ex: track team: $100 fee per student flows through to track needs)
m. Discussion of possibly funding mats for the gym. Dr. Elster is speaking with gym teacher.
Project Rap is in its 2nd year at
MS 54. They are working with a number of different schools in the
city. It is being conducted by NYU with a grant from the Williamson
Foundation. The project is looking at and tracking factors that influence
a child's experience in middle school, including friendships, family
relationships, classroom experience and experience living in the neighborhood
and in NYC in general. The goal of the program is to identify
factors that can help make the middle school experience even better for
children, and help children thrive in school.
Last year there was an initial 89% participation from the 6th grade. The
project follows children participating in the study through middle
school. In 6th grade, parents and children filled out a long
survey. That was followed up by lengthy in-person interviews with both
parents and children (separately) covering aspects mentioned above. These
children will be followed through 7th and 8th grade.
They may be including this year's 6th grade class, but no decision has been
made at present.
The study has been progressing smoothly, children have been enthusiastic and
parents supportive. They are looking to set up an Parent Advisory Board,
so parents who are interested should contact Project Rap (Anne Pejovich to
start?).
There will not be a full report on findings until after the initial group's
graduation from 8th grade. They do not want to influence the study at
present by presenting data too early, although there has been some information
forwarded to teachers and administration.
Due to the relationship with NYU, MS 54 has had 12 tutors from the University
working with children needing academic intervention, which has been a positive 'side effect' of the
study.
a. Magazine/Fund Drive: orders due 11/7. This is the school’s only fund raiser, would like to ‘beat’ last year’s $17,000.
b. Winter Gala being planned. We need parents to help make this a success! Come to the next meeting, 10/25 8 am.
c. Grant Committee Report.
i. Committee will be meeting every two weeks, next meeting Thurs 10/27 at 8 am
ii. Committee has been working the last year on needs assessment, helped get the grants from Eva Moskowitz & Scott Stringer
1. If any parent knows political representatives personally, please let us know! Relationship building is critical for funding.
2. Reviewing private foundations for possible funding sources.
iii. Following areas have been targeted:
1. Musical Instruments
2. Technology
3. Library
4. Auditorium/Guidance Suite/ Gym (capital fund)
a. Tanya Williams nominated for Morningside Heritage program. By show of hands, she was elected to the executive board.
b. No nominee for Manhattan Valley.
a. Library is seeking donations of books, such as Captain Underpants, or Goosebumps. Please contact Liz Goldfarb.
b. School website needs updating; can use parent volunteers.
RAFFLE FOR BALLET TICKETS (raffle for attendees of PTA meeting): Winner is Tanya Williams