January 12, 2006 – 6:30pm - Media Center

 Opening

The meeting was called to order at 6:40pm.

New Business

Health Fair

The Health Fair has been postponed until further notice.

 Book Fair

The books will be delivered on January 27^th.  The classes will come to review the book the first week and then return the following week for purchases.  The only evening hours will be during the Partners in Print on Tuesday, February 7^th.  Barbara will touch base with Lauren Grabko (who ran the Book Fair last year) to see if she can obtain the teacher’s schedule last year. Barbara distributed a hand out that will be in the Tuesday folder.  Jana suggested we have a morning session for parent to be able to come in when they drop off the kids.  Last year, the book fair was open one morning from 8:30-9:30am.

 Black History Month

Dotty mentioned that she know a woman who may be a very useful resource for any activities related to black history month.  This woman is from Germany and set up a tribute to black history month for a military base.  Mr. Rose asked to have the woman contact him.

 Standing Rules

Dotty is reviewing the standing rules and will distribute them before next month’s meeting.  We must clearly communicate that participation at PTA meeting is mandatory for anyone on the board. 

 Open PTA Meetings

Unfortunately, we are obviously not getting the parent participation we hope for at PTA meetings unless there is a student event held afterwards.  We will go back to conducting quick meetings before student events again next year.

Student Quarterly Awards

Jeannette was inquiring about student awards and recognition. She feels that we need to motivate the children much more.  Mr. Rose mentioned that the recognition for the character traits began late this year due to staff and spacing issues.  Dotty encouraged Mr. Rose to contact Donna Johnson for help with handling the bulletin boards for the student recognition.  The award ceremony is schedule for February 10th. Andreas mentioned that the PTA should be utilized when there is a need to keep things more timely. 

Spanish Translation

Jeanette offered to help translate any correspondence that gets sent home with the children into Spanish.  In the past, the Vance Newsline has not been translated.

Cultural Arts Events

Ms. Hanehan distributed information on the upcoming Cultural Arts events.  They are as follows:

Theatre IV - January 17th

Leni Newell - February 6-10th - Silk Banners

Androgena - February  16th

Bay Street Brass  - March 21st

Beverly Botsford and Elise Witt - April 4th (Also an evening performance of Cantamos Con Ritmo )

Hobey Ford - April 27th

American Red Cross

The American Red Cross sent a thank you to the school for our contributions for Hurricane Katrina victims.

NC Public School Awards

Mr. Rose passed around two awards earned by the school.  The first was a High Academic Growth Award and the second was a School of Excellence Award. He thanked the entire school community for their efforts.

Old Business

Nominating Committee

Dotty will begin to form the nominating committee.  We will start taking nominations as soon as the committee will be formed, which is March. We will be voting in May, so interested parties can start campaigning in April (assuming parents know they will not be in the reassignment plan node changes).

Amendment Changes

The proposed amendment changes we have been discussing will be postponed at this time.

Spring Carnival

Dotty will send out a survey to PTA parents regarding having the Carnival on a Friday Night or during the day on a Saturday. This survey will go out in the Tuesday folders.  Dotty will discuss the results with Mr. Rose and forward the information to the group at February’s meeting. 

International Fair

Dotty will also encourage parents to get involved in the International Fair. Thus far a few countries have been represented.  Dotty will update the board, as more parents get involved.

School Improvement

Andreas mentioned that it was more involved than he thought to create a parent resource center.  There is a school in Sanford that has a resource center that he would like to emulate.  Ms. Sherry mentioned that pamphlets would be the best venue for parents to utilize.

Hospitality Budget $500 Increase

The budget will be increased to address the improvement to the teachers' lounge, bathroom and the staff birthdays.  Liz motioned for the $500 increase bringing the total hospitality budget to $2,000. Andreas seconded the motion.

Budget

Liz distributed the budget for review.

Updated Calendar Items
A list of upcoming calendar events was provided.

Next Meeting

The next meeting is scheduled February 13th at 6:30pm in the Media Center.

Closing

Ø The meeting adjourned at 7:55pm.

Ø Minutes submitted by:    PTA Secretary, Rose Raulynaitis 

 Date:  February 10, 2005