UMS PTSA Business Meeting for October 19, 2005

Action Item Summary

Business Meeting Minutes

Present: Renee Cooper, Barb Hughes, Jamie Peterson, Cindy Loui, Patricia Hswe, See Wing Chiu, Patti Pattison, Naneera Vidhayasirinun, Lisa Sechler, Patrick Russell, Alice McGinty, Sue Keller. Student Gabby Chavez was present during the Student Council report.

  1. Student Council Report (by Gabby Chavez)
    First dance of the year was held Friday and went smoothly, being a big hit with the 6th graders. They made $800 on the dance, which student council uses to fund other school-sponsored projects throughout the year. There are four dances a year, and the last one is the 8th grade dance. Student Council is selling candy grams for 25 cents this week. Book fair is coming up in November, during parent teacher conferences. The money made goes to the school library. Last year they made over $1000 for the library. They need parents to supervise Book Fair sales during PT conferences, especially Thursday evening. Jamie Peterson suggested that PTSA would like to work with Student Council during PT conferences to sell UMS spirit wear at the book fair and that we could provide some parents to supervise. Student Council also runs the concession stand at the boys' basketball games. The other project they are looking at working on is getting screens for the gym, but that is at a very preliminary stage.

  2. Principal's Report (by Patrick Russell, 7th Grade Dean, representing Ms. Clinton)
    Quarter exams are planned. Every student will have an exam in all subjects. Teachers have meetings with the other teachers of their grade level and of the same subject during the Wednesday early dismissal time. This meeting time is intended to improve communication and ensure that all teachers are teaching the same content. Parent-teacher conferences are coming up Thursday, Nov 3 and Friday, Nov 4. Please watch for information coming home about those. Parent-teacher conferences vary by team. With some teams you see all the teachers, some only a couple teachers, however parents are always welcome to request a conference with any of their child's teachers. Elective teachers generally stay in their rooms during conferences so they will be available for parents to stop by and talk with them. They do go to specifically scheduled conferences with certain students. Boys' basketball tryouts are this week. Mr. Helmick is the head coach and Mr. Adams is the assistant coach. There are two teams, one for 7th grade and one for 8th grade.

  3. Teacher's Report (by Renee Cooper, Teacher Representative)
    Teachers really appreciated the breakfast provided during the first week of the school year. It gives the teachers a chance to sit down and talk with each other, something that doesn't happen often otherwise. Reflections workshops are being offered in Ms. Cooper's room this week and next week, Oct 25, after school. There are adults there to help students work on their entries which are due Oct 28.

  4. President's Report (by Jamie Peterson)
    We are going to participate in a cell phone recycling program called Race to Recycle. Motorola pays $3 (and sometimes a bonus) for each phone. Jamie cleared this project with Ms. Clinton. Phones will be collected in a box in the Community Center. Phones should be in clear plastic bags, marked with student's name and team (we hope to reward the team that collects the most) and that the phone is to be recycled. This program accepts all cell phones, even really old ones.

  5. Treasurer's Report (by Sue Keller)
    Sue presented a Budget Summary and a Transaction Detail Report. Our major concern is the cost of printing the newsletter. It costs us 2 cents per page, so an 8-page newsletter like this month will cost us 16 cents each for 1,100 copies. We have enough money to do at least three more newsletters. Raising money via the Motorola program and spirit wear will hopefully provide us enough funds to print more. The newsletter is an important communication tool between the school and families and a concerted effort has been made this year to expand the information available to families via the newsletter.

  6. Membership Report (by Patti Pattison)
    Patti received a few more membership dues this month. We have a total of 12 teachers as members, but we'd love to have more teachers participating. Renee said she would help spread the word to teachers. Several more people have joined the email list. Patti is working on the directory for members and it should be out by the end of November.

  7. Committee Reports

  8. PTSA Website Redesign (by Naneera)
    Naneera is working on reorganizing the web site and it's coming along well so far. A printout of the sample index page was passed around, featuring large buttons to click. Patricia will send the tiger image to Naneera for the web site.

  9. Late Addition: Pages For All Ages Community Book Fair
    Book Fair runs Oct 29 through Nov 8. The store donates 25% of your purchase to the UMS Library when you mention UMS at the time of purchase. The book fair includes web store orders at pagesforallages.com.

Speakers:

Lowell Mennenga presented information about Reading Advantage, a one-on-one tutoring program, and one of several Supplemental Educational Services (SES) Providers who have been approved by the state to offer services to children in our area. Ellen Mennenga is the owner of this tutoring business; she is a former teacher and provides both diagnostic and tutoring services, enrichment activities and summer camps. Reading Advantage programs are available to students of all ages. Contact Lowell or Ellen Mennenga for pricing information. Students who qualify for the SES program receive services at no charge. Reading Advantage offices are located in the Trade Center, Champaign.

Kathy Barbour, of USD 116, explained that SES programs are a result of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act, and schools that do not meet state standards must offer these supplemental services. The money to pay these providers comes from Title 1 money. The SES program is available to all students who qualify for free and reduced lunch regardless of their academic standing. There are four tutoring groups available locally: two off-site (ClubZ and Reading Advantage), and two on-site at UMS (The Reading Group & Positive Opportunities for Progress). The Reading Group has services both on-site and off-site at Lincoln Square.

Kathy provided information about the SPLASH (Students Playing and Learning After School) program, funded by grant money. The program focuses on students who are not meeting standards on the ISAT and/or are below grade level, but most activities are open to all students. It was set up to coordinate transportation with students who are in the tutoring program after school. SPLASH includes academic teams for students who are struggling and Homework Lab where they generally have 12-20 students per grade attending. They have numerous U of I students tutoring at that time, so generally there are 2-3 students per tutor.

Other tutoring/support services available in the community are the Math Program by Jerry Glynn, which features small group work and enrichment activities, and Ortho-Bionomy, offered by Ann Chan, which is a program that focuses on coordinating the student's emotional, physical and mental experiences. Alice McGinty announced that Science Olympiad is another after school enrichment opportunity, and would be starting up next month. Students will take a test that is more to gauge their skills than to keep people out of the program. These students then will meet once or twice a week (at the beginning) as they build toward regional competition in February. Alice will be coordinating Science Olympiad this year and will welcome other parents helping out with the projects. Send email to Alice to volunteer.

Next Meeting: Wednesday, Nov 16.

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