UMS PTSA Business Meeting for November 16, 2005

Business Meeting Minutes

Present: Kris Solberg, Nancy Clinton, Renee Cooper, Patti Pattison, Mae Donaldson, Sue Keller, Eve Hargrave, Lisa Sechler, Vicky Flores, Jamie Peterson, Barb Hughes, Patricia Hswe, Jim Watkins, Cindy Loui. Students Sean Smith and Catherine Flores were present during the Student Council report.

Speaker: After news announcements given by Patricia Hswe, Karina Lepeley and student peer mediators presented information and a skit on the UMS Peer Mediation program.

• Peer Mediation was started at UMS in 1985 and at that time was called "Common Ground".
• The founders of that program went on to write a manual, which Karina is currently using.
• Some of the basic concepts of Peer Mediation are:
  • Understanding that we all experience conflict, that conflict can't be avoided, but that people do have a choice about how they respond
  • Emphasis on cooperation and negotiation
  • Belief that skills can be taught so that people can talk without blaming each other and can develop win-win solutions
  • Peer mediators are taught how to be patient, to listen, to honor differences, to focus on the problem (not the person), to help the participants focus on their interests, to make sure the person is heard
• Last year the program did approximately 90 mediations.
• Students apply to be mediators; they need to have recommendations and participate in a day-long training session; training was held in September and will be repeated in January.
• All grades (6-8) are eligible to participate.
• Peer Mediators meet weekly after school.

Agenda

1. Student Council Report
   
   • The Book Fair earned $500 for the school library. It was observed that the Book Fair closed up early on Friday and people were looking to buy books. Student Council may want to consider remaining open until the end of parent teacher conferences next year.
   • Food For Families drive will be Nov 28 - Dec 9. If a student brings in 4 cans they will earn a free ticket to the next dance. Sue Keller pointed out that if people are able to send money instead of food, the Food Bank has much better buying power than the general public and thus your dollars go farther.
   • The next school dance is Dec 2, 4:00-5:30 p.m. Parents are welcome to attend and help chaperone. Interested parents should contact Ms. Hlinka at lhlinka@usd116.org. Ms. Clinton welcomes parent suggestions for improving pick-up procedure after the dance. The school recognizes the way it's been done has some problems. Anyone with ideas should contact Ms. Clinton at nclinton@usd116.org.

2. Principal's Report (by Nancy Clinton)
   
   • Girls basketball is winding down and boys basketball is gearing up. Girls volleyball tryouts start Nov 28. Practices do get shuffled to accommodate all the teams that need to use the gym.
   • Science Olympiad tryouts are being held, thanks to Alice McGinty, who has stepped forward to lead the group this year. She hopes to get university students to help out, but parents are welcome to help too.
   • ITBS testing of 7th graders is going on this week. They have found that ITBS is a good predictor for performance on ISAT, which will be given in March. All grades at UMS will take ISAT tests this year. The school is trying different things this year, for example, having students take the math tests in their regular math classroom.
   • Thank you to parents for allowing Wednesday "early out" to happen. Staff is getting a lot done during this time particularly in relation to the recent quarterly exams students took. Teachers are getting a chance to talk to each other, to align curriculum with district standards, question themselves as to whether the students are actually learning what they are teaching, asking questions such as: Why are students getting one particular answer wrong, or Why is one teacher's classes getting some questions right when others didn't.
   • Lunches with New Students. Our district has about a 33% mobility rate, so these lunches are a chance to help make new students feel welcome. A recent lunch had 5 to 6 kids from each grade level attend along with some administrators and support staff. There will be more of these new student lunches throughout the year to enable students to meet staff and get a chance to get oriented and ask questions.
   • Had the first fire drill of the year recently and will be having another one with the fire department at a later date.
   • UMS is the only middle school in the twin cities that accepts federal Title 1 funds, and as a result we are required to send home letters that might sound scary in terms of our academic achievement and NCLB standards. Ms. Clinton would like to assure parents that our testing results are very similar to those of the Champaign middle schools. However, Champaign parents won't be getting these potentially confusing letters because, by refusing the Title 1 funds, Champaign schools are not required to send them. Our choice to accept the federal funds makes our situation more public.
   • In response to a question about meeting the needs of gifted students, Ms. Clinton said that all teachers are responsible for differentiating curriculum for students and if you have concerns that this is not being done for your student, she would like to know. UMS is in the process of aligning its curriculum with the high school's. Currently we are working on aligning Math and English with foreign languages to follow.

3. Teacher's Report (by Renee Cooper, Teacher Representative)
   
   • Thank you for the food at Parent Teacher Conference. It is much appreciated.
   • Reminder about the Backpack Race for victims of Hurricane Katrina.
   • High School counselors will be attending the January PTSA meeting to explain graduation requirements.
   • Endeavor team would like to say thanks for the newsletter, food and support.
   • PTSA membership forms were available for teachers along with the food at parent teacher conferences but Renee will also distribute them to teachers if we would like her to. (Yes!)

4. President's Report (by Jamie Peterson)
   The web site has been redesigned and there is now a link from the National PTA web site. There was a glitch with the files when the new pages were added, but the site is fully functional and back on track now. Check it out! The events calendar is getting well populated with listings for school music, sports and student council events. If anyone has events to add to the calendar, please email Jamie Peterson at jamie@wolfram.com.

5. Treasurer's Report (by Sue Keller)
   Sue presented a Budget Summary and a Transaction Detail Report. She confirmed that we have made approximately $1,000 from spirit wear this year. We will order more stock so we have them available for holiday orders. Ideas for new colors and shirt designs were discussed. Further discussion on spirit wear re-design was tabled for a later time. Thank you to everyone for using the correct forms for your financial transactions.

6. Membership Report (by Patti Pattison)
   The membership directory is in progress.

7. Committee Reports
   • Teacher Appreciation (Eve): We now have a cabinet in the teachers' lounge where we are storing paper goods and trays. Eve will ask the office about the lock and key situation. Since we saved money with good deals on parent teacher conference food (thanks to Okiema), we hope to be able to do a coffee time in Jan/Feb for the teachers.
   • Newletter (Patricia): The next newsletter deadline is Nov 29, and it will have the usual content as well as a thank you to everyone who brought food. The holiday gift voucher order form will be included.
   • Reflections Contest: UMS has 34 entries. They are on display in the hallway on the way to the 6th grade area.
   • Holiday Gift Vouchers (Jamie and Lisa): Flyers will go home the first week of Dec, and also in the newsletter. This is an opportunity to purchase vouchers in $3 increments for any teachers at the school. Money is put into their account and they can spend it where they want, often at the district warehouse where they get a good price for things. Renee indicated that teachers appreciate this purchasing flexibility with the gift money.

Next Meeting: Wednesday, Jan 18 in the cafetorium.

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