Call to Order #
The virtual meeting was called to order at 8:00pm. Executive Board members in attendance:
- Sharon Burd, President
- Clare Rosenberger, VP for Fundraising
- Meredith Greene, VP for Events
- Ashley Farrugia, VP for Staff Appreciation
- Christian Lindstrom, Treasurer
- Dan Burd, Secretary
The board voted to approve the November 29 Executive Board Meeting Minutes.
Role of the PTA #
Executive Board
The PTA board had an in-depth discussion of the role of the PTA, the propriety of remarks made during General Membership meetings, and other related topics. No votes were held.
Newsletter Frequency #
Dan Burd, Secretary
Dan stated that he prepares the newsletter on a monthly basis as per remarks made during the August 9, 2022 meeting that the weekly newsletters were too frequent and that a monthly interval would be preferable. He provided the following additional justification for a monthly newsletter:
- More frequent newsletters don’t necessarily mean a shorter newsletter. Parents expect that each newsletter is a comprehensive snapshot of what is going on. If there is a lot going on, the newsletter will be long. For example, if there is an event happening in a month, it will be mentioned in the newsletter that is both four weeks and two weeks prior to the event. No space will be saved.
- There is not necessarily something new to share every week or every other week. Dan stated that at the time of the meeting, they were two weeks out from the January 10 newsletter, but they had nothing additional to share at this time as far as he was aware. If he had to send out a newsletter today, it would look essentially identical to the last one.
- Formatting the newsletter is a significant amount of work that no one has offered to help with. Dan has also taken the additional step to make the newsletter available in five languages, which has been useful to parents (he sees that these pages receive traffic) but is laborious. Dan asked the board if anyone would like to help, but no one volunteered.
Despite these concerns, Dan offered to provisionally format a biweekly newsletter if others would populate its content using a Google Document. The Board also discussed sorting content into sections (“New,” “Updates,” etc.) and placing dates along the side of the newsletter.
General Membership Meeting Presenters #
Executive Board
The Board agreed to invite the music teachers to present at the February meeting and the Literacy Team to present at the March meeting.
Spirit Wear #
Meredith Greene, VP for Events, and Ashley Farrugia, VP for Staff Appreciation
Meredith and Ashley provided a sneak peak into the Spirit Wear that they would be selling.
Run Club Coordination #
Dan Burd, Secretary
Dan explained that he had looked into making Boys Gotta Run available at Abingdon, but that the price was too high and the logistics too complicated to operate outside of Baroody. He and Ken had discussed availing themselves of the “Run Club” that is available within Baroody. Dan asked Ashley what dates Girls on the Run will operate so that the Run Club can use other days of the week so as to ensure the path is available for both. Ashley said GOTR will operate on Mondays and Wednesdays.
Winter Wonderland #
Meredith Greene, VP for Events
Meredith asked if Sharon would be present at Winter Wonderland to assist with the event. Sharon said she intended to be there.
Staff Grants #
Dan Burd, Secretary
The following staff grants were approved:
- $200 for high visibility vests for the Eco Action Committee (Renita Upshur)
- $150 for learning games for 2nd Grade English Learners (Helen Ryan)
- $480 for mallets for music staff (Janet Kingsley)
- $99 for online course for mental health counseling (Vasthy Delgado)
Two requests for headphones were tabled indefinitely as per the superintendent’s remarks during the January 23, 2023 CCPTA meeting that the school and the Central Office should handle these requests.
Adjournment #
- Meeting adjourned at 10:30 pm
- Next Board Meeting: Tuesday, February 28, 2022, 8 pm
/s/ Dan Burd, Secretary