Graham Hill Elementary

GRAHAM HILL PTA
BOARD MEETING MINUTES
Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

1.10 Principal’s Report:
 PTA Wish List
a. Tutors, requesting an additional 2 tutors next year for a total of 4 next year (15 votes)
b. Reading Position (10 votes)- need to discuss with Chris before decision.
c. New Stage Curtains $6K (10 votes) – Board proposes overall budget for “building maintenance” like painting, curtains, etc.
d. Powerful Writers $10K (7 votes)
e. Mandarin Teacher $1.5K (6 votes)
f. Camp Scholarships $2K (6 votes) Going to Islandwood next year (camp line item shows income of $7,500 and expense of $8,300 for a net cost of $800K)
g. Supplies budget for each teacher $200/teacher for total of $3K (3 votes)
h. Stipend for staff & member to support Powerful Writers (1 vote)
i. Positive Discipline program $500
j. Painting the east side of the school
k. After school buses
l. Discover Dance $2,000
m. Mary to stay $??
n. Hoa’s request tbd
o. Explorations In Math $1,240 + stipend for teacher to manage the program – ask Chris if we should expand the current program or do EIM.
Shelly will send Deena the notes and the updated bus times in email. Here are Shelly’s notes from the Staff Meeting:
• Much discussion about items on list and how to proceed with the vote
• Was decided that three items that are a given should not be voted on but should just be presented
o $500- Positive Discipline
o $2000 - Discover Dance
o After school buses
• Each person present was given three votes to place as they wanted
• Final Results
o Reading Position – 10
o Camp scholarships -6
o $200 for each teacher – 3
o Tutors – 15
o Powerful Writers ($10,000) – 7
o Stipend for staff as Powerful Writer expert – 1
o Mandarin teacher ($1500) – 6
• There was discussion about the fact that the reading position would take ~ $40,000 and would the PTA even support this

 New Teachers for Graham Hill!
• Tim Nelson is new teacher for 4/5
• Michelle (Chellie) Lafayette is new PE teacher – she was GHE’s adaptive PE teacher 2 years ago.
 Proposed bell time for next year –
• Proposed bus arrival – 8:50 AM
• School start time 9:10-9:20
• School ends 3:30
 Incoming parents have not been notified for next year yet.

1.20 Treasurer’s Report
 Budget –
 there is an assumption we’re going to do another auction next year. Keith has planned a $25K budget fundraising estimate for auction.
 That means $50K will be our total fundraising budget.
 We’ll end this year with $60K going into next year.
 $17K is the current programs budgeted.
 All of above requested items are approximately $50K
 If fundraising goes as budgeted and we fund everything above except $2K less on curtains, we’ll spend $20K of $60K we’re going in with so we’ll end next year at $40-$45K in the bank.
 Catalog Fundraiser: Keith recommends staying with QSP next year due to better things in the catalog and the existing relationship that the school has with them.
 Annual fund is budgeted at $10K
 Chinook books is budgeted to net $3,500 (half of what we raised this year)
 Consider whether we need supplies for earthquake
 Gray to green fund still has money, but we should consider budgeting for Grounds & Maintenance.
 Deena will ask Ms. Adams if we should consider musical instruments.
 Angela will email a list of budget questions and send to Chris for replies: Math program, Brown Bear tickets, and Tutor program, emergency preparedness supplies restocking, playground equipment, broken slide, greenhouse plans, grey to green fund status, Board agrees to fund everything teachers voted for except Reading position & curtains.
 We will consider amending the budget after it is voted upon. They can fill out a form and submit it to a board member.
 Paper budget is $250

1.30 General meeting on Tuesday, May 26th

 What’s for dinner? Who, where and how many servings? Spaghetti with marinara sauce & meatball sauce from Vince’s – PTA provides pasta & families bring salad. Plan pasta with sauce for 40 people. Plan meatballs for 20.
 Agenda for the night – budget, PTA Board nominees

1.40 Nominating Committee Update – Stacy Pitts is willing to take the VP position on board. Beth Jacobi will be volunteer coordinator or vice president.

1.50 Golden Acorn/Outstanding Educator Awards – Educator Award will go to Ms. Jefferies. Volunteer awards will go to Anna McCartney & Lena Lui.

1.60 Up coming PTA events

 May 21st, Young Authors – Debbie is buying cookies
 June 5th, Reading Night (Any food or cookies?) No, too messy for books.
 June 12th, 5th Grade Promotion – Debbie has books, Lena is making bookmarks, Angela will ask if Lena needs help.
 June 19th, Field day

1.70 Open Forum

 Ice Cream Social – date is still tbd
 Brown Bear Car Wash – Ana will get tickets Thursday morning for us to begin selling tickets at Young Author’s nite. Shelly or Candace may have an Islandwood brochure.
 Summer Play Dates: Ana will ask Lena who are the coordinators of the summer play dates.

GRAHAM HILL PTA
BOARD MEETING MINUTES
Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

 After school Explorations in Math (EIM) presentation – Mary Cropp came to present based on the recommendation of our Powerful Schools friends. They are a non-profit org housed on Rainier Ave. (www.explorationsinmath.org) Been around 6 years to try to change attitudes about math and help schools create a math culture at schools, similar to literacy programs. The basic program is a holistic view of more opportunities to engage with math for experiential learning. They are in partnership with us, we do it, they teach us how. They respect the culture and style of the school and help to develop a program that fits within that. They help in 4 ways:
o 1) They help to develop math clubs for 1/2s and 3-5th grades. There is a theme which is echoed through the math challenge board.
o 2) They have a monthly math challenge, there is participation incentive with prizes, etc.
o 3) Family math night they help us to arrange and provide school with support and games to throw a once/trimester math night. Intention for families to come and play with math in a nonthreatening and engaging way. These are very successful events.
o 4) work with teachers at the school. Teachers are often the most math phobic. So, they help them to form a math team to develop cross curriculum discussion, cross grade level discussions.
 They help to facilitate the discussion and engage the entire community to provide more opportunities for everyone to engage in math. There is a cost for materials based on the free & reduced lunch population. The materials are an upfront cost, but become part of school to be reused time and again. After establishment of program, they help to sustain it. They offer math coaches and math summer camps as well.
 They help to create the math clubs, all of the materials and supplies and supply list
 Curriculum is meant to be hands on. Building, number sense. Its all about having them feel math. There are a lot of games in the club and there is a book/literature so kids see that math is everywhere. If you use the club over time, you accumulate a nice library of games. Mary left a game for us to donate to our library.
 Curriculum is based on school standards for grade level. They are curriculum neutral, not tied to Everyday Math, or Math Expressions, etc. Its developed from a broad literature review across philosophies.
 They have worked within the Powerful Schools programs at John Muir and other schools.
 They have orientations for teachers and there is an assigned support person for the school to help with in school programming and activities. They recommend that it is a teacher leading the math clubs because there will be more buy-in by staff if so, but it doesn’t have to be a teacher. John Muir had a parent lead it that was a math major.
 EIM can be either for kids who need help with math to get to grade level, or the kids who need extra challenge because they are thirsting for more math.
 Feedback has been that EIM makes math more fun, more interesting, more challenging, less stressed, more exploratory.
 To get people to come to family math night, combine it with another fun social event. In advance of math night, kids can learn the games in advance at recess and get a sticker that they know the game and it advertises when math night is.
 Costs: It is highly recommended to not buy a la cart the first year. Buy the package at $380/quarter. The club box fee is good for 10 weeks. Its up to school to decide if there is a tuition, but its recommended that we do charge something so it is valued by the attendees and they actually show up. EIM has an official enrollment form they can provide.
 You can train as many teachers as we want to send. EIM would love for the whole staff to come, even if they’re not going to teach.
 Tone is set by principals, but EIM can come to staff meeting and recruit teachers.
 Total cost for Graham Hill would be $1,240 for the year

1.10 Principal’s Report - we interviewed for PE teacher last night and interviewing for 4th grade teacher tonight.

1.20 Treasurer’s Report – Board went through a few of the under budget items to ensure we still needed to have money in the budget for that.
• Bar-b-q – strike, but leave in for next year
• Family night fiesta – strike
• Keith will send a reminder to teachers to spend their classroom supplies budget if they haven’t yet done so.
• Family support money – keep. Lena will check with Nina, the family support worker to determine what the needs are for remainder of this year and next.
• Artist in residence – keep
• Parents night out – strike for next year
• WaMu banking supplies – strike
• Movie Night – strike (Ms. Hurley pointed out that we need a site permit to show movies. Ms. Hurley will check with her contact to determine the process for getting the site permit.)
• Auction income of about $35K is not in budget report. This means we have approx. $60K cash in hand, which Keith believes will be what we have at the end of the year.
• Consider what PTA wants to do in addition to teacher/staff wish list, Keith suggests replacing the computer in the PTA room.
• Keith would like to have a framework for next year’s budget in time for the next general meeting 5/26.
• Keith & Debbie put together a budget suggestion form including item, description, budget, justification of how it will benefit school. Make a note on the form that anyone can suggest something but only members in good standing can vote on the budget. Include description of process, submission deadline of 5/15, board will put together proposed budget on 5/19 and will propose recommended budget, field questions/comments during 5/26 meeting and approval vote. 30 minutes at start of 5/19 meeting will be open for those who wish to present their budget request.
• Debbie will post the board members on bulletin board.

1.30 General meeting on Tuesday, May 26th – no June 9th Gen. Mtg.

 What’s for dinner? Who, where and how many servings? (to be discussed Bd. Mtg 5/19)
 Agenda for the night
o Budget 2009-2010
o Board Nominees
o Request for hosts for summer play dates
o Announce ice cream social for new families on 6/16

1.40 Nominating Committee – Angela & Ana are meeting Beth Jacobi at 8:30p Thursday @ the Columbia City Ale House. Perhaps if we could find a co-president, Beth could be convinced to co-chair. Kiri or Scott will talk to Bee Weuthrich. Ana will talk to Scott to turn up the heat and check on the list.

1.60 Up coming PTA events

 May 21st, Young Authors – Sohala wants to know if PTA could sponsor the cookies for the evening. Shelly will check with her and Mindy and email Debbie.
 June 5th, Reading Night – First Gentleman will not be available. Reading with Rover will be in the library. Elaine will get bags from Fred Meyer like last year. Powerful Schools donated 5 boxes of books like last year. Tre Maxie will see if they can do that again. Communities in schools is donating about 100 books. We will send backpack mail home and put boxes out for books to be donated. Elaine has 3 volunteers. Reading night flier to go out for 1) ask to bring in books and 2) remind everyone to come. Debbie will look for last year’s fliers and update.
 June 19th, Field day & picnic -

1.70 Open Forum

 Awards, 5th graders promotion (book, bookmarks and cake) – Lena will email Fionnuala to ask about help with the cake.
 Ice Cream Social, select a date – June 16th, 6pm
 Car wash, should we do it this year? – Buy tickets up front and decide how to sell them from Brown Bear car wash. You can also turn in the ones you don’t sell. We should kick off next week if we want to do it. Ana will check website for information and contact Shelly Sharp: gro.sloohcselttaes|prahsas#gro.sloohcselttaes|prahsas. We have 3 opportunities to sell the tickets. This would be set aside for OEO money, and 4th graders should sell them for camp next year. 4th grade parents should run it. We will develop a flier where families can sign up for certain number of tickets. Ana will find info and email Debbie with content. Debbie will make a flier. Islandwood on Bainbridge Island will host OEO 5th graders next year.
 Debbie is thinking about extraneous roles that are needed for next year.
o Joella will do Chinook books next year if Scott does it with her.
o Need catalog sales person. Tom from QSP has new catalog and has ideas to get away from cheap plastic crap and the hype of the assembly. Alternative to purchase livestock for villages in 3rd world countries. We don’t think it will actually motivate kids. Debbie thinks we should give the kids an opportunity to rise to the occasion.
o Let’s develop a list of leadership roles needed and give to board nomination committee so if someone turns down the board, you can then ask them to commit to a smaller role.
o Elaine suggested selling tulips!
 Wa State PTA convention is this weekend. Keith will check out vendors.

GRAHAM HILL PTA
BOARD MEETING MINUTES
Tuesday, March 24th, 2009

1.10 Principal’s Report –
• Budget: we are still down $125K Title 1 money, but we will not lose any staff next year.
• We will have a 3rd Kindergarten class this year. Emily Carlson will be moving to Kindergarten.
• We won’t lose Lisa (the least senior teacher).
• We are losing the position that Dan Sanger holds.
• Dan and Catherine Dyer the bi-lingual teacher have worked together to create lovely small reading groups. That program will go away and Dan will be going back into the classroom as probably a 3rd grade teacher.
• We haven’t made our classroom assignments.
• We will be opening up another 4/5 classroom.
• Room 110 will become a classroom, no longer a multi-purpose room. Where the Title & Bilingual program happens in 234 will also be a classroom next year. Terry Prentice’s resource room and PTA room are flexible.
• We will not lose staff, but gain, also means we’re gaining students.
• Budget next year was preloaded around the standard items like printers, IEP writing, for special ed teachers, etc.
• Elaine suggested we hold a supply drive in the fall.
• Chris will closely scrutinize this year’s budget to make sure we spend everything
• WASL is coming 4/13-5/1. School needs help from PTA to bring in snacks and get them ready in the morning. Shelly Hurley is the test coordinator. Lena will be the volunteer coordinator to organize potentially through the room parents to coordinate snacks for each class. Two bowls for each class with some sort of fruit and another with pretzels, crackers, etc. Each kids needs to bring a water bottle and PTA may need to buy some spares for kids who don’t bring water bottles. Snacks should be in classrooms by 9:15a daily.
• Enrollment numbers will be available at the end of April. Confirmation sheets are due May 6th.
• Start times are changing next year. Bell times will change, it will likely be students starting at 9:30a and school getting out at 3:45p. The same drivers will be able to drive both the high school and elementary schools and the district will supposedly save $2M.

1.20 Treasurer’s Report
• Auction costs are starting to come in. $810 has been paid out thus far. Keith doesn’t anticipate a lot of other expenses.
• Remaining commitments are $20K
• Keith to talk to Vicki about afterschool buses & Jeanette wrt RIF & revise numbers

1.30 General meeting on Tuesday, April 21st, to have auction results
• What’s for dinner? Pizza provided & parents bring salads & dessert.
• Domino’s 10 pizzas cut in smaller sizes. Ana ask Lena or Michelle how many people came last year. Keith can pick up the pizzas.
• Plate making, who? Michelle Croom? Extra childcare? 5 adults.
• Agenda for the night – Auction Results; Elaine to discuss reading night, book request; Need for volunteers for field day; Board nominations; next year’s budget. Debbie will put signup sheets together.

1.40 Auction on Friday, April 17th
 Expenses so far - $810 has been paid out
 Volunteers – Ana talked to Anna. She has chairs for main areas and those people are trying to get volunteers. Set up in the morning, help during event, Betina organizing clean up.
 During live auction, they will have a raise the paddle. We agreed to start at $250.
 Raffle tickets, will Board sell the tickets? Keith will find cost & number of tickets to be sold. There are a lot of rules around raffles, police have to be notified, members have to sell them, maximum amount earned/year cannot exceed $5K.

1.50 Nominating Committee
 Review job descriptions and list of parents – Bylaws say we should have officers chosen by 4/31.
 Scott & Kiri Schultz are ready to recruit as soon as we have the job descriptions ready.
o 1 Parent from Ms. Yomada’s class
o Bee Wuethrich
o 4 people from Miss Libby’s class

1.60 Up coming PTA events
 April 9th, Spring Sing – Put request for help on Yahoo Groups
 April 17th, Auction
 April 21st, PTA meeting, Pizza & plates
 May 21st, Young Author’s Day
 June 5th, Reading Night – get all donations from families. Elaine will get the reading dogs for the lobby as well as arrange for firefighters or police officers to attend.
 June 19th, Field day and Bar-B-Q – Ana talk to Mary Jeffries. Chris will call Nutrition Services around parameters for Field Day, will they bring bar-b-q’s, etc. Invite families to have lunch with their kids and pay unless they’re on free/reduced lunch program. Vegie burgers and meat burgers and turkey hot dogs. Teachers will collect money just like we do for a field trip. In the past, Nutrition Services brought bar-b-q’s, but we don’t know if they will this year. Chris will find out how the flier should be generated, and if not through the school, Debbie will do it.

1.70 Open Forum
 Awards, 5th graders promotion (book and bookmarks). We have 55 graduates. We have cake & punch and then need to buy books. Lena had the bookmarks made in electronic files.
 Golden Acorn and Golden Apple Awards: Last year Shelly helped us, but this year we will do it ourselves. Parents vote on the golden acorn for an outstanding volunteer, and the golden apple for an outstanding teacher. Awards get presented on reading night, June 5th. Need someone to be in charge of copying nomination forms and putting into backpack mail and tally the results. Ana will order the plates. Chris suggests we make color copies. Board needs to determine who will give the awards. Ana call company to determine how long it takes the plaques to be made and we’ll time it backwards from June 5th. Kickoff at April 21st PTA meeting.
 After school Explorations in Math – parent is asking if Board can give a few minutes to EIM discussion. Chris thinks they should coordinate with Powerful Schools. There is money involved and a commitment for teachers to be part of the program. Presenters at 6pm, give 20 mins.
 Catalog Sale – Keith is recruiting and has Rachel in mind to drive this unless someone else steps up. First step is to determine the catalog provider. We need to commit to a date before end of school year (aim for 10/1/09), and not do it as late as we did this year. Debbie thinks we should extend for 3 weeks as two weeks seems too fast.
 Chris asked if we will have a welcome new family ice cream social. Ana to put on agenda for next meeting.
 Brown Bear car wash tickets were fundraiser for Outdoor Education Opportunity for 4th & 5th graders.

GRAHAM HILL PTA
BOARD MEETING MINUTES
Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

1.10 Principal’s Report
• Communicator phone calls have been made to Graham Hill families to remind them of Heritage night
• In the throes of Discover Dance, counting down to performance, dress rehearsal, backdrops on stage is being worked on. Darwin, Artist in Residence is behind due to his mother in Wisconsin being ill and he has been traveling back and forth.
• One more kindergarten tour is left. 22 people are expected. We may add more because they’ve been jam packed and there are still some that haven’t been able to attend. 10-12 families is the maximum number for tours.
• Buses for next year: They may be changing schools start times, elementary start earlier.
• Title 1 schools may have no Title 1 money next year; others will have a smaller amount. They are setting standards higher for free & reduced lunch. A higher percentage of families are needed. We use it to pay Dan Sanger & ½ of Sean Rollison’s salary. The cutoff date for our percentage of free & reduced lunch was December.
• 4th and 5th graders will be competing at Graham Hill in the Global Reading Challenge. The winning group will go to a city competition.

1.20 Treasurer’s Report
• Numbers are the same as last month. Some checks have gone out for MIP.

1.30 Heritage Night, February 27th, 2009
 Volunteers needed? A few gaps in schedule, but Debbie will use the yahoo group to recruit more.
 Announcement about auction, who and when? Table w/donation forms at the entrance? Elaine will be circulating with donor forms. Also put forms on a table in the hallway. Keith will ask Anna to round up people to staff the table. Chris will ask Sherry & Dan when announcement can be made.

1.50 Short Mtg. Parenting & Internet Safety Night, March 10th 2009
 What’s for dinner? Chinese from Jumbo or Joy Palace for 40 people
 Fliers regarding the event, information on PTA Board, announcement on Heritage Night? Who and when?
 Agenda for the night (up to 30 mins) Reports: Principal, Treasurer and Auction, Nominating Committee, Reading Night is June 5th, Field Day, March 21st Discover Dance, Teacher Appreciation is week of May 4th – Fionnuala announce, 5th grade promotion on June 12th, Young Authors May 21st, Spring Sing is April 9th, Brown Bear Car Wash.
 Guest needs, time and equipment computer with internet access which could be projected onto a large screen and a microphone

1.60 Upcoming events
 March 21st, Discover Dance
 April 9th , Spring Sing
 April 13th – May 1st, WASL Testing
 April 17th, Auction
 May 4th-8th, Teacher Appreciation Week
 June 5th, Reading Night
 June 12th, 5th Grade Promotion
 June 19th, Field day and Bar-B-Q

1.70 Open Forum
• Ana is getting lots of calls from fundraising companies, catalog sales, etc. There will be a lunch from Elliott Bay Fundraising to review their offerings for the next year. Keith will check whether someone from fundraising committee can think about a sale idea for next year and get people lined up for the “catalog sale” committee. Ana will forward the email to Keith. Debbie mentioned the importance of the catalog company having an online presence. AGENDA FOR NEXT MEETING
• Scott may be willing to on the nominating committee, but perhaps not possible because he was on the committee the last two years. Fiona also was on committee last year. Ana will ask Scott. Chris will ask staff to email Board with suggestions for parents who would be good to be on Board next year.
• Keith suggested we publish the job descriptions. Debbie will send out a template for each board member to populate to describe their positions.
• Keith asked for confirmation that we’re going to sell Chinook Books next year. YES! Keith will talk to Joela and Scott to see if they are on board for next year.
• Debbie mentioned thinking ahead for first PTA meeting and also who else we need to recruit for events happening next year.
• Chris mentioned needing to start earlier in the year for fundraising for the camp. We should secure a coordinator for the 4th and 5th graders’ camp. Important to fundraise in cooperation with the PTA. Chris doesn’t think the 4th & 5th graders should go together. Debbie will ask Mark about camp plans. Keith mentioned after the auction we should do the Brown Bear tickets b/c no other fundraising in spring. Elaine offered to have a table at reading night to sell tickets. Chris will talk to 4th & 5th grade teams to get their buy in. Debbie will ask Shelly about it.
• Chris got a donation from Communities in Schools of books for Reading Night.
• June 19th King County has a furlough day so Lena & Ana will be available to help with the Field Day. Ana offered to be contact for Field Day. Chris will put her in touch with Mary Jefferies.

GRAHAM HILL PTA
BOARD MEETING MINUTES
Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 – 6:21p start - 7:25 conclude

5.10 Principal’s report – District & teacher negotiate school calendar. The 2009/2010 calendar has been voted upon, but Christina doesn’t know the outcome yet.
• First ESL class is happening Tues & Thurs for 6 weeks. Then there’ll be a break and another 6 week session. MIP budget is paying for program. Approximately 10 families have come to the first session.
• January tours are starting next week! Lena will get at least one parent to attend each tour. Every family gets a GHE folder which has been mostly made up, but the PTA needs to update the Kindergarten & Graham Hill & Montessori insert. Minor date changes are needed. Christina thinks maybe Bettina made those fliers last year and hopefully has the file. Need about 100 total. Deena to email Bettina to find out. Betina reported (in reply email) that these were updated by Kiri Schwartz and Kiri has agreed to update them in time for tours.
• February tours will be 2/3 9:30a; Feb 5th, 1pm; Feb 11th, 9:30; Feb 13, 1:30; Feb 23, 9:30a. Angela can do Friday tours. Debbie can do afternoon tours.
• Would like to include the Board Roster: Christina will make copies after Debbie gives her the original of the board roster.

5.20 Treasurer’s Report – not much new since PTA meeting. $5K was sent to cover ½ of Powerful Writers. Other half is planned soon. About $50K in the bank currently. We need to pay the afterschool buses fees.

• Auction: Shana Toth will be the new Procurement Chair and will take the place of Lance Meyer who is moving to Federal Way. Russ will be the bartender. Some classes don’t have room parents and therefore won’t have a class project.
• Annual Fund is currently around $7K

5.30 Heritage Night – Feb. 27th Christina attended meeting yesterday.
• Decorations need a chair person. Debbie will try to find out who has the sign up sheet & organize someone to do decorations.
• Debbie will be the chair of the volunteers to let them know what needs to be done.
• We would still like for families to bring in decorations related to their heritage.
• Staff does displays and entertainment and parents organized the potluck – Elan is working on that.

5.40 February 10th general meeting agenda and planning –
• Auction planning with all committee members – invite each one. Keith will check with Ana and see what help she needs the group to do.
• Let’s recruit a few people to talk about what they’re bringing to the auction (aka procuring for the auction) and share that.
• Heritage Night Planning
• Deena will invite Christine King to come and recruit/train for Lobbying Day.
• Have Vietnamese Sandwiches and honor Chinese New Year. Elaine will get sandwiches from Tony’s if Lena will tell her how many we need. Main dish provided, families to bring sides & desserts. Debbie will send a flier one week before.
• Christina will create a “messenger” message for a reminder of PTA meeting.
• Request Nominating Committee for PTA Board for next year. We’ll need 2 V.P.s and 1 President for 2 year term.
• Reminder of March 10th Internet Safety interactive presentation. Deena to find A/V needs and timing needs from Todd Curtis & Christina will arrange with Mr. Prentice.

5.50 March short meeting/information night
• Reading night update, books need to come in the month of May
• Auction Update
• Update from Nominating Committee for PTA Board

5.60 Open Forum
• Angela shared an events logistic worksheet that we’ll generate for each event & PTA meeting, so that information can be shared year after year.
• Debbie to publish remaining dates of upcoming events on the back of the “fridge mail” list of contacts for Graham Hill.
• Keith will ask Ana about generating a checklist of auction items that can go home as a flier for people to sign up to do.
• Elaine will talk to Dr. Lee for donation from dentist.

GRAHAM HILL PTA
BOARD MEETING MINUTES
Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

5.10 Fundraising-Auction team – April 17th @ 7pm
Anna reported wonderful momentum on the Fundraiser including many GHE families who have already contributed and are pitching in to create a wonderful auction event this year. Planning a short video to show how the money will be used. Following the video, we’ll do a raise the paddle and ask. Maureen suggested a dessert dash. An organizer for the dessert dash is needed. Anna will talk with Lena to see if she can suggest a volunteer.

SANCA will provide wandering entertainment. Lena’s son will be a wandering magician.
Music still needs to be determined.
Someone artistic is needed to generate a program. A website is needed to promote & recognize those who have contributed. Anna bought the domain, www.GrahamHillAuction.org Keith suggested that Lena may know of volunteers willing to help with websites.
Christine will provide help with translation of Lance’s letter.
Debbie suggested we send out a list of suggested ideas for the auction.
Anna needs help getting to know parents of older kids and those not in the Montessori.
Elaine will follow up with Anna about her plethora of contacts for catering and wine.

5.20 Principal’s report
January kindergarten tours are cancelled and rescheduled in February. Kindergarten enrollment is cancelled. Every school is being reviewed for capacity. Christine received report today and will review to make sure its accurate. Budget process will take place in March.

5th Grade promotion is happening Friday June 12th.

Maureen McCleery reported the staff suggested a “field day” for the last day of school and wondered if the PTA would be willing to put together a bar-b-q for a festive ending of the school year. We will be required to go through Child Nutrition Services to ensure things are being cooked properly. Parent help is needed to run the bar-b-q’s. June 16th is a Tuesday and its last day of school with one hour early dismissal. We need to be finished in time for them to do class clean up, get report cards, get on their buses at 2:15. Ideally the bulk of that will be done before the field day. Debbie suggested we get two parents to be in charge of the event for the PTA. Debbie will talk to Lena to see if there are volunteers available. Mary Jeffrey and Shelly & Maureen will be teacher contacts for organizing the event.

5.30 Treasurer’s Report
 Chinook Book sales closed out to gross amount of $13,000 and cost was $6,180 and our net was almost $7,000 against a budget of $2,000.
 Catalog Sales budget was gross sales of $14,000 with a profit of $7,000. Actual Gross Sales for in school portion was $7,916.00 + $1,100 on the website for just over $9,000 gross sales. Rough estimate it will be around $4,300 net profit. Combined with Chinook Book, we are ahead of budget. We could do a better job promoting catalog sales and the economic situation created added doom & gloom.
 Heritage Night will be Feb. 27th budget Heritage Night has a $600 budget with $300 revenue scheduled to come in.
 Annual Fund has raised $6,200 against $12,000 to date. Mailings to extended family are going out. We’ll probably send out one more reminder before the year’s end.
 Christine suggested that whenever we send out a letter to parents, all staff should get a copy.

5.40 January general meeting will be held on January 13th, Tuesday.
Debbie proposed Tacos and that we check with Alcatraz to see if they’ll contributed. We provide meat and tortillas and then we ask people to bring lettuce, tomatoes, guacamole, sour cream, rice & beans.
AGENDA: Heritage night, Auction, March Parenting and the Internet educational meeting, Christine talk about Powerful Writers program, Keith will discuss Gregoire’s Education Task Force and the Feb. lobbying day.

5.50 Heritage Night

 Building permit and kitchen access
 Entertainment
 There was a grant but it was one time only. This year we have the MIP grant to pay for entertainment and some decorations will be purchased to use this year and future years to come. The committee needs some parent help with decorations.

5.60 Open Forum
Elaine asked about Reading night and whether we could schedule that in June. The Gov’s hubby can be involved to come to it if we ask early enough. We’d propose June 5th. Its called DEAR, Drop Everything and Read.

Perhaps Firefighters will come in and read for the Young Authors event. Perhaps have some cookies & lemonade. Perhaps have it May 22nd or have it connected with DEAR. Maureen will see if the evening part of this day along with picking up the books could be combined with the DEAR event in June. Perhaps tea party happens in the evening or do readings in the classroom. Provide a microphone like Powerful Readers does to have the kids read their books. Maureen will take these suggestions back to the Arts committee. Let’s use the time with parents to talk about the Powerful Reader’s program and have someone come and speak. Christine will talk with Arnie & Susan about coming to speak.

Julia would love to help by making tacos, tamales for a school event.

Keith attended presentation by Seattle Council PTA about basic funding options with a task force that Christine Gregoire appointed to re-imagine how we should be funding education in the state. Keith will speak about this at the January meeting and mention more details about the February PTA lobbying day. Deena will send the flier Christine King provided to the Board for review and possible consideration to distribute at the school.

Ana will send Vicki a copy of winter & spring events for Graham Hill to be included on the main school calendar in the office.

Debbie suggested we do a calendar and refreshed phone list to distribute to the whole school. Debbie will work on that in January.

GRAHAM HILL PTA
BOARD MEETING MINUTES
Tuesday, November 25th, 2008

Present: Debbie Leonard, Elaine Portefield, Lena Louie, Ana Schoenecker, Dan Sanger, Ms. Adams and Ms. Ewing.

Dan talked to us about the list of proposed closures that was release today. Graham Hill is not in the list, the information is available at: www.seattleschools.org

5.10 Heritage Night scheduled for February 27th. The plan is to keep the schedule we have had before, 5:30-7:00 Potluck and displays including a new feature probably at the library by Sean and Toby. The idea is to play music from different countries and its call “world music disco”.

7:00-8:00 Entertainment, Cherri talked about the different groups she has received good recommendations about. A Cambodian, Etrial and Mexican Dance groups are some of them. She will start contacting them, and wants to know if the PTA will be able to provide some funding for it. (Ana will contact Keith about available funding for this event)

Cherri would also follow up about a Vietnamese martial arts group connected to Kenneth’s family. Dan will contact Teacher Lan about Chinese songs with the children in our school. The Mexican dance group that performed two years ago is connected to the Schoenecker Family (Eva or Ana will provide the information to Cherri).

We also have two recommendations for MC’s from the community; Penelope’s Dad or Lisa Confehr. Sean and Cherrie are working on this.

Flyers will be translated. Dan will oversee with IA’s. Also, the parent message phone system will be used.

Dan and Cherrie offered to support in the decoration, we will need to work in getting the volunteers necessary for every area including the kitchen and hallway monitoring to avoid kids going downstairs. Lena has a list with the volunteers interested on helping and Debbie provided great notes on how to organize such tasks and volunteers.

Kitchen contact will need to be established since Ms. Tuyet had an emergency surgery and won’t be available for about two months. Ana will write the building permit for that night and ask Vicki who to contact regarding the kitchen.

The MIP grant may provide some funding for a headline act and dinner supplies and possibly translations of flyers, Sean and Chris will be working on this.

Ana notified us that she applied for the SPTA grant that last year gave us $300.00 for this purpose, she thinks they’re not giving us the grant this year again since the SPTA is trying to get new schools to get involved. The application was submitted during the second week of October and after several follow up e-mails, no answer has been received yet.

5.20 Treasurer’s Report: Keith is sick today, will have a report in the catalog sales as soon as it becomes available.

5.30 Calendar for the rest of the school year, these dates are proposed subject to Ms. Morningstar review against the school’s events.

General Meetings: January 13th, February 10th, March 10th (short meeting), April 14th, May 12th.
Board Meetings: January 27th, February 24th, March 24th, April 28th, May 26th, June 2nd (?) meeting with new board.

The present members voted for the short meeting topic, we had two votes for Birds, Bees and Kids and two for Internet Safety. An e-mail vote was suggested, Ana will contact Deena who has been in contact to BB and Kids to let them know about the situation.

Update: I have received more e-mail votes for Internet Safety so that is the proposed topic for the short meeting in March. Thank you all.

5.40 Fundraising Team; Anna McCartney has decided to book Mt Baker Community Center for the event. Now she is looking for a theme. Ana will e-mail Anna to offer any support needed.

5.50 Open Forum. Hope you have a great Thanksgiving Night.

GRAHAM HILL PTA
BOARD MEETING MINUTES
Monday, October 27th, 2008

Special Guest:
Ruth Bell Rossen came to discuss our grant for: Serving our underserved parent population, helping them come in and feel comfortable in the school. How can we better partner with them? Ruth wants to involve PTA meeting and $19K in grant monies we have that will go away at end of year. Stacey or someone from ESL or Mekong kids could come in to give us input on how to spend the money. (Debbie, if you want to send me your notes, I’ll add them in here)
• Grant pays for interpretation, transportation, supplies, materials, instructor and staff time, software, etc.
• Horn of Africa is one of our community partners.
• What other ways can the grant work to involve more people.
• Two positions are written into the grant. It was hard to find someone last year. Hire someone to teach ESL and promote within the community. Stacy is still in the position. There’s another person in the grant called parent involvement coordinator which Natasha Higgens has agreed to fill.
• Keith suggests including things like Family Fitness night and things we’re already doing.
• Ruth and/or Stacey could come to PTA meetings to keep us informed of what’s happening.
• Could pay for taxis to give people rides?
• Elaine suggested we do something around conference week. Make sure teachers know that translators are available to translate in conferences.

4.10 Principal’s Report
• Christine discussed Financial/School Closures situation & pledged to the staff to keep her ear to the ground about student assignment and a meeting on Wed. about building closures. She is cautioning everyone not to spread rumors. If you hear something find the source or call Christine and she’ll find the source. Christine will keep us informed.
• Congrats on a wonderful Fall Fest!

4.20 Treasurer’s Report
• Keith distributed a copy of the budget.
• He’s nervous about catalog sale. Not optimistic about hitting goal. Only two sales through the website online thus far.
• Chinook books, trying to get wrapped up, over $11K gross, $5,500 net
• Keith will send out a reminder on Yahoo Group to turn in catalog sales this week. Debbie is willing to distribute a flier.
• $49K in the bank. Remaining liabilities are $41K. Catalog sale & auction event will give us balance to begin next year.
• Keith will get signatures for new checking account.
• Jeanette has the money for the book fair.
• We need a check from PTA to go into self-help account because the buses directly bill the self help account. Christine will double check with transportation and get back to Keith with the amount.
• Powerful Schools we will do in two installments

4.30 Catalog Overview (with volunteers?)
• Keith has 4-5 volunteers to help with collating the orders and putting the master order together and then distribute when work comes in.
• Rachel Risley is a new parent who is spearheading the catalog sales this year. Keith will see if she has volunteers she needs.
• Debbie will make a flier for Catalog sales
• Debbie recommended that everyone be writing down what we’re doing this year with all of the documents related to GHE activities. This will create a guide book. Elaine will generate document for Fall Fest & Reading Night. Angela will help Debbie to develop this. Keith will ask Rachel to put that together for catalog in a few weeks.

4.40 November events
 Fitness Night, Wednesday Nov 12th (seven volunteers needed, announcement on the back of the Principal’s newsletter, yahoo groups)
o Janelle of Comm. In Schools (CIS) will do a lot of the organizing and we will help. We need to provide 7 volunteers to assist Mary Jefferies with activities
o Subway will provide sandwiches, fruit, milk or juice.
o Two SeaGals coming over and will be in cafeteria
o Flier went out today
o Ana will send out reminder to Yahoo group. Christine will put on back of newsletter for next week.
o RSVP to either Edwina or Janelle, emails are on the fliers.
o Hula hoops & jump roping. Mary’s worried about Hampton Frame being safe & needs to have an adult there to watch kids on it.
o Angela’s son will volunteer. Lena will help coordinate the others.
o 6-6:30 food, 6:30-8 activities

 Grounds Team’s work party on Saturday November 8th.
o Maura was handing out fliers to Grounds party, 9-12:30p
o Permits are in the works.
o Painting supplies needed like rollers, brushes & tape are helpful

4.50 Conference Week Activities
 Science workshop – Elaine hasn’t heard back. She’ll call tomorrow.
 Chinese, theater – both are interested in helping with conference week activities. Ana will have an answer from them this week.

4.60 Fundraising Team
 Auction –
o Ana McCarney is in process. One possibility is the Ruins
o Keith will invite her to the next Board meeting. Amanda Bissler is co-chairing
 Annual Fund reminders –
o Paypal will be set up to go into the new account.
o Keith will give an annual fund please in Dec. reminding of tax deduction. Laura & Fiona have a letter ready to go.
o Debbie reminded to get list of grandparents, etc. to send the letter to them as well. Kids decorate the letters to family members.
o Debbie recommended a colored envelop to send the letter
o Elaine has article from S. District Journal about reading night to get some quotes. We also had Graham Hill poets night and other things we can use to create a nice flier
o Elaine suggested posters like Orca in the PCC

4.70 Open Forum
• Notes for next year’s fall fest:
• Hay needs to have a tarp underneath it
• Face painting needs to happen on tile floor
• Armando will bring his machine to clean the carpet
• We made $110 on photos for Fall Fest
• Seattle Schools has grant monies available for a self-help safety in walking to school, deadline mid-Nov. Keith talk to Ana Copley. Safety committee that Shelly Hurley spearheads. Keith will forward the information to Christine & Shelly
• To address the speeding issue, the city will be putting in one of the measuring wires across the street from 2:30-4:30 one afternoon. Elaine suggested Nick Lakota get a letter from the PTA.
• New logo or not? Cambria is having designer rework the logo in a smaller size. Cambria wants to present it to the kids in conjunction with election day. They could vote on presidential election and the logo.
• Christine willing to introduce logo at Monday meeting. Perhaps stage a debate for the old and the new. Then kids could vote in classroom in class meeting time.
• Board agreed its okay to use the new design and include both so people get used to seeing both.
• K-Kids are kicking off Penny Harvest. It’s a service group for a larger project, not really student government.
• Annual Fund: Keith agreed that we are planning to send thank you notes for Annual Fund. He wants to get a database together and have that generate the letter.
• Fitness night is in lieu of our meeting. No business is planned at the meeting except that Christine will remind everyone of conference week.
• Fundraising ide: Angela went to potluck at her son’s school, Odea. You paid $15, brought a dish and brought a $10-$100 contribution. Then they sold raffle tickets and when yours was called you chose an item. They divided potlucks by last name, A-M salads, N-Z desserts. They sold wine with wine tickets. Buy it by bottle.
• St. Mary’s Italian dinner. If you have 20 tables, 20 people bring best desert ever. Envelope goes around, tables choose dessert in order of the money in their envelope.
• Wine ring toss. Sell cases of wine at the auction. Buy a ticket and toss the ring and you get the bottle of wine.
• Ana suggested an auction where each person brings an item from their culture. Those get auctioned off.
• Funding Request: Lena mentioned Ms. Jordan has a request for a button maker from the PTA. Every teacher has $100, but she wants to buy one for the school. Lena will ask her to find out how much it is so Board can approve based on the budget.

GRAHAM HILL PTA
BOARD MEETING MINUTES
Monday, September 22nd 2008

3.10 Principal’s Report
• Reminder of early release Wednesday, on reverse of reminder is schedule for Thursday night’s parent’s eve.
• Powerful Schools will provide afterschool classes 10/7-12/18 brochure is going home tomorrow. Two people were interviewed for site coordinator, one will be selected.
• After school bus will be set up once we know who needs it. Mekong Kids! Will also be Tues/Thurs so we’ll hopefully have them with the buses as well.
• Graham Hill parent involvement policy was distributed. It is required by all Title I schools. It documents what we do for parents, and how we bring them in. Please review and add comments to return to Christina.
• Ana mentioned the newspaper article about school enrollment capacity talks of north schools only. Christina explained enrollment is viewed by the total school numbers, not individual classrooms. Graham Hill’s overall enrollment is fine, we just have a few issues with certain classes.

3.20 Treasurer’s Report
• Keith received the books from Geoff on Thursday. He’ll review the paperwork and find the checks somewhere in the PTA room.
• Keith needs signing authority on the account with Key Bank which has not been changed. Best to do in the summer with close review during this year. Angela will find out who has signing authority and get the signature cards for us to change the signing authority.
• Chinook Book & Annual Fund forms are coming in and things are looking good, but Keith didn’t have exact numbers tonight.
• Christina mentioned having received her Safeway Smart Shopper eScrip report and encouraging folks by telling them how much money gets contributed through eScrip programs.
• Links for eScrip is on the wiki.
• The Amazon promotion is separate from eScrip. Although Amazon does appear in the eScrip mall, we have an affiliate account with Amazon that pays us a higher percentage (4% v. 2.4%) than we get through eScrip. The direct link to Amazon is available on the wiki. Keith will put something together to hand out to promote Amazon as well as the eScrip mall.
• Debbie will put the PTA packet soft copies on the yahoo site. Check with Betina if she’s added new members to the Yahoo group.

3.30 General meetings format review, i.e. rather than the lecture format, how can we make these more dynamic? How can we structure meetings to capture the enthusiasm.
• 30 minutes condensed presentation to all families, then divide into committee groups. Committees get 30 minutes, at the end, committees brief the larger group what was accomplished.
• To encourage attendance from bi-lingual families, Angela suggested determining key phrases of most common languages to include on the PTA announcements to ask them to come and help and have their children translate.
• Translators can do the calls to the families if they know in advance. We have money in our budget to have the translators here for the meetings. Lena offered to be the coordinator with the translators.
• The new bi-lingual department head, Kathleen Dyer will have all translators here on Wednesday every other week for meetings. PTA can use that meeting as an opportunity to give them our key dates and requests for families to be called.
• Oct. 2nd bi-lingual family night will be an opportunity for them to submit their school forms. They’ll also be talking about homework, how they can help in math & reading. Ana’s husband will come Oct. 2nd to help with translation.
• October PTA meeting will be a full meeting that breaks into committees.

• Schedule for “half meetings”
• Keith suggested doing a middle school review as a PTA education meeting.
• Debbie suggested doing a finance meeting about kids and savings, teaching your kids about money – possibly do that topic in November
• Ms. Yamada mentioned Junior Achievement teach a finance lesson on money. Learning for life.
• Christina suggested doing another math night.
• Christina mentioned a family fitness night, she will check with the coordinator & Mary Jeffery. There will be a half meeting on 11/12/08.
• Lena will check with her son if there is anyone at WaMu who may want to present.
• Ms. Yamada will ask Junior Achievement if they have a presentation for parents.
• Table remaining half meetings schedule for next meeting.
• Debbie is concerned about the Birds, Bees & Kids talk being appropriate for the whole school audience. Deena will send a link to the web site for Amy’s offerings.

3.40 Bring your parents to school night
• Child care is the primary need for Thursday night. Thistle theatre will be a one person show on Thursday. They cut their budget in half for us.
• Ana needs help providing child care for evening. Ana will go on Yahoo group to ask if anyone has high schoolers and we will pay $15/night.
• Christina suggested we approach Kids Company to see if they want to earn extra money. They need to be 16 or older.
• Keith suggested Tenasha and Mikaela, two nearby high schoolers.
• Community schools could provide child care if they get community credit. We’d prefer to have high schoolers that we know. Christina will be in the room, but she’s concerned with only one puppeteer that he’ll be able to keep all of the kids interested.
• Christina will ask Kids Company tomorrow.
• Last year Vicki’s son came and brought two friends. Ana will ask Vicki

3.50 Fundraising Team: Schedule for fundraising events: Catalog Sale, Auction, Annual Fund “reminders”
• Kickoff for the catalog sale is 10/13. This will be announced by Christina at the Monday morning meeting.
• Keith needs someone on point for the catalog sale, he’ll recruit one of the 4-5 people who have volunteered.
• No details on auction event. Another meeting next Monday 9/29 to nail down when & where the event will be. Asian Resource Center & New Holly Gathering Hall or at Graham Hill.
• Lena mentioned her child’s middle school had their auction at their school and all of the kids were involved in doing the event. Fundraising goal for auction is $18K. Procurement needs to begin asap.
• Keith will be discussing Annual Fund reminders at the Monday meeting.
• Lena has a list of communications volunteers and hopefully they could update Wiki & website and add pictures of the events. Russ took a lot of pictures of reading night. Communications committee will be responsible for researching an easy way for parents to up load photos to a central website for Graham Hill.

3.60 Second general PTA meeting – 10/14/08

• Menu: spaghetti, Debbie will buy plates for next meeting. Families bring salads, bread & desserts. Vince’s or Pizzutto’s Restaurants. Ms. Yamada will email contacts from restaurants. Elaine will contact restaurants to get prices for spaghetti for 45 adults.
• Agenda: Keith discussing catalog Sale, Elaine promoting Fall Fest, Fionnula discussing teacher appreciation.
• Debbie will help Elaine get everyone for Fall Fest organized for event prior to 10/14 so at the PTA meeting they can announce what will be happening.

3.70 Conference Week
• Ana contacted RopeWorks and found last year they had 50 children for conference week and the contact person there will be sending Ana a proposal for us to consider.
• Kids do one hour of jumping @ RopeWorks and a 2nd activity for 2nd hour.
• Lena asked if we are providing bus transportation this year. Christina says she doesn’t think buses can get back to Graham Hill in time for the conference week since Jr. High & High School don’t get out early. Christina will check, but its unlikely we can offer buses that week.

3.80 After School activities update
• Ana will email Debbie McGibbon to ask about the Healthy Eating as a 2nd activity for conference week, or ask about other things they may have that they aren’t offering during afterschool program.
• Ana will email Arts in Motion to check availability.
• Christina mentioned that every offering needs at least one spare adult helping out.

3.10 Open Forum
• Ana mentioned we need someone to head the PTA membership.
• Keith will find out what date we need to send in our membership monies.
• The person who heads the membership form needs to collect everything, enroll the members. Lena has a job description for the membership chairs.
• Membership cards give you discounts at a variety of places.
• Ana received the form for the Family Engagement Grant that we used last year for Heritage night to get the $300. Ana will fill it out and send it in.
• Ana received an email from Scott about Chinook books. Lena can help to have them available on Wednesdays during coffee hour. Deadline for Chinook sales is 9/29.
• Could have a membership table at the Curriculum night. From 6-6:30p for Chinook books & memberships. Ana can be there for the 1st session, Deena & Lena will be there to help set up.
• Ana will email Scott or Joela about Chinook books for Thursday.
• Debbie will include a reminder about fundraising meeting on Monday
• Keith will submit a building request permit for the meeting.

GRAHAM HILL PTA
BOARD MEETING MINUTES
Tuesday, August 26th 2008

2.10 Committee chairs

Report from Maura, Grounds Committee proposed Nov. 8th as grounds workday, however, she needs to discuss with Mark Leonard before finalizing date. This will be to finish the painting & do grounds cleanup.
• First PTA meeting is 9/9, Maura cannot attend, but provide something Ana can read on her behalf.
• Lena will ask her friend for a pansy donation. Maura will try to do another grounds cleanup in the front before school starts.
• Maura wants to fund an Artist in Residence to do an art installation for the front of the school and to put in a children’s garden.
• Maura will put up a welcome sign next Tuesday.
• Fall fest will be 10/24.

2.20 Presentation by Cambria Cox Make a reusable grocery bag for Graham Hill. New design for GHE logo for bag and the bag says hello in all of the languages represented at the school. Bags are made in U.S. and made of recycled cotton. This led to a discussion about the GH logo overall.
• Chris would like a new entryway sign that would be in the entrance of the school that says hello in all of the languages.
• Keith thinks we should redo the t-shirts, website, etc. to rebrand the school.
• Cost for 100 bags is $555, for 150 bags is $831. Sell them for $10.
• Need 7-8 weeks to produce, so they would arrive in November.
• Keith requested line item on budget.
• Elaine suggested we put t-shirt order form in with PTA registration. We’ll need to order some smaller sizes as most of what we have left is adult sizes. Keith proposed to use the new design.
• Chris motioned that we get PTA buy in for change of branding. Debbie seconded. For now we’ll just order the bags with the new logo and then we can decide if people want to change the school brand.
• Debbie thinks we should sign off on the bag and propose a volume of bags to the larger PTA meeting.
• Ana will propose the approval of the change of logo at the meeting, and the Board will decide
• PTA should set aside some canvas bags as door prizes to encourage people to come for a meeting.
• We will order 150 bags and get those in the works.

2.30 Principal’s Report we’re almost ready. There’s a big pile of surplus supplies by Ms. Jordan’s room that we’re working on getting rid of to not be in violation of fire codes.
• Emily Carlson will start as a sub to be in 3s & 4s classroom vacated by Jen Wilkenson. New 2nd grade teacher for Mindy Woodbury’s room was supposed to come today, but didn’t and apparently isn’t, so we’ll have a sub to start.
• 5th grade class currently has 34 students – don’t know if they’ll all come. Traditional program has waitlist for 3 grades.
• Preschool has a Maureen’s & Libby’s class have more 3 year olds than they should according to program design. District says some won’t show, but we have confirmed that all families are coming and they’ve paid their monies.
• Keith will ask Vicki for a roster of all teachers & classrooms for him to put on the Wiki.
• We have an extra bi-lingual staffer because Ethiopian population has risen & Somali population has risen.
• Elaine mentioned teachers need to update their web pages in preparation for new families checking us out.
• Chris said teachers need technical help to update their website. Elaine will find a resource to assist.

2.40 Treasurer’s Report Keith hasn’t received the books from Jeff who is now in Spain, so nothing to report.
• Budget was approved last spring, so no discussion of budget is needed at the first PTA meeting. Keith can provide copies of what was done in the spring. Ana thinks she has the soft copy.
• Keith will present a summary of the big picture fundraising goals, what we have, what we need.
• We will cover afterschool buses, tutor & powerful writers to the tune of $18K. Fundraising committee wanted to do some sort of auction.
• Elaine proposed bringing in Pearl Jango for a concert again as they haven’t been asked for a number of years.
 Amount to keep on Reserve (% of the budget or a set amount)

2.50 PTA packet
• Board needs to update pictures & bio information for the Opening letter. Need to update packet info. Confirm who is doing Washington Mutual program?
• Should we do the brochure updated from last year or a flier(s) as in the sample packet? Keith will work on revising the one page letter and including a mention to ask for matching corporations & include the tax ID number. Include check boxes with amounts & a blank for other.
• Chris suggested buying a thank you trinket. Cleverly say “Thank you for your generous contribution to Graham Hill’s success”. Make a whale magnet with a heart and encourage people to use the magnet to hold the form on their fridge until they send it in. Thanks for your whale of a donation. Chris has a contact person for a provider of such magnets.
• On the volunteer form, should we change the form to say what we commitment of hours we really need. Also add a box for classroom help.
• Keith suggested changing committee to “team”. Building/Grounds Team, change DEAR to Reading Night. Change Washington Mutual to Wamu
• Debbie will run this by Christine to see if there is anything missing.
• Board overview: New board members please email to moc.liamtoh|dranoelbed#moc.liamtoh|dranoelbed their updates.
• Board likes the list of calendar events as opposed to the calendar view.
• Teachers give a blue & white flip chart calendar from Seattle schools.
• Betina is still the moderator of the Graham Hill Yahoo group. Add wiki & website information. Keith will send that content to Debbie.
• Curriculum night will be renamed “Bring your Parent to school night” 9/18 will be bi-lingual night, 9/25 will be all school.
• What dates do we need for Chinook book? Who is doing Chinook Book? Keith will research the Chinook book. Ana will research the fall catalog.
• PTA packet should go out Friday 9/5 after the all school packet which will go out the first day. Translators will not be back to translate the packet by then.

2.60 First general PTA meeting
• PTA meetings will be every 2nd Tuesday except for Nov. when Veterans’ Day makes it on Wednesday.
• PTA Board meetings will be the 4th Tuesday of each month except for September when its Monday because of Elaine’s birthday 9/23. Happy Birthday Elaine!
• 1st PTA meeting: we will have pizza party. Need to order 5-6 pizzas, fruit & veggie trays. Lena will pick up the pizza.
• Agenda for meeting, elect new members, usual reports to be presented, Cambria’s bags, logo, t-shirts, request for committee sign ups. Lena will put up walk by sign ups which we need to tell everyone about at the meeting.
• Ana will arrange 2 babysitters for the PTA meeting on 9/9. Debbie will ask Alyssa if she can be one.
• Science center came last year to do demo in lunchroom. We’ll do that again for the all school Bring your Parent to school night. Options: Elaine will check with: Thistle Family Theatre (puppets), Science Center back, Mad Science, Naturalist – Reptileman.
• New Program called School Messenger that allows messages to be sent out to all school families. Automated calling system and can also be segmented by classroom. GHE will set up the lists and get the families loaded into the system.

2.70 Volunteer Coordinator

 Does fundraising committee have a chair? Keith Harrison
 Fall Fest

2.80 After School activities for Conference Week and Curriculum Night options, Elaine to make some phone calls.
• Afterschool activities: Elaine will send Ana the Ropeworks’ number to check on the Conference Week availability. Ana will call Ropeworks. They can do two one hour sessions. Seattle Children’s theatre came before. Stone Soup might be an option. Powerful schools can’t do anything that week. Arts in Motion may come in for music & storytelling. Parent volunteers are needed. African drumming would be awesome! Drums in gym & Ropeworks in lunchroom.

2.90 Board to make a decision about ½ PTA meeting and activities for the 1st qtr.
• Last year we surveyed parents to see what topics they were interested in. Christine has the list. PTA should consider whether January, March & May would be the months for alternate presentations.
• Deena will check with author of Parenting & the Internet to see about a presentation here. Also check Media Relations and South Precinct police department to ask for their presenter. Internet safety could be the November topic. Do Birds & Bees & Kids in March. Deena check with Amy Lang.

2.10 Open Forum
• Debbie proposed we should put together a PTA achievements flier and a Plans for the Year flier. Elaine will start a list and email it around and everyone can add events. Debbie will format the list when its finalized.
• Chris thinks we should celebrate more of PTA’s achievements.

GRAHAM HILL PTA
GENERAL MEETING NOTES
Tuesday, January 13th, 2009

1.10 Principal’s Report
 Snow make up days are June 17, 18, & 19. Last day of school is June 19th.
 Open enrollment starts 3/2 – 3/31. If you know anyone who wants a tour, they are scheduled in February on the Seattle School district website. They should call the office to sign up.
 Friday is MLK assembly @ 10am.
 Monday is the MLK holiday, no school. Tuesday is inauguration day and staff wanted to get kids involved to honor this historical day. It happens in Seattle @ 8:30am and students are invited to come early @ 8:30 to cafeteria to sit with their classes and have attendance. On the big screen, we will watch the swearing in ceremony & inaugural address. Teachers will then do age appropriate activities in the classroom. A reminder flier will go home tomorrow.
 Monday 1/26 there is no school, it is a teacher in-service day.
 Powerful Writers information – Susan works for Powerful Schools of which Powerful Writers is a part. She displayed a kindergarten story, “Me & My Dad went to the Park”. Also a 5th grader: “Rodrey’s 10th birthday party.” Kids need to write every day and they need to choose what they want to write about. There is a two hour training available to parents where you can learn about the writing process and how to confer with kids about their writing. Kids are immersed in the kind of writing they want to do by reading the genre of what they are expected to write.

1.20 Treasurer’s Report
 Treasurer’s report will be available on the Graham Hill Wiki
 Budget highlights: Annual fund is close to $7K raised against $11K goal.
 Catalog sales raised almost $4K against a $7K budgeted goal. Sale started late and was under promoted – lessons learned for next year improvements.
 Chinook Book fundraiser raised $6,500 against a $2K goal. Joella & Scott, thank you!
 All in, we’re slightly above budget on our fundraising. But the biggest piece of fundraising activity this year is the auction and we’ll see how it goes there.

1.30 Lobbying effort to the Capitol by PTA members on Thursday Feb. 26th at noon.
 Focus day rally will be a one day rally to hammer home to legislators the need for education funding and how important it is to us. There is a page of talking points available from Keith.
 Number one lobbying effort for this session is to support the basic education funding task force study group results to determine what we need to do to get the state education funding up to standards. WA state currently ranks in the 44th compared to the other 50 states in levels of funding.
 Keith attended meeting where task force presented findings such as increasing the graduation requirements b/c the current requirements wouldn’t allow them to attend a 4 year college. Other task force initiative is around funding issues related to channeling money where it will do the most good in the state. This would benefit Seattle. The current method used to distribute funds is a broken formula. Generally, 50% of budget goes to education, but currently its only about 40% going to education.
 Website is: www.whatittakesforkids.com to learn more.
 Two steps: get framework in place to make sure money is spent wisely and then as the state budget improves, a larger share should go to education. Gregoire’s budget is cutting almost a billion dollars to education.
 Keith Harrison can provide more info wrt carpooling, going as a group to Olympia.

1.40 Feb 27th, Heritage Night is a fun time! Teachers inspire the kids to do a project around their heritage.
 Learning about different countries – a very fun time of year for kids where they can display their project.
 Bring a food from your heritage that is special.
 There’s a variety of ethnic music and groups coming for ethnic dance.
 Performances planned:
o African American storyteller will come.
o Martial Arts group is coming to perform.
o A Mexican dance group.
o Students will sing in Chinese
o 5th graders will do the “Did ya know’s”
o Finally Mr. Rollison & Mr. Toby will put together a disco in the library.
 Volunteer sign-up sheet was sent around to recruit for set up & clean up, greeting, hosting, sign in cards, monitoring food tables, food prep, etc. Need help for hall monitoring at the top of stairs, etc.
 We have budget to buy permanent decorations like Chinese lanterns, table cloths, flags of different countries.

1.50 Upcoming PTA sponsored events

 Feb 27th, Heritage Night
 March 10th, Parent’s information night: parenting and internet safety. Todd Curtis presenting content from his book called, “Parenting and the Internet”
 April 17th, Mt. Baker Community Center Auction, Theme is Creole theme – Lance Meyer is leading auction procurement.
o Initiatives:
1) letter in backpack mail to ask for help from families to generate procurement items,
2) businesses targeted in direct mail,
3) door to door business targets and
4) larger ticket items with local vendors like WAC, princess cruises, Alaska Air. Rachel & Tammi will get the parents letter out in backpack mail. Lance needs help in soliciting businesses. Caterers, beverages, food distributors, etc.
o Help is needed for class coordination of class auction project. moc.liamg|nosirrahelehcaR#moc.liamg|nosirrahelehcaR would love to hear if you can help with auction project.
 June 5th, Reading Night
o 2nd annual book swap was a big success last year. The first gentlemen will hopefully come this year as well as Reading with Rover.
 June 19th, Field day and Bar-B-Q – last day of school celebration.
o Bring grilles and cook for kids & students with help of Child Nutrition Services

1.70 Open Forum
• Garbage bags & gloves available 1/19 to clean up playground and surrounding area 9am, then go to Garfield and goes to MLK park.
• Get in touch with Lena, Anna, Lance Meyer or Mike if you want to help with the auction. There are lots of needs!
• Debbie Leonard asked if you could check off child’s name and help to clean the room when you pick them up after the meeting tonight.

GRAHAM HILL PTA
GENERAL MEETING NOTES
Tuesday, October 14th, 2008
1. Angela began the meeting at 6:35pm
2. PRINCIPAL’S REPORT: Christine Morningstar announced:
• After school programs are in full swing with Math All Stars, sponsored by Communities in Schools and Mekong School Tutoring for homework help. All slots were based on teacher recommendations with parental approval. We also have Powerful Schools Learning Centers providing classes on Tuesday & Thursdays from 3:15-5:30. 5 of 8 classes for PSLC are full.
• Bike racks: in front by the flagpole there is one. It is designed for quick drop off/pick up. Not secure for kids. In back of the school by Room 105 are two large bike racks which can hold up to 24 bikes and kids can go right to playground after securing bikes.
• Professional Development: Last Friday staff worked on Success Maker training. It’s a program we’ve had for a few years. Teachers are using it for kids reading & math. It provides daily tutoring that ties into Everyday Math.
• This Wednesday we’re starting curriculum alignment and teacher collaboration time. Its hard to find collaboration time, but we’re carving out Wednesdays for that. 1st assignment will be “What does a 5th grade graduate look like?” and trickle that down all the way to kindergarten in figuring out what the kids need to be doing. We’re working on the Grade Level Expectations (GLEs) for each grade and will vertically align those all the way up so that each level prepares the child for 5th grade graduation. That relates to our AOL status.
• Ms. Jordan is our teacher representative. Mr. Leonard is also here. Thank you for coming!
3. TREASURER’S REPORT: Keith Harrison reported
• Keith has been up to his eyeballs in checks from PTA membership, Chinook Books, etc. so it’s a good problem to have, but it means he doesn’t have “the books” formatted yet.
• PTA membership is budgeted to bring in $2,500. We’re at $1,866 currently. ½ that amount goes out of the school. Keith expects a $300 shortfall in this line item.
• Annual fund budget is $12,000. We’ve brought in $4,000 from first plea at the start of school year. We will continue messaging to gain support. Soon we can take in online payments through PayPal. We’re currently processing memberships and will have a report at next meeting about total PTA membership.
• Chinook Books goal was $4,000 of which we keep ½. We’ve raised $10,000. Thanks to Joela and Scott There has been a ton of outreach. $3,200 above our goal net once we pay for books.
• Catalog sale is launched. It wraps two weeks from now. The kids left the meeting motivated. Goal for catalog sales is $14,000 gross, net $7,000.
• Still have Graham Hill whale t-shirts for $5. Kids mediums are smallest size. Lots of adult sizes. Shirts will be for sale at FallFest.
• Tote bags are in and for sale for $10.

4. FUNDRAISING REPORT: Keith Harrison reported:
• There has been discussion about remaining fundraising goal and how to achieve it.
o Large Scale adults only offsite auction fundraiser. Silent & live auction, food & alcohol available. PROS: one event, knock it out, focus on one thing. It may be appealing to people outside of parents. People might invite neighbors. CONS: It’s not as inclusive of entire community. Anna McCartney will step up to co-chair event, but we have to motivate a lot of people to help get it done.
o Series of 2-3 smaller scale family oriented fundraisers, i.e holiday event like a matinee movie at Columbia City along with shopping in local businesses and some of the proceeds going to school. In Spring, a child art focused auction, and other procured items for silent auction with local businesses, in someplace like Columbia City gallery. Cambria has reached out to some of those businesses and they seem willing. Eat out for Graham Hill nights with local eateries giving a percentage. PROS: Its more inclusive of CONS: Amount of effort to do multiple events may exceed what it takes to do one event.
• We’re funding afterschool buses, tutoring programs, two additional classroom tutors so every grade level has tutors available. $23,000 of things that we haven’t funded in the past.
• 20 voted for the auction. 12 voted for smaller events.
• An Auction will be pursued for the spring and Anna will chair or co-chair the auction
5. Break into groups for committees at 7:35p (reports received are included below the mtg notes)
• FALL FEST PLANNING – Elaine chair
• GROUNDS - Maura
• FUNDRAISING - Keith
6. FINAL CLOSING REMARKS
• Fall fest is October 24th. Volunteers are still needed. Donate time, skills, or offering.
• Fionnuala is discussing Teacher Appreciation & South End food bank –
o Throughout the year we give acknowledgements to various people on their special day, i.e. to the nurse on Nurse’s Day.
o We divide the month in half and donate snacks to teachers. There are teacher appreciation post cards where you can have credit. An example is 2 dozen cookies. Bring it one day for that period for that half a month. There are approximately 60 staff. It’s a token chance to bring something in for the teachers. Just bring it into school and put it in staff room.
o We do go wild for teacher appreciation week, 1st week in May. We do a luncheon and give the teachers a gift from the PTA.
o There is a bucket in the hall to fill with canned goods and we ill donate as necessary.
• Angela mentioned the next Grounds Party is November 8th. Contact Maura or show up 9-12:30 to paint and/or weed. There will be food and fun and childcare!
• If you aren’t a member of the Yahoo Group, please join. Keith is also managing the Wiki.
• November 12th, instead of a general meeting, we’ll have a Fitness Night sponsored by Communities in Schools, Subway & the Seahawks. There will be lots of things for kids to participate in.
• Need tips for babysitters!
• Open forum: If you want to volunteer for the auction, email moc.nosirrahhtiek|htiek#moc.nosirrahhtiek|htiek.
• Elaine needs Harvest decoration you may have, pumpkins, spider webs, etc. Drop off in PTA room. Debbie announced you can sign up on flier that came home with kids tonight.
COMMITTEE NOTES
GROUNDS COMMITTEE: (Thanks for the notes Maura!)
Here's what our team needs in order to be successful:

1.) Mark SATURDAY, November 8th from 9 -12:30 on your calendar. We're having our fall work party and need helpers to finish our interior painting (it's not that much) and weed outdoors.
• Syd Carter agreed to make and post flyers for the event.
• Steve Strong agreed to procure food items
• I agreed to coordinate a gardener with the District, complete all necessary District paperwork and organize supplies and people for the event.
• I will arrange for childcare.

2.) By Monday, 10/20, please review the list of intentions below and prioritize what you would like to see happen this academic year. Send your choices back to me via email.

• Spearhead a Children's garden *Syd Carter is willing to lead this effort and Cambria Cox has expressed interest in helping.
• Hire an artist in residence to co-create (with teachers and classes who have expressed interest) an art piece for our entry way. Gibran Hashmi and I are willing to co-lead this.
• Repaint/Replace our flag pole
• Purchase/Procure benches for the front of the school
• Safety measures for parking lot and traffic flow before/after school
• Paint curb lines and help Ms. Jeffrey (PE teacher) with exterior painting
• Transplant a Japanese Maple for Eli/Kids Co.
• Cutting Back/Removing blackberries near rear of school/Morgan Street - *Bill Wetzel has stepped up to work on this in the Spring.
• Security Lighting near the covered courts at the rear of the school

Other Commitments Include:
• PTA room housekeeping -Rachel Harrison will spearhead this.
• Main entrance housekeeping -Rachel Harrison
• Look into help with grounds upkeep - Steve Strong and Syd Carter

If you know of someone else who would like to be a part of our fun, active team - grab them and invite them to our first work party on November 8th. THANKS! —-Maura and Team

GRAHAM HILL PTA
GENERAL MEETING NOTES
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
1. Debbie Leonard welcomed everyone and announced last year’s PTA accomplishments.
2. PRINCIPAL’S REPORT: Christina Morningstar announced:
• Room parents are needed for many rooms.
• Enrollment this year is 380. 5th grade class has 32, 4th grade has 28, Montessori preschool is overenrolled. Letter will go out tomorrow to preschool parents to address over enrollment.
• Transportation is getting ironed out.
• Graham Hill is an Advanced Learning Opportunity (ALO) school, so if your child qualifies for Spectrum or APP, he/she can stay at Graham Hill. That means staff is more challenged to divide attention for gifted & non-gifted children. If your child is a spectrum qualified student, that will transfer to their transcript to middle school. Staff will identify kids for Spectrum as well. Talk to someone on staff if you don’t want your child in Spectrum or APP. If they are in those programs, their report card will look different.
• Application period for determining qualification in these programs is now. Deadline is Oct. 8th. The program starts in 1st grade. Teachers also need to fill out a form, parents may want last year’s teacher to fill out form as they may know the child better. Kindergarteners can be tested now and the admission would be for 1st grade next year.
• Two new teachers have been hired. Ms. Emily Carlsen in 236 and & Lisa Confehr in Rm 235. Also in the process of hiring a new Montessori aide for Ms. Maureen’s class. New bi-lingual teacher, new math coach, new special ed autism IA & new bi-lingual IA as well.
• Patsy Yamada & Kathy Langhans are the kindergarten team. The teachers have agreed that at least one teacher will attend each of the PTA meetings this year. Thanks to our reps who were here tonight.
• Free & reduced lunch applications. Fill out the form & turn it in if your family qualifies. This helps with the GHE budget because monies are allocated based on the % of families who need help. The entire process is confidential.
3. TREASURER’S REPORT: Keith Harrison reported
• We have a $30K cushion. Total budget is $78K. We fund the Artist in Residence program, school assembles, 4th & 5th grade overnight in Spring, NW ballet partnership – Discover Dance for 3, 4, 5 grades.
• PTA approved Powerful Writers program for this year. $10K budget item which is new from previous years.
• Tutors at each grade level were also funded.
• New afterschool program starting this year will allow afterschool buses to get folks home so those who don’t have rides can participate in afterschool programs. $6K.
• Total fundraising goal this year is $43K broken into 3-4 major fundraisers. 1) Annual Fund request – expected to raise $11K, 2) Fall catalog sale expected to raise - $XK. Other fundraising opportunities will be announced with the fundraising committee report.
• PTA does have money to fund things, so put in your requests.
4. ELECTION OF BOARD MEMBERS: Ana Schoenecker announced & held approval of following board members:
• Angela McKinney is a returning parent and will be our new Co-President
• Keith Harrison volunteered to be new Treasurer
• Deena McCloskey volunteered to be secretary
• All nominations were approved
5. GRAHAM HILL SHOPPING BAG: Cambria Cox shared idea for shopping bag as fundraiser. Planning to sell for $10/bag. She shared a new logo.
6. GRAHAM HILL LOGO: Keith discussed possibly changing the logo from the previous whale to the logo design for the bag. Rebrand the logo, use for mailings. No expected added costs. Keith proposed we let the logo circle and then vote on it later in the meeting.
7. VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR: Lena Lui mentioned there is a volunteer form in the backpack mail.
• Communications & PR team members are needed.
• Room volunteers are needed.
• Fall Festival team needs help for event.
• Grounds team needs help beautifying the building.
• Heritage night & Membership team need volunteers.
• Another volunteer opportunity is to help out during recess. Ms. Morningstar will offer 1st Aid training for recess volunteers.
8. FALL FESTIVAL: Elaine Porterfield announced Fall Fest event. One of the two biggest nights of the year. October 24th is this year’s date. Dinner, music, & book fair. She needs volunteers for decorating in the afternoon & clean up at the end. You could also volunteer to work the book fair. We need disc jockey. Kids have a blast and kids are already having fun planning costumes. Elaine will be helping to make it all happen.
9. GROUNDS REPORT: Betina Simmons gave grounds report on behalf of Maura Wheelan: Nov. 15th is next work party date. A little painting is needed to finish what was started last year. There are pictures to hang, gardening to do. We also need drought tolerant plants for front of school. Parents can help with weeding & watering. Need help with Children’s Garden & large mural. Help cleaning up PTA room, etc. is needed. Contact Maura to join in making Graham Hill beautiful
10. FUNDRAISING REPORT: Keith Harrison reported:
• 1st meeting is set for next Wednesday, 9/17/08. Fundraising team’s main objective is a new event, Graham Hill’s first auction. Fundraising Team will make a strategic plan for event.
• Joela Maggio gave a Chinook Book report. Graham Hill gets $10 from the sale of each book. They sell for $20. Please sell them to family members, neighbors, grandparents, etc.
11. GUEST PRESENTER: Jenny Hill with Communities & Schools in Seattle is a non-profit providing math & reading programs at schools. They work K-12 to prevent school dropouts. They have a reading buddy program to help 1st & 2nd graders to help with reading. They make it simple for volunteers to become reading buddies. They are looking for volunteers at Communities & Schools. They also bring in professional athletes to promote healthy living. Math program is afterschool while reading is during school. The math program is 2 days after school. Last year they didn’t have enough people to do the math program here. Graham Hill is the only school in Seattle they work directly with. We are very fortunate! They held a “Stop the Bus” school supplies contribution program. 17 schools received supplies including GHE from this program.
12. Open Forum: Ms. Morningstar announced 9/25 @ 6:30p is “Bring Your Parents to School” night. Teachers will talk in classrooms. Thistle family puppet theatre will come to entertain the kids.
13. Communications:
• Graham Hill has a Yahoo group for parents and a Wiki: http://Wiki.grahamhillelementary.org.
• Dan Eder also asked about publishing a school-wide directory. He’ll do all of the grunt work to getting it altogether. Put school info into a database.
• Margaret wants help with a 2nd WaMu banking parents needed. 8:45-10a on Tuesday mornings. Banking flier in envelope has contact info or Lena Lui has contact info.
14. Meeting concluded with discussion about the logo and whether we should change it. Teachers have seen it. Perhaps kids should see it & take a vote. Keith will table it for next meeting.