In attendance:
Tessie Thomas, Deborah Villarreal-Hadley, A Gideon, Anna Kondic, Brian Fleischer, Susan Gardner, Courtney Redfern, Kayla Crawley, Holly Lehr-Hahn, Daniel Garcia-Pedrosa, Selma Avdicevic, Patty Gamcsik, Melissa Schrager, Veronica Harris, Linda Kow, David Schottland, Reggie Valentine, Kristin Werner, Marco Pedersen, Marci Clark, Norrinda Hayat, Obdulia (Obie) Miranda-Woodley, June Raegner, Betty Shvetz, Jada Roman, Mary Sue Youn, Amy Uhlfelder, Ebony David, Natalie Sullivan, Kevin Quinn, Maelle Fonteneau
Minutes
The minutes for the March 9, 2020 meeting were unanimously approved.
Nominating Committee
June Raegner: the Nominating Committee had a very positive experience discussing candidates for the board. Two candidates came forward from “outside” of PTAC. After deliberation, the following candidates were proposed to the membership for election at the May meeting:
President: Tessie Thomas
Vice President: Reggie Valentine
Treasurer: Diane Tehranian
A vote was held and these candidates were unanimously approved and will be submitted for election at the May 9th meeting. They will serve with current Vice President Brian Flesicher and Secretary Courtney Redfern, each of whom have one more year to serve.
If others are interested in running for office, they may do so by sending an email to the PTAC President, Secretary or chair of the Nominating Committee (June Raegner) by April 23rd.
President’s Report
- Debbie attended Leg Con and it was very informative.
- Obie has been meeting with Mr. Sedita regarding support for ELLs and their families. MFEE will staff the effort and train parents to be able to support families. PTAC has talked with Mr. Ponds about the need to identify and address the needs of ELLs as they enter our school system
- Two Board members attended BOSE meetings and made statements acknowledging the difficult of the budget situation, urging everyone to work together, and urging the district to spend COVID funds for the benefit of the children, not just to save staff positions.
VP of Schools
Events recently held: PTAC supporting Senior food truck event (like 9th grade events). Transition to Elementary School and Transition to Middle School Zoom events held with all PTA presidents. Events were recorded and links posted on social media.
PTA presidents’ Reports
- Various schools reported on their recent events and fundraisers.
- They are busy preparing their slates for next year.
- Reopenings went very well. Lots of excitement from kids and parents.
- Most PTAs were asked by their principals not to organize welcome back events for teachers. MFEE provided water and snacks. Discussion about whether middle school PTAs will be able to contribute and welcome teachers back.
Committees
Policy
Kevin Quinn reviewed voting procedures for the May election. Voters will be PTA presidents and heads of standing committees. One vote per PTA or committee. If someone holds two roles, they still only have one vote and should delegate voting rights.
EAROG.
No new data received yet. Drafted statement in support of AAPI. Met with Diane Anglin of NAACP to see how we can work together. A member pointed out that Dr Ponds was very responsive on the AAPI issues and will incorporate into training, retraining and evaluations. A different member stated that when the district rolled out ”Undoing Racism” for teachers that some signed into the training and then left, essentially getting “days off”. So training is not the only answer.
Finance Committee
Held two events in partnership with district staff to discuss the budget process. Posted on social media and on the PTAC webpage (our YouTube channel)
New Business
A member expressed frustration that the BOE is meeting with the MEA to better labor relations, when the BOE should also be meeting and reaching out to parents to better relations. Trust has been damaged and parents are hurt. Where is RJ for parents? PTAC should invite the BOE to a trust-building event.
Meeting adjourned.