Hillside PTA/SATp Meeting Minutes
March 11, 2022
9:30am
(Zoom Meeting)
- Welcome
- Approval of minutes from January 14, 2022 meeting: Amber Reed presented the minutes and they were approved unanimously.
- President’s Report (Yvette Frazier)
- January Trivia Night 1/22
- Talent Show 2/7 – You can still watch the video; wonderful to see the kids perform.
- 2021 – 2022 STEM + Families Science Festival Grant, Sponsored by Bayer Fund – Working with Ms. Bartol to put an activity together for Science Day.
- Double Good Popcorn Fundraiser 2/21-2/25 – Thank you for participating.
- PTA Treasurer’s Report: No report.
- Principal’s Report and Q&A by Dr. Samanthaa Anglin
- Recently sent communication on updated COVID protocols and mitigating measures. There is updated quarantine and isolation guidance on district website and in email.
- Communication to play production families: Parent viewing will be on Wednesday, 3/16 at 1:30pm for parents/caregivers of cast and crew.
- Masks are not required even in large events. We cannot require it but would encourage people to mask up to protect others.
- Found out at PTAC meeting that there may be in-person tours during daytime. Tours will be run by PTAs. Dr. Anglin and Mr. Adamo will speak, but teachers will likely not participate uncompensated.
- Building leaders have requested that Central Office organize and streamline Q&A sessions for 5th graders moving up to middle school.
- 5th grade picnic and moving-up ceremony are in the works. Scheduled for Woodman Field. PTA is working on plans.
- Dr. Anglin has requested more details from B&G on readiness of Room 2 and overtime approval for staff to set up the room.
- Principal’s Q&A
- Q: We did not receive Dr. Anglin’s email to play production families.
A: We will re-send to all families.
- Comment: PTAC will be hosting a Welcome to Middle School event for parents on March 29 at Glenfield School, with representatives from all three middle schools.
- Q: Concern about masks not being required at large events.
A: Dr. Anglin and other building leaders advocated to maintain mask requirement for large events, but it did not ultimately make it into the district guidance.
- Q: Guidance says contact tracing will still be in place. How will we track when kids were unmasked next to other kids?
A: Dr. Anglin asked Nursing Supervisor and Mr. Cooper how we can identify close contacts now that it is impossible to manage and know the groups. Is it anyone in a child’s classes during the day now? They did not have answers at the time. We will keep trying to find answers.
- Comment: Asked Dr. Ponds for guidance on when family members are positive, even if vaccinated.
- Comment from Betty Shvetz on MS event for 5th graders at Hillside: PTA is looking to coordinate student panel for students, with sixth graders from all three middle schools.
Response: It seems like students at every school should have access to the same information, so concern is that these things are not being normed across schools.
- Q: Have you heard back about Beautification Committee’s questions?
A: Things have gotten muddied with referendum – overlap between work of Beautification Committee and turf/new playground that requires bonded money. There was discussion of some things the Beautification Committee could proceed with on their own. Everyone lamented the state of the front lawn.
- Comment: Happy to hear about walkthrough to identify locations of Little Free Libraries. Thank you.
A: There will be two Little Free Libraries on Hillside grounds, one on front lawn and one on St. Luke’s.
- Q: Will 2nd graders from Nishuane be able to visit Hillside this year?
A: Yes, it’s on the calendar in June along with the 2nd grade picnic.
- Q: How’s it going with the new mask policy?
A: Hard to gauge numbers. Feel like she sees about as many people masked as unmasked. Mr. Adamo and Dr. Anglin are still wearing masks so that kids whose parents have instructed them to stay masked don’t feel alone.
- PTA Calendar Review/Event Planning (Betty Schrem Shvetz)
- Fundraising events:
- Commemorative T-Shirts: Will send ordering info soon and should have them in mid-April. Shirts are commemorating return to school.
- Committee updates:
- Fireball: planning in progress, please reach out if you can help.
- 5th grade moving-up celebration: will be a picnic on June 21st during school hours.
- Explorers Volunteer Information session: Yvette is still looking for more Explorers volunteers and there will be an info session soon.
- Cyber Committee meeting next week: Trying to organize cyber information events: cyber bullying, safeguards, etc.
- Bingo night: waiting to see if we can do something in person.
- February Membership raffle – $25 gift card: only one new membership in Dec/Jan. Will do raffle after we have 10 new members. 156 members now, goal is 200.
- Hillside hoodies (currently in stock) will be on sale at the SATp Hillside Skate Date on 3/11.
- BOE/PTAC Updates (Brian Fleischer)
- Good to get into habit of keeping up with district website, especially Board reports page.
- Timeline for budget presentations has shifted later due to shift to Type II budget. Doesn’t look like it will be a year for major cuts, and Governor recently announced increased funding. You can still watch PTAC Budget 101 forums recorded last year.
- PTAC will be hosting forums/info sessions for those new to elementary schools, middle schools, high school.
- Saw list of projects submitted by each school for bond referendum. Focus will be on ventilation and end-of-life systems. District needs to quickly decide which items can be included as well.Referendum will be at least $60m but could go as high as $120-130m depending on how many projects they think they can design and execute.
- PTAC has Board position openings – please contact Amira Williams for information.
- SATp Updates and Overview of Social Justice Committee
General updates (Dee Thompson):
- Skate date tonight.
- Women’s History Month: new Inspiring Woman initiative will invite women of Hillside community to participate in a FlipGrid and talk about a woman who’s inspired your family. Look for info in eBlast later today.
- Double Dutch and Soccer Stuff in spring: two teams of Double Dutch on soccer field, led by parent volunteers.
Social Justice presentation (Jenn DiLullo):
- Trying to get word out about Hillside Social Justice committee. Started in Fall 2020 and is part of SATp. A number of schools in district were setting up equity committees at this time. Connected to PTAC DEI committee. Hillside Social Justice is about creating programming and education around social justice concerns.
- We’ve had two virtual Kwanzaa celebrations, a Lunar New Year celebration, a Spanish heritage fiesta, and an author event during AAPI Heritage Month.
- Trying to create and promote education around social justice. In addition to events, have created lesson plans to support teachers with social justice. Several teachers are involved in committee and Dr. Anglin and Mr. Adamo support this.
- Example: Black Lives Matter Week of Action lesson plans created by parents and distributed to teachers. Other examples shown.
- Student Voices Spring 2022 initiative: opportunity for students to start talking about race and racial equity.
- Most volunteers are 5th grade parents. Need new volunteers who can continue this work next year.
The meeting adjourned at 10:47am.