Hillside Elementary School PTA

Gifted and Talented Magnet

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Hillside PTA/SATp Meeting Minutes– May 13, 2022

Hillside PTA/SATp Meeting

 

May 13, 2022

9:30am

Zoom

 

Co-Presidents Betty Shvetz and Yvette Frazier welcomed everyone to the meeting. Minutes from the April 7, 2022 meeting were presented and approved unanimously.

 

President’s Report (Yvette Frazier)

  • Commemorative T-Shirts have been ordered and will ship on 5/18.
  • Hillside Tours were a success on 4/28. Thank you to everyone who supported and attended the tours.
  • Explorers: the six-week session for spring started 4/25. Thank you for donating to the Explorers scholarship program.
  • Teacher Appreciation Lunch on 5/4: PTA gave teachers nice bag lunches from Mercado.
  • Teacher stipends have been paid out.

 

Nominating Committee update: Committee consisting of Christina Joseph Robinson, Stacie Hawes, Varsha Hathiramani, and Stacey Cantor reported on its work to date.

  • Slate for PTA Exec Board 2022-2023
    • President position still open.
    • VP Events: Lani Sommer-Padilla
    • VP Communications: Christina Joseph Robinson
    • Recording Secretary: Tsihai Hanson
    • Treasurer: Michael Barrett
    • Nominations welcome at nominatingcomm@hillsidepta.org.
  • Committees (open positions)
    • Need at least one or two other members for Class Liaison Chair, Hospitality, etc. 
    • Will share list on social media and through class liaisons.
    • Only thing filled up right now is Explorers team.

 

PTA Treasurer’s Report (Dana Rizzo)

  • Asked for 5th grade shout-outs, bringing in additional $637 in donations, which will be applied to 5th grade picnic.
  • Spiritwear has outperformed budget estimate.
  • Used $1,328 in Fireball funds for lighting repairs.
  • Had set aside funds for bussing for field trips that will likely not be used this year.
  • Did two teacher appreciation lunches this year; higher costs due to need to serve individual lunches rather than buffet.
  • Good uptake on teacher stipend applications, with support from Dr. Anglin in publicizing.

 

There was no Principal’s Report or Q/A due to state testing.

 

PTA Calendar Review/Event Planning (Betty Shvetz)

  • Fundraising events:
    • May Fundraising Events – Car Wash 5/21
  • 5th Grade Celebration – 6/21
    • Yearbook Shouts – Done. Easy, great way to fund 5th grade celebration (yearbook, t-shirts, party). Papasikos is funding the yearbook this year.
    • Sign Up Genius – almost full, lots of volunteers and donations.
  • Committee and other May events updates:
    • International Night 5/19 – 6:00 – 8:00pm – almost full. Expecting 200-300 people.
    • Nishuane Tours 5/25 – 10:00am – Nishuane students will come do a tour in the morning, then come back at 6pm for picnic at Hillside.
    • Nishuane/Hillside Transition Picnic 5/25  – 6:00-7:30pm
  • Fireball Updates 
    • Only 13 tickets remaining.
    • Need Sponsors and Donors – will send information to everyone.
  • June events:
    • Field Day 6/3 – looking for volunteers – all day event during school – signup genius
    • Fireball 6/4
    • 5th Grade Picnic 6/21
    • 5th Grade Moving Up 6/23 – 11:00am

 

SATp Updates (Stacie Hawes)

  • Hillside Rocks Pride Month Display: asking people to paint rocks to make a heart on the Hillside lawn. Collecting rocks at door K until May 27th. Will display on Hillside lawn starting June 1.
  • Last fundraiser: rainbow cupcake sale in June. 
  • Juneteenth collaboration with Nishuane – will be held at Nishuane, date tbd.
  • Had to cancel Double Dutch and Soccer stuff event on 5/13 due to low participation.

 

Jenn DiLullo on Social Justice:

  • Juneteenth event will likely be Thursday, June 16th. 
  • Social Justice Book Club started 5/12 virtually.
  • Hosted AAPI Heritage Month “Discover India” school assemblies on May 6 – great way of bringing culture into schools. 
  • Parent team updated AAPI Heritage Month lesson plans from last year and distributed to Hillside teachers.
  • Upcoming collaboration with Montclair NAACP, MPL, Nishuane on celebration of Caribbean American culture and heritage.
  • Jewish Heritage Month: have been trying to get teachers involved in doing cultural lesson plans, but with little uptake.
  • Jenn has heard from two parents of children in younger grades interested in carrying on work of Social Justice committee next year.

 

BOE Updates (Allison Silverstein)

  • Budget was passed with staffing cuts planned due to $3 million deficit. 
  • Some staff will receive nonrenewal notices, but many of those will be rescinded due to staffing movement over the summer.
  • Health costs and salaries rise at higher rate than 2% tax levy cap every year.
  • Change from Type I to Type II won’t go into effect until January. Board leadership and committee structures will remain unchanged until then.
  • Need for committee to sit down and look at school year calendar, and think about how to fit in PD, be inclusive in observing major cultural holidays, consider later start times but also relation to intramural sports schedules.

 

The meeting adjourned at 10:30am.

 

Meeting Attendees:

  • Yvette Frazier
  • Betty Schrem Shvetz
  • Amber Reed
  • Stacie Hawes
  • Christina Robinson
  • Allison Silverstein
  • Amira Williams
  • Dana Rizzo
  • Dee Thompson
  • Elise Genao
  • Josie Williams
  • Kelly Shapiro
  • Leslie Houseworth-Fields
  • Varsha Hathiramani
  • Mendi Obadike
  • Brian Fleischer
  • Jacqueline Ahern