Pierce School PTO Minutes - April 2008

Attendants: Pipier Smith-Mumford, Joshua Frank, Chandlee Dickey, Karen Szeto, Stacey Irwin Downey, Ellen Rottersmann, Nicole Lapidus, Rhodinne Wong, Deborah Costelloe, Jim Flemming, Eileen Regis, Charlie Walsh

Principal’s Report:

1. MCAS first round went well. It takes a toll on the environment—it can be hard on students to be quiet for 2 whole weeks and it also room switches, etc.
2. Mill Girls, PTO sponsored, enacted 3 different persons: an immigrant, a labor activist, and character. She performed for 7th graders to learn about different aspects of history. The teachers thought it aligned particularly well with the curriculum.
3. Mitali Perkins, PTO partial sponsored, who wrote “Balancing Two Worlds”, is originally from India and talked about how books can be your best friend, and an escape for people. She also talked about how it can be to balance two different world influences. Her talk was inspirational for the kids and reinforced the value of reading.
4. Vice Principal interviews start tomorrow. There are parent and teacher representatives involved. There are many good candidates.
5. The week leading up to vacation, students will begin announcing information about Earth Day and how the school will be going greener. There may be changes in the Broadsheet going paperless, for example.
6. Next Wed, 6pm, Dr. Lupini will be at Pierce to discuss the budget. This forum is open to the Pierce community and will occur in the school library. All are welcome to attend.
7. Thursday, 4/17, the school committee candidates will be attending our PTO Community Breakfast for an informal meet and greet.
8. 2-6 play, Suessical, starts 4/10 and is expected to be a huge success. Many thanks to the parent volunteers.
9. An alternative to the magazine drive may be ordering cards that students and staff draw. Students draw pictures and families can then order cards that the kids drew. This may be an effective fundraiser for the 7&8 grade classes. They need to raise money to help offset the 8^th grade end of year expenses including graduation, the dance, and their trip to NYC. The PTO will work collaboratively with the older students to help them reach their goals.

Treasurer Report

1. $200 writing workshop 6^th
2. $160 for lizards and snakes 3^rd grade trip to Museum of Science
3. $92 for math league recognition
4. $132 for Alpha Smart cables, Dr. Smith-Mumford will buy an additional cable
5. all requests were approved

Co-chair Report

1. Dr. Lupini holds a monthly session with PTO co-chairs. This past month they met Angela Allen, a math specialist, about the new “Think Math” curriculum. She will be coming to Pierce to talk about this new curriculum. The whole town will start to use this curriculum next year and it has been piloted at Pierce this year. Combines computation with theory and conceptual math. Kids are encouraged to learn how to talk about the problems at hand. For example, if there are 8 circles drawn on the board in different colors, kids will talk about how it can be conceived. Specialists and pilot programs within Pierce will talk about their experience with it. Can also address students’ needs where they are, for example, a student who excels in math and operate and use the workbook at a higher level than a student who has more difficulty, yet there is plenty for the student with difficulty to learn from each lesson. There is an initial learning curve for teachers. The dveloper of Think Math lives in Newton and has helped our teachers with initial questions and suggestions.
2. Kindergarten numbers remain high: Pierce will have 4 sessions in kindergarten next year.
3. Driscoll just had a silent auction and it was very successful.
4. School council election this Thursday. Four people will be elected.
5. We still need a PTO co-chair for next year. Interested persons please step forward.
6. 7&8 grade funds will be transferred to the PTO treasurer who will handle their funds. The 8^th grade has an annual trip to NYC which they help to fund raise for. The PTO’s contribution may be up to $4000 in an effort to match their fund raising and eliminate the need for a magazine drive.

Adult party May 3, Jim Flemming’s house. This will be the first time this fun event will occur. It will allow parents and staff to socialize in an informal atmosphere. There will be an on-line auction. Wine and beer will be served. Tickets will be on sale soon.

Budget for next year—see posted proposed budget

1. The PTO has worked hard on trying to make future years budget more transparent, equitable, planned and accountable. Therefore, they have come up with a budget proposal for next year which we will try to follow. The idea of the budget is to plan out our money as opposed to responding to requests in the past. This will allow PTO contributors to see where their money goes.
2. Our budget for next year is proposed to be $49,000. A big change may be for fieldtrips. Next year we are going to try to achieve more parity across grades. Each grade with have a certain allowance to spend on field trips and curricular activities.
3. For example:
1. Accounting, banking $700.
2. Supplies, laminating, Broadsheet, printing 3000.
3. Outreach 2200.
4. Professional development $2500.
5. Teacher reimbursements $11,500 ($200/full time teacher)
6. Library fund $2500
7. Brookline Education Foundation $800
8. Academic achievement $2000.
9. Arts council $5000.
10. Scholarship/Pierce cares $500.
11. Drama $600.
12. Homework club $6000.
13. Field trips/grade needs
1. K $1300
2. 1 $1600
3. 2 $600.
4. 3 $800.
5. 4 $600.
6. 5 $900.
7. 6 $900
8. 7 $900
9. 8 $4000.