Pierce School PTO Minutes - February 2008

Due to technical problems, the complete list of attendees is not available.

Attendants: Pipier Smith-Mumford, Joshua Frank, Rhodinne Wang, Charlie Walsh, Nicole Lapidus, Martha Huntley, Chandlee Dickey,

Principal’s Report:

• Our students continue to have successes. 7&8 Basketball teams are in the playoffs.
• The MLK Assemblies were a huge success and very meaningful experiences.
• The Chinese New Year Events were educational and delightful.

Fundraising Issues:

The majority of the evening was spent discussing how Pierce wants to fundraise. Our annual budget is approximately $50,000 which goes towards field trips which every grade goes on, teacher reimbursement of $200/full time teacher/year for out-of-pocket expenses, Pierce picnic, educational enrichment such as arts programs, school enhancements such as the map of the world, movie night, Chinese New Year, Math league, Morning reading and math, and FitFest.

How we want to raise the money is the question. How do we balance our needs for community building with pure fundraising? We have a fairly good balance between the two. This year there will not be an auction, so how do we make up the shortfall?

This discussion will continue March 19, at 7pm. Please come and share your ideas.

Two more ideas were offered:

• An adult only evening party at someone’s house, possibly with a silent auction. This will allow the staff and parents to be together at a low-key, relaxing event outside of school. Likely we will sell admission tickets.
• For next year a walk-a-thon may be planned. This event has the distinct advantage of including the kids in the fundraising activities. The kids themselves can then walk, collect the money and feel as though they are directly contributing to the field trips that they enjoy. This may yield a good amount of money, but will require organization. Therefore, it will likely occur next spring to bookend with the FitFest. Pierce will become known for its physical activities.

Other issues

We need someone to help with the Pierce picnic in the spring and a new co-chair for the Outreach Committee.

We need a new co-chair for next year as Nicole Lapidus will have finished her 3 year term.

Meeting with Dr. Lupini on February 14th

The morning after the PTO meeting there was an outreach breakfast which Dr. Lupini graciously attended. He hopes that there will be a 20 minute addition to the school day. There is a 1.5 million dollar shortfall in the school budget mostly due to heating and healthcare. This may lead to a 21 FTE staff reduction, predominately at the high school, though elementary schools will also suffer with some cuts. He also described an anticipated increase in enrollment in the early grades continuing. He described the need for an override vote and possible scenarios for that vote. The process is complicated, but in the spring, either there will likely be a vote to on the following three areas a.) address the shortfall (some FTEs would be reinstated); b.) expand the budget to extend the school day; c.) put world language back in K-8.

In response to questions from the parents:

1. When will Pierce be seeing facility improvements?
   • Pierce is third in line for facility improvements which will unlikely to be happening in the next few years.
   • We are getting swipe cards.
2. Will we also be getting social workers to reach out to kids who feel alienated and may turn to violence?
   Increased FTE is unlikely to be coming for social workers to help meet the needs of kids who feel alienated. We can do more with existing resources and there are pilot projects in the high school.
3. Are you involved politically with the future of the No Child Left Behind act?
   No. My efforts are more local.