Pierce School PTO Minutes - October 10, 2007

Urban Improv to follow

Attendees: Eileen Regis, Joshua Frank, Adele Mathieu, Stacey Irwin Downey, Annemarie Marcus, Rhodine Wang, Sara Marx, Ellen Ball, Jeanine Dias, Charlie Walsh, Nicole Lapidus.

A. Principal’s Report- Josh Frank

1. Evacuation

The reason for evacuation was that an 8^th grader hit a pipe which broke and a chemical spilled, emitting an odor. School administration reached a consensus with Dr. Lupini to close school 5 minutes early.

Pierce does have an evacuation procedure in place where parents are notified where to pick up their children; however, because of the time of the evacuation (1:55), there wasn’t time to do this type of proper evacuation. Due to the chemical smell, the school needed to get kids out asap. If there was time for a proper evacuation, parents would have been notified about where their children could be picked up.

** There were concerns around the parent the community about how the evacuation was handled.Pierce administration will meet with town officials to review how this recent evacuation was handled and what could be corrected going forward.

2.Enrollment

With larger class sizes in grades K & 2 this year, the school is looking to add additional support in these classrooms....

-Interviewing Kindergarten aides, hoping for a hire for next week.

(goal is for two adults in every classroom)

-2^nd grade- Student teachers in every classroom.

B. Co- Chair Report

1. Treasurer Report - N. Lapidus

The following funding requests were approved:

Kindergarten apple picking field trip buses - amount pending

International pot luck latin band $300.00

Math awards - $201.45

3rd grade field trips - $ 93.00

Computer lab page holders - $151.23

1st grade field trip buses to Plimouth - $990.00

International pot luck dance troupe - $100.00

Summer reading prizes $100.72

2. Dr. Lupini meeting – E. Regis

In regard to the recent Brookline Tab article, Dr. Lupini wanted to reiterate that the METCO program is voluntary in Brookline and will continue as is until a review by the state decides otherwise.

Dr Lupini’s office will continually review PTO budget spending to ensure parody among the schools.

Each school has different after School programs; Dr. Lupini believes that @ Pierce there is an ideal, balanced mix of offerings that includes balance mix of academics, enrichment and sports.

3. Fundraising conversation – C. Walsh

Friday’s meeting will determine if there will be an auction in February.

Need manpower

Looking to an evening event—this is the best option for raising funds. We realize that kids want to be there, but there are other events for kids.

Topics for November:

How does the community discuss the following:

• MCAS scores next month
• Homework survey