Secretary

Board: Yes

Summary

• The Secretary is responsible for preparing minutes from all PTA meetings and keeping all records. 
• She also creates announcements for the board meetings and keeps the board roster updated.

Calendar of Job Responsibilities

• Your first order of business will be taking notes at the first board meeting in June for the incoming board
• Create a draft roster of the incoming board and present at first board meeting to find errors/changes
• Create meeting schedule for upcoming school year.  Board meetings are generally the first Tuesday of the month and general meetings are generally the second Thursday of the month.  Check with Michelle Walker for SST meeting dates to make sure there are not conflicts.  Meetings rotate morning and afternoon/evening every other month.  There is not always a meeting in December. 
• Create email distribution lists.  One is just the board members who receive board meeting minutes.  The other includes the Foundation presidents and the person who updates the website.  This second list is the one you use for general meeting minutes, once approved.
• For the first general meeting, bring copies of the meeting schedule for the year, the general meeting minutes from the last meeting (from the spring) and anything else the president needs you to bring.
• A week before board meetings, the president will ask all board members to send you announcements for the meeting.  Announcements are items that do not need to be verbally discussed but contain information that is important for the board to be aware of.  A day before the board meeting, distribute the announcements to the entire board via email, along with a copy of the minutes from the prior meeting that need to be approved.
• Bring copies of minutes from the last meeting to ALL meetings as minutes must be approved at the subsequent meeting.  Just one copy is fine for board meetings; bring more to general meetings.
• Bring copies of the agenda to all general meetings.  Board members are expected to bring their own copy to the board meetings.
• After a meeting, send the draft of the minutes to all board members via email for review and give them a date by which you need changes (a week is good).  Then, circulate the final revised minutes via email.  This way, you don’t need so many paper copies at meetings.
• Once minutes have been approved, file a copy of the meeting agenda, the approved minutes and the announcements (for board meetings) in your binder for future reference.  Also, after general meeting minutes are approved, they need to be posted to the NCPTA web site.

Other Tips

• You will work closely with the co-presidents because they will be most aware of anything that will need to be corrected on the minutes.  Also, the presidents assist in getting the announcements to you for board meetings.
• It is easiest to do the minutes as soon after the meetings as possible so you get everything correct on the minutes and don’t forget anything.
• Check with the co-presidents to see if they would like you to handle making copies of the meeting agenda for each meeting.
• It is crucial to have email!
• Supporting documentation collected throughout the year.  At the end of the year, your documentation goes into the PTA storage container (you can give them to the president). 

(Sample minutes and announcements attached, the rest is in the binder)

SAMPLE MINUTES

Neil Cummins PTA
Minutes of General Membership Meeting
Thursday November 15, 2007, 8:20 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
Neil Cummins Staff Room

Attendees: 
Laura Anderson, President; Catherine Guthrie, Executive Vice-President;  Julia Ritter, Vice President; Andrea Pierpont, Vice President; Pam Bittner, Vice President; Sheri Mowbray, Secretary;  Ann Trunko, Treasurer; Susan Christman, Parliamentarian; Marilyn Clark, Principal;  Michelle Walker, Vice Principal; Valerie Pitts, Superintendent; Lynn Werner; Margot Segal; Laurie Dubin; Dorian Carlisle; Allison Ross; Tasmin Pesso; Sarah Notter; Amanda Conran; Kelly Fister; Monica Bonny; Ana Jawerbaum; Leslie Jacobs; Carol Ztathnich; Rimiko Berreman; David Hughes; Stephanie Philips.

Meeting Notes

 Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 8:27 a p.m. by President Laura Anderson.  She welcomed everyone and asked for ideas to boost attendance at our general meetings.  We need a quorum of 16 to approve items and we came very close today to not having a quorum.  The idea was suggested of sending out invitations to our members and letting them know the important items we will be voting on and topics of interest to be covered.

Laura then introduced Kim Murray who is our new webmaster.  We are very excited to have her.  Kim is a district employee who has a small office in the tech lab area.  She said she is thrilled to be taking on this project and that she is in the exploratory phase right now.  She will be taking things on step at a time toward a future vision.

Principal’s Report
Marilyn Clark reported that Friday Fun Night for the third and fourth grades is this Friday (tomorrow).  Michelle Walker is spearheading the event.  She also announced that on Saturday Valerie Pitts and the Board of Trustees will be holding a community forum to help them to put together strategic priorities for the district for the 2008-10 period.  She encouraged everyone to come.  Michelle Walker added that she needs just 1-2 more volunteers for Friday Fun Night.  Food will be served.  She also stressed that the evening is for third and fourth graders only.

Treasurer’s Report
Ann Trunko presented the financial statements.  She reported that we have $12,313 in our checking account and $23,011 in our money market account.  We are still waiting for the $73,181 from lunch to come in from the district.  This amount was billed a couple months ago.  She said she will be meeting with the district financial contacts to discuss how we pay each other.  We paid Good Earth the first $9,000 invoice for lunch.  Unfortunately online payment for hot lunch will not be happening because of a fee imposed on Good Earth which makes it financially impossible. Ann said that teachers have started using their instructional supply, fine arts and field trip funds. Ann also noted that the Hoedown came out ahead by $320.  Ann presented the list of checks written 10/11-11/14 and asked for ratification.  Susan Chrisman moved that we ratify the checks written and Pam Bittner seconded the motion.  Motion carried.

Superintendent’s Report
Valerie Pitts explained the P.O. process at the district level and stressed that she wanted to be made aware when payment delays occur.  She tries very hard to get bills paid promptly.  In some cases, checks need to go through multiple people which does cause delays.  She also invited everyone to come on Saturday morning to the strategic planning meeting at 8:30am at the Hall library.  She said this is the first part of the district strategic planning and that another meeting will take place in February.

Approval Items

            Minutes from 10/11/07 General Membership meeting
Marilyn Clark moved that we approve the minutes from the 10/11 meeting; Andrea Pierpont seconded the motion.  Motion carried.

Storage Shed Expenses
Laura Anderson explained that there are currently two PTA storage sheds located between the E & F wings.  Those containers have drama props, hoedown materials, PTA archives, emergency food and water supplies, holiday store supplies, etc.  We are losing some storage that has been used for spiritwear in a closet in the gym due to fire safety restrictions so we may need to purchase another shed.  Plus, the kindergarten teachers say that they need a storage container of some sort for hula hoops, etc.  More research will be done to make absolutely sure that we need this storage.  If we do, it will cost $6,000.  The general membership needs to approve this expense today because if we are going to do it, it will be done during winter break.

Ann Trunko moved that we approve $6,000 in expenditures for storage sheds.  Pam Bittner seconded the motion.  Motion carried. 

Discussion Items

            Wish List Items
Laura explained that we will have about $20,000 in surplus funds this year and we need to figure out the best way to spend the money.  Currently the items being considered are:

1. Sprucing up the Mohawk entrance
2. Painting the blacktops to freshen them up
3. More money to teachers for instructional supplies
4. Storage
5. Playground equipment (we cannot afford to purchase this with the money we currently have but we can consider “saving up” for something in the future)
6. New big trees to replace the dead ones in the fourth grade wing (suggested by Tasmin Pesso)

New Teacher’s Rep to PTA
Laura announced that Karen Berg will be the new teacher’s rep to the PTA.  Karen is a first grade teacher.  Welcome!

Emergency Food Supply Replenishment
Julia Ritter announced that emergency food supplies will be sold on Friday to raise money to replenish our stocks.  She would love to have help selling items if anyone is available.  The items being sold expire in February.

Art Funding Request
Laura announced that the PTA received a funding request from the Art Team.  The request included items such as new tables, drying racks, a portable sink, new pastel paints, an art cart and $1,000 in teacher resources for the library.  Marilyn Clark offered to fund these items through her $10,000 grant from the PTA.  Also, the third grade team asked for and received an additional $200 for a dance program through Young Imaginations.

Additional Business

Monica Bonny invited everyone to attend the December 19th school board meeting.  Michael Futterman will be retiring from the board after many years and will be honored that evening.  The meeting will begin at 6pm.  That same evening, Sheri Mowbray will be sworn in as a new trustee on the board.

Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 a.m. 

Respectfully submitted,

Sheri Mowbray

Upon adjournment, a safety panel spoke about numerous child safety issues.

SAMPLE ANNOUNCEMENTS

Neil Cummins PTA Meeting Announcements
November 6, 2007

From Cathie Guthrie/Executive Vice President

Lunch
We received our first invoice from GE. For September, we were billed $9783.38. Jenny Tippett was diligent in reviewing the invoice, and although there were some errors on GE's part, in the end we were invoiced accurately. GE has come a long way in restoring the lunch team's confidence, and reports are that the quantities and deliveries have stabilized. Due to a miscalculation by GE, the second session will start on Thursday, December 6th.  The intention is to steer as many people as possible to signing up on-line. We still need to investigate the possibility of having GE route funds directly to the District. If this can be done, then people could pay on-line with a credit card. If not, then parents will continue to pay by check. Menus should start circulating by November 13th.

We were anticipating a health inspection in early October, but it never materialized. Jackie Grandy expects that we'll have one before the year is out, but that we probably won't have advance notice.

We will formally compare the District's indirect costs (their time for processing the paperwork for government reimbursements associated with the lunch program) against the actual government compensation that the PTA receives. We'll share the findings at our December Board meeting.

From Andrea Pierpont/Vice President:
Hoedown
The 07-08 Hoedown was a great success overall.  We broke even and only dipped into our $800 budget a little bit so it looks like a good formula going forward.  Jamie Bueman, event chair, has told me she will be back next year with lots of knowledge under her belt to run it.   Michelle Walker, Jamie and I sat down afterward and ran through all the positives and negatives of the event so we will be able to fine tune it for next October 4th (date set at the meeting) .  Thanks to everyone who pitched in to help!!

Parent Education
We had a good turnout for Todd Sarner speaking on Transformative Parenting on Oct 11.  Attendance was approximately 70 people in the music room.  We have collected notes to post on the website for those who could not attend (thank you Cathie!).

Next speaker event is scheduled for Nov 15th after the morning PTA meeting (to be held in the staff room).  This will be a safety panel comprised of 4 individuals:  Detective Toby Miller of the Juvenile Division at the Twin Cities PD, Kelby Jones, instructor from RadKIDS, Cookie Morin, school counselor, and Cindy Rudometkin, Response Dept Director at the Polly Klaas Foundation.  I will be moderating.  Lynn Werner, Margot Segal and I have met with Marilyn and Michelle to review the discussion notes and get their feedback.  Also, we will all be having a dry run on November 8th (in the am) to get everyone on the panel up to speed.  Some of the Q's to be addressed:

-  What are the dangers we need to be aware of i.e. abduction, unwanted touch, bullying, and where do they occur?
-  What are the signs of a problem and how should you talk to your children about them?
-  What can parents do if they or their child have concerns or a dangerous situation arises?
-  How do the police work with the school and other resources in a dangerous or emergency situation?
-  What precautions should we take to ensure our children are not susceptible to child predators on the internet?

Spring Musical
Nancy Wilson announced to the third and fourth grade families the spring play, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  She has been receiving a good response in terms of signs ups on her classroom door.  We will be working to help her get appropriate and adequate parent volunteers for the show preparation. 

From Julia Ritter/Vice President:
Health and Safety:
Get Ready 94925: About 40 people turned out for the Get Ready 94925 event on October 25 in the gym.  The program was packed with really detailed emergency preparedness information, and I highly recommend that everyone take the course, which will continue to be offered around town through the end of 2007.

Emergency Food:  On November 16, we’ll offer emergency food for sale before and after school as part of our emergency food supply rotation.  We have LOTS of emergency food that we need to sell so that we can purchase new supplies and keep our inventory as up-to-date and self-sustaining as possible.   Thanks for helping with this effort by spreading the word and buying a box of snacks if you can!

Campus Improvement:
Wish List:  Among the many campus improvement items on our wish list, I’d like to see tables for the Hawk Courtyard as a top priority.  Robin Moller really liked the square green tables in the Kindergarten area, and encouraged us to go with something along those lines: i.e., practical, durable, and low-maintenance.  The tables that I looked into are basically a rounded version of the K tables.  They are portable, but heavy enough that they’ll stay in place, and they can accommodate umbrellas.  (Tables retail for about $600 each; umbrellas cost between $150 and $200. Each table can seat 8 children.)

I’d also like for us to consider extending the contract for Coffey Landscape, whether the money comes from the District or from us. (Currently our contract is $200/month through the end of 2007; Chris comes every other Thursday.)

I’ll be meeting with Wolf in the next couple of weeks to discuss irrigation around campus, including the freestanding planters around school, the area along the fence where daffodils are planted, and the planter at the entrance to the school (under NC sign).  While I don’t have a figure for those expenses yet, I think it’s important that we make sure that any landscaping projects we do around campus are properly irrigated, especially as our volunteer power dwindles during our warmest months of the year.

A number of people have approached me about sprucing up the entrance to the school.  I agree that the first impression that our drooping planter makes leaves something to be desired.  At a minimum, I’d like to see the irrigation in the front planter repaired and new plants put in.  A more extensive renovation might include re-landscaping along the driveway and replacing the existing fence. (Cathie reports that the Twin Cities Co-Op would like to replace this fence as well.) Janey Lupario has suggested enlisting Lisa Hicks to add murals somewhere in the entry way, perhaps as a 4th grade class gift.  As you can see, there are lots of options here.  Your feedback would be greatly appreciated!

Finally, we have some funds ($700) to roll over into labyrinth maintenance. Peggy Cymerys, who worked on the labyrinth since its inception, has suggested installing small colored rocks into the crevices that outline the labyrinth.  The concern, however, is that the kids will find a way to dig these out!  At the moment, I personally think the labyrinth is in fairly good shape and would like to wait until the heavier rains come to see how well it’s draining.  We could see at that point what kind of maintenance it needs, or if we would want to try to attempt a second round of planting small herbs in those crevices.

Peggy also suggested that the person who drew the labyrinth in the Hawk Courtyard would be willing (for a fee) to paint a labyrinth on the black top.  If there is interest, I could inquire further about the costs.

From Carolyn Caindec/Vice President:
Membership
The "Hot Lunch" Drive ended October 17th.  While our numbers are slightly less than hoped for, the campaign did bring in lots of new members in a non-competitive manner.  We currently have a total of 581 PTA members (40 of whom are teachers/staff) and have accepted $6,140 in dues.  These numbers are appx 80% of last year's total numbers. We are reminding people that it is never too late to join and hope to get more members throughout the year.  I'd love to hear any feedback on the Membership drive for next year.  We did get off to a slow start this year which is one reason we might not have been as successful as hoped.

From Susan Christman/Parliamentarian:
CANCEL A CAR: MONTHLY CAMPAIGNS- UPDATE
The September. 28TH School Assembly/ Campaign Kick off  Assembly was well received. Michele Walker got to nearly all of the Kindergarten classes in the Polar Bear Costume so they got some exposure to the Cancel A Car program.

The October Campaign Update Your Lights- fairly successful, not well attended. Issue arose re: Mercury Content- cfl’s must go to hazardous waste facility for disposal. 

The November Campaign: Use Your Tap is upcoming in November. We will be selling Sigg Bottles Nov. 5th and 12th  from 1:15 – 2:30 pm. We will have snack foods and education materials for kids and parents. 

December will be Green Your Holdays
    
PARTY PACKS We are hoping to get orders for each classroom by mid November and have them in place for winter holiday celebration. Parent
donating napkins for all the classes.

NC GOES SOLAR-Jill Kaufman Johnson,  Peggy Cymerys and Ann Brown have been researching the possibility of a solar system for our school.  A father at NC did the work at Bacich.

COMPOSTING- Liz Muller is looking into whether we can install a system to dispose of our hot lunch waste? (biodegradable plates/utensils, food)

ECO HAWK BENEFIT CONCERT- Jay, teacher at Twin Cities Preshool, has offered to have his band play for a Benefit Concert to benefit the Eco Hawks. TBD

GREEN BOARD-we hope to have a Green Board installed by the end of November.

From Kris Wade/Historian:
The Who’s Who document with the foundation went out last week – yeah!

• Questions? Email us at secretary@nc-pta.org