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Parents' Association  of P.S.144Q
93-02 69th Ave.
Forest Hills, NY 11375

MINUTES FROM MEETINGS

PA of PS144 – Board Meeting
11/17/08 – Minutes

Committee updates

  • Holiday Boutique will be the December 16 and 17th, with set-up on the 15th. Committee members picked the dates to stay away from the Thanksgiving break, but to be early enough to be before both Hanukkah and Christmas.

  • Election day fundraiser raised $1100

  • Holiday Party and first part of the Auction will be on December 12th from 6:30-9. There will be a combination of food, craft activities, and a magician. There will be an entry fee charged to defray the cost of the party and magician. In addition, the baskets put together by the individual classes will be raffled off. A reminder about donations for class baskets should be sent out to all families, along with a deadline for donations.

  • A question was raised about scheduling a Board meeting in December. Jeanne will email Board members to find a date that will work for most members.

  • Gifts – We had a discussion about what the PA policy should be about sending gifts to faculty members for either family deaths or births of babies. IN the past we’ve sent flowers or fruit baskets when family members have passed away, and purchased baby gifts for new babies. After discussion, we decided to set the policy as: For deaths of parents, spouse/partner, or child of a faculty member, the PA will send a card and make a book donation to the school library with an “in memory of” book plate. For birth of a baby, the PA will purchase a baby gift. The cost of both types of remembrances will be under $20. This decision was passed unanimously.

  • Bylaws – our PA Bylaws need to be reviewed in light of new regulations from the Chancellor. Lisa Brody agreed to review the bylaws.

  • Parent Participation – the NYTimes article about the difficulty of gaining parent participation was discussed. Many Board Members felt that the problem of parents participating in PA activities is wide-spread and cuts across race, ethnic, and income groups. We discussed ways of translating high attendance at some PA meetings into increased participation and volunteering in school activities. We discussed some ways to get parents to participate if the requirements are very specific, if there’s a reward involved (e.g. free ice cream for your child on Friday) or if there’s a “threat” that without volunteers an activity might be cancelled.

  • St John’s Bread for Life – Christa talked to Board members about a Soup Kitchen that she does fundraising for, which is having a Holiday program. Some schools adopt certain groups of kids (e.g., 8 year old boys) and do a “toy drive” for that group. Board members had some concerns about other toy drives that occur in our community, about mixing this in with other activities happening at the Holiday Party, and how we might also do a similar program for kids in need in our own community.
     

 

 
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