PTSA General Meeting

May 20, 2003

Attendees

Kathy Sullivan Kolar

Bob Loesche

Carole Brand

Paula Ott

Pam Feinstein

Veneeta Acson

Katie Rosenberg

Joyce Gwadz

Alan Joice

Janet Clifton

Ben Beach

Donna Atkinson

San-Dee Ostrach

Peggy Robbins

Ellen Gerecht

Pat Gage

Nancy Leopold

Nancy Zeller

Robin Lawson

Sean Bulson

Jil Sneider

Lucy Swartz

Announcements

Giant Gift Cards:  Pam Feinstein reported that the PTSA had made $10,600 selling Giant gift cards so far this year, and that she expects to make approximately $12,000 by the end of the school year.  She may continue selling cards through the summer.  She could use additional sellers for this important fundraiser.  Please call her if you can help.

Outreach

• About $300 was raised at the last PTSA meeting to help a B-CC family in need.  Thank you to all who donated so generously.  B-CC truly is a caring community.
• Approximately $4,400 has been raised for the Community Scholarship Program, and up to $6,000 may be raised.  This will result in 2 or 3 big awards and several smaller book awards.
• $2,830 has been raised for the Cluster Summer Academy.  Our goal was $5,000 goal.  The PTSA has pledged at least $3,000.  Nancy Leopold will get additional information regarding how much additional money may be needed before the PTSA commits to providing an additional $2,000.

Teacher Appreciation:  Jil Sneider reported that the Teacher Appreciation lunch is scheduled for Friday June 20, the last day of school [UPDATE – this has been changed to June 18 to allow teacher’s aides and instructional assistants to attend].

Commemorative Bricks:  Lucy Swartz reminded people that we are still selling bricks in the courtyard.  Bricks are nice gifts for seniors and/or as teacher appreciation gifts.  Forms for buying bricks can be downloaded from the B-CC PTSA webpage (http://mywebpages.comcast.net/samhoxie/bccptsa/bricks.htm).

MCPS Ad Hoc Committee:  Carole Brand reported that she is part of an MCPS ad hoc committee working to develop a policy on trip cancellations.

SGA Report

David Hoagland reported that Super Friday and the Powder Puff football game, scheduled for Friday, May 16, had to be cancelled because of rain.  Although Super Friday cannot be rescheduled, he is hopeful that the Powder Puff football game can be.  David also reported that SGA officers for next year were elected:

President                                  Hallie Anoff

Vice-President                          Sylvia Maioriello-Gallus

Treasurer                                  Greg Joice

Corresponding Secretary            Peter McCarron

Recording Secretary                  Sarah Hogan

Parliamentarian                         Patrick McGhee

Principal’s Report

In Katy Harvey’s absence, Assistant Principal Sean Bulson reported on the following items:

• High School Assessment (HAS) tests are being conducted.  They are getting good attendance for the tests and for the rest of the school when classes resume after lunch.
• The graduation speaker will be John Finestein, a well-known NPR commentator and author.  Thanks go to Assistant Principal Janet D’Amato who was instrumental in securing him as a speaker.
• The Senior Breakfast will be held on Thursday, May 29.  They have streamlined it this year and hope it will be less chaotic.  The senior breakfast is when the seniors receive their tickets and caps and gowns.
• Senior exams will be held May 23, 27, 28, and 29 (before the senior breakfast).
• There was a parent partner/website committee meeting on May 19 to encourage parents and teachers to work together to complete the academic pages of the B-CC website.  Melissa Roller will be responsible for updating the “Latest News” section of the website.
• There is an Art Show on May 20-22 in the Atrium.  Student work could be available for purchase.
• There is a Band and Choral Concert on Wednesday, May 21.
• College Night, where representatives of several colleges will talk about the college admissions process, is Thursday, May 22.
• The volunteer breakfast is Thursday, June 12.
• After talking with senior class girls, Principal Harvey has decided to have a dress code assembly for freshman girls.  At this assembly, the senior girls will talk to the freshman girls about appropriate dress, both in school and at school-sponsored events such as dances.

PTSA Business

By acclimation, the following people were elected to serve as the PTSA Executive Board for the 2003-2004 school year (term is July 1 – June 30):

Paula Ott - President

San-Dee Ostrach - President-Elect

Donna Atkinson - Vice President

Carole Brand - Vice President

Bob Loesche - Treasurer

Chantel Greene - Secretary

The position of MCC PTA Delegate is still vacant.  Please call Katie Rosenberg if you are interested.

Bob Loesche reported that the PTSA had $38,011.94 on hand.  He indicated that he had received donations for the AfterProm party and for the Cluster Summer Academy.  Lucy Swartz asked him to send $500 each to Chips and the Tattler and $5,000 for the B-CC Summer Academy, as had been budgeted but not yet paid.  The PTSA expects to be able to make other donations to the school before the end of the school year, and still have $25,000 to $30,000 as carryover to start the 2003-2004 school year (primarily for the Giant gift card fundraising program).

Minutes from April PTSA meeting were approved by acclimation.

Review of PTSA actions & activities during 2002-2003 school year:

NAACP:  Alan Joice noted that the Parent Council Committee of the NAACP on which he has served is a good group with noble goals.  It was a forum for people who wanted to help African-American parents and students to pursue excellence in education.  As a component of this, the group had several speakers.  The group came to realize that the challenge was to disseminate the information they received from the speakers to a larger community.  They will have planning meetings this summer to determine how to achieve this goal over the next year.

After Prom:  Janet Clifton and Peggy Robbins reported that 430 prom tickets were sold, and 326 students attended the AfterProm party on May 4.  Of those, 211 stayed until the end of the party at 5:30am.  They had lots of prizes and the attendees seemed to have a wonderful time.  They had so many prizes that not all could be given out by the end of the evening – 12 prizes are left and will be distributed.

Boosters:  For Sports Boosters, Nancy Zeller reported that the sports teams did very well this year, despite many disruptions.  Issues for next year include creating a committee for the concessions stand because it is a lot of work, care of the B-CC fields, and access to community fields for practices.  A question was asked regarding use of the fields by the community, especially whether gates were supposed to be open to allow access.  Sean Bulson said that the tennis courts and the track are to be available to the public, but the fields are not. 

Teacher Wish List:  Lucy Swartz passed out a table of the items the PTSA was able to purchase this year in support of the teachers in every department.  Over $10,000 was spent on items including books and videos, printers, copiers, and sports equipment.

B-CC Authors Project:  Amy Fine reported that the project was going well and that it needed a chair next year.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:50pm.

                                                            Respectfully submitted,

                                                            Lucy Swartz

                                                            PTSA Co-President