Meredith Home and School Association Meeting Minutes

Date: March 18, 20168:45 AM

Cindy Farlino, Leslie Tyler, Veronica Becker, Ann Summers, Kerry Milch, Marc Jackson, Melissa Rubin

Call to Order – Leslie

Principal’s Report

1) Principals met last Thursday w/ Dr. Hite, and he assured us budget will get better and better.

a) We’re doing much better than last year in terms of money. Normally we get the lowest amount of Title I money because the number of families in our school on public assistance is tiny compared to other schools. Last year we got $23,000, but this year we got $46,000. Every school in Philadelphia will have a full-time nurse and full-time counselor. The $70,000 that we were raising to make the nurse a full-time position can now be used for other things.

b) For the first time in many years there will be summer school in Philadelphia. Any student in Philadelphia that didn’t have a full-time permanent teacher for more than half a year will go to summer school. English language learners and special ed students and failing students will go.

c) Dr. Hite will overhire this year. There will be 700 extra teachers in September so that if there are vacancies he will be able to fill them.

2) Almost every class has started blended learning – station learning. Classes will be divided into 3 groups. One group will be with the teacher, one group will be doing seat learning, and one group will be on chromebooks. Chromebooks are operational in every classroom except kindergarten, where we’re trying to figure out how to use them since they’re pre-reading and pre-writing. We’re using the Chromebooks for math first. We’re in the process of purchasing Redbird, a rigorous math program for the computer.

Parent: Is there a policy regarding students bringing their own chromebooks to school? CF: We want students using our laptops.Lauren Overton: The district chromebooks come loaded w/ extra software.

1

3) We have spent down almost the entire wishlist through the 100% campaign. Over $50,000 has been collected. That constitutes donations from about 50% of families. Kindergartens are getting new furniture – long tables that are good for student writing. We have new graphing calculators in 7th & 8th, we have document cameras (100% Campaign money and QVNA) – it’s a high-power camera that allows documents to be projected. We’re holding back some money because we’re looking into smartboards. We were the first school in Philly to get Promethean boards, which are now 9-10 years old. They don’t have the extra pizazz that kids can use their fingers and they don’t work well w/ the macbooks the teachers use. We’re advocating getting rolling boards for the younger grades that slide down so they can work at their height – they’re between $6000 and $6300. We want to begin with the 2nd and 3rd grades for the first smartboards to be installed. We have a whole group of people in the district who work on maintaining our technology and Mr. Hollis is also working on that.

4) Opt-out issue: There is a movement saying that the tests don’t capture what the kids know and that the tests are stress-inducing. Last year 20 students at Meredith opted out – a handful of 8th graders and special ed students. CF personally goes back and forth. It’s your absolute right to opt out. CF looks at whether the kids need the scores later (e.g., transferring schools). CF worries about Meredith in general since the school needs the scores and it’s problematic if the best kids opt out. For kids with special needs, it might make sense to opt out. Opt out can happen up until 2 days before the test. A letter will go home. Parents can go in to see CF and write a short letter that she will scan and send to Dr. Hite.

Parent: What do the kids who opt out do?CF: Because it was a small group we were able to put some in kindergarten, some in study groups.CF: Our students go to the best high schools and best special-admit middle schools in the city. These schools look exclusively at test scores. The Central High principal recognizes the movement and may start offering a special test for kids who didn’t take the PSSAs. Parent: There’s a political movement – if you think that this high-stakes standardized testing that was put in place 10-15 years ago is not the best way to do this, opting out is a form of protest. It may not be about your individual child.Lauren Overton: We don’t teach to the test here.Parent: I agree. That’s been my experience watching the teachers in this building. CF: Make no mistake. These teachers are mandated right now to teach to the test.Kerry: What are the implications for our school if our scores are low?CF: Nothing. It only really affects the principal and maybe the teachers. I worry that our school is getting so crowded, we have such a good reputation. Maybe if our scores slip a little, we’ll still know we’re great but it won’t be so crowded.

5) Science Fair The last part of the year is spent on science fair. That’s coming up.

2

6) Budgeta) We got $34,480 extra from the cigarette tax. Most will be used for

smartboards. A tiny bit will be used for extracurriculars and a small bit for books and supplies.

b) We’ve now been given another specialist teacher for one more day. We’re trying to figure out what that person should be – maybe a language teacher. We also have to figure out how to pool with other schools in system to share that position.

c) Out of our auction money came noon-time aides and classroom assistants. We purchased 4 noon-time aides (lunchroom and in yard), and 3 classroom assistants. The last $5000 was put in books and supplies. And $8,565 was put in books and supplies. I would love the HSA to consider giving us another $5000. We always look at $20,000 to operate – teacher paper, crayons, supplies, and books. The school district is telling us they’re going to buy our math books next year.

d) We do need 1 more noon-time aide and one more classroom assistant if we’re maintaining 1 in each kindergarten and 1 in each 1st grade for literacy block. When CF first came here 10 years ago there was one in each classroom during literacy block. Mrs. Billbrough runs our library, but is only paid as a noon-time aide. She’s a certified library assistant. CF would like to figure out how to keep her here.

e) We know you want a language program. We’ve begun interviewing interns at the Italian Consulate. We’ll have an intern here for 2 years. We still have a grant from the Italian Embassy. We also have some parents who are stepping forward and saying they want to teach language.

Parent: The reason the language here is Italian is because that’s where the money is. The Italian government is offering these programs. The kids aren’t going to leave here fluent in Italian, but they’ll learn that you conjugate verbs, that there are masculine and feminine nouns, that you need adjective agreement. Other Parent: Last year when auction ballots went out, I would have voted differently if the foreign language had been specified as Italian.Tani: We didn’t know it then.CF: Ultimately it’s my decision.

Hite said he has a guarantee from Wolf that this is the budget.Leslie: The genesis of the 100% campaign is to provide a buffer.

AuctionTani: If you don’t know, the auction is April 9th. We need you to buy your tickets. We’ve sold 60 so far. Usually 300 come. We’re going to put up a sign-up genius for the evening of the auction, so if you don’t mind please volunteer for an hour slot (check-in, check-out, help with raffle tickets, etc.). We’ll be setting up probably by noon and it will take a few hours. At least 25 people came last year and we finished in 2 hours.

3

Rebekah: It will be different from other years. There will be gambling tables – roulette, craps, and blackjack. There will be great music. It’s not a sit-down dinner, but there will be great food and cocktails.

Treasurer’s Report1) The current bank balance is $66,063.2) Since the last report at the last meeting on Feb 19, the monthly activity

was $26,700 in deposits and $41,035 in expenditures. 

Expenditures/investments over past month:a) Payment of Italian language grant match to Christina to cover past three semestersb) purchase of kindergarten tablesc) purchase of hallway TV screen/monitord) all the products on the wish list -- books, printer, speaker systems,

library supplies, etc (except for playground benches).    

Money that will be spent in coming months (committed but not yet expensed):   

a) The 4 new water fountains ($4000)b) Redbird learning ($12,000)c) professional development trip for teachers ($3000).  

To date, we have netted the following rounded amounts from the following initiatives:

a) 100% Campaign:  $50,000b) Pretzels: $4,000c) 5K: $14,000d) Cherrydale: $16,000

Not including the various sales matches, corporate matches, etc. Auction donations, raffle tickets sales, and auction ticket sales to date have not been included either in this list. 

Bike to SchoolIt will be every other Wednesday starting after spring break. We meet on

Front Street where the Indego bike rack is. Many parents join us, one of whom is a medical doctor. The kids are safe. Rob, who works in DA’s office, rides in front w/ his DA badge. The doctor rides in back. We go very slowly and go at the pace of the kindergarteners. Everybody has fun. The Safe Routes to School Committee has been working with the Bicycle Coalition of Philadelphia, which has been working to get bicycle lanes put in. They do a city-wide bike-to-school event – we bike to the fountain by the art museum, meet the mayor, bike to LOVE park and meet Dr. Hite, he talks, and then we bike to Meredith. We’ll let you know about all of these events – flyers, release forms. We’d like to split the bike-to-school kids into 2 groups – kindergarteners and 1st graders and older kids in another group, and we can take different routes.

4

We also work to get grants to improve physical infrastructure of the neighborhood. We had an inspector come and inspect the curbs of the school. We’re applying for grants to fix the physical infrastructure (e.g., 5th & Monroe).

There will be Learn-to-Ride, either at end of April or early May, on a half day.

5