Minutes MCCPTA
Delegates Assembly
September 26, 2006
Carver Educational
Call to Order: April Keyes, Vice President for
Programs called the meeting to order at 7:38 PM.
Mission of PTA.-Sharon St.Pierre, Vice President
for Educational Issues
Introduction:
April Keyes introduces, Jane de Winter, MCCPTA President
MCCPTA President -- Jane de Winter reminds all that
meetings are to start promptly at 7:30 PM and reminded Delegates that they will
have folders at these meetings with meeting/program materials as well as items
of information to take back to their local PTAs.
MCCPTA Officers for 2006-07 are
introduced: VP for Education Issues, Sharon St. Pierre,
VP for Administration, Cassandra Abdelmeguid, VP for Programs, April Keyes, VP
for Legislation, Victor Salazar, Recording Secretary for Delegate Assemblies,
Kay Romero, Recording Secretary for Board of Directors, Liz Wheeler and
Treasurer, Juan Johnson
Area Vice
Presidents (VPs) are elected by their areas and their roles in MCCPTA are to oversee
clusters, interact with clusters and as issues arise for clusters they are the
next step up.
Clarksburg,
Magruder, Damascus, Gaithersburg, Watkins Mill- Allyson Morrison
Seneca
Valley, Northwest, Poolesville, Quince Orchard- Jim Keenan
Churchill, Richard
Montgomery, Rockville, Wootton- Kate Savage
Blake, Paint
Branch, Sherwood, Springbrook- Debra Stevens-Panzer, Phil Kauffman
Blair,
Einstein, Kennedy, Northwood- Sally Taber
B-CC,
Walter Johnson, Walt Whitman, Wheaton- Liz Brennan
As
Delegates you are a conduit for information from locals to us. You are asked to bring local views and
concerns forward as well as take back items from MCCPTA as addressed in
Delegates Assemblies and elsewhere. PTA Presidents need to make sure to have
time on PTA agendas to hear from your Delegates about information from MCCPTA
Delegate Assemblies as well as being informed as to the big picture of what is
going on in other parts of county. PTAs
will be hearing about resolutions in October from Delegates.
Folders
will contain items of information from MCCPTA, MCPS and other community groups’
activities. Delegate Assembly General Protocol Sheet, Must Do’s for PTAs, as
well as agendas for assemblies are some items in folders tonight along with
other items. Presidents received handbooks for Delegates in June to be
distributed to Delegates and other officers.
The handbooks are also located on MCCPTA website for downloading or you
can notify MCCPTA Office for copies.
There
will be programs at assemblies approximately 1/2 hour to 45 minutes. (Please
note the slight change in time for the upcoming BOE Candidates Forum meeting).
Board of Education Candidates Forum is on October 24, 2006, 7PM-8PM. This will
involve brief statements from the candidates then questions. The MCCPTA business meeting will be
immediately after Board of Education Candidates Forum. First on
the agenda will be the pending resolutions then the remainder of the
business meeting. Delegate Assembly programs are taped and replayed on MCPS TV
channels in case you may want to review a particular program or have your
school communities view programs.
Resolutions
are statements of beliefs and positions. Resolutions will be introduced one
month to anticipate any edits, changes.
Delegates will be asked to take back to locals, seek local’s opinions
while sharing the information and background of resolutions. Delegates should
also report back any changes your locals would like to make or concerns from
locals. The following month, Delegates
should be prepared to participate in vote representing your local PTA’s
position.
Any
Delegate or PTA President can bring a resolution to assembly. There are times resolutions can be referred
to a particular committee for follow-up, more research, background information
or clarifications.
Agenda: Tonight we have 2 resolutions to be
introduced, proposed budget, as well as minutes from May Delegates Assembly. We
need motions to approve, seconds to motions proposed and take votes to move
things forward.
Approval of Minutes:
On motion made and seconded, draft minutes for the May 23,
2006 Delegates Assembly were approved as corrected by show of hands vote.
Treasurer’s Report: Juan Johnson, MCCPTA Treasurer presented proposed budget for
2006-07 with comparison to last year’s budget.
Dues were increased from $.75 to $1.00. President/Principal Dinner funds
are a wash as money taken in goes back out in expenses for dinner. Juan explained why dinner will cost more this
year as location will change along with other cost related increases involved.
Motion was made and seconded to accept budget. Budget for 2006-07 was approved as presented
by show of hands vote.
Juan
introduced MCCPTA Balance Sheet as of September 25, 2006. It was noted that
$19,000 was held in reserve to anticipate payment for 1st
installment of insurance for locals by MCCPTA.
Local PTAs are then billed.
Follow-up
question was asked if all PTA activities are covered under insurance. Juan noted that most not all activities are
covered under general liability such as for book fairs, regular events,
meetings and Back to School Nights, etc. Special events that are possibly high
risk may need rider and may not be covered under general liability. Phone
insurance agent (David Feldmann) to make sure and get further information. Information concerning this issue is provided
in Treasurer’s handbook. If PTAs should need
a Certificate of Insurance for verification needs, that can be obtained from
insurance agent. The contact info is in
Blue Book, treasurer’s handbook and website. Every month there should be a
treasurer’s report on PTA meeting agendas.
MCCPTA
Profit and Loss Statement for July 1 through September 25, 2006 was presented.
Committee Report:
Ted Willard, Co-Chair of Curriculum Committee updated all on 2
resolutions passed last year—Resolution on use of films in schools as well as
resolution concerning social studies and science curriculum. Last week a MCPS memo
was sent to schools concerning film use as well as parental permission for some
aspects. Office of School Performance is
meeting with elementary principals in addressing science and social studies
curriculum needs in elementary schools.
It is stressed that school communities need to follow up on school based
decisions in this area.
Business Items-Introduction of Proposed
Resolutions:
Resolution #1—Proposed Resolution on
Health Technicians
Rich Edelman,
Co-Cluster Coordinator for the Wootton Cluster and Frost MS Delegate,
introduced the Health Technician Resolution (Health Room Aides) for delegates
to take back to locals for discussions before this resolution is brought back
in October for vote.
Motion to bring this resolution forward was made and
seconded. Action will be taken on this resolution at the October Delegates
Assembly.
Proposed Resolution on Health Technicians
Presented
by:
Rich Edelman, Co-Cluster Coordinator for the Wootton Cluster and
Frost MS Delegate
Whereas
most MCPS Schools
have Health Room Aides for between 5
and 6
hours;
Whereas
MCC PTA believes
that 5 or 6 hours of Health Room Aide
coverage
is insufficient to meet the needs of our children; it is
Resolved
that MCC PTA
supports and will advocate for increased
Health
Room Aide services so that a Nurse or Health Room Aide will
be on
duty at every school from ˝ hour before the start of the school
day to ˝
hour after the end of the school day.
Additional Background:
MCPS has Nurses who are Registered
Nurses, but they are typically
assigned to two or three schools and
split time between/among them.
All schools have Health Room Aides who
are Certified Nurse
Assistants (generally they have over
100 hours of training for
certification).
No school has full day Nurse and
Health Room Aide coverage.
The Health Room Aide position is
funded not from MCPS but from the
Montgomery County Department of
Health and Human Services.
[Advocacy on this issue would have
to be direct to the County
Council.]
Entry level pay for Health Room
Aides is $15 per hour.
Expansion of Health Room coverage
for some schools was discussed
as part of the County Council
deliberations on the FY ‘07 Budget, but
additional spending was not
authorized for this year.
Informational
questions/issues are raised: Who
pays? We would advocate for County
Council to appropriate funds. Discussion was done previously at County Council
last spring and follow up needed.
This would
be funded by Department of Health and Human Services in which County Council can
appropriate funds.
Need report
from MCCPTA Health and Safety Committee as May Delegate Assembly minutes
reflected this being referred to committees.
Legal
questions are raised about before school and after school. Does this correlate
with teacher hours?
Various
discussions concerning children who are diabetic and with significant health
needs about resolution proposed and having staff available to cover these
issues when substitutes are needed. Floater aides in schools……?
Question
raised on cost of this? One attendee noted
it could be around $600,000 as estimated for one hour coverage per school.
Is this in
school budget? It is not as this is
separate line in county budget.
Hours-6 ˝
for health tech and 8 hours for school nurse—Clarification on this item needed-What
are the allocations per each?
Nurses
assigned 2 to 3 schools with only a few schools having full time
coverage between both nurses and health aides. Everyone else has less
than full day.
A couple of
schools may have full time nurses for specific needs in school community the
rest of schools less than full day
For schools
with high needs substitutes go to those first
Use
listserv for discussion/ideas concerning this resolution.
Resolution #2--Proposed Student
Service Learning Hours (SSL) Resolution
Sharon
St.Pierre, MCCPTA VP for Education Issues brought forward a resolution for Student
Service Learning (SSL) Hours
SSL hours
are community service hours to fulfill graduation requirements.
Background: State mandated 75 hours under COMAR.
Since 2003
MCPS has had waiver from state for 60 hours to help meet MCPS goals for SSL
hours to be of higher quality and more meaningful. Maryland State Department of
Education has asked MCPS in May 2006 to increase SSL hours from 60 hours to 75
hours with October as timeline for Dr. Weast to respond with how to and when
this will be done. Maryland State Department of Education wants to start with
this year’s sophomore class.
The Superintendent’s
advisory board met and wants this new requirement to start with 8th graders due
to 4 year planning with guidance counselors, parents and students.
Starting in
8th graded was a good place to begin this compromise with complete
notifications of expectations to all in high school planning. Dr. Weast is in
agreement with compromise for starting with 8th graders and is in
talks with Dr. Grasmick.
Resolution is
being presented for 8th grade so as to have MCCPTA go on record with
a position while MCPS lobbies Maryland State Department of Education just in
case that does not work out. MCCPTA will then have an official position in case
we have to lobby Maryland State Department of Education. Motion to bring this
resolution forward was made and seconded. Action will be taken on this
resolution at the October Delegates Assembly.
Proposed Student Service Learning
Hours (SSL) Resolution
Presented by: Sharon St.Pierre,
MCCPTA VP Educational Issues
WHEREAS,
Maryland State Dept of Education (MSDE)
mandates
75 SSL hours for all students as a requirement
for
graduation under COMAR (Code of Maryland
Regulations);
WHEREAS,
MCPS was granted an exemption to this
requirement,
and set a requirement of 60 SSL hours. On
May 2006,
MSDE wrote to MCPS requesting that MCPS
raise its
SSL requirement to the state standard of 75 hours
and begin
this requirement with the class of 2009 (current
10th
grade class).
WHEREAS,
students in their 8th grade year create their 4-
year
plan, and are notified of graduation requirements at
that
time.
MCCPTA
RESOLVES, that the state mandated increase
of SSL
hours from 60 to 75 should begin with the
graduating
class of 2011 (current 8th graders).
Continued
discussion:
Question was
asked if State PTA has a position on SSL hours.
Other
counties have 75 requirements for SSL while we are the only county with 60
hours for SSL requirements
Question
was raised if PTAs are on SSL forms as approved activities? SSL hours are for
community related activity. SSL hours for some activities have to be
pre-approved.
Concerns were
raised about older students fulfilling this requirement especially if they
transfer into school system late.
This
proposed resolution deals with when do you want 75 hours to start 8th
grade or 10th grade? Does MCCPTA need to have a position at all? We
need feedback from school communities.
More information will be provided via listserv.
The resolution was brought forward by motion and seconded.
Delegates
are being asked to take back to their school communities for feedback, edits or
additions.
Operating Budget: Dr. Jane De Winter provided
information about the operating budget and officer activity concerning MCPS
budget.
FY2008-Strategic
Planning Forum and items related to this are in folders.
The
Strategic Plan Summary is a synopsis of MCPS’s Strategic Plan. The full strategic plan is located on the
MCPS website.
A blue
feedback card from MCPS was provided in folder to be filled out and
mailed. MCPS was to have provided
additional cards in English as well as in additional languages so Delegates
could take back to school communities for PTAs to fill out. MCCPTA will follow up as to whereabouts of
the extra cards needed by locals and post to Bulletin Listserv about how to
obtain more blue feedback cards for your PTAs and school communities. More
information will also be provided on how to obtain the blue feedback cards in
languages other than English for your individual schools. It is important for
PTAs to fill these cards out as this is what MCPS will use to address budgetary
issues. MCPS and others have indicated
it is going to be a tougher budget year. Fill out as many cards as you need and
fill out as well on MCPS website. Feedback cards are due back by end of
October.
The 4
questions to be answered on blue feedback card from MCPS are: In what areas is
the school system doing well? In what
areas can the school system improve? If
Board of Education received extra resources for the operating budget, what would
be the best use of the resources? High
School students must pass the High School Assessments (HSA) in order to
graduate starting with the class of 2009. What is needed to ensure that all
high school students pass the HSA exams? Your input is crucial. MCPS website has the 4 questions posted there
to be filled out and submitted online and website info is on blue cards. Locals
need to make sure to post this information on their school listservs. MCCPTA
will follow-up with school system about what information was gathered from blue
cards.
On bulletin
board in auditorium the feedback gathered from summer area meetings that MCCPTA
officers had with each of the 6 quad clusters is posted on wall this evening. Please review for what we need to do for
advocacy priorities as an organization. This helps to identify areas of concern
for budgetary advocacy. This also includes items identified from last year in
area meetings. A comment was noted that MCCPTA needs to ask for transparency in
MCPS budget.
Reminder was
given about October 7, 2006 MCCPTA training for PTAs at Carver. Flyer and
information about each of the 21 sessions offered are in folders.
Volunteers
are needed to work on a committee concerning ICB issues. If you are interested please provide your
name and contact information.
Committee Briefs and Fair: Committees and their role in organization were
highlighted. Each Committee Chair or
Co-Chair was introduced. Committee leadership gave information about what their
committees do. It was noted that after meeting is adjourned attendees should
visit committee tables to hear about committee work and volunteer for any
committee they would like to help with.
Listings
and contact information for all MCCPTA Officers, Area/Cluster Coordinators and
Committee Chairs for 2006-07 was provided in folders.
Adjournment: The business meeting was adjourned at 9:24 PM