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PTA Minutes
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Commenced: 8:33am
17 people in attendance
Welcome - Tamara Christians
Legislative Update - Tina Murua
· Community Town Hall in 2 parts (1st for just EGR parents, 2nd for everyone in community and hope that legislators will be in attendance).
· District sending out 4 communications, very well written and informative.
· Legislative update – Governor says he’s done making decisions that impact the schools – but there are still issues that are impacting us. Main issue for us is the cut in funding for kindergarten - - this impacts even schools already having full day kindergarten. There will be a letter in the blast for people for send along to our legislators. No matter how you feel about full/half day kindergarten philosophically, this is now a budget issue so we are urging everyone to send this email along. Charter School legislation did pass, unfortunately with no provision about where these schools will be built. Please keep checking our blog weekly! We can’t afford not to know!
EGR NOW! - Tamara Christians
· 3.3M deficit going into next year. We are at bare bones, so the next cuts are going to start affecting our children. This is a voluntary fund campaign that is going out to all of the parents and community members. Our school foundation has an endowment, which we are using the interest off this to fund projects/grants each year. This will continue and the EGR Now! campaign is separate. A few misconceptions – We are NOT the best funded district in Kent County (actually we are 5th). [i.e. Forest Hills gets about $600 more per pupil but they have still lost money during these budget cuts and are concerned about their situation.] Our EGR property taxes do not pay for school operations – this stopped back with Proposal A. Taxes/bonds can only pay for facilities, infrastructure and technology upgrades. We are virtually reliant on state funding for operating dollars. Some of the changes in the last few years included: building budgets, athletics, counseling, support staff, slightly larger class size. Programs at risks could include Elementary Art/Music/Phys Ed/Spanish, Reading support, Guidance counseling in MS/HS, media center staffing. Some of these programs can be reduced and not completely cut (we would rather have a reduced level rather than losing a program all together because it’s so much harder to get them back). The district will be tapping into the fund equity somewhat (not completely because it would be fiscally irresponsible to leave us with too low of a balance.
· Goal would be to make up the $300/student that is being taken away. We recognize that not every family could donate this amount, but we understand there might be people in the community that will give that don’t have children in the district.
· All donations are voluntary.
· Please talk about this with your friends and neighbors. Be informed and read/understand the district communications. Attend Hurrah! on March 17th – there will be two areas – a texting campaign and all of the money will go to the EGR Now! campaign and the tickets to the event and raffle money will go to the Foundaiton/grants.
· May 15th is the deadline to raise the supplementary funds. Donations are tax deductible. EGRSF is a 501c(3) organization. You can donate online http://egrsf.org.
EGRPS District Report - Jeanne Glowicki
· High school is really ready for 1:1 program. The timing was discussed (that it may be a hardship for people in conjunction with the EGRNow! Campaign), but the district really believes they can’t stop the program at this time. However they can make some changes to the timing of the program for MS as they get closer to the implementation if necessary.
· Second communication is scheduled to come out at the end of next week. We know we are bombarding you with information right now, but we feel so strongly about all people to have the information needed to make critical decisions.
· Question about once EGR Now! campaign is over (it appears to be a band-aid for this year), what is the plan for next year? Amy Stuursma talked about this as a 2-3 year campaign, hoping that the political environment will change; if not…our public education will have to have some fundamental changes.
Board of Education Report - Beth Kiisk-Milanowski
· Please read the communications! It’s worth the time to be informed.
· School Board Recognition Month – they were recognized at the board meeting this week. Susan Levine was appointed to the board and will serve one year (until 12/31/12). If she chooses to run for the 2 years that are remaining, she will have to file to do so.
· Board of Elections terms have moved to November. Many people’s time has been extended to an even year.
· Many thanks to everyone who participated in the budget survey. Kevin Phillips/focus groups will be understanding the results of those surveys.
· If you have questions about MLK Day celebration, please reach out to a board member or Jeanne directly. We as a school district feel very strongly about how important it was for our kids to be in school and have an opportunity to get together to honor MLK.
Approval of Minutes - Susan Butler
· Approved.
Announcements
· School Play - Beth Kiisk-Milanowski – Mulan practice starts 1/30.
· Race to Nowhere - Tamara Christians – Documentary showing and discussion about over programming children
Adjourn: 10:25am
Upcoming Dates:
· Jungle Book Performance, 1/31, 6:30 Lakeside Gymnasium
· EGRPS Board of Education Meeting – 2/13, 6:00 p.m. Woodcliff
· PTA Executive Board Meeting – 2/14, 8:30 a.m.
· PTA General Meeting – 2/16, 6:30 p.m., Lakeside Staff Lounge
· Race to Nowhere - Movie and discussion, 2/28, 6:30, EGRHS Little Auditorium
Parent Teacher Association
East Grand Rapids PS-Lakeside Elementary
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