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Hillsdale High School (HHS) Call to Order/Pledge of Allegiance: The meeting of the General Membership was called to order at 7:37 PM. Cary Sweeney, President, led the Pledge of Allegiance. (There were 18 attendees, after the Botball program). Program: Eleven members of the Robotics teams set up and ran a Botball game for us, between the Darth Communists and Team Talos. The latter got an award for uniqueness at the competition, for a catapult they’d created that their robot successfully shot to “mess up” the other team! Approval of Minutes: The minutes of the April 12, 2004 PTSO general meeting were read, corrected, and approved by majority vote. They will be posted on the HHS web site (as are minutes of all general meetings of the PTSO) at http://www.hillsdalehigh.com/organizations/ptsominutes.html. Treasurer’s Report: Toni Johnson presented the financial statement for April 13, 2004-May 10, 2004. The opening balance was $3,202.45. Total expenses for the period amounted to $536.10, for Courier photocopying. Interest income on our account was $0.29, and there was a deposit of $6000, from AKOTT proceeds. The period ending balance was $8666.64, and the Budget to Actual balance remained in the black. The Treasurer’s Report was approved by unanimous vote. $150 was released for postal meter expenses; an additional $200 was released for a fifth scholarship (see below). Principal’s Report: Don Leydig reported that AP testing was in progress. Construction phase II went out to bid; the winning bid came in low enough to provide for both girls’ & boys’ locker rooms and showers to be renovated; in the boys’ area, a classroom will be built for wrestling; the girls will get a room for dance. Athletic awards and several concerts are coming up this month. We recently hired 10 new staff and are still hiring. In response to the question, “Are we really going to a full year, as reported in The Times,” Mr. Leydig said we will start community conversations about it next year. While the contents of the article were written along this theme (aside from misquoting Cary Sweeney), the headline was totally misleading. Don said if we would go to a full year schedule, there’d be 3 week-long breaks between 6-week periods; during the 3 weeks, there would be opportunities for remediation. Hillsdale enrollment for the 2004-05 academic year is growing by approximately 350 students, which gets us to where we want to be. We have 63 students coming from Foster City, compared to 50 this year. Superintendent Johnson is planning on redrawing the lines within the District, and there may be a charter school in Foster City. Email (with which we recently had much trouble) is working now... We have grade-level list serves, so if you have multiple students, you might get multiple mailings. The discussion and vote on Late Start went to the District Board last week; it will continue as it’s been. A vote on whether to keep Tutorial will be later this month; Don thinks it will be retained. Senior exhibition will be May 27 – 28; all Hillsdale parents and students are invited to come observe the presentations. President’s Report: Cary said the PTSO received a Thank You note from Steve Maskel for the contribution to the Robotics Team. As usual, Gari attended the Parents Presidents’ Council meeting on 4/19. They discussed raising the academic standards throughout the District; the objective is to have every student UC/CSU ready by graduation. The plan is to have every 9th & 10th grader get on track for this, in the 2004-05 school year. That means they’ll be required to complete 2 years of English; 2 years of Math, including Algebra & Geometry; 1-1/2 yrs World History (there will be some shifting in this program for our students); 2 years of laboratory science. Two years of world language will be required in grades 9-10, so that they will have the chance to take 3 – 4 years, total. Underscoring the new standards is the need for a 7-period day. Don Leydig said there is a lot of resistance to this proposal; only at HHS could we get such a strong affirmative vote on this. Sam Johnson wants to take what is a good district and make it into a great district. The vote will be on the 24th of this month; Don predicts it will pass. The new requirements for Social Science (History) would start next year; they’ll phase in the others parts over the next few years. Drama Boosters: Kim Krekel is the new president. Music Boosters: Kaye Sharma reported, they’re looking for a treasurer, and are working on the revision of the Music Boosters bylaws. The Barnes & Noble book fair, May 1, had 41 participants and generated about $1100 in sales. Athletic Boosters: Janine said they didn’t have enough attendees at last month’s meeting to put together a new board. Cynthia Gradwohl will remain as Treasurer. Steve Baccei proposes to step down to the VP position, and they’ll ask someone to step up to the President’s position. Dance Boosters: There was no representative at this meeting; Cary said it’s a pretty new group. AKOTT: Janine is already at work on plans for the 2005 event, with Leslie Levy working on donations, Cheryl Simpson doing computer work; Gari will be treasurer. They will ask at the next Athletic Boosters meeting (5/11/2004) for a parent to work on athletic team baskets. They will use same auctioneer as this year, who was great; but the DJ was horrible and will not work for us again. Membership: We are done for the year. Hospitality: (No report.) Misc.: The end-of-school lunch is on Thursday, 5/27. Toni Johnston is chairing; any help would be greatly appreciated. The junior class has the responsibility to provide snacks and beverages for graduation; volunteers are needed. New Business: The newly-elected Executive Board members for the 2004-05 PTSO were sworn in. The members are:
Cary presented all the Executive Board members with a box of crayons, and sketch pads. In turn, Cary was given a Golden Knight Pass and a few other gifts. Old Business: Chris Reynolds, Dawn McDaniel, Patti Low, & Leslie Levy served on the Scholarship Committee. After some discussion, a motion was made and passed, to award a fifth scholarship at $200. Wish List Committee. Currently have $3500 budgeted; asking for another $500 – 1000, because the committee came up worth about $4500-worth of worthy requests. After discussion, a motion was made and passed, to reallocate $1000 from AKOTT income to Wish List. Peggy received suggested edits on the By-Laws, and said she would update the draft. The Board will finalize and post on web; a vote of acceptance/approval will be on Sept agenda. Closing: The meeting was adjourned at approximately 9:50PM. The next meeting –the first of the 2004-05 academic year – is Monday, Sept. 13 at 7:30 PM. Respectfully submitted by,
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