Attendees:  Denise Kubick, Leslie Levy, Lisa Souther, Lois Darbonne, Teresa Gebler, Mickie Reimers, Carol Ruch, Toni Johnson, Pam Hansson, Nancy Venezia, Jeff Gilbert, Carol Spillman Rogge, Joanne Fiorucci, Deb Stucke

1. Welcome - Approval of Agenda – Meeting called to order by Lois Darbonne, President, at 6:35 p.m.

 

2. Approval of minutes from August 25th Board Planning Meeting – Carol Spillman Rogge, Secretary 
   It was suggested that the prior minutes did not need a vote of approval, as they were not for a general meeting. No vote was taken. (This action may be revisited at 1st general membership meeting Sept. 10th.)

3. Principal report – Jeff Gilbert, HHS Lead Principal
   Staff/Class news:  HHS had a great 1st week.  We are opening a Span. 5/6 class and we need to hire for a 1/5 Spanish position. There are a number of new teachers; all are a good fit for our school. Jeff discussed a new Administrative Chart that explains how HHS works administratively and lists teachers by house.  Copies were provided to the Board and will be available at Back to School Night for parents. This was part of an effort to help staff and parents understand the distributive leadership at HHS.  Staff Changes:  Sabrina Braccini has 2 more administrative periods and less dance. This frees up the other administrators for other functions.  Ultimately, HHS will hire a 3rd administrator for Kyoto House in 2008-09 and will conduct a search this year.  Fred Wolfgramm was hired as a full-time Campus Aide to support Brett Stevenson (Interim Principal of Kyoto) who oversees school safety and discipline.  
   
   General:  Teacher contracts are in place.  At the district level, Dr Miller was hired for one year as the new Superintendent.  Jeff expressed his pleasure working with him.  HHS’s enrollment numbers are better than anticipated; we have about 1,180 students with some transfers from SMHS. District anticipates cutting up to $1.2 million and we need to wait and see how that could affect us this year. 
   
   Long-term goals/needs:  There are effectively no SLC’s at 11th and 12th grades beyond 11th grade advisory. Currently 4 teachers (2 English and 2 Social Studies) share studentsat both the 11th and 12th grades. 11th grade still has Advisory, but not 12th. Jeff would like the whole community to think about how to rethink SLCs in the upper grades, including options such as moving from 3 to 2 houses at the upper division.  Effectively 4 teachers would cost $400,000 and we don’t have the resources right now to provide 9 sections for senior advisory. On a positive note, there are now 11 college classes on campus, with maybe 1 more possibly added.  These are offered primarily for 11th and 12th grades.   Currently there are 70 students signed up for the new American Sign Language class. Jeff sat in on the first day of class and was impressed with the students’ attentiveness and interest.  These classes actually save money, which provides for advisory classes. There are also 37 students enrolled in the Business class offered 1st period on Mon. and Weds. 
   
   Foundation news:  All the pieces are now in place.  Past HHS principal, Don Leydig, is now involved.  The goal is to plan for a fairly large 1st fundraiser, outside of current fundraisers, targeting HHS alumni.  This will hopefully provide money to hire a professional fundraiser.  There was a general discussion regarding the PTSO receiving the monies given to it, which were collected at the beginning of school through the Foundation Donation form.  Jeff suggested the Board connect with Sabrina Braccini to coordinate the Foundation’s money take versus the PTSO’s.  The staff is planning for newsletters to go out to parents bi-monthly to provide better communication on these and all issues at HHS.

 

4. Ways and Means Report –Teresa Gebler, Mickie Reimers, and Carol Ruch, VPs Ways & Means
   As of this meeting, there is $6,948 in donations to AKOTT.  There was a discussion of contacting the Boosters Clubs as to how to proceed with the splits. A community-builder type fundraiser is under consideration.  Concerns were raised that we need to plan for something in the spring and start now.   Concerns were also raised about targeting the same community in the all of the different fundraisers. Lois says that the PTSO will still work with the current parent community only. 

5. Review & Approval of By-laws – Pam Hansson, Parliamentarian
   Pam provided a marked-up copy of the By-laws to discuss typos and/or needed edits for this year.  Copies of the corrected version will go to everyone.  There was discussion of Article V – Officers and their Election - Sect. 2: deleting officers not currently on the Board and combining positions to reflect the current Board.  This was agreed to. Article VII – Meetings Sect. 1: Number of meetings. This year to be there will be 8.  Suggest we change the wording to be more general. Article X – Fiscal Year and IRS Number - Change fiscal year to June 1 – May 30th?  Discussion of keeping current year due to school ending so close to June 1st?  Problem with fiscal year vs. the month the PTSO Board changes.  Decided to leave as is.  Leslie Levy made motion to approve changes as discussed and present to the general membership at the 1st PTSO meeting.  Toni Johnson 2nded. Votes: All Ayes.

           

6. 2007 – 08 Meetings & Programs / Advertising – Nancy Venezia, VP Programs
   Nancy will meet with Principal to discuss staff needed to be present at 1st meeting.  Will also find out how to post information re: Meetings on Schoolloop.  Please email any ideas for subsequent meetings to jnagv@aol.com. Under consideration for the November meeting – a School Safety Program, possibly with a Police officer speaker.  Discussion of subsequent meetings:

            Feb. 11th – will be a Business and Program meeting and we will need to form the Board Nomination committee at that time.
Mar. 10th – Slatted for Outstanding Service Awards – tentative.  Suggest putting call out for nominations in January.  Will also need to form the Scholarship committee at this meeting.
            April 14th – Need to form Wish List committee at this meeting.

Discussion of the need for better publicity about committees, meetings, etc. Possible use of  Schoolloop, District phone call system and Website. Secretary Carol is currently updating all PTSO pages on the HHS site.  Need to update AKOTT page. Suggestion that when something is updated, have a NEW burst or way of identifying the new material. Teresa to discuss with Sabrina PTSO’s communication options and Nancy to discuss with Jeff.

7. 2007- 2008 Budget – Toni Johnson, Treasurer
   General discussion of released expenditures from last year that did not get spent. Administrative $1,000 for Technology.  Need to check with last year’s principal, Yvonne Shui.  Also, a discussion of invoices from the Library that were not paid.  Need to follow up on those amounts.  Toni discussed the need to get a copy of the Wish List appropriations from last year for her records. The net result from all these discrepancies is that the current budget carryover amount will go down to $4,060.  Discussed proposed budget item allocations line by line.  It was determined that the fundraising goal would be $35,000 total with $7,000 allocated to PTSO. Further discussion of whether to do the 5-way split with boosters clubs.  It was determined that all monies collected at the initial donation fundraiser for the opening of school would be split with the Booster Clubs in the same way as past years.  Any other fundraisers splits would be determined at that time.  Lisa Souther reported that the Teachers’ Back to School lunch was $371.91.  There was discussion that the cost for the Teacher’s Lunch should come out of start up for next year.  There was a general discussion of other ways of supporting the HHS staff and faculty.  Lisa suggested putting something in teachers’ boxes as a morale booster on a monthly basis. Other options were discussed. There was a discussion of whether to continue to provide funds for the Library. Some members suggested we focus on funding programs that impact students directly this year.  It was suggested that we increase student enrichment grants.  It was decided that the goal was to support current student programs.  Toni will pull together the Proposed Budget to present at the Sept. 10th meeting.
   
   Membership - Denise Kubick, VP Membership
   We have collected $4,400 so far from 162 families and 2 teachers.  Late AKOTT monies from last year to be given to Treasurer.  Denise to follow up with Sabrina regarding Foundation donations that may go to PTSO.  Discussed the benefit to teachers, when they become members of PTSO, they will be given the opportunity to submit wish list requests to the Wish List Allocation committee.  Math Department Chair, Deb Stucke, volunteered to send out invitations to teachers to join PTSO. 

 

8. New Business – Lois Darbonne, President
   Back-to-School Night, Aug. 30th, Athletic Boosters Car Show, Sept. 8th
   Lois suggested a presence at each. Ideas included providing flyers advertising the Sept. 10th – How to Navigate HHS at both events. Discussion of reaching out to students too.  Lisa to obtain PTSO table for Aug. 30th.  Lois suggested Board members sign up to man table.  Suggested that Advisory teachers hand out a PTSO Membership/1st Meeting flyer to parents in their classrooms. Discussed a ½ sheet flyer. Nancy and Denise to coordinate.  Deb Stucke volunteered to inform Advisory teachers. Any leftover flyers to be distributed at Car Show snack bar.  Discussion of a booth to sell stuff at the Car Show.  Ways and Means to come up with something.
   Faculty Report –  Deb Stucke
   Deb will be the Teacher Rep again this year. Lots of kids, full classes.

Next Meeting:  Sept. 10, 2007 6:30 p.m. - Business portion, 7:15 p.m. Prompt – Program:  How to Navigate HHS
Closing: Meeting adjourned at 8:20 p.m.

Respectfully submitted:
Carol Spillman Rogge, Recording Secretary
c.spillman@comcast.net