Minutes of PTSA Meeting
Arcadia High School
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Kay Kinsler called the meeting to order at 9:50 a.m. with the flag salute was led by Terry Leahy.
Kay welcomed two new parents to PTA both with freshman students, and acknowledged Janet Chew and Lori Phillipi, current Board members in attendance today.
She reminded us that there are several clipboards going around today. They include the Invitational Track meet need for volunteers, the upcoming golf tournament, Grad Night requests, Prom chaperone volunteers, Senior Activity Day, Textbook Retrieval during the last week of school at the AHS Library, AP Exam Assistance, and a basket is going around with invitations to our Installation and Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon and Meeting.
Principal, David Vannasdall thanked everyone for joining us at the Council Chambers. He acknowledged that not only is the facility able to accommodate our group, but parking is a benefit as well. The Data switchover is scheduled for spring break week. No phones, internet connections or email service will be in operating during the move. TIS will be housed in the rebuilt green room area across from the Little Theater.
Today marks another professional development day for AHS teachers with a late start for students for the second semester. We continue to ask for your support as we keep working together.
Budget cuts next year will mean a loss of staff and/or not rehiring or maintaining temporary teachers. We are looking at many options including utilizing multiple credentialed teachers to work in their credential areas as needed. No scenario is good, but even though the State budget has not been formalized, we still need to work together toward a 10% cut across the board. We are very thankful for our finance office, which is being very creative in working toward cuts that will not impact students in classrooms.
To answer questions about our long-term subs, we want to share our position with you. Lately we have had several math teachers needing to be out for lengthy or extended leave. Although we do have an occasional sub whose credential is in math or science, it is very rare and certainly not at a level to allow the teaching of calculus. We first utilize subs on a day-to-day basis while we look for a suitable long-term sub. We want you to know that you can contact any administrator with concerns or questions.
We are so fortunate to have a parent base at AHS willing to serve at a moment’s notice and we encourage you to continue volunteering. If you have never chaperoned a dance, the Prom is the place to be, or work the Prom photos here at AHS. We never lack for volunteer opportunities.
Facilities Manager, Kathy Patterson added her thanks for the impressive luncheon provided by the PTSA amidst construction chaos, the decorations were outstanding and the food incomparable!
So you know, Admin and A-bldg will demolished when school ends to make room for the new administration building. Four classrooms in G Hall are being converted into screen printing and ceramics labs and that work should be completed by summer. The old woodshop and the dance studio will be demolished in July to make room for the new Science Building.
Assistant Principal, Catherine Merel reminded us that quarter finals are going on this week and because of spring break, report cards will not be mailed until the end of the week when we return to school.
English Honors placement testing and the swim survival test will be given the week that we return as well. Pre administration for AP tests will be completed the third week of April and the CA State Standards tests for freshmen, sophomores and juniors will be the week of April 21. Special bell schedules will be utilized for those test dates. Even though seniors are not tested, they are required by law to attend school. AHS has several senior seminars planned for your students to attend. They will have opportunities to attend different seminars each day. Attendance will be taken.
Counselor, Kathy Rapkin thanked all who have worked in the Career Center during programming. We are 50% completed as of today. Freshman class programming will be April 4-16 and then we begin working with the incoming students at the middle schools.
The AB 1802 funds which have helped us to increase our counseling staff has made a huge difference in how we can function, including the ability to work with each student individually without rushing them, something that counselors have always wanted to be able to do!
The Counseling Staff has been recognized with a Governor’s Award for their SPARC. Only 11 of these awards are given statewide.
Kathy will be lobbying in Sacramento for education issues and reminds us to write our legislators because they do read those letters.
AHS students are causing private colleges and universities to decrease the offers of acceptance to seniors applying because past history has shown that our students apply, but decline their offers. Counselors have long tried to discourage students from applying unnecessarily to colleges that they do not intend to attend. These are usually the private, out-of-state universities, which are far from home and quite expensive.
Activities Director, John Tung reminded everyone to attend some portion of the Invitational Track Meet here at AHS. Come to help, or come to watch. You will not be disappointed.
The toilet fundraiser will be on April 19, bring a water bill for proof that you are in the SGV Water District and you can claim up to two new toilets. When you return with the old toilet a month later, ASB will receive a $10.00 donation. (The toilets are Corona Caravel dual plus models).
John outlined all of the upcoming activities reminding us that without parent help, we couldn’t do what we do! He also reminded us that the ASB website is updated and accurate go to ahsasb.ausd.net (no www); also, there is a new AHS website for athletics.
The Red Cross Blood Drive was a huge success, beating last year’s drive by over 100 units. PTA Council President and parent, Sandhya Ravi, was a huge help with this drive.
Dean, Keith Kerney spoke about Traffic Safety Week this week and thanked the parents who came to help.
Mr. Kerney also had a hand out for parents on the new cell phone laws going into effect this July 1. No student 18 or under will be allowed to use a cell phone while driving, wireless of not. Keith will scan the law’s wording and place it on our website for viewing.
Kay Kinsler thanked all of the administrators for coming and sharing with us. It is important that parents hear from the administrators directly and have an opportunity to ask questions.
Kay read the correspondence that has come in, thank you notes from staff and teachers for the wonderful luncheon and a thank you and a $100.00 donation from grateful parents.
Recording Secretary, Terry Schreiner reported that copies of the March minutes are on the entry table at this meeting and after some minor corrections have been approved by a committee. If you would like to receive the minutes and do not currently get them via e-mail, please let Terry Schreiner know tschreiner@ausd.net If you want to be removed from the list, also contact Terry.
Treasurer, Sherry Liang reported that the current balance as of today is $15,877.10 with only one receipt for the month. It was moved by Terry Leahy and seconded by Lisa Lucas to ratify checks number 1072 and 1073 for a total of $150.83. The motion carried.
We have budgeted $1500.00 for Convention and $750.00 for a donation to Grad Night. With rising costs everywhere we would like to raise those budgets to $1700.00 and $1,000.00 respectively. A motion was made by Lisa Lucas and seconded to raise both budgeted amounts as stated. The motion carried.
A motion was also made to ratify the new check signers for the PTSA account. They are Sherry Liang, Kay Kinsler, Ruth Lagace, and Karen Tom. The motion was made by Terry Leahy and seconded by Lisa Lucas. The motion carried.
Kay is excited by the honor the counselors have received and plans to attend the awards ceremony on Friday morning. She thanked Karla Kroesing and Carla Heer for setting up the volunteer process for programming in the Career Center. She thanked Alice Chan and her committee along with all of the volunteers for the exceptional lunch provided the AHS staff. Thanks were expressed for the Grad Night Chairs, Terry Leahy and Liz Westphal for all their hard work, as well as to Kathy Yamane and Jeff Laun along with all of the ready and willing translators for the newsletters and websites. A special thanks goes to Lori Phillipi for “pinch hitting” and working the Traffic Safety Week. Always a big thank you to the Hospitality Committee for treats on the morning of these meetings.
Be sure to check out the calendar handed out today for interesting upcoming events.
The PTSA and all parent booster groups will be joining forces to hand out 9 scholarships to deserving seniors this year. Applications are due the end of April. A motion was made by Lisa Lucas to accept the Scholarship Committee of Sherry Liang, Kay Kinsler, Myrna Dekker, Laura Corral, Mia Chung, and Jeannie Pang. The motion was seconded and passed.
Reminder to get your procedure books to Susan Mathias so that they can be ready for fall distribution.
If you haven’t already taken the online survey regarding PTSA meetings, please do so as soon as possible. We welcome your thoughts and feedback. Go to www.ahspta.com and click on the survey link.
Remember to join us at Matt Denny’s for lunch today at noon.
The Youth Services Coordinating Council meets every other month and includes many groups from around the city each with a specific focus i.e. Child Health Council, Arcadia Thrift and Welfare, Foothill Unity and the Assistance League. The PTAs are working to get the word out regarding available services so that children and families can get services needed.
SSLT, Sherry Liang spoke about the Leadership Team’s activities this year. Members visited area high schools to gain more information on AP and Honors access to students at each of the sites. School Site Leadership Team will be conducting a survey on the professional development days. (Kay asked for a hand vote right now, and it appears that parents attending today prefer early release days over the late start days).
SSLT has formed a sub-committee to look into funding another copier for AHS.
SSLT has also been involved in cleaning our campus, particularly after lunch. If you haven’t walked through campus right after lunch, we encourage you to do so. There is a program just beginning to encourage clubs to “adopt a hallway” with their membership taking the responsibility of encouraging students to clean up after themselves. The clubs have made signs and post them when they are in charge of a hall.
We have added 25 more trash cans to the campus so that they are more visible and readily usable.
SCRIP will be sold all morning by Karen Tom and you can contact any of the SCRIP sales people to purchase throughout the month.
GRAD Night, Mary Beth Haney spoke for the chairmen asking everyone to save the small sample size personal items from hotel stays so they can use them for senior girls grab bags.
Music Club Liaison Lisa Fairbanks invited everyone to the free concert tonight at 7:00 in the North Gym. It is the Spring Concert for Concert Band 1 and 2 and Orchestra 1 and 2.
Color Guard is hosting an all day event on Saturday to raise funds for the championships in Dayton, OH during spring break. All three Percussion Teams will be competing on Saturday in Temecula and Varsity Percussion will be traveling to Dayton, OH for the championships mid month.
Athletic Boosters Liaison Ruth Lagace Boys Soccer and Girls Soccer both have AHS representatives on the All Area Teams per the Star News. They are Eric Guo and the girls are Emily VandenBosch and Ann Marie Tangor. Brittany Chew made the Star News All Star team in girls basketball.
CPBC Liaison Ophelia Ha reminded us that the next meeting will be on April 18.
She also stated that we have one AHS student going to State Competition for the Reflections Project.
Hispanic Booster Liaison Kay reported for Myrna Dekker that they have an inspiring movie to show tonight at their meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:20 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Terry Schreiner
Recording Secretary
Next Meeting: Thursday, May 1 with the meeting and Installation at Matt Denny’s 10:00 a.m. If you wish to stay for lunch (cost $20.00) please RSVP to Ruth Lagace by April 26 @ 626 821-0745.
widget.hideFooter();
widget.hideButton("Comments");
widget.hideButton("Edit page");
widget.hideButton("New page");
widget.hideButton("Files");
widget.hideButton("Add features");
widget.hideButton("Help");
