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MHS PTA Minutes 4/10/08
Meeting Called to Order
Secretary's Report
Treasurer's Report
Principal's Report
The new building is on time and the Partnership Committee is now in the planning stages for events for the opening of the new school. Ms. Weiner advised that the auditorium may not be ready when the school opens only because of the training that will be needed to run the high tech equipment.
Partnership tours are going very well.
Ms. Weiner told the group that she along with other faculty members met with the Ministers Alliance and she advised it was great! The ministers asked the faculty what could they talk about in churches to the kids and also if they could come to the school and Middletown High told them absolutely yes.
They talked about working with the kids about being degrading to themselves and others, also about respecting themselves and their peers.
New Business
The tag sale that is also run this date is looking for any and all donations.
Kathy Novak advised that she talked to people about being nominated for an officer position on the PTA but neither could do it. Kathy also spoke about a new system being looked at for the meetings for all the different committees. A suggestion being looked at is that all the committees meet at the same time first and then split up into sub groups. This is still in the planning stages with no decisions made yet.
A hand out was given to the group with the requests from teachers for the mini grants. The following grants were approved
At the end of the meeting Mary Abong'o a freshman mom volunteered to take over the Secretary position next year. I want to personally say Thank you and Congratulations to Mary, I know that she will do an excellent job. She is going to be working with a great group of people.
I also want to say Thank you to the board, Yvette, Tracey, Darlene, Sue and Ceba, it has been my pleasure working with all of you.
The final meeting for this year is scheduled for May 8, 2008 at 6:30 p.m. in the library.
Respectfully submitted
Karen R. Bixby
MHS PTA Minutes 3/8/08
Meeting Called to Order
Secretary's Report
Treasurer's Report
Principal's Report
The new building is on time and no referendum will be needed for extra funds.
Partnership tours are going very well. The Partnership committee will be involved with the transition to the new school.
Mr. O'Brien advised that Mr. Fontaine has been meeting with Chris Darby and Eric Marzalek regarding Pride Period. Some changes will be made such as making small groups. Pride Period will be on the students schedule next year.
Mr. O'Brien showed a power point presentation done with the freshman during CAPT testing.
The power point showed the parents some great statistics of the freshman class:
Concern about "colors" at Woodrow Wilson Middle School has become an issue. Mr. O'Brien advised the parents that Middletown High School's resource officer has been assisting at Woodrow Wilson with this issue. He also advised that at MHS, each morning there are three administrators at each door making sure no hats, colors, other head gear that should not be worn is removed before a student comes into the school.
New Business
The PTA plant sale will be held on May 10, 2008 and there are volunteers really needed.
There is a PTA convention in May, the opportunity to attend was offered to the group, PTA will pay the convention fees, The dates are May 1st and 2nd at the Crowne Hotel in Cromwell. Anyone interested should contact Yvette.
Sheila Daniels- Board of Education spoke to let the parents know that there was a budget meeting on March 19th at 6:00 and that that the Superintendent would be there to answer budget questions. Sheila said that it was important for people to go.
Deb Stanley spoke about Quiet Kudos, she did not know that there were funds in the budget for this program and advised everyone that she has been getting pizza donated by Domino's. The question was what should we do with the money in the budget.
Suggestions were for getting gift certificates for places around town in addition to the pizza or to increase the number of students to receive this award, the response was to increase the number of students.
Deb talked about mini grants and to date has only received two responses from teachers. She is not sure if all the teachers are aware that it is time to apply for the grants. Deb Stanley and Karen Nocera will put flyers in the teachers mail boxes to let them know to apply for these grants.
The March meeting was adjourned at 8:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted
Karen R. Bixby
MHS PTA Minutes 2/14/08
Meeting Called to Order
Secretary's Report
Treasurer's Report
Principal's Report
A question was answered by Mr. Fontaine about dropping classes without parental consent. He said that this should not be done. He did say though that there may be instances where a child may have been close to failing a class where they were put into a "buffer course" where they were doing well, then the failing class is dropped without the parents consent. Deb Stanley said that she had heard of instances where students have asked for a class to be dropped for a study hall and this was approved without parental consent. Mr. Fontaine said that this should not be done.
A concern was heard from the parents about the number of thefts that have been occurring amongst the students. Mr. Fontaine said that there is a cycle for thefts, it is higher at Christmas time and prom time. He advised that he is having a meeting with the phys ed staff and assistant principals to figure out a way to tighten up on this. He did say that students can ask their phys ed teacher to lock up their valuables in their office. Cell phones seem to be the big item that gets stolen. Darlene P. suggested maybe using an X block period to discuss with the students about stealing and the consequences. Mr. Fontaine thought this was a good idea.
The Cambridge report was discussed. On a scale of one to five, MHS got 4 ones and 1 two. MHS received a pretty fair hit on not reaching all students. Teaching changes need to be made and the State is being very supportive to our district in doing this. Mr. Fontaine advised he does see some good things coming out of the changes that will be made based on the Cambridge report. There is a program Bristol is using that the State has embraced and will be used at MHS. Bristol has seen between a 35 and 40% increase in academics using this program.
Mr. Fontaine had to leave for a building committee meeting but was asked if at the next meeting he would discuss the new class schedule in effective next year. He briefly stated but said that he would go over this at the March meeting.
New Business
The PTA plant sale will be held on May 10, 2008 and there are volunteers really needed.
The next meeting will be held on March 13, 2008 at 6:30 in the high school library.
The February meeting was adjourned at 8:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted
Karen R. Bixby
MHS PTA Minutes 1/10/08
Meeting Called to Order
Secretary's Report
Treasurer's Report
Membership Report
New Business
Principal's Report
Partnership Report
Meeting was adjourned shortly after 7:30 pm.
Respectfully Submitted by,
MHS PTA Minutes 11/8/07
The PTA meeting began at 6:30 p.m. with Presidents Tracey Stanley and Yvette Henley introducing themselves and asking that everyone in the room introduce themselves and state the grade(s) their children were in. There were 13 parents in attendance.
Minutes from the October meeting were distributed and read by the group. A motion was requested to accept the minutes. The minutes were motioned for acceptance by Lisa Townsend and seconded by Martha Banks Serndag. The minutes from the October meeting were accepted by all.
Treasurer Sue Aronne passed out the budget. The deposit amount was $81.00 collected for membership dues. Mr. Fontaine asked how the membership was compared to last year at this time and Membership Chairperson, Darlene Prezekopski advised that we were at about 50% from last year. A motion was asked for acceptance of the budget, Lisa Townsend motioned for acceptance and Martha Banks Serndag seconded. The budget was accepted by all.
Principal Bob Fontaine began his principals report by explaining to the group how the membership drive the PTA does in December works. He explained that the December PTA meeting the PTA members stuff envelopes with notices regarding the membership drive that asks people to join and there is also a place on this notice for families that may want to make donations to the PTA. This will be done at the December PTA meeting on December 13, 2007.
Principal Fontaine told the group that CCSU representatives were on site at the high school on November 8, 2007. They were here for "on the spot" acceptances. If a student had CCSU as one of their first two choices, they had on the spot interviews and knew by the end of the interview if they were accepted. There were 19 students that were accepted "on the spot".
The new high school is on target. Mr. Fontaine hopes to have access to the building in June. The challenge for next year at the new school is with the athletic fields. Football games next year will be held here at the old high schools football field. The hope is to have the Woodrow Wilson building down before school starts and the new fields will be worked on. They won't be complete until the second year of the new high school. The furniture at the high school will stay for the Woodrow Wilson students the new high school will have all new furniture. Three flag poles have been put up at the new school. The American flag and Middletown High flag will be put up and the third pole would maybe used as an honor flag-this is still in discussion.
Quarterly assessments are complete. Mr. Fontaine advised that tweaking still needs to be done on these. Discussions with staff regarding these assessments and the procedures are in process. Grades are due today (11-8-07) and the report cards are due to be sent out next week. Mr. Fontaine said regarding the quarterlies, he wants them returned to students when they are graded so the students can review what was done incorrectly. Lisa Schuerholz-Winters suggested polling the students as to how they felt about the quarterlies and Mr. Fontaine thought that was a great idea.
Mr. Fontaine completed his principal's report at 7:10 p.m.
A discussion began regarding the question and answer meeting with Superintendent Frechette that happened on November 7, 2007. Martha Banks Serndag talked about the meeting. She said it began because of two parents from Spencer School having a problem with teachers morale (not Spencer's teachers, teachers in general) and Central Office.
Martha advised that there was an overwhelming number of teachers at the meeting voicing their concerns about staff issues, Central office issues, etc. A large complaint was not getting support from Superintendent Frechette. There were parents that also had an issue with the Superintendent about being brushed off and not responded to, just being passed off to other people.
Lisa Schuerholz-Winters spoke about a new committee at Middletown High School called Partnerships. All schools in Middletown are required to have this type of committee. Lisa explained that studies show that students do better in school when school faculty, families and committees work together for the school. Washington D.C. is showing some good results. Lisa became involved after being approached by Donna Marino and Sheila Rifle. She has attended several classes about this committee. Sue Aronne and Cathy Novak are on this committee and Nan O'Brien was contacted and she along with some senior citizens are part of this committee.
After a walk through the school, the committee tried to work on the climate of the school. As a result of the Partnership committee, the school now has benches outside, a welcome sign and flowers have been planted. Lisa also told the group that letters and correspondence from the school were also reviewed by the Partnership committee and many positive changes have been made.
This year the Partnership committee will reach out to the existing MHS groups (Dragons In Action, Blue Unity etc). Eric Marzalek would like to have community members come into classes and reach out to the students. He would like parents and other community members to sign up to assist in classes for 45 minutes each month. There will be a meeting on December 11, 2007 from 5-6 at the Middletown High School library of the Partnership committee and Mr. Marzalek will talk more about this.
Lisa also advised that Superintendent Frechette has asked the Partnership committee to do something big for the opening of the new high school. He would like this committee to get people excited about the new school and help celebrate it.
An advisory committee is being formed now by the Partnership group. President Tracy Stanley suggested to Lisa, Rene Butler as a person who should be contacted for this advisory committee.
A thank you card was given to the PTA from President Stanley and the boys basketball team for helping make their first bake sale a success.
A flyer was also distributed by Presidents Stanley and Henley regarding the January meeting. This meeting will be held off site at the Chestnut Hill meeting room on January 8, 2008 at 6:30 p.m.
The December meeting will be on December 13, 2007 at 6:30 p.m. This meeting is the membership drive. We will be stuffing and labeling envelopes. Refreshments will be served.
The meeting adjourned at 8:00 p.m.
Respectfully submitted
MHS PTA Minutes 10/11/07
The PTA meeting began at 6:30 p.m. with Presidents Tracey Stanley and Yvette Henley introducing themselves and asking that everyone in the room introduce themselves and state the grade(s) their child (children) were in. There were 18 parents in attendance.
The September minutes were read by Secretary Karen Bixby, a motion was asked by President Stanley to accept the minutes. The minutes were accepted by Martha Banks Serndag and seconded by Lisa Townsend. The minutes were approved by all.
Treasurer Sue Arrone gave her report. She handed out her budget breaking down the deposits and checks cut. There was $627.00 in deposits. Membership deposits were $600.00 and there was $27.00 deposited from bumper sticker sales. The bumper stickers were received from Hank Korkowski when he was cleaning out his office. There was no cost for these bumper stickers so all sales are a profit. These bumper stickers are being sold at all school functions. There has been $533.73 worth of checks cut to date. This amount was for the teacher's breakfast, PTA dues, PTA insurance and $381.00 was given to Project Grad in payment of buttons that were made for Christine LaRosa. A motion was asked to accept the budget. Lisa Townsend accepted the budget, Karen Bixby seconded and all approved.
Assistant Principal Colleen Weiner gave the principals report. She advised this week was Spirit Week. Classes were busy decorating the halls. The theme this year is board games, freshman are doing the Game of Life, Sophmores-Monopoly, Juniors-Clue and Seniors-CandyLand. The pep rally is set for Friday 10/12/07 at the end of the day, the team captains are set to speak, the band will perform as well as the dance team and cheer leaders. Lots of fun stuff is planned.
President Stanley asked if we had a "code blue" procedure in the school. Ms. Weiner advised that there is a procedure in the school it is not called "code blue". If a situation occurs the teachers know what to do when they hear on the intercom "please secure your room at this time". If this should come on the intercom when the kids are changing classes, the teachers are to have whatever kids that are gathered near their classroom put into their classroom. The kids are kept away from the doors and the doors are locked. A question was asked about parents being notified or coming to the school. Ms. Weiner said it was important that the parents listen to the news to find out what is going on and also to find out where to go to come to the school. If there is a situation the surrounding streets could be blocked off and chaos could arise if everyone is trying to get to the same place at the same time. Ms. Weiner is the safety person at Middletown High School. President Stanley also asked whether the school has had a fire drill yet and Ms. Weiner advised that there has not been one yet, there were some code issues that have been corrected and there will be a drill soon.
Ms. Weiner advised that potentially the walkie talkies in the new school may not work, because of all the steel in the building and the size. Amplification has been put in for the teachers to talk internally but the question is whether it would get out to the police and fire departments. Testing is being done on this on Friday October 12, 2007.
The subject of the increase in the cost of the school was brought up. Jay Keiser explained how the grants work and why a referendum is needed. No date has been set for this referendum but possibly in February.
The outside marquee has been fixed and the company that fixed it did a great job. President Stanley advised that she used it and only one letter fell so 99% of the letters are working.
President Stanley asked about "snitching". The question was if an incident happens at school what does the school expect of the bystanders? Ms. Weiner explained that there have been incidents where kids have come forward with what could be a potential problem and staff has been able to stop the problem. She advised that it is not acceptable to stand and watch. A question was asked whether there is a supervisor at the time school opens and are there designated areas. Ms. Weiner advised that there are 3 security guards on duty at 7:00 a.m. and there is no designated area that can accommodate all the kids. She advised that the café opens at 7:10 a. m. for breakfast and that all the teachers are expected to be standing outside of their classrooms at 7:20 a.m. She also advised that classrooms are locked until 7:20 a.m. when the teachers arrive so the kids cannot go into classrooms but they can wander the halls.
The parents said that "snitch" was not a good word, because no kids want to "snitch". Ms. Weiner reiterated that any fooling around should be brought to the attention of security guards or staff to avoid a potential problem.
A question was asked about a designated area in the new school and Ms. Weiner said there should be an area on the first floor where everyone will be. There will still be 3 security guards at the new school.
Ms. Weiner also confirmed that the November meeting will be at the Westlake community room at Chestnut Hill.
Ms. Weiner also said that the Cambridge Group had done their study but left no written material. They advised that a written report would be sent to the school sometime around Thanksgiving. This group does an audit of all the classrooms and determines what is being done right and wrong. The State has not determined if they will make the final report public or not.
Mr. Ralph Damato from Guidance was the guest speaker at this meeting. He brought materials for Junior and Senior parents to take home.
Mr. Damato advised the group that the juniors were taking PSATS on Wednesday, October 17, 2007. He said In December or January, guidance goes into the classrooms to talk to the kids about college and signing up for SAT's. Sometime in February the parents come in the evening and Guidance talk to the parents also about colleges and SAT's.
In the fall over 40 reps come to the school and students can sign up to meet with these reps. On December 19th there will be a financial aid meeting for the parents. SAT's are done in the Spring of the student's junior year. Mr. Damato advised that last year 77% of seniors went to either a 2 year or 4 year college. Mr. Damato spoke about the cost of college and how many students go to a 2 year school because of the cost.
Cheryl Murdock asked if SAT's should be done more than once. Mr. Damato said absolutely, Juniors should take the SAT's in May and June of their Junior year because the next chance for the student to take them would not be until October of their senior year.
Mr. Damato said that when Guidance meets with the students in the classrooms they encourage the students to make individual meetings with guidance for themselves and their parents.
Some other great information Mr. Damato offered was that colleges look at the student's grades, their schedule, SAT scores, activities and clubs. He also said that the majority of students apply in New England and in New York.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 p.m. The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday November 8th at 6:30 p.m. at the Westlake Chestnut Hill Community Room.
Respectfully Submitted
Karen Bixby
MHS PTA Minutes 9/13/07
The first 2007-2008 PTA meeting began promptly at 6:30 p.m. Presidents Yvette Henley and Tracey Stanley began with introductions. There were 14 parents present and all introduced themselves and said what grade(s) their child or children were in.
Presidents Henley and Stanley handed out agendas that included the future dates for the meetings. They are as follows:
They also said that they are really going to try to stick to the meeting being one hour long. They asked for a volunteer time keeper to advise when it was 7:25 p.m. in order to wrap up the meeting. Kathy Novak volunteered and was accepted for this meeting. The exception will be when we have speakers and then the meeting may go until 8:00 p.m.
President Henley read an email from Cathy Stebbins the current President of the MSA regarding new board members of the MSA. The email also advised that the MSA was looking for a new President and Vice-President if anyone was interested. Lisa Schuerholz-Winters explained what the MSA was and volunteered to go to the next meeting and report back to the PTA what was happening at the MSA.
Treasurer Sue Aronne passed around the proposed budget and went over the line items. The total proposed income for this school year is $7,200.00. Sue said there have been four checks that have been issued so far. Two were for freshman orientation and two are for the teacher breakfast. The current balance in the savings account is $9,818.49. Sheila Daniels motioned to accept the budget, Tracey Stanley seconded and all approved the budget.
Principal Bob Fontaine began the principal's report by letting everyone know that he has a new Assistant Principal Andrew O'Brien. He said that he is doing great. Mr. Fontaine said that this is one of the best school openings he has had so far. Some changes for the school year include no head coverings are allowed. Also he discussed with his staff respect and a large part of respect is language. The staff has been addressed and advised what to do when language that is not appropriate is heard. Bad language will not be tolerated and the student will be talked to if caught using bad language in the halls, class etc.
Another change Mr. Fontaine discussed was that this year if a student is tardy they must sign in at the office instead of in first period. A student is considered tardy if they are not in class at 7:30. Anyone coming in after 7:30 must now sign in at the office. This will be in Mr. Fontaine's October news letter. He talked about Linkcrew and what a great job they did. He said the building has about 1350 students with a large freshman class, there are about 400 freshmen.
The school has 11 new teachers this year. Mr. Fontaine said he is happy with what he is seeing so far with the new staff. President Stanley asked if there was any diversity in the new staff that was hired. Mr. Fontaine said that this has been his challenge. The school does have a new teacher who is originally from Guyana. Mrs. Cabal is the new math teacher who was from Guyana. She was here last year as a substitute and has been hired as a permanent teacher. Mr. Fontaine talked about the other towns and how some are using sign on bonus's and other means to draw new staff. A lot of potential teachers are being lost to other towns because of what they are offering.
This year he did something a little different before hiring teachers. He had potential hires come in and teach a summer school class and he said that this was a real eye opener. Some of the people that he thought would be outstanding did not do very well in a classroom situation and others that he was not so sure about were outstanding. Everyone at the meeting thought this was a good way to check on the teacher before actually hiring them.
Mr. Fontaine talked about the new building. Everything is on track but there is an increase in the cost. Woodrow Wilson was an area of assembly in case of an emergency and because Woodrow Wilson is being torn down, the new high school will be the area of assembly. Because of this, the size of the generators needed has grown and so has the cost. Mr. Fontaine advised that this will cause a referendum to be needed to raise the amount of money needed to complete the building. This was an area of concern for the PTA meeting members. A question was asked of Mr. Fontaine what would happen if the referendum did not pass and he said that it could affect the athletic fields.
A tour of the building is done every other Wednesday. A suggestion by Presidents Henley and Stanley was a tour of the building for any PTA members that were interested and Mr. Fontaine thought that this would not be a problem. The date was set for October 4th at 4:30. Anyone interested in the tour would meet at the new school at 4:30. You must wear sneakers or any closed toe shoes, no heels or sandals, long pants and shirts with at least ¾ length sleeves.
We would meet Mr. Fontaine here and tour with him. The maximum number of people should be around 15. The tour will take about an hour and a half.
Lisa Schuerholz-Winters took a tour this summer of the new building and was very excited about everything she saw. She said all the rooms have windows, the school is air conditioned, in the hallways the corners are rounded and the auditorium and media center are great. Mr. Fontaine said the second floor of the academic wing is almost complete, the painting is being done in the rooms.
Another suggestion was having one of the PTA meetings at the Westlake Community Room to see if we can get other families who may not be able to get to the high school to come. This also has been set tentatively for October 11th at 6:30. Vice Principal Colleen Weiner will check into using this community room.
No Child left behind was discussed by Mr. Fontaine. Middletown High is doing reasonably well. We are deficient in our African American reading and math. The goal has not been met in the math area but we are close in the reading area. Middletown High is above the state levels but not where the federal government would like us to be. Middletown High School has submitted an improvement plan to the state. The state will be sending the Cambridge group to the school on September 25th and 26th. This group will be coming to assess and report back to the State the strengths and weaknesses they see in the school. Mr. Fontaine said that the reading level is a concern with the whole Middletown district in all grades K-12. Research has been done on this and changes will be coming.
A question was put to Mr. Fontaine regarding the marquee used for events in front of the school. All agreed this marquee is in bad shape and needed repair. Mr. Fontaine asked someone to check into the cost in getting it repaired and Kathy Novak volunteered to do this. Mr. Fontaine advised the members that the new school has an electronic marquee.
Cheryl Murdock asked about the CAPT testing results taken by the 10th grades. Mr. Fontaine advised that the results would be mailed out on September 14th. He said that 19 students advanced in all areas and recognition letters would be included with the test results. A recognition breakfast is being talked about for all these students and their parents to acknowledge this great accomplishment.
Kathy Novak asked if at some meeting we could have guidance come in and talk to the PTA members about the scheduling to PSAT and SAT tests and looking for colleges etc. Mr. Fontaine said he is sure that Ralph would be glad to come in and talk to the group. Presidents Henley and Stanley will try to get him to come to the October meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:10 p.m.
Respectfully submitted
Karen Bixby
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