Attended by: Tom Dooher; board co-chairs Cindy Philapil and LaChon Richardson; Peggy Daley (finance), Charlie Castillo (enrollment); Monique Perez-Jones (auditor); Lisa Twaronite Sone (secretary); Channelle Wells (volunteers)
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INTRO -- Tom-led prayer; self-introductions (which included information that a grant for which Charlie applied will get the school $10,000 to install new flat screen TVs in classrooms)
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DISCUSSION OF PRINCIPAL'S AGENDA
1) BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT -- SEPTEMBER 6th, 6:30 PM
A) Parents will be asked NOT to bring children this year, since in past years kids have been so disruptive that it's been difficult to hear in the hall.
B) Set-up tables for volunteer sign-up, just like last year -- this worked well.
C) Coffee and snacks? Yes.
D) Speakers -- keep it brief: Tom, Father Jose, introduce board members and new families, give stats about school, Center Plate, parent hours -- and then let parents go visit classrooms, since Back to School Night is primarily to meet the teachers.
(Side discussion about whether the fridge magnet with the fundraising events was a good idea or not -- conclusion: maybe -- worth thinking about.)
2) ROOM PARENT ROLES
A) Room parents should take some of the burden off the parent board by delegating jobs; setting up ad hoc committees to help with responsibilities; keep grade level informed of school events; mobilize parents when events need volunteers.
B) Room parents should remind parents of their 30-hour volunteer requirement. The school can't "charge" for hours, but parents can donate goods -- donations of $10,00 worth of products to a school event are equal to one hour of volunteer time, up to a total of ten hours toward the requirement.
C) Room parents responsible for their grade's Center Plate (which will hopefully raise $20,000-$22,000 for the school this year). Families should get three phone calls -- to sign them up, to remind them, and then to remind them again and ask if they need a ride. Parents who can't do it must find a substitute -- no family can be entirely excused from Center Plate requirement without going through Tom.
D) Some kind of information night for new families? Conclusion: good idea.
E) Room parents responsible for monthly class newsletter; Tom's weekly newsletter will likely be issued online this year, and not as a paper handout in the weekly envelope; room parents need to keep track of emails and contact info for all families.
F) At least one room parent from each grade required to attend monthly board meetings.
G) All fundraisers initiated by a particular class need to be approved by Tom.
H) New process for submitting parent hours --
Only event chairs submit hours, so parents no longer need to submit their own hours – they sign in at the events. Hours given for chaperoning field trips, hot lunch help, etc.
(Side discussion on whether/how many hours should be given for attendance of mandatory parent meetings? Conclusion: one hour at most. All expressed the need for a comprehensive list of what kind of participation can count toward the requirement and what can’t -- Tom says, "We want to encourage parents to be creative with filling their hours, but anything off the grid needs to go through me.")
3) FUNDRAISING ISSUES
A) Tom asks, can every family donate one ream of copy paper? It costs something like $3.99 and would really help keep down paper costs.
B) Stats -- 223 students registered, paid, and expected to show up on 8/22, and the school budget is based on only 210. Last year, Tom asked parent board to raise $50,000 and it raised $51,000: this year's goal is $60,000.
C) Dates for fundraising events -- list of preliminary dates passed out for discussion.
i) Mandatory all-parent meeting on 9/27 would be too close to Back to School Night, so next all-parent meeting tentatively set for 10/25; 9/27 tentatively set as informational night for new parents instead.
ii) Suggested attempt to reschedule wine-tasting event before Christmas (though not conflicting with Christmas Faire, which is the major seasonal fundraiser), so people can buy wine for holiday consumption/gifts; some October dates suggested, pending church hall availability.
iii) Parish festival – Tom would like each class to staff a booth, to increase school's presence at the event.
(Side discussion of suggestion for "Dunk-the-Principal" booth -- Tom said he did this for an hour at St. Dunstan's and it was "popular," but he does not seem eager to repeat this experience.)
D) Discussion on whether finances/cash generated by events should run through Peggy Daley only --- conclusion was to discuss further in smaller meeting later with people directly involved, to determine what would be most efficient.
E) Second draft of Fundraising Status Report passed out to board.
4) ENROLLMENT
A) Tom says he has enrollment committee lined up -- about a dozen people -- to get word out about SFB's presence, recruit middle school students, market ideas for school, etc. Each enrollment committee member would be responsible for pulling in at least two families for a tour. Erin Murphy, new preschool director, is also working on enrollment.
5) WASC
Tom says he will inform board of role and duties for WASC process
6) SCHOOL MASS -- SEPTEMBER 9, 10:00 am
Blessing of faculty, room parents and board members.
7) SMART TUITION LAUNCH
Tom said the company had some problems with a new system it installed, which causes some trouble for parents as well as the school, but said, "We should have all the bugs worked out by the end of the month."
8) SCRIP
Tom wonders, why isn’t scrip more profitable? Lynda Taschek unable to attend this meeting, but Peggy Daley, who was in charge of scrip for three years, says scrip numbers are roughly consistent with what they were in the past, even though escrip is taking higher fee off the top and some merchants have reduced percentages of what they give.
9) BOARD MEETINGS set for evening of second Tuesday each month.
10) FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL RECEPTION? Yes.
11) MEMORIAL CARD FOR MRS. OREILLY'S LATE FATHER? Yes.
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