Washington High School PTA
Meeting Minutes
November 8, 2005
President Sara Clark called the meeting to order at 9:06 a.m. Thirty people were in attendance. The meeting began with a short program by Debbie Jones, chair of the 50 th Anniversary Celebration, giving us an update on the progress and goals of that project. Dr. Plagman followed with a few minutes of questions and answers.
Executive Committee Reports
Secretary – The minutes of the October meeting were circulated and approved.
Treasurer – Lisa Thirnbeck reported that a few more Blue Chip donations had come in and we are still glad to accept more.
President – Sara Clark has nothing to report.
Staff Comments
Dr. Ralph Plagman – Principal, highlighted a few items in his staff FYI newsletter including the success of the annual Fall Leadership Retreat, the very successful hosting of the Iowa Caucus debate invitational, the positive feedback by juniors towards PTA sponsored health presentations regarding mental health issues, the growing number of E.L.L. students, and the record number of parent teacher conferences held this fall. Dr. Plagman note that the Academic Letter assembly for juniors was held on November 3 rd and 182 Letters were given out.
Sue McDermott – Guidance counselor, filling in for Dave Coates, announced that scheduling for next trimester is in progress with students coming in the office already this week to straighten out glitches. The schedules come out early next week. The last opportunity for seniors to take or retake the SAT is on Dec. 3 and the ACT on Dec. 10 th . Juniors will most likely want to take these tests in the spring (April and May) and are encouraged to take a close look at the calendar because there are conflicts with several other events on these testing dates. Junior counseling conferences will begin after the Christmas holiday break and focus on future plans, testing, college visits, etc. For seniors, college applications are due soon and the counseling office would encourage those students to get their paperwork in to the counselors ASAP so that admission forms and letters can be finished before the deadlines. Financial aid forms are due in January for most schools. There will be financial aid sessions for seniors and parents in the cafeteria on Tuesday December 6 th at 5pm and 7pm . Finally, the counselors had a very productive trip to the Boston area colleges, 10 in all, and were able to meet up with 6 Wash. grads. Frank Scherrman will provide us with a video summary of their trip for our program at the December meeting.
Dr. Peggy Hardesty – Faculty Liaison and 9 th grade Counselor, thanked the PTA for the staff dinner during conferences and for the support for the counselor's East coast college trip. More will be shared next month about the trip.
Committee Reports
Cookie Sales – Sara Sauter stated that 34½ dozen cookies were sold for the Halloween sale. Net income from the sale is around $240. A sign-up sheet was passed around for those willing to help decorate and sell cookies on Dec. 14 th .
Fundraising – as noted by the Treasurer, a few more Blue Chip donations have come in. Judy Baird, in charge of School Cents, announced that one big opportunity we have to gain points is by participation in things like Big Red Bucket where we fill a bucket with food for a family for the holidays. Judy passed around an envelope to take money donations so that she could go out and buy the food for the bucket. She also got points for participation in helping pass out candy at Lindale Mall's Halloween night. We have Judy's daughter, Melanie, to thank for that! Also, please consider shopping at Lindale and other participating businesses on the Triple Points weekend, November 25 th -27 th . 100 points are given for each dollar spent in the food court. Remember that groceries purchased at the Lindale Hy-Vee also count towards this program. Also – keep using those Target Visa cards – every little bit helps.
Health Ed – Lynn Dennis reported that the peer educators did a trial run and all went well – the students were great. The nurses are currently holding sexual health sessions in the sophomore classes and the peer educators will have follow-up sessions with the sophomores on ** November 30 th ** in their History classes (please note -- follow-up sessions are not on the Washington calendar). These peer educator sessions are made possible by the Red Cross Rapid Aids Project (RAP) and our own Washington students. The nurses have handed out bookmarks with a listing of sexual health information resources and phone numbers to the sophomores. A new handout will be distributed to Washington students regarding oral sex, as well as information from Waypoint about healthy relationships. Lynn emphasized the growing number of students involving themselves in oral sex do not regard it as a form of sexual behavior. The latest statistics are that half of all kids ages 15-19 have had oral sex. Future PTA Surveyor ads will feature the substance abuse topic and the healthy relationships topic.
Hospitality – Bobbie Pearson thanked all who brought food for the latest conference dinner. The dinner went very well and there was no food left over. She is reminding everyone to bring 3 dozen cookies to the December meeting – we eat a few ourselves at the meeting and then make trays of assorted cookies for the staff and for the folks at Bethany Lutheran Church as thanks for allowing students to use some of their parking during the year.
Reflections – Information should now be posted on the PTA website and was e-mailed to the art, music and L.A. staff last month. Students are encouraged to participate – it is a great addition to any college resume. Deadline for entries is Jan. 6 th , 2006 .
Volunteer Coordinator – Leslee Rambo thanked the volunteers for the ITEDs. She explained that any volunteer hours connected to a class (marching band, for instance) do count towards our PTA volunteer hours. Please submit these hours to Leslee, iowarambos@msn.com , as they do need this information downtown.
Old Business
• Founder's Night Coordinator – a volunteer was found for coordinating Founder's night.
New Business
• Founder's Night – nominations are needed for two outstanding PTA volunteers to be recognized at the February PTA Founder's Night. Names need to be submitted soon so that we can decide by next month.
Announcements –
• One of four community Traffic Safety forums will be held at Washington this coming Wednesday, Nov. 16 th , at 6:30 . Feedback is being sought from the community for solutions to problems of traffic safety and our young drivers. Please pass the word. For more information, contact Mary Ann Lee at 515-243-2000 or mlee@sppg.com .
• Sweeney Todd – WHS auditorium, 7:30PM November 10,11,12
• Sandy Nassif has copies of The List in the Student Center for pick-up if you pre-paid and for sale if you did not already order one.
• Regarding the forward from the city PTA to PTA members concerning No Child Left Behind – it has been requested that we consider the fact that not all educators support this piece of legislation. (You may want to talk to some of the teachers and administrators you know so that you can be informed as to the impact they feel this can have on our students.)
The meeting was adjourned at 10:22 AM followed by Q & A with Dr. Plagman.
Sorina Abernathey, Secretary