Washington High School PTA
Meeting Minutes
November 14, 2006
President Candy Vance called the meeting to order at 9:03 a.m. Thirty five people were in attendance. The program for the meeting was a viewing of the WHS 50 th anniversary video. Dr. Plagman also introduced four new staff members including Pete Clancy, LA teacher and new assistant debate coach; Steve Riley, LA teacher and new journalism advisor; David Duer, LA teacher and ACT prep instructor; and Eric Thompson, World History and A.P. US History teacher and assistant to the band.
Executive Committee Reports
Secretary – The minutes of the October meeting were circulated and approved.
Treasurer – Lisa Thirnbeck reported that any expense sheets should be turned in as they arise. No real activity otherwise.
President – Candy had nothing to report.
Staff Comments
Mrs. McDermott, Director of Guidance, reported that the Financial aid night will be Dec. 5 th . The College Planning Center rep will be there. The rep will also be back on Feb. 13 th for a “Fill in the FAFSA” event. Parents can schedule an appointment between 12 and 8 PM and hopefully will have their forms ready to submit or mail at the end of their appointment. More info on this later. The College Planning Center has opened an office at 1100 Blairs Ferry Rd. NE, Suite 104 (next to Super Target). Students can drop in to get college planning info and in the process enter a drawing for two $500 scholarships to be given away to one Junior and one Senior, in February.
253 college applications have been processed so far. Seniors need to get those applications in as soon as possible, counselors need time to process them.
124 students took the PSAT at Kirkwood center on Oct. 18 th . 86 juniors will be considered for National Merit competition. Only the top 1-2% will move forward in that competition. Scores should be back to school in December and students will be able to pick them up on the announced day.
Invitations are going out to families of juniors to call for junior conference appointments. These appointments can be set up for dates in December or January and will last approximately one hour during the school day. These appointments are held to help plan for college and other post high school opportunities.
The counseling page through the school website is now up to date and has many great resources on it. Scholarships are posted as they are announced and two new ones for JUNIORS have been added. Most scholarships are for seniors so these would be hard to miss. Jennifer Byers has done a wonderful job on the website.
Watch ACT and SAT deadlines - the last ACT for seniors is Dec. 9 th .
Students have 2 nd trimester schedules and were supposed to turn in any changes to the counseling office.
Dec. 4-7 is Mr. Duer's next ACT prep session from 3-4:30. These sessions are free with first priority given to those taking the Dec. 9 th test. Each day covers a different area of the test so even if they miss a day, students will benefit from these sessions.
Dr. Peggy Hardesty, Faculty Liaison and 9 th grade Counselor, no report as Peggy is visiting all 9 th grade LA classes today to go over schedules.
Dr. Ralph Plagman, Principal, announced that the 50 th anniversary week will focus around April 16 th with a series of events. The musical, “Grease”, was very successful with attendance around 2600. Seniors brought a catalog of graduation items to Dr. Plagman's attention and red gown's were voted for use this coming May. In the faculty FYIs he pointed out several items including the 111 AP Scholars that Wash has this year - an all-time state record for Iowa; the record number (30) of Music All-Staters this year at Wash; the average score of 24.3 on the ACT by Wash class of 2006, a new school record (59% of the class took the test) and puts Wash in the top 5% in the nation; Fingerprints was named best High School “literary magazine” in the country; the 2005-6 Warrior men's swim team was 8 th in the nation based on event times by Swimming World Magazine ; the Surveyor received the Gallup Award, the highest award given by Quill and Scroll (International Honor Society for high school journalists); the leadership retreat was very successful and involved over 200 students, thanks to the coordinating efforts of Julie Cain and the cooperation of Camp Wapsie. As a last note Dr. Plagman asked for feedback from parents of freshmen as to how finals were going.
Committee Reports
Academic Support - Pam Westrom will have a report at next month's meeting.
Cookie Sales - Sara Sauter thanked volunteers for helping with the Halloween sale and announced the next sale will be held on Dec. 18 th . A sign-up sheet was circulated for that sale. Volunteers are asked to bring some seasonal candies to decorate the cookies.
Fundraising - Blue Chip “thank you” notes are being written and sent out. Judy Baird encouraged everyone to turn in receipts at Lindale and thanked Laura Socwell for helping with the Halloween Lindale trick-or-treat event. Please shop at Lindale Mall and many of the surrounding restaurants and the Collins Road Hy Vee - then save your receipts to turn in at the boxes marked CR Washington in the center of Lindale or at the Collins Hy Vee. If you need to save your mall receipts you can have the points credited to C.R. Wash at the guest services kiosk. Points for grades will be given when report cards are brought in to the same kiosk
Grounds – Kim Feltman reported that bulbs were planted with help from Adastra near the gym entrance and the greenhouse. Trudy Johansen is donating her $1000 prize money to grounds which will be used for mulch and shrubs along the counseling office area in the spring. The committee may look at the baseball area for a future project. They hope to get the tech shop to build a bench around the large tree outside room 128. The science dept. will share maintenance duties of the greenhouse are with the grounds committee. The committee will look for donations of plants split from existing plants by various home-owners and hope to ask journalism students to write an article acknowledging local nurseries that donate or help contribute to the Wash beatification project.
Health Ed – Lynn Dennis passed materials that have been handed out to students. She reported that the nurses visited with the 10 th graders about sexual health. The ELL teachers requested that their students get in the loop as they have been left out of the health presentations. RAP peer educators will have a new advisor and will follow the same schedule. They will do the HIV/Aids presentation to 10 th grade after Thanksgiving.
Substance Abuse presentations to 9 th grade by Beth Goldberg and Tanea Moreland from ASAC were done and they will develop peer educators for next year. 70 students have signed up showing interest in becoming peer educators. A $2000 Wal-Mart grant will be used to develop the peer educator program. Résumé's will be required from all student applications. The Under-age Drinking Task Force has met twice and has been encouraged by ASAC to focus on the environmental approach of using media venues to get messages across to parents and students about the dangers of under-age drinking. A poster information campaign aimed at parents and students will be used at various venues such as major sporting events and performing arts events. Jade Hart described the Gazette's “Partners for Charity” program of advertisement for which we would like to find a partner to sponsor us. The Adolescent Health and Wellness Task Force have been meeting regularly and discussed the content of sexual health programs in the schools.
Hospitality – JoDee Anderson thanked for the salads and desserts contributed to the teacher conference dinner. She reminded everyone that all are asked to bring 3 dozen cookies to the December meeting on the12th so that we can have some to eat at the meeting with enough left over to box up and share with the staff.
Bylaws – Jann Baustian is our bylaws person and will review the bylaws and submit any revisions needed.
Reflections - this year's Reflections program is including two new categories this year - Dance Choreography and Video/Film production which should provide some exciting opportunities to students who have interests in those areas. The theme this year is “My Favorite Place”. Entry forms are available in the counseling office and entries are due by January 5 th .
Volunteer Coordinator - Jade Hart has a great list of volunteers and thanks everyone for their time and efforts. Volunteers are needed to help with the graduate follow-up.
Old Business - none
New Business - none
The meeting was adjourned at 10:40 AM followed by Q & A with Dr. Plagman.
Sorina Abernathey, Secretary