Minutes from PGG Meeting on November 13th, 2006

Attending: Mari Gray, Ian Boyd (note-taker, Co-Chair), Meg Rosa, Tracy Hightower, Lynne Weintraub, Vielka de Urriola, Dan Kramer, Nick Yaffe, Debbie Timberlake (Co-Chair), Richard Hood (visitor)

Childcare Update: Aim for 2 child-carers at each meeting. High school students paid $15; College students/adults paid $20. If only one person is present then they are paid $20.

Thank-you cards for Dr Jerry Koch-Gonzales (workshop), and Cooley Dickinson staff (printer cartridges), were passed around for signing.

Parenting with Compassion Workshop Review: 25-30 people attended. There was positive feedback from those attending. The presentation was more like an Introduction/overview, so there is interest in a follow-up. Debbie to ask about a follow-up presentation, or classes if there is interest. Tracy raised a point about promoting the presentation, which led to a brief discussion on room parents – to be followed-up.

Parent Coordinator Position: Hiring committee is Alyssa Melnick and the School Counselor. Position has been offered to 2 people, and should be finalized in the next week or so.

Parent Volunteer Request Form: 5 responses to date. Volunteers for movie night, multi-cultural fair, and Used Book Fair. Also looking for Store Coordinators (for those that give a percentage of sales to Mark’s Meadow). Tracy to keep in contact with A2Z; Lynne will follow-up with The Toybox and Food for Thought. Also discussed was a Gift Card Fundraiser (currently run by Wildwood). Will add this to a follow-up Request Form.

Brown Envelope Fundraiser: Deborah Evans can no longer do this – position to be added to the Parent Volunteer Request Form.

Non-Profit Status: Layla Taylor has prepared draft documents and has them ready for review. Need a sub-group of parents to be involved in reviewing and defining the PGG (group to include Debbie and Ian). Will add this to the follow-up request form.

Funding Request: The Five College Dance Company has asked for $400.00 for one performance in the Mark’s Meadow Gym, to help with their fundraising. They have previously done work in the school supporting the 3rd grade curriculum. The performance will be during January. Tracy asked whether it could be a community event including parents. PGG agreed to underwrite the cost and also request donations. Dan and Nick to coordinate.

Amherst Education Foundation (AEF): Richard Hood from AEF (formerly known as Amherst Area Education Alliance, AAEA) spoke about the new AEF web-site http://www.amhersteducationfoundation.org/, designed so that PTOs can post items they want to raise money for. A representative from each PTO gets username/password access by which they can make a request to the AEF (steering) committee. If approved the request will then be posted on the site. Funds can be accepted by Paypal. It has non-profit status so donations are tax-exempt. Typically a single request should be up to $500, with a total of $2500 at any one time. The request should include what happens if goals are not reached.

Printer Cartridge Recycling: Tracy distributed a list for people to add organizations that could contribute cartridges. Also for volunteers to coordinate picking up cartridges etc.

Principal’s Report: Community Breakfast at 9:00am on November 20th. Nick to organize an ‘MCAS Information Party’ next year. Budget planning for 2007/2008 beginning **. Ruth Killough-Hill has helped reestablish the Diversity Committee with members: John Keins, Diane Travis, Guidance Councilor, Nick Yaffe, Jocelyn Cuffee, Ruth Killough-Hill.

Summer Readathon: Raised $541 over summer to benefit the library. Valerie Young has offered to coordinate this event next summer.

Setting dates for Future Meetings: January 10th, February 7th, March 7th (all Wednesdays).

** to be involved in advocating for our schools join the Amherst Parent Coalition Listserv – http://npogroups.org/lists/info/amherstparentcoalition. You can also get news by subscribing to the ARPS newsletter http://www.arps.org/Home/ and subscribe to learning@arps.org.