CPA General Meeting – 9/30/2010 6:30 p.m. Terrace Park Commons
In Attendance: Mary Freitas, Ginger Everhart, Sue Wilson-Schmitz, Pam Gaspers, Tracy Hannuksela, Tina Marohn, Denise Schmitz, Elizabeth Donnelly, Bret Haggen, Laurel Water, Ruth Kenney, Diane Moline, Marilyn Hall, and 29 parents.
Introductions
Minutes from 6/18/2010 meeting accepted and approved
Principal’s report (Mary Freitas):
Mary is excited to see the new year get off to such a great start. She is witnessing a lot of positive community building throughout the school and is grateful for the parental support. She mentioned that teacher parent conferences are coming up soon during the last week of October and encourages all parents to participate and connect with their student’s teachers.
Mary updated us on the work being done by the Highly Capable Technical Work Group. They will be communicating the needs of gifted funding, identification and funding models to our state legislatures. A couple of key leaders in this are Mary Ruth Coleman, Carolyn Callahan and Karen Rogers. Detailed information and meeting minutes can be found on the OSPI (Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction) website http://www.k12.wa.us/HighlyCapable/Workgroup/default.aspx. This could have a huge impact on gifted education. We have a good program at Terrace Park, but it is not the case everywhere.
WAETAG – Parent Track being provided by NWGC and will be held at the Bellevue Hilton Hotel on October 15th and 16th. Saturday the 16th is the parent track schedule. For more information and registration, please visit their website: http://www.waetag.net/
Treasurer’s Report (Tracy Hannuksela):
A Budget Spreadsheet 2010-2011 was handed out to attendees.
Our Fund Drive for this first semester has raised $5,326 so far. Last year we raised about $6,400 at this time. We have switched to only two fund drives this year and with the low numbers so far, we are a little behind. The board will re-evaluate our fund drive process at our next board meeting. Deadline for the Fall Fund Drive was today, but we are always accepting donations and we also encourage families to see if their companies match their contributions.
Teachers can apply for grants to help supplement materials for the classroom and in many cases for multiple classrooms. Board reviews each grant request. Teachers also receive a $300 classroom support budget.
At the end of fiscal year we conduct an audit of the CPA budget. This year Megan Hicks and Pam Gaspers conducted the audit. Everything balanced out. The audit was reviewed and approved by vote the meeting attendees.
Vice President’s Report (Pam Gaspers):
CPA board will be renting out costumes for the Festival of the Famous in May.
We are currently selling T-shirts for Gifted Ed Day.
Co-President Report (Sue Wilson-Schmitz):
Calendar highlights
There are weekly Math Circle groups every Sunday from 3-5 on the University of Washington campus.
CPA will hold Coffee Chats almost every month on either Saturday or Sunday. Parents are encouraged to just drop in bring whatever concerns or issues they want to discuss with other parents in this community. The next one is at 1:00 p.m., October 10th at the Urban City Coffee in Mountlake Terrace.
WAETAG Conference on the 16th – Parent Track Sessions
All families are encouraged to share ideas on opportunities for family field trips. This is a great way to share interests and build community. The CPA board can post these events on our website.
Gifted Education Day will be on February 11th. We are interested in recruiting volunteers this year for the event. This is a great opportunity to get together with other families and see the state capital and learn how our legislative process works. Please contact us at challengeparents@gmail.com if you are interested in helping out at his event.
November 3rd is the IB Info night for students in this district on the gifted program track. CPA also wants to have another Beyond Challenge night talk for parents whose children are moving forward to high school and early college entrance programs.
Other opportunities for volunteering:
CPA and PTA are working together to get classroom reps for each classroom We are still seeking volunteers for this.
For PTA – Tomorrow is our Wolf Walk fundraiser and we still need more parent volunteers. Carnival is coming up on October 14th and we need volunteers to help run games and activities.
For CPA – We need volunteers for Gifted Education Day, Festival of the Famous fundraiser, and board member positions for next year.
Business meeting adjourned: 7:00 p.m.