CPA Board Meeting 9/29/09, 7:05 p.m. – 9:18 p.m. – Tracy Hannuksela’s House
Attending: Ginger Everhart, Sue Wilson-Schmitz, Tracy Hannuksela, Tania Klippert, Marilyn Hall, Megan Hicks, Tina Marohn
*Approved June 24th meeting minutes.
Treasurer’s report: This report reflects all activities from the end of the fiscal year – July 31st.
Pledges – We’ve received $3500 from quarterly pledge forms so far (about 30 pledges total). Most pledges are for this quarter, some are for the full year. *Need to mention on next quarterly pledge form that if they’ve paid for the year to disregard this notice. We have $10,000 budgeted for this year (we have $7200 already rolled over from last year).
Expenses: The District is paying the $2500 to cover teachers’ fees for WAETAG, so we can use that money for something else (materials/books and also possibly further investment into Junior Great Books). We already budgeted $50/person food stipend for teachers attending WAETAG. Per Mary Freitas, we could consider reallocating our registration budget to provide $100/teacher for materials at conference.
Good Search/Shop – They pay in January for previous year – we will see some money coming in from last year. It will come in as extra income for this fiscal year. Two checks – one from last and one from the year before. Not an accounted line item in the budget.
Tracy thinks we may need to go over the budget for 6th grade tea. Marilyn Hall says that the number of kids tapers off toward the later years in the program. Suggestion is to look at the numbers at the end of the year to better estimate for the tea and come up with a formula to better budget. Grand total last year was $230 for 6th grade tea (some was covered by CPA and more than half was donated by parents). *We may need to budget a separate line item for this. Need to review at the end of the year. Maybe we want to connect with PTA on larger 6th grade graduation or moving on?
Marilyn asked if we do anything with Festival for the Famous (we think it’s all donation). CPA creates the invites to the VIPs for attending the event.
Grant money – 1st grant request is from Mrs. Kutrich for $200 from Hope Heart Institute – science and health curriculum. Approved.
Scholarship requests – Need to get PTA and CPA together to discuss which requests fall under which association. Mid to late October meeting to be scheduled.
Back to School Bingo is now a PTA item that could be folded into some other activity (social support).
Next year bump up the Summer picnic money. Total cost was $355 this year.
Do we need more Challenge group activities, especially for families to connect? Mary suggested Parent Book club? Need to devise a plan for moving forward with this.
General Meeting up and coming -Marilyn suggests we talk about the date for Gifted Ed Day (lots of new families who may not be familiar with the event). Do we need a translator for the meetings to reach out to more families? Marilyn will look into this.
Non-Budgeted amount for $250 for website/hosting service for 3 years.
We need to have a letter of affirmation from IRS on our new name in order to receive matching funds to prove we are non-profit status. Still in process and Tracy is still working on it. Tracy & Megan are doing the audit next week to present at next General Board meeting.
Need new cards to send out with tax letter for this year (last year Megan said it was a Friday activity event). We all agree we want to continue this process for this year as long as Friday Activities could do the activity again this year.
Other CPA business items:
Marilyn Hall requested $1200 each from CPA and PTA for Pacific Science Center Event. (3rd year this event is happening). Marilyn is still waiting on a grant request for the remaining $900 that isn’t covered by PTA and CPA. Both CPA and PTA boards have approved their respective $1200 contributions to this event.
Picnic – see attached lists (shopping and to do lists 2009). Next year have a Lynnwood resident book the park to eliminate the non-resident fee. Broaden the list to faculty and key district staff. We will assign tasks later on the in year.
Website Subscription drive – goal is to go paperless. Sue’s suggestion is to send out a half sheet to give incentives to kids to get the parents to subscribe to the website. The parent signs off on it that they did, or don’t wish to, or that they do not have email. Megan brings up the Privacy Policy Act issue. Can we send out this document? Does this law affect email? Need to share this info with PTA and get Mary Freitas’ approval. Sue to coordinate with Michelle Toshima on prizes and dates to not conflict with Wolf Walk.
Summary on Ginger and Sue’s meetings with District folks (Presidents’ Meetings Report Fall 2009-1 ).
Community building – Mentioned a desire to connect with other parent groups of gifted students around the state.
Potential Expansion of CPA – Middle School Task Force is looking at a 1st – 12th spectrum within the district. International Baccalaureate (IB) is not technically a gifted program. Funding for IB is also used for Advanced Placement (AP). CPA functioned only for 1st – 6th, but that is changing. Do middle school parents want their own program, or are we supporting them? What happens when we get a grant or scholarship request from the middle school? Bylaws say we still support 7th and 8th grade at Terrace Park – now that’s changed. Need to invite teachers and parents from Brier Terrace Middle School to Terrace Park to our speaker events. We need to discuss with our membership whether or not we open up our financial support to Brier Terrace Middle School’s gifted program. Need to revise Bylaws after we decide. Sue to follow-up with faculty there to find out what expectations they have of CPA support, if any.
Update on WAETAG Conference preparation: Megan & Tania met with Mary Freitas. There are 300 binders/folders to put together. Hours of conference: 4-8:30 Friday, 8-5 Saturday. Megan created a new logo for the conference’s theme this year of “Rising Aspirations”. 2-4 volunteers are needed each shift to help with the event. It’s the weekend of October 23rd at the Lynnwood Embassy Suites.
Future events: Gifted Education Day event planning to take place at the General Meeting in October. Connect with teachers early to get letters from students written for the February 5th event.
Guest Speakers – Sue has invited Drs. Fernette and Brock Eide to speak to parents, faculty and staff at Terrace Park. They don’t require a stipend but would like a chance to sell their books. Sue is waiting to set a date for later in the school year. CPA sponsored event – Bio-Lyle (TBD). Need more ideas for CPA to sponsor and involve families. Suggestion that we open this up to input from the membership on the website, at the general meeting, and on the bulletin board.
CPA bulletin board: Kristin Merrill has ownership of this. (Ginger to coordinate with Kristin) Items to include on the board:
- Advocacy information – why it’s important for parents to get involved, roundtable meeting dates
- Get parental suggestions on family activities – board, website, subscription drive.
- List of upcoming events
Schedule board member training for the website. (Thurs 8:00, Sun) *2 sessions? Tina to send out some dates.
Oct. 13th – General Meeting – Tony Byrd will will be invited to attend and be present for Q & A for parents.
Put Challenge testing date on website and bulletin board. (is this something we need to communicate better to schools/teachers). It’s also been suggested that CPA members visit PTA meetings at other district elementary schools to ensure that parents know about testing and the existence of CPA.
Do we want to add a couple more board meetings added to this year’s schedule? Group concurred that special meetings called as needed for such topics as Gifted Education Day planning and inclusion of the gifted middle school program under the CPA umbrella.
Next scheduled board meeting: Update individual job descriptions
For future meeting schedule, click here.
Recorded by Tina Marohn, CPA Secretary 9/29/2009 www.challengeparents.org