Garden City PTO Meeting

Monday, November 8, 2004; 6:30 p.m.  

M I N U T E S

Present: More than eleven parents/guardians; Nancy Wavrin, Principal; Second Grade/ELL Teacher, Pang Moua; Tracy Corwin, PTO Vice President; Mary Hughes, PTO Treasurer; Kim Graske, PTO Secretary.

Welcome

PTO Vice President Tracy Corwin called the meeting to order at 6:35 p.m. Hmong and Spanish speaking groups met just prior to this meeting.

Minutes Approval

The minutes of 10/11/04 were changed to show that the person who will be evaluating the acoustics in the cafeteria is not a friend of Kari Lindholm-Johnson’s, but someone she contacted through the Acoustical Society of America. His name is Mike Nixon and he will be evaluating the lunchroom on Thursday, November 11 at 3:45. Another change was to John Myskowski’s name, which is spelled Jo Hn, not Jon. A motion was made, seconded and passed to approve the minutes after these changes.

Families of Garden City (PTO) Constitution

Mary Hughes, Tim Johnson, and Kari Lindholm-Johnson will work on revising the Bylaws and present them to PTO at a later date.

Site Council Report

Nancy Wavrin reported that Site Council had not met since the last PTO meeting, but will meet on Thursday, November 11. Site councils from all ISD 279 schools will be present, and there will be a focus on race. This is an opportunity to see what other site councils are doing and if the idea of shared decision-making is still popular. Site Council will finalize the Program Improvement Plan November 23. There are not many changes to it, as the focus needs to continue to be on the NCLB identified groups that needed improving, which was ELL reading and math. Ms. Wavrin reported that Black math will also be focused on. Garden City will be under sanctions again if we don’t make adequate yearly progress in ALL groups—even if the ELL improvements from last year are still maintained.

Treasurer’s Report and Fundraising

Mary Hughes reported Garden City netted about $4,500 on the Club Choice fundraiser. This was about $1,500 more than we made last year on the same fundraiser, only last year Club Choice was in the Spring. In general, fundraisers do better in the Fall.

The Election Day bake sale fundraiser made a $274 profit.

Turkey Bingo is Friday, November 19, and volunteers are still needed.

Principal’s Report

Nancy Wavrin talked about the Fox News special on playground bullying.

PTO members were disturbed by both Fox News secretly shooting the footage of Garden City kids, and with what they saw on it.

Ms. Wavrin assured the group that true bullying is not tolerated. It is difficult to tell where rough play ends and bullying starts. It is particularly difficult at a multicultural school such as Garden City because behavioral expectations and values vary widely among the diverse families. Kids from the film have told her they were just playing. The paras usually do a better job of watching the kids at recess but that day they were preoccupied with kids boarding the bus for a field trip.

Garden City will be starting a Targeted Services after school program. It will be offered four days per week to all students who scored at Level 1 or 2 on the MCA reading and/or math tests.

Results of the Terra Nova, a broad based test given to all sixth-graders, should be back in January.

There is no school for students the Wednesday before Thanksgiving; it is a mark-reporting day for teachers.

If Garden City is sanctioned next year for not making adequate yearly progress under the No Child Left Behind law, kids likely will not be transported to Woodland because it is full. It is not clear at this point which school(s) will be offered as an option to Garden City if requirements are not met.

Additional Comments

Lyn Myskowski advised the group to pay attention to the upcoming Minnesota Legislative session because ’05 is a funding year. It is important to understand how funding works.

Mary Hughes encouraged people to go see Park Center’s plays—Garden City alumni are often involved in them.

Henry Vang reported that some Hmong parents didn’t realize they were invited to and expected to be a part of PTO. He also said the Hmong have many concerns, especially concerning values.

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The next PTO meeting is Monday, December 13. Meetings throughout the year will be regularly scheduled on the second Monday of each month.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:50 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Kim Graske