FOX MILL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PTA General Membership MEETING MINUTESFox Mill Elementary School Library

Thursday, January 26, 2017

1) Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by Tim Ward, PTA President, at 7:04 pm in the library. The secretary was present.

2) Members Present: 21 total attendees; all were members. A quorum was established. Please see sign-in sheet for additional information.

3) Welcome and Calendar: Reminders: General Membership Meeting minutes are published via Fox Prints and at

foxmillpta.com the Monday before general membership meetings. Calendars go out in Tuesday packets at the beginning of the month. Kathleen Wang does the calendar.

4) Principal Report: Update provided by Mr. Moose on the budget, dismissal policy, teacher interns and upcoming dates.

Budget update: A $70-$80M deficit is forecasted. Mr. Moose hopes to report staffing numbers by March. The FY 2018-2022 Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) for renovation was approved by the Fairfax County School Board; it is slated to go to building in November 2018. Per the PTA President, in contrast to last year’s fragmented advocacy efforts, the PTA desires to take a unified approach to advocating for budget priorities across the school, including both Japanese Immersion and General Education priorities. The approach will be proactive but not definitive until clear needs and a course of action are determined. Mr. Moose and the PTA president will work together to disseminate information and ways to be involved; this will not be done through room parents.

Updated dismissal policy: to facilitate a smooth end of day wrap-up parents are being requested not to pick students up from between 3:00 and 3:30pm.

The excellence of FMES teachers is being recognized with increased requests for intern placements. FMES has two upcoming intern placements with Mrs. Clark (1st grade) and Mrs. Walker (6th grade).

Important upcoming school dates: Feb. 11: Grades available on Parent View Feb. 14: Progress Reports go home

Upcoming dates for Principal Coffees, which are at 9am: Feb. 16 (discussion topic: Guided Math), March 16 and April 20

5) The minutes of the December 2016 membership meeting were approved by voice vote after a motion by Marian Andre to “approve these minutes”.

6) Means of Engagement: Update provided by Tim Ward. He reminded attendees they are here for the good of FMES kids, membership is needed for voice and vote, only one person should speak at a time and, if disagreements arise, discussion should focus on the issue not a person.

7) Bylaws Update: Update provided by Cora Ingram, Bylaws Committee Chair. Per the requirement to update local chapter bylaws every five years, the FMES PTA completed the update process and membership approved the revised bylaws. The revised bylaws were submitted to the Virginia PTA in December and approved. The approved, updated bylaws allow the FMES PTA to remain in good standing and preserve its not-for-profit status.

8) Treasurer’s Report: Report given by Michael Costello. Please see the “Treasurer’s Report 20170125” and “FY17 Budget to Actual -20170125” for more detail.

Current balance in checking account is $49,861.96. Membership report: $2,784.00, 274 members.

o Increase of 4 members since the last meeting at the time the report was pulled, 5 members as of 7pm this evening.

Revenue: $25,698.91o Increase of 5,415.33 due to self-funded activities, corporate programs

(D4$/Amazon/Box Tops), school directory sales and flat donations. Expenses: Total $11,093.89

o Increase of $3,616.89 largely to self-funded activities. Expenses were also claimed for teacher reimbursements, Grace Arts, Japanese new year art, and landscaping. Note: teachers are given up to $75 by the PTA to spend on their classrooms pending approval of receipts submitted to Mr. Moose.

o Expect an uptick in expenses since after school activities will need to be paid for and student field trips take place.

9) Funding Priorities: Related to the status of funds available in the treasury, a discussion was led by Tim Ward, to start identifying funding priorities. The “School Enhancements” line item in the PTA budget represents funds that can be used to make improvements. After voting to outfit four classrooms with Smart Board projectors at the December 2016 PTA meeting, over $7K remains in “School Enhancement”. Highlights of the ensuing discussion about how to spend it include:

Mr. Moose and Mrs. Greene sharing a strategic plan for what they believe would be most beneficial for the school and kids.

Consideration of buying new additional new computers; Mr. Moose will assess the need for more computers. FMES is getting 45 extra computers from the country that were not anticipated.

Funding additional flexible seating. Note: FMES policy allows flexible seating for all classrooms in the future but not all teachers want to do it.

Counselors desire additional parent resource materials, e.g. books, behavior management, manipulables, yoga balls).

Funding additional assemblies that could be smaller and more age appropriate, e.g. “lizards” (reptile man).

Increasing the budget for the Mother / Son Challenge and Daughter Dance. Reminder that targeted fundraisers can be run for specific needs, e.g. e.g. computers or

wiggles seats.

10) Fundraising / Business Partnerships: Update given by Amber Gant. Revenue-generating partnerships: several local businesses have reached out to the PTA

board about sponsorship. A committee was formed to explore the possibility; there is great potential vs. standalone fundraisers but developing a policy to decide eligibility is tricky. Legality is important because of the need to preserve the non-for profit status of the PTA. PTA bylaws provide no guidance on this issue and initial feedback from legal counsel recommends determining sponsorships on a case by case basis. However guidelines / a policy are needed as a safeguard. Next steps for the committee are 1) speak to other PTA that do that this 2) ask Mr. Moose to reach out to school legal counsel 3) Consult with FCPS corporate partnership representatives.

Flat Donations: Extended through end of the year; they will be advertised in conjunction with the Membership committee.

Upcoming events and status:o Feb. 24: Daughter Dance led by Kim Neill with preparations underway.o March 10: Movie Night, currently led by Amber Gant. Status: need to decide on two

movies to show, food and parent social. Also need to determine if there will be some sort of auction. Members shared that students like the teacher contributions and class baskets from prior year auctions.

o April DATE TBD: Son Challenge – needs a lead o End of the year: Picnic (similar to beginning of year) and Bingo – needs a lead

11) Dining for Dollars Celebration: An overview of this highly successful- program was provided by co-chairs, Mike Harloff and Heather Clark. The program is expected to generate $6,500 for FMES and is currently ahead of budget. “6 down + 6 to go + year-long Glory Days event”. Upcoming Dining for Dollars events:

February 9: Longhorn Steakhouse in Chantilly (#2 of 4) February 13 – March 4: Dog washes at Weber’s Pet Supermarket (#2 of 2). Weber’s is

the best revenue generator; they donate 60% of each dog wash to FMES. March 29: Baskin Robbins from 4-8pm April 5: Longhorn Steakhouse of Chantilly (#3 of 4) June 7: Chick-fil-A in Reston Mike and Heather are talking to Chipotle in February to try to set up one more event.

12) New Business /Announcements Kim Neill was elected to fill the first Vice President position left vacant when Amy Fujii

stepped down from the role last fall. A vote by the Executive Board was taken at 6:30pm this evening and approved unanimously. Kim will assume responsibility for After School Activities led by Amy Fujii until this point. Thanks to Amy and to Kim.

In April 2017 a Japanese Rock Band Assembly hosted by the JCC will be held. Six families are needed to host two participants. Contact Marian Andre if interested.

In May 2017 a special Iditarod assembly will be held featuring “Mr. Iditarod”. Following there will be a special time for the 6th grade with him.

Karen Rutland and Nellie Scrapper are co-chairing staff and teacher meals. Each grade supplies breakfast or lunch depending on volunteer availability; teachers and staff are appreciative.

A volunteer is sought to take over updating the sign in front of school for 2017-2018 school year. Updating the sign can be done by a family with the help of kids; kids enjoy helping with this. Contact Sonita Reese if interested.

12) Meeting adjourned at 8:21 p.m.

MinutesApproved as presented ________ Date: ________________________Approved as corrected ________ Date: ________________________

___________________________________________Secretary (signature)