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DRAFT Minutes of February 1, 2010 General Membership Meeting 

Meeting was called to order by President, John Hannay at 7:38 PM. Quorum was met.

 The minutes from the 01/4/10 meeting were discussed, voted and approved as-is.

The PTA mission was read by a delegate.

Treasurer’s Report: Reviewed the treasures report. Budget allocations are as planned for now. We are still accepting donations towards the scholarship fund. Make sure you inform the treasurer at your local PTA to file the personal property return by April 15^th.

BOE Report: Ms. Pat Gordon could not attend..

Office of Superintendent Report: Patti Caplan reported that the Superintendent has requested an operating budget of $664 million. HCPSS is receiving $11.7 million from the state towards the operating budget. HCPSS is receiving $10 million more from the state than expected. Parents are encouraged to take the survey on school safety and this should not take more than 10 minutes. You can fill one survey per child.

President’s Report: John reported that he attended BOE meeting appointment in Jan. Updated the board about nutrition advisory committee representative, testimony regarding downtown Columbia development, HCASC support, and census participation. The policy 6020 was adopted by the board and the two recommendations made by the council will be included in the implementation procedure. The local membership reports are due in March and make sure to follow up with the treasurer.  

HCASC (Howard County Assoc. of Student Councils) update:  Adejari Bademosi and Cindy Drummond (Teacher mentor) talked about HCASC. Adejari encouraged juniors and seniors from high schools to participate.  This will be a great opportunity for leadership position, rewarding and challenging and can be a member of the board and have direct link to the school board. You can advocate and have an opinion on legislative policy making. The applications are on line at http://www.hcasc.net. We meet every 2^nd Wednesday, 7:00 PM at ARL. Some middle school delegates expressed issue about transportation. At present parents should consider car pooling middle school students and encouraged to attend the Feb 10^th meeting.

 Committee Reports:

Curriculum – Nothing to report

Family Involvement – The book drive is underway. Nehemiah is getting requests from various schools; please send your totals so that it can be matched up with a receiving school.

Legislative – A written report was presented. The Maryland legislative session begins Jan 13^th and concludes on April 12^th. The committee will be tracking education funding. The bills before the HC delegation of interest are Alcoholic Beverages Act and class A licenses limitation

 Wellness – Brian Meshkin passed out agenda and handout for the 2010 Annual Health and Wellness Symposium; on Feb 24 at 7:00 PM. Please RSVP for the event http://tinyurl.com/PTACHSymposium

 Reflections – 91 winning entries from the county have been sent to the state reflections program. The county reflections awards night will be on March 16^th at River Hill High School at 7 pm.

Safety – Volunteers thanks for the participation; A written report was presented

Safe After Prom – They had a great sharing session

Scholarship – Volunteers for the committee are needed and scholarship contributions are still be accepted through February.

Census Presentation from Kim Flowers of the HC Planning Office – The “Complete Count” coordinator has 23 county leaders. 400 billion dollars will be allocated based on the census count. We want each and every individual is counted and we need your support. Congressional districts, county and school districts will be affected. The questionnaire will be mailed in 2 weeks and there will be 10 questions to complete and mail by April 1^st. Talk to your children about census. Include the census message in your school district. Please post the posters in the high visibility areas. The school system is including in the school curriculum and information is also presented on cable television. You can interview with US census bureau for part time opportunities.

HCPSS Operating Budget FY 2011 Input Exercise – Brian Meshkin and Chaun Hightower presented the facts about the operating budget. Brian and Chaun are representatives from the PTA council for the operating budget review process. There have been substantial changes to the charter and half of them are new. They presented 2011 strategic priorities; look at what other counties are doing; deficit of $2 billion in $15 billion state budget; 20% reduction in income tax revenues. At a high level there is a net increase of $3.6 M technology fund and $9.6 M health insurance and $5.1 m reductions to offset costs. They gave delegates a handout with the budget categories delta from 2010 to 2011. The delegates were asked to come up with a prioritized list in small groups and present their recommendation on a large sheet of paper. The delegates were involved in the process and were energetic and eager to present their recommendations to the process.

Meeting Adjourned at 9:35 PM

Minutes submitted by Venu Iyengar, Recording Secretary