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Draft Minutes of Monday, May 5, 2008 

Meeting was called to order by President, Mary Jane Grauso at 7:35 at the Department of Education Building. Quorum was met. Delegates read the Purpose of PTA.

Board of Education (BOE) – Pat Gordon gave an update on the budget that was submitted toCounty Council. A public hearing on the budget was held on April 29.

Program(s)

Scholarship Recipients-Carolyn Folger, chairperson introduced this year’s recipients. They are Dr. Ecker Award ($500)- Stephanie Hunter, Oakland Mills, & Meghan Yi, River Hill. Teacher Education Award ($2,000)- Jin Sol Yun- Mt. Hebron & Allison Birmingham-Mt. Hebron. Academic Award ($2,000) Tatiana Uruburo- Howard & Anita Ram, River Hill. MDPTA ($500) Colleen McSweeney, Atholton & Madison Miller, Long Reach. A special thanks to all the PTAs that generously donated to the scholarship fund.

Healthy Schools- Sam O’Neil reported that winners have been selected for this 1st annual healthy schools innovated award. Elementary schools in Howard County will be recognized for their innovations in nutrition, physical activity, and mental health and safe/environmental health on May 21 from 7-9. Please RSVP 410.313.6295 or soneil@howardcountymd.gov by May 16 and for info on the location of this event. 

Ombudsman- Rose Dennison can be reached at 410.313-6850 or ombudsman@hcpss.org. Rose’s roll is to help advocate for a fair process. She helps to resolve problems with in the context of BOE policies and procedures. If the issue is not governed by policy, she cannot address it. Rose encourages those individuals who have a concern to first address it with the principal prior to discussing it with the administrator director or the superintendent. She plans to send a letter to each PTA to offer to present an informal presentation on the role of the ombudsman to the executive board, general PTA or have an information table. Debra Wessner, Executive VP offered Rose the opportunity to present about her role as the ombudsman on next month’s Parent Connection Program. (Action Item)

Business

Minutes from April 7,2008 meeting were reviewed and will be filed for the record.

Treasurer Report- Bob Rosenberg reviewed monthly report. Bob has been in contact with HRH Insurance for premium reimbursements to those PTAs who have already paid. ALL PTAs now must go through the new (UnionBanc) under MDPTA per state bylaw change. Direct further questions to MDPTA. Insurance carrier will be present this summer at MDPTA Summer Leadership Conference on July 26 at AACC. Each PTA is encouraged to send at least one representative. PTACHC will also field questions at our Council Workshop on May 20 at 7:00 at Faulkner Ridge. Again each PTA should be sending their new officers for this training. Returning officers and committee chairs are also invited to this training. (Action Item)

Nominating Committee- Nominating committee chair Terri Chiu presented the slate of officers for 2008-9.The slate includes John Hannay-President, Cindy Haller- Executive VP, Terri Chiu- VP Issues, Niles Morton- VP Operations, Amy Rivera-Treasurer, Venu Iyengar- Recording Secretary and Mollie Shea- Corresponding Secretary.  Election will take place at our June meeting.
(Action Item) 

Book Drive- Nehemiah Spence (nspence@gpsonline.com), family involvement chair continues to work with PTAs for book deliveries to designated schools. More then 9,500 books have been collected and 18 schools requested books and 15 PTAs sent books. All adult books can be dropped off at the Pupil Personnel Workers Office located in the ARL building. Left over books can be donated to Grass Roots Shelter in Howard County. Contact Nehemiah directly for assistance. (Action Item)

 After Prom- High schools are busy holding after proms. Mary Ellen Creasy, chair plans to hold a wrap-up session with chairs on June 11 at Faulkner Ridge Center. (Action Item) 

Prepare for Success Backpack Program- PTAs are asked to once again stuff one backpack with school supplies for needy students or make monetary donations at www.prepareforsuccess.org. When making donations please put the name of your PTA in the Company/Group entry on the checkout pages. If your PTA would rather write a check to Prepare for Success, please bring it to our June meeting or mail to Council office. Funding will help purchase different styles of backpacks for different age groups in addition to purchasing school supplies. A list of needed supplies is post on PTACHC web page in addition to the flier distributed to delegates. Program leader at Christ Church Link is looking for a sponsor to take over the coordination of this adventure and divesting 501c3. PTACHC will further evaluate the feasibility of taking on this program. Stuffing the backpacks is now part of the life skill curriculum at Cedar Lane School. Backpacks will be collected at our June general meeting. (Action Item) 

Spring Workshop/Training-for all new and returning officers/chairs is scheduled for May 20 at 7:00 at Faulkner Ridge Center. PTAs are encouraged to send their new officers for training. (Action Item)

 New Teacher Orientation- Approximately 500 staff members will be hired for the upcoming school year. Heidi Balter 410.313.5030 is asking PTAs to again consider donating 5 dozen pre-wrapped snacks such as pretzels, cookies, M&Ms, granola bars and etc. Snack items can be delivered to Rockburn ES by July 1 for the August 11-14 orientation. No cash donations are to be made directly to the Rockburn ES for this event.  It is recommended that if the local units want to purchase snacks and deliver them to Rockburn that is okay but PTA Council president informed the delegates that local PTA’s are not to write checks out to Rockburn ES since PTA’s do not write checks to the school system. (Action Item) 

PTACHC Awards- Nominate dedicated volunteers for recognition. See PTACHC web site for applications. Deadline is May 20th. 

Next General Meeting is June 2, 2008.

 Adjourned at 9:20 PM

Minutes submitted by Tara Watts, Recording Secretary