Beacon PTA meeting minutes – March 2022

Beacon PTA Monthly General Meeting 

March 14, 2022 (6pm, Zoom) 

This meeting was recorded.

MINUTES

Note: These minutes were presented and approved at the

April 2022 monthly Beacon PTA meeting on 4/11/22

1. WELCOME & MEETING NORMS

Shirley Brady, Robin Broshi & Nancy Molesworth (meeting chair)

PTA Co-Presidents (Shirley Brady absent due to travel)

2. PRINCIPAL’S REPORT

Beacon Principal Brady Smith presented his update after first inviting teacher Meghan Cohen to present an update on grade-level events for students:

• Ms. Cohen shared with the PTA details on:
  • Bowling event at Frames for 9th graders will happen on March 23rd, thanks to pending PTA support (note: request was approved at this meeting)
  • Prom will be announced by seniors on Friday
  • Trivia night – will also serve as a fundraiser
  • Senior brunch – hope to make this is a tradition
  • Field day – just for seniors
• Brady Smith began his report:
• A “senior cellar” will be created in the building
• Brady encouraged community building events for other grades too
• Spring events now being calendared – theater, dance, art in addition to sports
• Math teacher Daniel Beals returned today, will resume teaching on Wednesday, sub will be retained to assist math dept.
• 2 temp school aids were promoted today to full-time school aids
• The Auditorium will now be closed during Lunch 1 and Lunch 3, hoping students will opt for out lunch.
• DEI film screening – free event with tickets on Eventbrite on April 28th at 6 pm, “A White Man walked into a barbershop” [note: moving to May]
• Parent/advisor conferences will be April 7 (evening) & April 8 (afternoon) – progress reports will include anecdotal information if a student is struggling.
• Consortium schools working together to figure out PBA week timing in June and norms, teachers are involved.  
• Equipment updates: Chromebook laptop computers are being distributed to various classrooms, close to having a 1-to-1 supply
• Smart whiteboards – 9 to be installed in classrooms this year – long overdue due to supply chain issues
• Curtain for dance studio was paid for by the school to improve experience for dance students
• March 25th Student Government and the Environmental Justice Club are hosting about 50 workshops that will run in the morning. 
• School-wide grading policy being discussed, hope to have in place for next year as well as a staff handbook.
• SAT/PSAT day – March 23rd – 10th/11th graders can take if they choose to do so, not mandatory, and automatically enrolled. Each test is free (paid for by the DOE). Students who receive additional time will be given those accommodations as approved.  Registration by families helps schools make a smart proctoring plan. Lunch will be provided as usual in school. Good practice on taking a high stakes exam in an in person setting even if a student plans on taking the ACT. The College Office will release an FAQ to answer any questions.
• PTA/SLT meetings can resume in person – Brady discusses the possibility of a hybrid option.  

3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Anju Gupta, Recording Secretary

• Feb. 2022 PTA meeting minutes (click here) – Diana Mahiques made a motion to approve, Carole Fennell seconded. APPROVED.

5. TREASURERS’ REPORT

Spencer Green & Katherine Bruck – Katherine gave report

• Financial report & update, funding requests (see below for details)
  • Balance is $483K, still short on collecting revenue for the year.  We’re roughly at 77% of our budget. 
  • Still awaiting end-of-year expenses, and funding requests are still coming in. 
  • Budget requests – $17,469.93 [total]
  • The following requests were APPROVED as a bundle by a vote [Motion by Katherine Bruck and seconded by Robin Broshi to bundle requests and vote together; APPROVED]:
    • $5,300 – 3 hour offsite with community building for 9th graders & staff on March 23rd at Frames bowling (also karaoke and table tennis) while 10th and 11th grade students are taking PSAT/SAT in school.
    • $4,600 for 12th grade bowling and arcade activities – want to make sure that all seniors can attend events, which will be during double advisory period.  Will only pay for students who attend. 
    • $4,500 – Beacon Beat student-run school newspaper (club) request to print copies as a special edition, estimate of what cost will be. There has not been a physical copy of The Beacon Beat in years, online presence has grown in recent years. Presentation by 2 junior co-editors.
    • $1,634.93 – Ultimate Frisbee boys team request
    • $700 – Engineering club/class – supplies
    • $500 – STEP team – t-shirts for club members
    • $235 – Science fiction class (seniors): teacher requested for bulk purchase of P.D. James novel to be used this year and re-used as a class text for years to come.

6. COMMITTEE REPORTS

Fundraising: Karen Jolicoeur, Alison Overholser

• Farm to People campaign is wrapping up, raised $820 so far, will be extended through the end of March.
• Next up: Raffle will follow the online auction
• Comedy fundraiser at Stand Up NY – April 27th – live and in person,  different ticket levels and perks TBD. May be able to live-stream too; details are being worked out.

Auction: Carla Miller, Kim Youngberg (& Suzanne Klein)

• Auction will be virtual/online again this year through GiveSmart, auction will go live and run between April 6th-April 14th, no event for live bidding this year.
• Deadline for donations is Friday March 18th

Merchandise: Diana Mahiques, Julie Harding

• Last Friday’s merch sale in school made more than $2,000
• Next in-school merch sale will be in May
• Will sell merch in June at open houses for incoming students & families

Community Building: Karen Stonely, Natasha Zaretsky

• Parent grade reps met last month. Bigger ideas on how to pull community together, monthly roundup going out to grade reps and questions now going directly to Brady to answer once a month.  
• Parent handbook is now being developed by some parent volunteers
• IEP students – VP Naisha Crews is hosting a community talk on March 23rd at 6:30pm. 

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: Gary Anthony Ramsay, Windell Williams

• Equitable budget committee met on 3/1 and meeting again on 3/24
• Admissions – no changes, as per new chancellor
• Beacon will do more outreach to underserved communities in terms of admissions 
• Film Screening “A white man works into a barber shop” on 4/28 at 6pm, will be at Beacon auditorium [note: moving to May]
• Book Club – tomorrow night at 6pm run by Tyler Brewster
• Next DEI Committee meeting – April 5th 
• DEI committee’s goals is to tear down anti-racist policies, issue as to whether racial issues cause disparities vs economic disparities – Beacon will move forward not backward as per Gary; Windell agrees (someone else please summarize or ask Gary as I did not catch all of Gary’s comments).  

Communications: Justine Keil  

No report.

Hospitality: Jennifer Weisbord, Robin Krugman

• PTA to host a luncheon for teachers and staff on Friday April 8th before teachers go into afternoon conferences with parents.

7. OTHER BUSINESS

• School Leadership Team: Robin Broshi & Windell Williams – Student admissions board addressed SLT in terms of the role they play in the admissions process to expand the pool of students applying to Beacon.  Made recommendations for next year’s group of students admissions.  Need to shift the culture of Beacon so all students feel like they are part of Beacon and not just guests!  
• Nominating Committee: Thanks to the 5 parents who have volunteered to be on the nominating committee. The co-presidents are meeting with them ASAP to brief them on finding parent candidates to run for the June PTA elections.  
• PTA bylaws review – Robin Broshi with Shirley & Natasha are in the process of redrafting of bylaws, new members welcome but need to have read proposed bylaws. A meeting will be set up for review.
• PTA DBA status – Karen Jolicoeur – Need to make a decision if we are a PTA or PA going forward (and update our information accordingly). 
• PTA parent handbook – Parents Arlene Hellerman, Susi Nichol and Kathleen Wolf are helping gather info and draft this. 
• E-payment of senior dues – Spencer Green confirmed now in place.
• Upcoming events – click here.

7. NEW BUSINESS

• Gary Ramsay raised a topic about fundraising for Ukraine – various ideas discussed and as to which parts of Beacon will lead the efforts. Principal Brady said that the Beacon Key Club is now known as Beacon Heart, and they are starting a toiletry drive to support Ukraine refugees and other students reached out about a bake sale, so there’s significant student interest in fundraising for Ukraine, which normally happens through student clubs, so perhaps a PTA/student combined effort here.

8. MEETING ADJOURNED

Minutes submitted by Anju Gupta & reviewed by Shirley Brady.

---

FUNDING REQUESTS: MARCH 2022 PTA MEETING

Request #	Amount	Item
1	$4,600.00	12th grade: Ms. Cohen requests funds for senior class community-building activities
2	$5,300.00	9th grade: Principal Brady requests PTA funds for 9th grade student activities on March 23rd, when 10th and 11th grade students are taking PSAT/SAT in school
3	$4,500.00	Club: The Beacon Beat (Advisor: L. Bell)
4	$1,634.93	Club: Ultimate Frisbee (Boys)
5	$700.00	Club: Engineering (Advisor: A. Karantzis)
6	$500.00	Club: Beacon Step Team (Advisor: E. Greene)
7	$235.00	Class: Sci Fi & Fantasy Literature senior elective books (Teacher: J. Benitez)
Sub-total	$16,969.93

Details on March requests:

Request #1: 12th grade activities

Requested by: Meghan Cohen, senior class liaison

Amount: $4,600.00

Details: We would like to request funding to allow the Senior class to participate in a community event this spring! We propose a bowling activity for the class. Funding from the PTA would allow all students to equitably participate and create unity in the class. We are requesting $4,600, which would cover 1.5 hours of bowling, shoes and arcade access for 300 students. (Note: they are giving us a discount from our original quote of $6,000.) We recognize that not all 300 will attend, so we are requesting $20/student attending which would cover all costs. We also recognize that this is a large request and if partial funding can be provided, we can charge students $10 to attend and cover the other $10 as a school.  

Request 2: 9th grade activities on 3/23

Requested by: Principal Brady

Amount: $5,300.00

Item: Admission for three-hour community-building eent on 3/23 with 9th grade students & staff. 

Impact: 400 Students will benefit.

Details: The cost is a $10/per person entry fee (400 students + advisors + guidance counselors) for a three-hour off-site session with community-building activities on Wednesday, March 23rd at a local bowling alley/karaoke/table tennis spot. This will provide an opportunity for our 9th graders to spend recreational time together maskless, with 9th grade Advisors and Guidance Staff, as a community-building piece and to help create a testing environment at school for the 10th and 11th graders.

Request 3: The Beacon Beat printing costs

Who: Sanai Rashid and Sammy Bovitz, the co-editors-in-chief of The Beacon Beat (Advisor: Lauren Bell)

Amount: $4,500.00

Details: After two years, the school newspaper is coming back to print for a special edition with 550 full color copies of a 30-45 page newspaper–and the amount requested is comparable to previous Beacon Ink estimates, which had fewer copies but far higher page counts and a glossier finish.

As we’re still building up the newspaper’s reputation after a few years of downward movement in that regard, we are only able to make one comprehensive print edition this year, though are open to explore a one-per-semester system in 2022-23. 

The Beacon Beat is looking to create a comprehensive print edition for the 2021-22 school year, with at least 20 articles from the dozens of unique authors and contributors of the Beat. It will compile both the best articles of the year already published on the beaconbeat.org, as well as several print edition exclusives. 

The $4500 requested would provide the payment for the printing company Pros on Printing (as previously used by the Beacon Ink) to print an estimated 700 full-color copies of our 30-45 page print edition, which would be distributed to Beacon students, teachers, and especially Beat members (students) for free in June. 

As this is the first time a print edition has been made for the Beat since 2018-19, the $4500 is an estimate based on previous Beacon Ink data, as while they published fewer copies than our estimate, their larger page counts and glossier paper drove up the price.  

We are truly trying to build something bigger than ourselves, and bring the Beat to a new level of journalistic quality and recognition that The Beacon School hasn’t seen before. We’ll leave you with a wide sampling of our favorite articles from the year so far, and hope it highlights that we’ve already begun the process of making this newspaper on par with some of the top student publications in the city. There’s only one way for us to do that, and that’s working with our talented team of creators to produce pieces of journalism they can be genuinely proud of years down the road.

Request 4: Ultimate Frisbee Club

By: Principal Brady

Amount: $1,634.93

Details: The Beacon Ultimate Team is not a PSAL sport but still has costs associated with uniforms and tournament fees. The request for $1634.93 would cover:

• $500 fee to participate in the A Division HS League
• $200 to participate in the Spring Fling and May Madness tournaments
• $934.93: Half of the cost of uniforms.

Request 5: Engineering class supplies

Requested by: Teacher D. Mercado

Amount: $700.00

Details: The supplies needed for our club consist of materials such as plastic, wood, magnets, metal, and much more. These supplies are just the beginning of many items that could be used for our once research and innovation. The plan is to build and create inventions that the students design. Other materials such as the following will be needed to reach all the planned goals, activities, and projects:

Screws & Bolts, Dremel, Electric Fan, Liquid Nitrogen, Tubing, Plexiglass, Hinges, Duct Tape, Plastic Cups, String, Popsicle sticks, Batteries, Magnets, Light-Laser, Light Bulbs, Electrical circuits, Cardboard, Wood, Plastic (In different forms), Solar Panels, Red LED lights, Green LED lights, 3D printer, NIR light, Elastic Wristbands, Flask, Pipettes, Test tubes, Thermometer

Meter Stick, Funnel, BPM sensor, Heart Rhythm sensor, light‑sensitive photodiodes

Request #6: Step Team t-shirts

Requested by: Erdene Greene, Club Advisor

Amount: $500

Impact: 35 current-year student members

Note: This money would be used to buy t-shirts for the Beacon Step Team. Each year we need to get new t-shirts. The STEP TEAM of 2020 fundraised that year before the pandemic, we ordered from “T-Shirt Express” and the girls had their names printed on the back of each shirt and “Beacon Lady Bluejays Step” on the front. Each shirt was $20.00. What is STEP you ask? Stepping is a percussive, highly-energetic art form first developed through the song and dance rituals performed by African-American fraternities and sororities. In stepping, the body becomes an instrument, using footsteps, claps and spoken word to produce complex poly-rhythms. Stepping is a culture with a long history. I am happy that we have a step team here at Beacon.

Request #7: Science Fiction & Fantasy Class (senior elective) – 20 copies of a book

Requested by: Teacher Julio Benitez

Amount: $235.00

Details: The requested sum covers the expense of purchasing twenty (20) copies of P.D. James’ The Children of Men. In the fall an order for 52 copies was placed, which have since been delivered, stamped and coded. Due to increased student interest, the senior elective of Sci-Fi and Fantasy Literature classes contain the maximum number of students (34), which has created a deficit of 18 books. Amazon.com has the book for sale at $10.79, which totals $235.00 (including taxes) for 20 books. With the approval of this purchase, each student in both sections of the class will receive an individual copy of the book to read. Upon completion the books would be returned and used in future versions of the Sci-Fi & Fantasy class with the assurance that every student will be provided an individual copy.

---

Thanks for joining us!

2021-22 Beacon PTA Executive Board members:

Co-Presidents: Shirley Brady, Robin Brosh, Nancy Molesworth

Secretary: Anju Gupta

Treasurer: Spencer Green

Assistant Treasurers: Katherine Bruck, Andrew Flamm

VPs: Carole Fennell, Robin Krugman, Kim Youngberg

VPs, Fundraising: Karen Jolicoeur, Alison Overholser

VP, Communications: Justine Keil

VPs, Community Building: Karen Stonely, Natasha Zaretsky

VPs, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: Gary Ramsay, Windell Williams

VP, Hospitality: Jennifer Weisbord

VPs, Merchandise: Diana Mahiques, Julie Harding

Members at Large: Marisol Cruz, Tali Mermelstein, Carla Miller

Contact us at beaconpta@beaconschool.org.

---

---