Shirley Brady
June 12, 2023
Beacon PTA Meeting Minutes – May 2023
BEACON PTA GENERAL MEETING
May 8, 2023 (6 PM)
[THE FOLLOWING WERE PRESENTED & APPROVED AT OUR JUNE 12, 2023 GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING]
1. WELCOME – Alberta Conteh, Robin Broshi & Gary Anthony Ramsay (PTA Co-Presidents)
PTA Co-VPs: Carole Fennell, Shirley Brady & Kim Youngberg
2. READING OF MEETING NORMS – Gary Ramsay
Gary welcomed the attendees and reminded all of our PTA norms.
3. PRINCIPAL REPORT – Brady Smith
- Certified Math Substitute in place now (to replace Dr. Johnson for the rest of the year)
- Inclusive classroom committee meets this week. Student reps reaching out to student leaders to facilitate presentation of inclusivity document to staff.
- Restorative Justice in schools – (‘SEE’) – plans for Beacon next year (eg peer mediation).
- AP exams going on now. (some students from other schools hosted at Beacon also).
- College acceptances occurring. Students should indicate their choices in Naviance.
4. MINUTES – Nim Delafield & Monica McSharry, Recording Secretaries
- April 2023 general monthly meeting minutes presented for approval (Minutes 04/17/23)
- Nim shared the minutes in the Zoom chat.
- Susan made a motion to approve the minutes. Shirley seconded the motion. By a show of hands in Zoom, the minutes were approved.
6. 2023 BUDGET PROPOSALS – James O’Neill (Treasurer), Caterina Bartha (Assistant Treasurer) presented new funding requests.
- Deadline for budget request submissions was May 5. Received 63 responses (over $400,000 of support requested). Will review in budget committee meeting at end of May and then to to 6/5/23 EB meeting and then to 6/12/23 general membership meeting (will also return to teachers for clarifications on requests).
- Note – there is more income than is what is listed here.
- 3 new funding requests to vote on:
- Track and Field coach (6 teams) ~$3,800 (already had budgeted/received $2,000 for Penn relays that just came up)
- Climbing Club $1200 (already had budgeted/received $500, so asking for a total of $1700 for new trip)
- Knitting Club $150 (already had budged/received $450)
7. BUDGET VOTE ON FUNDING REQUESTS
- Susan Kim made a motion to bundle the three requests; Caterina Bartha seconded. Motion PASSED.
- Robin Broshi made a motion to approve, Susan Kim seconded. Motion PASSED.
8. COMMITTEE REPORTS
- Diversity, Equity & Inclusion / Melissa Magallanes & Jeffrey Marshall
- Next DEI meeting on May 10 (see newsletter for zoom link)
- May 18 – symposium for students/community on how to deal with law enforcement when stopped. In Beacon auditorium. First 50 families will get a copy of Cardiac Arrest.
- Auction / Morghan Richardson
- Still items to sell + some new items coming for silent auction
- $56,941 revenue from auction; ~$36,000 profit
- (More ppl attended than estimated)
- Q: how does this compare to previous years? Data coming. Maybe we want to adjust ticket pricing in the future. But The past 2 years online raised ~$9,000. The net this year might be slightly lower than pre-covid auctions (2018 – $100K gross, 40K out)
- Fundraising / Kirsten Marino
- Phone-a-thon netted ~$10,000 (worked well to spread over 2 weeks)
- Launching a macbook raffle tonight and draw at next PTA general meeting (funds to senior class)
- Community-Building / Cathy Lang Ho & Judy Olsen
- May 23: 11th/12th grade parents combined potluck in cafeteria
- Neighborhood UES parents – Maybe May 25. Let Judy know if there are any conflicts. See PTA newsletter for details. Seems like there are indeed May 25th conflicts. Will find other dates.
- Merchandise / Lisa Starr & Toby Williams
- Last merch sale was a big success
- Still figuring out net profit
- Next: May 19 Friday @ lobby (CC, cash, Apple Pay accepted)
- Last merch sale was a big success
- Special Education / Justine Keil & Isabel Santiago-Gordon
- May 9th meeting rescheduled for in-person on May 25 (prob in Brooklyn). Details TBD.
- Parents urged to complete year-end Survey on IEP/504 Services
- Communications / Kendall Gastelu & Kelli Henry
- Facebook/instagram/PTA website – always looking for volunteers
- Also happy to have someone shadow Kelli to learn what the newsletter position is all about – reach out to kelli.henry.phd@gmail.com
- Suggestion made to have a team next year for newsletter production so not on shoulders of one person every week.
- Hospitality / Jennifer Weisbord (Susan Kim presented)
- Teacher appreciation week successful (staff/teachers lounges visited with snacks, etc)
- Sports banquet approaching – please contact Susan Kim susankim711@gmail.com
9. SLT UPDATE – Robin Broshi
- Next meeting – May 17 will be in person (Beacon library)
10. OTHER BUSINESS
- PTA Executive board roles for next year: Need 1-2 volunteers for mandatory roles of president, recording secretary and treasurer (candidates can self-nominate during meeting). Also email here if interested: beaconpta@beaconschool.org
- We also need SLT volunteers (5 seats for parents/guardians)
- Parent volunteers are needed for the following school activities:
- May 9 (11:59pm) is the deadline to vote in the NYC Education Council Elections; click here for info on how to vote
- June 10 is Beacon’s 30th anniversary celebration; click here for info (this is also a fundraiser for PTA)
- Submit local/neighborhood community–building suggestions.
- Senior families, please pay prom dues ASAP; click here for info
- See Beacon’s website for working papers form for student summer jobs
- Please give to our annual appeal! Every donation, big or small, matters!
10. NEW BUSINESS – none raised
10. MEETING ADJOURNED
- Our next monthly meeting is 6/12/23 at 6pm on Zoom.
- Other upcoming meetings and events are noted below.
- Alberta called for a motion to adjourn. A motion was made and seconded and the meeting was adjourned.
- Questions? Email us at beaconpta@beaconschool.org
- Click here for more upcoming events.
- Bookmark our website and follow us on Facebook.
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