Beacon PTA meeting minutes – October 2022
BEACON PTA GENERAL MEETING
October 11, 2022 (6-8 PM)
ZOOM DETAILS:
CLICK HERE to register to receive the Zoom link
MINUTES
(approved at Nov. 14, 2022 PTA 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
- Alberta Conteh read the norms and the attendees accepted by a show of hands.
3. PRINCIPAL REPORT – Brady Smith
- 88 clubs are underway! New clubs are found on the website under the Student Support section. Our clubs are student-driven.
- Info about 10/13/22 Beacon Cares Clothing Drive was shared.
- NYSCA info was shared to facilitate communication, with 10/17 the expected date for when grades will be visible in NYCSA as part of the DOE’s new online gradebook rollout.
- Community Service planning is underway.
- Columbia Universityundergrads will provide health education for 9th graders in Advisory.
- Winter sports tryouts are coming up; don’t forget the PSAL forms required to try out.
- Tryouts for Battle of the Bands are underway (taking place Friday 10/28 after school in the Beacon Live Hall)
- Potlucks are being planned including arranging for guest speakers
- New Faculty handbook was shared on Monday; new Special Ed and Family handbooks will be shared soon.
- HS admissions open on 10/12/22; Beacon uses the Consortium screened-school process, same as last year. Open houses are scheduled via Zoom to allow for all interested families to have access.
- Vaping prevention is being addressed & shifting resources to pay more attention to student bathrooms (please see Brady’s 10/10 Community Update for details)
- Some attendee questions:
- SAT in School Day will be in March for 11th graders during the school day (the PSAT will be offered)
- On 10/17, grades should be visible via the DOE’s parent portal (in MyStudent in NYCSA)
- What is the protocol for students caught vaping? Refer to Brady’s note on Oct. 10
- Will info beyond just grades be provided at Parent-Advisor Conferences? Anecdotal info will be provided only for students that aren’t meeting expectations. Teacher time is available – 50 periods throughout the week – for any students who need tutoring.
- Beacon does not participate in National Merit Scholarships, but qualifying scores are registered.
4. MINUTES APPROVAL – Nim Delafield & Monica McSharry
- Sept. 2022 general monthly meeting meeting minutes (click here)
- Motion was made to accept the minutes; seconded; motioned passed.
5. 2022/23 BUDGET PROPOSALS – James O’Neill (Treasurer), Caterina Barta & John Scott (Assistant Treasurers)
- Reviewed budget & revenue
- Presented funding requests, with history of funding from the past, and the net impact was reviewed.
- Questions:
- New funding request for the debate team (advisor was unable to put in a funding request for the team).
- Beacon Student Government hasn’t submitted their funding request; send to the treasury email to make the request
- President of Beacon Model Congress advocated for their budget and answered questions
- President of Beacon Debate Club also advocated for their budget and answered questions
6. BUDGET VOTE – (PTA Co-Presidents)
- Motion made to decide to vote on all budget requests as one slate; the motion was seconded; passed
- One last chance to ask questions was offered
- Motion made to add the debate team budget request to the slate, seconded; motion passed
- Last chance for questions
- Motion made to pass the budget requests, seconded; funding requests were passed
7. EXPEDITED ELECTION for open EB positions – PTA Co-Presidents
• Member-at-large (max. 3; all must be current 9th grade parents)
- Shannon Lorraine
- Morghan Richardson
- Allison Weiss
- Nominees from the floor
• Fundraising (max. 2)
• Auction (max. 2)
- NOTE: This agenda item was moved before the Committee Reports to allow for more attendees to participate and vote
- Member-at-large vote:
- Gary made a call for additional nominations from the floor
- Stravros Tripi added as a nominee from the floor
- Nominees made brief statements
- Attendees voted via Zoom poll and the 3 2022-23 member-at-large results were:
- Shannon Lorraine
- Morghan Richardson
- Stavros Tripi
- Fundraising & Auction elections deferred to a future meeting.
8. COMMITTEE REPORTS
- Hospitality / Jennifer Weisbord
- Volunteers needed for events like back-to-school staff & teacher breakfasts, banquet & sports awards, new ideas are welcome
- Contact info is jenweisbord@gmail.com
- Special Education / Justine Keil & Isabel Santiago-Gordon
- Form shared for those who would like to get involved
- There will be a special ed handbook available shortly
- Fundraising / Kirsten Marino & Rosemary Wagner
- Community-Building / Cathy Lang Ho & Judy Olsen
- Upcoming events such as neighborhood meetups, grade meetups, and potlucks were discussed
- Staten Island, The Bronx could use more reps
- Diversity, Equity & Inclusion / Melissa Magallanes & Jeffrey Marshall
- First meeting is this week
- Subcommittees were discussed and a book club is being planned
- Merchandise / Lisa Starr & Toby Williams
- Successful sale in Sept another planned for Oct
- Hoping to restart online sales
- Communications / Kendall Gastelu & Kelli Henry
- Priority is to find a volunteer that knows WordPress to help maintain and refresh the PTA website
- 2nd is for a volunteer to maintain the Facebook page
- Both roles are currently filled by Shirley Brady, who has a senior and less time to be involved this year.
- Contact beaconptanewsletter@gmail.com to volunteer; training will be provided
- Suggestion to add an Instagram feed for the PTA in addition to Facebook.
9. SLT UPDATE – Natasha Zaretsky
- Key areas of discussion at last month’s SLT meeting: the unexpected scanning, changes to remote curriculum night and family conferences; changes to skills classes at Beacon
- The next SLT meeting is Oct. 19 at 4pm on Zoom
- Further meeting dates have been confirmed, but not the modality (i.e. on Zoom, in person or hybrid)
10. OTHER BUSINESS
- No new business
11. MEETING ADJOURNED
Our next PTA monthly meeting is Nov. 14 at 6pm on Zoom.
Other upcoming meetings and events are noted below.
Motion to adjourn: Jennifer Weisbord, Susan Kim seconded, meeting adjourned
UPCOMING MEETINGS AND EVENTS
• 10/12 & 14 Boys Varsity Basketball Tryouts (2:30pm-4:30pm, Gym 702)
• 10/12 & 14 Girls Basketball Tryouts (4:30pm-6:30pm, Gym 702)
• 10/13 Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Committee meeting (5pm, Zoom)
• 10/13 PTA Special Education Committee Meeting (6pm, Zoom)
• 10/18 Beacon School Leadership Team meeting (details TBD)
• 10/18 Brooklyn Parents’ Meet-up (6:30pm, Pig Beach)
• 10/21 Beacon Merchandise Sale (all lunch bands, Lobby)
• 10/21 & 28 Boys JV Basketball Tryouts (4:30pm-6:30pm, Gym 702)
• 10/25 Downtown Manhattan Parents’ Meet-up (6:30pm, Brass Monkey)
• 10/27 SAT/ACT Info Night for Junior Families (6pm, Zoom)
• 11/14 Next Beacon General PTA Meeting
CONTACT:
