Presentations from Kids in the Game and Monkey Do Yoga

• Kids in the Game spoke about the morning and after-care programs. They’ve done the morning program at other schools and it’s been really successful. They get the kids moving, engaging physically and getting ready for the school day. They work up an appetite and then they get breakfast. Exercise is a great way to start the day. Today they had three kids — would like to grow it so they get the most out of the programming.
• Mon & Tues after-school program — there is time for homework and they have two specialty coaches for structured play — they always do two activities. Katie, a parent, gave a strong endorsement of the program — her daughter loves it.
• Monkey Do Yoga — we are on Third Avenue between President and Carroll — did after school last year. Yoga can help kids focus, self-regulate. Gives them an opportunity to start the day right. Kids with sensory integration issues especially benefit from this. Open to talking to parents about ways to make this program strong. We do mindfulness and breathing, but it’s not like a yoga class for adults. It’s more about play, fun. Parent (Katie) said her son took it last year — there are stories and songs and he loved it.

PTA Meeting: Intro from Nina Crews (4th grader), PTA President, and Stephen (3rd and 5th

• Review and introduction of all PTA Executive Board members — Officer Roles and non-officer roles
  • Co-Presidents: Nina Crews & Stephen Eustace – president@ps372pta.org
  • Co-Vice Presidents: Merideth Finn-Beers & Jessica Miskis
  • Treasurer: Radha Korman – treasurer@ps372pta.org
  • Secretary: Cindy Day – secretary@ps372pta.org

Upcoming PTA Events

• Curriculum night is Thursday night (tomorrow)
• Lice Day is coming — PTA initiated this to prevent a widespread outbreak. Volunteers do not need to touch any heads.
• We have a new event this year. Meredith S-C and Michelle have initiated a “social committee” and there will be a hangout in Prospect Park on 10/1. Probably mid-afternoon. Detail coming soon.
• Pizza Friday — popular event with the kids. Also a big PTA fundraiser. Pizza on Fridays will start mid-Oct.
• Roots & Community — actively need volunteers this. Rafael and Michelle Greenberg are the two people you can talk to if you’re interested. There’s food, music — it’s a wonderful event where we get together and celebrate who we are. It’s a free event. It’s a potluck. Everyone is invited to bring food that represents your heritage — there’s even a “Brooklyn” table if you wan to do that — there are activities for different countries/ethnic backgrounds. Sign up on inclusions.org.
• Next PTA meeting: Wed, 10/19
• Also need volunteers for the Book Fair in November. That is open during parent-teacher conferences so you can shop.
• More about Pizza Friday — it raises 40% of our budget. Lots of help is needed to coordinate each Friday — need parent volunteers to sign up to hand out pizza. Kids love to see their parents at lunch.

Volunteer Opportunities

• Standing committees are a great thing to do if you can’t often make it to school. Many of these just have occasional meetings or organization that can be done any time.
• Even if you don’t know what you’d like to do — if you’re just generally interested — sign up for a committee and we’ll reach out.
• Other volunteer opportunities: Be a class parent — need more sign-ups. Also can sign up for SLT committees.
• Diversity committee — first meeting a week from Friday at 8:30, 10/23 — reminder to be sent in newsletter

Konstella

We will now have way to communicate online with each other in addition to inclusions/email, it’s called Konstella. More info TK. PS. 10 uses it.

New PTA Co-Secretary

Nina nominated Johanna Bjorken as co-secretary (she wasn’t voted in last year), it was seconded. All were in favor, no against.

Drop-off Program

Jessica introduced program for drivers who need to do drop off: Location for drop off is 1st and Whitwell — you can drop your child with a volunteer who has a checklist. Another volunteer will escort your child to the cafeteria. Sign-up sheet circulated — an email will also go out as well.

Treasurer Update

Radha offered budget intro — anyone can see budget any time. Main fundraisers are Pizza Friday, Silent Auction, Annual Appeal, then everything else (winterfest, etc.)

Some expenses:

• Each class gets $500 mini grant, ASD site $250 — comes to 13k
• Art, dance, library, science, gym — 12k
• 5k specialists, to, pt, speech, psychology
• other programs as well — opera program, capoira, chess — 33k for arts programs
• lunch clubs for older kids — science, lego robotics, etc.

Question: Could we do online donations for winter collections via paypal online? We will if we can.

Can we do monthly repeating donations instead of just one? Yes, that is possible on inclusions.org.

Celebration for Ms. Kathy

Ms. Kathy retired over the summer — 24 years with the school!!! Slideshow, cake, reminiscences. We will miss her!

Curriculum Night
5-5:45 — go to classroom
5:50-7 — see specialists — science, library, etc
if you have sibling, second classroom presentation 6:20-7

Can bring your kids, but school won’t offer childcare this time. A request was made for childcare next time.