May General PTA Meeting Minutes

by  • 

Thursday, May 27, 2021

This meeting was held remotely.

Welcome – Michelle Dobson & Liza Gouger, PTA Co-Presidents

  • Thank you for taking the time to join us tonight. Welcome!

School Update – Ms. Rosa Amato, Principal

  • Summer School
    • Reminder that PS 372’s summer program is not a Summer Rising program, it is strictly for children with a 12-month IEP. 
    • If you are interested in Summer Rising, please go to their website to pick a school close to your home. That program is 8am – 6pm, academics in the morning, with camp like activities in the afternoon. This is free to all NYC students. 
    • Please contact Ms. Yvette with any questions about summer school.
    • The Chapter 683 program at PS 372 begins July 2 and runs through August 13, and will run from 8:00 a.m. – 2:40 p.m. with bussing available. We will get more info to D75 parents with 12-month IEPs soon.
  • Fall 2021 will be a complete reopening of all schools with no remote option. We are still waiting for distancing guidelines, but we do know that mask-wearing and social distancing of some kind will still be in effect. As that information rolls out, we will get that information to you.
  • 5th grade graduation will now be held in person. Thank you for your emails and feedback about a live ceremony. More info to come.
  • PreK and K moving-up will be virtual. More info coming soon.
  • June 3rd and June 8th – no school due to PD for clerical and teaching staff.

Update — Ms. Yvette Agas-Bautz, Parent Coordinator

  • NYC School Survey May 10 – June 11
    • Please fill out – it gives our school important feedback
    • You can fill it out online at schools.nyc.gov
    • The access code is your child’s OSIS number (i.e. f123456789)
    • If you don’t know your child’s OSIS number, please contact Ms. Yvette
  • Last day of school is June 25
  • Please return chromebooks (and chargers) June 28 – July 1
    • If you are a fifth grade family with a chromebook to return, you may also do so at fifth grade graduation
  • Please email Ms. Yvette with any questions at yvette.agasbautz@ps372.net

Equity Initiatives – Mr. Frank, Assistant Principal

  • Curriculum Update
    • Lee and Low guided reading books added. L&L is known for only selling books authored or illustrated by members of a specific community which it represents. For example, a book representing indigenous people is written or illustrated by an indigeneous person. We purchased three sets of L&L books – two for Carroll and one for the Adelphi site.
    • Multilingual books have been added to our library. We hope some parents will volunteer to come in and read books in different languages, as part of our recognition of the diversity in our community through literature.
    • Critically Conscious Educators Rising (CCER) training
      • Mr. Frank and one fourth grade teacher have been attending this year
      • It allows students a voice in the work they are doing and a say in the curriculum so that it is represented from their perspective
    • Equity Curriculum Writing team
      • Three teachers who are coming together to look at our curriculum and update it to incorporate a larger range of instructional materials and lesson objectives for teachers and students to gather in critical discussions around this work
    • City-wide inclusion events and talking circles
      • The fourth grade team has participated this year 
      • Engaged in critical conversations around disability and talked about ways to critically look at inclusion both culturally and around students with disabilities and special education
    • One School, One Book Project
      • We didn’t do this event this year but we want to bring it back
      • We will work with PTA to put our efforts into incorporating One School, One Book into the work that we do
    • School Leadership Team – Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee
      • SLT/DEI has been working on a mission statement for our school
      • DEI Committee has engaged with students in order to collect their input regarding our school’s curriculum and how it is addressing DEI work
      • Thank you to Ms. Rosa for spearheading this work and allowing space for our entire school community to engage in this conversation
      • If you would like to participate in this DEI committee, they post all meeting info on inclusions.org

Elections

  • All candidate bios are in Konstella
  • All voting will be done tonight via online poll
  • School Leadership Committee – four openings and four candidates
    • Melanie Goldberg
    • Matthew Miller
    • Luisa Paningbatan
    • Traceyann Hill (Adelphi rep)
  • PTA Officers – vote to approve entire slate
    • Co-Presidents – Michelle Dobson & Liza Gouger
    • Co-Treasurers – Tania Ahmed & Charles Hart
    • Recording Secretary – Julie Lipton
    • Vice-Presidents – Kathleen Conner & Lori White
    • Members-at-Large – Jessie Childs, Maureen Jones, Gabriel Snyder, Melissa Tabatabai
    • Teacher Representative – Amy Vagelatos
  • All candidates were elected
    • Official results of polls below:

Budget Report

  • Total raised this year – $65,000 (74% of our fundraising target)
  • Expenses
    • Classroom grants, technology, general support
    • Teachers, please submit reimbursement requests promptly
    • We are working to be sure all necessary expenses are covered
    • We may need a large technology purchase to replace equipment that has helped so many students through the past year

Announcements

  • PTA’s Stay & Play Program will be returning in the fall
  • We are hoping to bring back many of our familiar PTA events for next year: Roots & Community, Pizza Friday, Movie Nights, Winterfest, Valentine’s Day Dance, Arts & Science Day and more
  • Access the DOE 2021-22 calendar schools.nyc.gov

Poll for PTA meeting preferences

Official results below:

Results – evening virtual meetings received the most votes.

Thank Yous

  • To our community for supporting each other. We are really looking forward to seeing everyone in person at PTA events in the fall.
  • To Lori White and Melissa Tabatabai for putting together the Fun Run event in Prospect Park and making it a success. It was a great way for families to meet and have fun outside of school-based events.
  • To Sarah Graham for coordinating nominations for the PTA Executive Board.
  • Giant thank-you to Merideth Finn-Beers, Mimi Stauber-Levy, and La Toya Jemmoth for all of their contributions this year. We will miss you next year!

Upcoming Events

  • The next PTA meeting will be Thursday, June 17.
    • At this meeting we will be voting to approve the PTA budget for 2021-22

Submitted by Mimi Stauber-Levy

PS 372 PTA Recording Secretary

6/17//21