PTA Council February Minutes

PTA Council of Howard County
General Membership Meeting

Draft Minutes of Feb 2, 2009

Meeting was called to order by President, John Hannay at 7:38 PM. Quorum was met and the purpose of PTA was read by delegates.

The minutes from the 1/05/09 meeting were discussed, voted and approved as-is.

John introduced guests Frank Aquino and Allen Dyer from BOE, Patti Caplan from Office of School Superintendent, Ken Roey & Terry Alban from HCPSS Office of Operations, and Joe Gillihue from HCPSS School Planning Dept.

BOE Report: The Board would like to hear from the citizens and encourages testimony from the public via email (boe@hcpss.org). Annual budget is under review. Operating budget public hearing is on Feb 3, 2009 @7:00 PM. The proposed operating budget is $659 Million a modest increase of $2 million from the current year (0.3% increase). The Board approves the budget request on Feb 24th which will then be forwarded to the county executive. A series of work sessions are planned to review the operating budget.

Office of Superintendent Report: Ms. Patti Caplan stated that school calendar was approved. The 6 day spring break stays as is for next year. The report cards will be sent out on Feb 9th along with race and ethnicity form. The race and ethnicity forms are due on Feb 13th. Citizens are encouraged to watch FY10 operating budget televised public hearing on channel 95 Comcast, and channel 42 Verizon. Action: Ms. Patti Caplan to check on whether there are any improvement strategies in place to increase SAT scores for African Americans.

Treasurer's Report: Amy Rivera discussed the budget. We have received $7320 towards scholarship fund, which is about $2500 lower than last year's contributions. Please make sure you send in your Scholarship fund contributions. The Treasured completed filing IRS 1099 returns for PTACHC.

Ken Roey & Terry Alban presented High School Capacity Formula from HCPSS Office of Operations, and Joe Gillihue from HCPSS School Planning Dept.

The maximum student capacity of all high schools has been set at 1400 for many years and was adopted in 1995. The change to the capacity formula that is proposed would be consistent with the state formula. Currently there are 63 teaching stations, with a student teacher ratio of 23.5:1 and a utilization factor of 100%. The state formula is in COMAR and used for state funding. The impacts to this change will delay re-districting until 2015 and it will affect capital funding. The state formula uses a student to teacher ratio of 25:1 and a utilization factor of 85%. Teaching stations are identified to be 660 sq. ft and special education stations greater than 660 sq. ft would not be counted. The presentation of this change to the Board is under board docs and a public hearing will be held on Feb 26, 2009. The delegates received a summarized memo regarding high school capacity.

Sam O'Neill, Howard Co. Health Dept. presented and shared information on Healthy Howard Schools innovation award. The Healthy Howard Schools was developed to recognize schools that have displayed extraordinary commitment in the areas of Nutrition, Physical Activity, Mental Health, Safety and Environmental Health. Elementary and Middle schools are encouraged to apply for this award to get recognized. A small ($200) monetary award will be awarded as part of this innovation. The delegates received detailed information on this initiative.

Adoption of talking points on 2009 – 2010 operating budget

Delegates were asked to review the proposed talking points for the proposed 2009-10 operating budget and to respond back to questions that were presented.

Motion 1: Talking points for the proposed 2009 – 10 operating budget that will be presented to BOE - Adopted

Report and Resolution on Policy 6020

Delegates were asked to review the summary of recommended improvements to policy 6020 that will form the basis of testimony by the PTACHC to the BOE.

Motion 2: Recommended improvements to policy 6020 to form the basis of testimony by the PTACHC to BOE – Adopted


Report from BOD on consolidated priorities

Delegates were asked to review the regrouped priorities for 2009 and beyond

Motion 3: Regrouped priorities for 2009 and beyond - Adopted


Committee Reports


Safe After Prom – Information on Surviving The Teenage Years has been sent to middle and high school PTAs. Please share these insightful articles on parenting teenagers with the community through the PTA newsletters, eSchoolNews, etc. The committee is working on a consistent safety plan.

Curriculum – will meet on Feb 3rd. HSA has been the main focus of the committee but would like to expand this focus and are looking for additional members to participate at various curriculum discussions.

Family Involvement – Collected 1600 coats as part of the coat drive from November, and collected 500 more coats. Book drive is set to begin and local PTAs will receive information on the book drive. The collection of the books, sorting, and arranging for delivery to the recipient will be at the local schools.

Health and Wellness – The strategy and goals were presented and now emphasizing on the plan execution. The committee analyzed the pilot data and is very encouraging. The snack revenues are up 22%, smart puffs and tings were most popular snacks. 41% of CLES family participated in the survey and 83 % of them support healthy snack initiative. An online market research survey will be distributed on 2/9/2009. It is encouraging to see 15 more schools (13 elementary and 2 middle schools) are interested as part of the pilot sites. Make sure you sign up for Facebook network contacts so that information can be shared. Please contact Lisa (Regnante1@verizon.net) or Brian (bmeshkin@salugen.com) if your schools want to participate in the pilot program.

Legislative – Still recruiting members, more to come later

MD PTA – The four initiatives for this year are increasing membership, training, sharing session, and communication. 85% in good standing still some dues and bylaws have to be submitted for approval. Mary Jo Neil, past Council President and MD PTA president announced that MD PTA is seeking nominations for MD PTA officers and encouraged locals to seek individuals for nomination to be as part of MD PTA officer.



Reflections– 33 PTAs participated as part of the National PTA Reflections program. 95 entries went on to state level. Danielle Hilliard has volunteered to chair the PTACHC Reflections program for next year and asked for others to help. This is an extraordinary program and lots of help is needed to be more successful next year.


PTAs in Good Standing - A reminder was made that 43 local units bylaws are past due, due or coming up for renewal. Please check the status of your bylaws and if needed, now is a good time to being. MD PTA reports that 7 PTAs dues are outstanding.


Talent Bank – None


New Business: Mark Norman from Mount View MS discussed regarding HoCo Council bill#8. This is regarding standing exemption of PGCC zoned property. The golf course community has an exemption from this bill as it that can build 1600 units without providing adequate public facility. This could affect crowding of adjacent schools in this area.

Motion 4: PTAHC provide testimony on CB8 opposing the exemption of PGCC zoned property from the re-phasing requirements. Adopted



Meeting Adjourned at 9:45 PM

Minutes submitted by Venu Iyengar, Recording Secretary



Feb 3 – Operating Budget Public Hearing @7 PM

Feb. 17 – Happy Birthday PTA

Feb 26 – High School Capacity formula change public hearing

Mar 5 – PTACHC General Meeting 7:30 pm at ARL

March 17 – PTAC Sharing Session/Workshop 7 PM at Faulkner Ridge CenterMarch 18 - Coffee and Conversation with BOE 7:30 - 9 pm
Mar. 30 – PTACHC General Meeting 7:30 pm at ARL (this is the fifth Monday and will technically be the April meeting as the first two Monday's in April are spring break)