Parent Representative Meeting Minutes 07-08
April 16, 2008
March 12, 2008
February
20,2008
January 16, 2008
December 12, 2007
November 14, 2007
September 26, 2007
Minutes of Parent Representatives’ Meeting The Collegiate School Wednesday, April 16, 2008, 8:30 am
Helena Park, Treasurer: Our cash balance as of March 31, 2008 is $16, 478.83. This includes the money from Browning student fundraising event of $425, $5,000 from MasterCard for Voices, and a parent contribution. Taxes are due May 15th.
Carmen Knoepffler on behalf of Diane Discenza: There was no March meeting for the students.
Carmen Knoepffler on behalf of Evianne Cowing, Safe Haven Project: The event went very well. 27 students from 7 schools attended (vs. 35 sign-ups). Annemarie Legendy trained for the west side, and Evianne Cowing trained for the east side. Parents’ League and West Side Crime Prevention would like to repeat this in the fall, but it’s for the students to decide. Three parent volunteers in addition to Ms. Reid and Ms. Cowing attended, more than sufficient. Having a school cafeteria as a meeting point is essential. Community Service certificates were handed out to all the students. For next time, frequent reminders should be sent to students to bring their Metro card.
Ritu Banga, Independent Voices: Friday, April 25th, 6:30pm, Barnes & Noble Lincoln Center. Flyers have been sent, the faculty has been informed. Parent reps should check with their student reps that the flyers are posted throughout their schools. We have 41 readers from Brearley, Browning, Calhoun, Chapin, Collegiate, Sacred Heart, Dwight, Hewitt, Horace Mann, Marymount, Riverdale, La Scuola, Spence and Trinity. Note that Sacred Heart and Horace Mann do not have published works. The printing is completed and copies will be sent UPS today or tomorrow. Volunteers include Carmen Knoepffler, Helena Park, and Nurseli Seker. Work for next year’s funding, about $4k needed, should begin right away. Kathy Evans volunteered to investigate the National Endowment for the Arts’ fast track grants for reading, of up to $10k, for which we may qualify.
Carmen Knoepffler on behalf of Evianne Cowing; Helena Park, Co-chairs, Visions: Confirming Friday, May 9th 4-6pm, and Saturday, May 10th 12-4pm at the Aicon Gallery (formerly Gallery ArtsIndia), 206 Fifth Avenue, 5th Floor (between 26th and 27th Streets) thanks to Ritu Banga’s effort at securing the space. Eleven schools are participating. Certificates of participation will be handed to the students and letters sent to the schools. A speaker to open the event with a 10 minute speech was discussed: Evianne will follow-up with Peter Moriarty from Trinity, and Sabina Wu will follow-up with, Dina Nemeth, a photography agent. Parent volunteers-for Friday night: Susan Erlich, Nurseli Seker, Evianne Cowing, Helena Park, -for Saturday: Sabina Wu 12-2p, Sabrina Wax, all day, Sarah Barish Straus, 2-4p. Helena Park will confirm with the gallery about liquid refreshments and gratis picture hanging. Monique Pettit and Anne Sorin, who arranged the food for last year, will be asked to undertake the food again this year.
Open Session; Carmen asked parent reps to volunteer their schools for next year’s meetings (proposed schedule attached). A rough calendar of events was also discussed (attached).
Back to Top
Minutes of Parent Representatives’ Meeting The Calhoun School Wednesday, March 12, 2008, 8:30 am
Carmen Knoepffler, on behalf of Helena Park, Treasurer: Our cash balance as of March 10 is $11,416.83. This includes the money from Browning student fundraising event of $425.
Diane Discenza: Student Meeting February 21: Hewitt, Marymount, Spence, and Nightingale-Bamford were the only schools which attended. It was a short week, following President’s Day weekend, and there seemed to be many conflicts that week. We may want to re-think the schedule for this meeting. Feedback from students on Service Saturday was similar to that received from parent chaperones. They would like more card samples be available. Evianne Cowing spoke about the upcoming Safe Haven project. For next year, in addition to the October and May Parent-Student meeting, a third was suggested to be held in January, to allow for more interaction.
Evianne Cowing, Safe Haven Project: The date is Saturday April 5, 2008 at Nightingale Bamford, regardless of weather. Everything is set up, we just need the student volunteers to sign up. Parent reps should contact their student reps to get this on school websites, newspapers, and so on. Using Facebook was suggested as well. Parents who volunteered at the last meeting included Kathy Howard, Pam Michaelcheck, Lisa Salibello (needs to confirm), Sarah Barish-Straus, Diane Discenza, with Susan Erhlich added this week. Half the parents should come in the morning, the other half in the afternoon. The kids should be reminded to bring Metrocards. We may want to put the materials into plastic shopping bags. Carmen will bring the Community Service certificates and e-mail Community Service directors about this event.
Carmen Knoepffler on behalf of Ritu Banga, Independent Voices: Friday, April 25th, 6:30pm, Barnes & Noble Lincoln Center. Flyers will be sent the week we return from spring break. The second set of proofs is completed, now waiting for the third. MasterCard’s $5,000 check for printing costs has been processed and should arrive within 30 days. Parents volunteering for this event are: Jane Gillette, Kathy Howard, Monique Pettit (to be confirmed), and Sharon Yellin. Visions: Marmara has given us weekends of April 5 and June 7th. The dates are not ideal and Ritu is talking to Gallery ArtsIndia about other dates.
Open Session: Carmen noted that the students have raised $1315 to date. Immediate priority is to get everyone signed up for Safe Haven project. Parent reps should contact PA heads, and along with student reps, should think about new reps for next year and invite them to a meeting and/or event.
Back to Top
Minutes of Parent Representatives’ Meeting The Marymount School Wednesday, February 20, 2008, 8:30 am
Joy Habian, President of Marymount PA, joined us as guest.
Helena Park, Treasurer: Our cash balance as of end of January is $10,795.06. This includes money from the Spence student fundraising event. The money from Marymount and La Scuola student fundraising events will be reflected in next month’s bank statement. The expenses from Service Saturday will be going out this month. The money from MasterCard underwriting the student publication is on the way. The process is completed and waiting for the check.
Diane Discenza: Service Saturday: February 2, Columbia Prep cafeteria from 12-4 pm. The kids made 450 candy bags for Yorkville Pantry, over 400 creative Valentines’ Day card for God’s Love We Deliver (samples were passed around and will be saved for next year as examples), and Valentines Day-Party-in-a-Boxes for Mt. Sinai's Pediatric Hemodialysis Unit. Over 70 kids participated from Browning, Brearley, Calhoun, Columbia Prep, Dwight, Hewitt (new), La Scuola, Marymount, Nightingale, Sacred Heart, and Spence. Columbia Prep provided the beverages. Special thanks to Carmen Knoepffler, Casey Mallinckrodt, Sabrina Wax, Lisa Salibello, Kathy Howard, Wendy Van Amson, and Monique Pettit for chaperoning. For next year, best to get advance sign-up as space can be a constraint. Total expenses of $789 came in under our $800 budget, and were comprised by $257 for art supplies, $439 for candy and $93 for pizza. Students also did the photography and music. Next year, more stencils, stickers, and guidance for card making should be provided. Thank you notes from the charities will be forwarded to all the schools. January’s Student Meeting: About 17 students from Browning, Calhoun, Chapin, La Scuola, Marymount, Sacred Heart and Spence attended. Brandon Snead from God’s Love We Deliver gave a presentation in preparation for Service Saturday. La Scuola (dress-down), Marymount (candy-gram), and Spence (bake sale/pizza) held their fundraisers for JSA, raising a total of $830 to date. Student reps should be encouraged to write-up notes to file for next year’s reps. This meeting date should be changed for next year as it falls in the middle of mid-term exams.
Monique Pettit, Website Redesign: Sarah from Spence has redesigned the JSA website to be more up-to-date and contain more information. Note that in the right corner, non-JSA events can be accessed through the drop-down menu. Schools should email their events to Monique to have them posted.
Evianne Cowing, Safe Haven Project: The date is Saturday April 5, 2008, at Nightingale-Bamford, regardless of weather. West Side Crime Prevention will contact JSA to elicit ongoing support for their program from the schools. An east- and west-side signup sheet will be needed as each has a different protocol. Pairs of students will be assigned an area. If it rains, students will be expected to follow up within 2 weeks. The students will spend about ½ hour on sign-up, training, and pizza, and then be dispersed for 2-3 hours. For the east side, they will wear Parents’ League Safe Haven stickers and be given packets of information to handout. Eastside boundaries are East 59th to 96th Street, and East End to 5th Ave. We don’t know the boundaries for the west side; ideally it would center around schools. Any questions or comments for the Westside group, which only has 2 people, can be passed on to Evianne. The students will be given the cell phone numbers of parent chaperones, which include Kathy Howard, Pam Michaelcheck, Lisa Salibello, Sarah Barish-Straus, and Diane Discenza. Suggestion was made that Community Service letters be prepared in advance and made available to the students on the day of the event, for those who need it for reasons other than school.
Ritu Banga, Independent Voices: We are awaiting MasterCard’s $5,000 check for printing costs. All schools that planned to participate have submitted their works. Not participating are Nightingale (teacher on sabbatical), Birch (kids do not seem interested this year), Sacred Heart (teacher is retiring) and Horace Mann. Chris Curtin-Barnes, Holly Gewandter, Pam Michaelcheck, Lisa Salibello, and Colleen Pike Blair will assist with proofreading over the next 10 days. Andrew Fanelli, now a junior at NYU, will MC. The event is scheduled for Friday, April 25, 6:30pm, at the Lincoln Center Barnes & Nobles’ Events room.
Evianne Cowing & Nurseli Seker, Visions: The Marmara has committed to providing the gallery but not yet a date. The submission deadline will not be known until this is set but is normally the week before the event. Students will receive a Participation Certificate for their involvement. Marmara Gallery’s curator will open the reception with a 15-minute speech on photography.
Open Session: Kids like Publicolor, which may come back as a possibility. Collegiate is working on Publicolor in March and will check if other students can participate. A speaker on politics might be an interesting event to hold for this election year.
Back to Top
Minutes of Parent Representatives’ Meeting The Browning School Wednesday, January 16, 2008, 8:30 am
Carmen Knoepffler, President: The athletic event will not take place this year as the Brearley Field House is not available and we have no other options at this time. We will start planning right away for next year. Student reps are encouraged to find new JSA student rep recruits for this spring, and both student and parent reps should think about recruiting representatives for next year. Potential reps are invited to join any of our meetings to learn about JSA.
Ritu Banga, Independent Voices: MasterCard has agreed to sponsor “Independent Voices” and will provide $5,000 underwriting. We are awaiting the check. All but a few schools have replied to our e-mail regarding participation and submissions, which are due in early February. Parent reps were sent copies of the e-mails, along with the faculty contact names. Last year, many people, including faculty, asked to be allowed more readers. Therefore, we are permitting up to 5 (from 4) readers and increasing the reading time to 6 minutes per school.
Helena Park, Treasurer: Our cash balance as of December 31, 2007 is $10,452.07 and our Surplus is $1,036.39. The strong cash balance as compared to the previous year is due to prompt payment of dues by the schools. All had paid by year-end 2007, whereas some dues were very late for the previous year. Calhoun and Sacred Heart double paid, and the 2nd checks will be returned. On the Income Statement, many expenses, such as website work, mailing costs, and Holiday Carnival are left blank as these services were donated. The actual costs will be recorded, to be offset by a donations revenue line, so that we have complete information for budgeting and reporting purposes.
Evianne Cowing, Independent Visions, Safe Haven Project: “Visions” notice to faculty members will be sent today. Some schools did not participate last year. Birch Wathen had a conflict, as their art fair was at the same time, and is unlikely to participate this year. Submissions do not have to be selected by faculty; the students can submit any work on their own. The event will take place late April or early May but we are waiting to hear from Marmara gallery at the end of next week as to the dates. A suggestion was made that we invite a photographer to speak at the opening of the reception, perhaps Peter Moriarty, faculty at Trinity School, who recently published a book on photography. The Safe Haven project is confirmed for Saturday, April 5, 2008, regardless of weather. The scope has expanded to include the west side as the West Side Crime Prevention Group also will now participate. Nightingale-Bamford will host.
Diane Discenza, Student Committee Chair: Update on last Student Meeting: Columbia Grammar’s Sue Kilmer, PA head, and Patti Schackett, Community Service Affairs director, attended. Roughly 25 students attended this meeting despite bad weather. This highlighted the need for a way to notify people of last-minute changes and cancellations due to weather and other emergencies. Posting on the website is ideal except Sarah Weingartenis not able to receive cell or text messages during the school day and would not be able to timely post information. Her mother is a web designer and can possibly be used as a back-up. Another possibility is to set up a group text messaging. Fundraising was again discussed. Marymount will organize a “candygram,” Browning will host a coffeehouse, Chapin will conduct a “dress-down” day, and Spence has planned a bake sale. Service Saturday is scheduled for Feb. 2nd at Columbia Grammar & Prep, 1-4pm. Students will make Valentine cards to accompany the meals for Gods’ Love We Deliver, package little bags of Valentine candy for The Yorkville Common Pantry, and package candy bags and make decorations for The Kravis Children’s Hospital at Mt. Sinai. A representative from God’s Love We Deliver will speak at tomorrow’s Student Meeting and show a short video. T-shirts: Submitted designs will be posted on the website and the students will vote for their favorite at the February meeting. March Students’ Rep Meeting is cancelled, as it is the next to last day school day before spring break. (The Parents Meeting will be held as scheduled).
Back to Top
Minutes of Parent Representatives’ Meeting The Columbia Grammar and Prep School Wednesday, December 12, 2007, 8:30 am
Carmen Knoepffler: Helena Park is recovering from surgery. The bank balance is about $10, 519.
Diane Discenza, Student Committee Chair: Update on last Student Meeting: Roughly 25 students, representing Brearley, Columbia Grammar, Collegiate, Dwight, Marymount, Spence and Nightingale, attended the last JSA Students’ Meeting. The importance of fundraising was emphasized. Athletic event: Students envisioned volleyball, relays, obstacle courses, and basketball throw contests. They would like music and perhaps even half-time entertainment. Charging admissions, and selling raffles and refreshments would be some of the ways to raise money for a charity. The difficulty in organizing this event is finding a large enough gym. Brearley’s gym is fully scheduled to May. Collegiate is not able to commit to anything. Chapin’s is too small to accommodate 80-100 kids. Nightingale will check on their gym’s availability. T-shirts: The students are also interested in designing a JSA t-shirt. A committee was formed and a parent assigned to help oversee this project. Service Saturday, which replaces Sandwich Saturday, is scheduled for Feb. 2nd at Columbia Grammar & Prep, 1-4pm. The students will work on a variety of hands-on projects for several charities. For Gods’ Love We Deliver, they will make valentine cards to accompany the meals. For Yorkville Common Pantry, they will package little bags of candy that will be given out with the Yorkville Pantry meals or with groceries. The estimated cost for the candy supplies is about $300. Sabrina Wax and Kathy Howard agreed to volunteer, along with Diane Discenza, Carmen Knoepffler and Wendy Van Amson. Judith Hannaway suggested also creating artwork for the Youth Cancer Ward at Mt. Sinai Hospital, a project that the boys at St. Bernard’s undertook with great success.
Sabina Wu, Holiday Carnival: A short write-up reporting the event and summarizing the purpose of the Mission Society was distributed to the students last week. They have been asked to have this, along with pictures sent to them earlier, posted on their school’s website, or printed in the school newspaper, as a way to publicize JSA and gain recognition for their participation.
Evianne Cowing, Safe Haven Project: The rained-out Safe Haven project, originally scheduled for October 27, 2007 is now rescheduled for Saturday April 5, 2008, regardless of weather. Spence will investigate whether the students can meet in the Spence cafeteria, a larger space, in lieu of meeting at the Parents’ League. For Collegiate, which is interested in pursuing something similar on the West Side, the contact is Ann Marie Legendy, a representative of the West Side Crime Prevention Group.
Independent Visions and Independent Voices: Voices: Carmen reported on behalf of Ritu that e-mails have been sent to all the schools and all but 3 have responded. The cost to print is estimated to be $3,400, which includes design but not shipping. The printer prints only for non-profits, so its prices are very competitive. Discussions on pre-selling the anthologies (if Barnes & Noble agrees to this), or taking orders, were held. It was decided to pursue both options. JSA will contact the parents of students with poetry submission in advance, and an order form will be included in the booklet, possibly printed as part of the booklet, for subsequent orders. Visions: Evianne indicated that e-mails to the photography teachers will be sent next week.
Back to Top
Minutes of Parent Representatives’ Meeting The Spence School Wednesday, November 14, 2007, 8:30 am
Nancy Brigstocke, President of Spence PA, joined us as guest.
Sabina Wu, Holiday Carnival: Carnival on November 10th was a great success with 11 schools, 45 JSA students, and about 35 Mission Society children participating. Everyone had a great time and all the booths worked well. The prize table, new this year, was very popular as kids crowded around eager to pick out toys with their ticket winnings. This needs to be well staffed next year, with 3 adults, due to the surges of crowds. Photos taken by Jayne Gillette was distributed to the parent reps. The suggestion was made that the student reps also be e-mailed and to see if they can put some of these photos, plus a short write-up on the school website or newspaper. Sabina will write up a short description of the Mission Society for their use. Expenses for the Carnival were about $600.
Diane Discenza, Student Committee Chair: Budget: In Helena Park’s absence, Diane presented a projected income statement for this year. School dues do not cover all projected expenses, the students’ fundraising on behalf of JSA is critically important. This will be raised at the Student rep meeting the next day and each school asked to commit to raise $200. Parent reps are asked to help their students with this. “Voices” is the most expensive of the events and in past years, a corporate donation, now depleted, covered the cost. Ritu asked that everyone help search for a new sponsor to underwrite an amount of about $7500 - $ 8000, which will cover the printing for two years. God’s Love We Deliver (www.godslovewedeliver.org) is a new event brought to our attention by Gretchen Mannix, a past parent rep. This charity delivers food to the ill and disabled, mostly living below the poverty line, who are unable to cook for themselves. The event involves the students making cards and/or decorating food bags for deliveries around the Valentine holiday. This Community Service Saturday is scheduled for February 2, to be held at the Columbia Grammar cafeteria (thanks to Wendy Van Amson). Casey Mallinckrodt will oversee the art supply purchases and artistic efforts. Parent rep suggestions included adding origami and writing personal notes, having students perform live, or “DJ”, music for entertainment. A fundraising possibility is to sell raffle tickets for items such as $30 iTune or Starbucks cards. A representative from God’s Love We Deliver will speak to the students about their mission at the December or January meeting.
Evi Anne Cowing, Community Services Coordinator, Safe Haven Project: The rained-out Safe Haven project, originally scheduled for October 27, 2007 is now rescheduled for Saturday April 5, 2008 with rain date of April 12. Sixty students had signed up for the original date. One thought is to seek a school cafeteria to hold the instructional meeting so that all the students can meet at the same time. Another thought is to not have a rain date, but to have the students do the actual canvassing on their own schedule over a 2-week period. These ideas will be presented to the students so they decide.
Ritu Banga, Cultural Events Coordinator:
Independent Voices: The Marymount parent reps, plus Chris Curtin Barnes, Colleen Blair, Holly Gewandter, Pam Michaelcheck, and Lisa Salibello have volunteered to work on “Voices”. The event is on Friday, April 25, 2008 at 6:30 pm. Barnes & Noble already has us on their schedule. Andrew Fanelli, a Browning graduate now at NYU, will MC the event. The faculty has been emailed and informed and cost estimates have been requested from the printer. Independent Visions: Nurseli Seker will undertake to obtain the same gallery as last year for late April, early May. This is not anticipated to be a problem. Browning parent reps will email details of the event to the faculty after Thanksgiving. Anne Sorin and Monique Pettit will work with Evianne Cowing and Susan Ehrlich on this event.
Diane Discenza, Athletic Event Discussion: The students have been asking for this a long time. Potential dates could be the weekend of January 11 or February 22. Brearley is waiting for a response from their school. Sarah Barish-Straus reported that the Collegiate boys think the sport should be volleyball, and will look into using their gym as another possibility. Also, Collegiate does community service work for Publicolor, but as only 4 boys usually turn up, it may be possible to expand this to include JSA, and get more (up to 15) kids involved. A Safe Haven project to the West Side could also be a new activity.
Back to Top
Minutes of Parent Representatives’ Meeting The Nightingale-Bamford School Wednesday, September 26, 2007, 8:30 am
Carmen Knoepffler, President:
Welcomed the parents to the new year. Introductions were made. Reviewed the contents of the JSA folder handout.
Sabina Wu, Recording Secretary:
The annual mailing to the schools was completed in June to give Parent Associations more time to organize for the fall. A letter to invite new schools to join is being written and will be sent to Trevor Day, Fieldston, Rudolph Steiner, and Lycée Française. Suggestions were made to also mail to Friends, St. Anne’s, Packer, and LREI.
Helena Park, Treasurer, financial update:
The current bank balance is $7,056.24. Schools from which we have not received dues are Brearley, Chapin, Collegiate, Columbia Grammar, Horace Mann, La Scuola d’Italia, Nightingale-Bamford, Riverdale, and Sacred Heart. Sabina will send an email, with the Dues Form attached, to the parent reps of these schools to follow-up.
Monique Pettit, Corresponding Secretary:
All contact information, changes and updates should be sent to Monique so that she can maintain the master contact list. Copy of the Roster will be emailed to JSA Parent Reps as updates are made.
Linda Barnett, Global Goods representative:
Mission of Global Goods is to alleviate poverty and support social justice in developing countries. Proceeds from sale of locally made handicrafts is used to pay workers’ wages and support community health and education initiatives, with 20% going to the nonprofit institution making the sales. JSA would like to have a day long sales event showcasing the handicrafts, which include modestly priced jewelry, stuffed animals, scarves and so on. Orders are taken and the goods are shipped to the buyer usually within 2 weeks. Approval and guidance from PA heads would be needed on how JSA can market this event to parents. Student involvement in this endeavor was explored. As of now, it remains a fundraising opportunity that the JSA Parent committee would undertake.
Evi Anne Cowing, Community Services Coordinator, Safe Haven Project, Saturday October 27:
Safe Haven is a Parent’s League of New York (PL) safety project involving participating merchants throughout the Upper Eastside. Children who feel threatened can seek refuge in a store displaying a Safe Haven sticker, and the store has agreed to allow the child to wait in the store until the danger has passed, or to make a phone call for the child. The project involves sending teams of students into the neighborhood to re-affirm participating merchants’ commitments and to seek new participants. The students will meet at the PL offices (115 East 82nd St.), 12p and 12:30p for instruction, and will return there with their results at the conclusion. Students, along with a PL representative, will be asked to also raise awareness of this program by presenting the Safe Haven project at their Middle school assemblies. Four community service hours will be given for this event.
Diane Discenza, Student Committee Chair:
The most important function of the student rep is to disseminate information through their schools on JSA events at their assemblies, with posters, and posting on the school’s website. The Holiday Carnival, November 10 requires that each school sponsors an activity booth for the children from the Mission Society’s after-school program. Effort needs to be made this year to better match the activity to the age group, on which Evi Anne will check. JSA student reps are very keen on an Athletic Event for charity but finding the venue is difficult. Parents are asked to give this some thought and attention. Yorkville Common Pantry will be scheduled as our calendar is finalized. The bagging of groceries is always on Saturdays from 9:30am-1pm. God’s Love We Deliver, in which Gretchen Mannix, a former JSA parent rep, is involved, needs bags to be decorated for the holiday food deliveries. This can possibly be turned into an “Art Day” for students to also make art for other organizations, e.g. a pediatric ward, as a new JSA event. Sandwich Saturday is not scheduled for this year mainly because it’s too costly.
Ritu Banga, Cultural Events Coordinator:
Independent Voices: Students’ poetry submissions, vetted by the English teachers, are printed in an anthology, “Independent Voices” and then read at the annual poetry reading. Barnes & Noble, Lincoln Center, hosted this event for many years. JSA needs sponsorship for this event since the printing of the anthology is a significant cost.
Independent Visions: JSA’s annual photography exhibition is held in a professional gallery and features about 150 works, each 11” x 14”, selected with the assistance of art/photography teachers. An evening reception is followed by open viewing the following day. Finding the gallery is the biggest challenge.
Safe Haven Project-Renee Ward (Birch Wathen), Linda Franchilli (Dwight). Athletic Event-Wendy Van Amson (Columbia Grammar), Rose Harvey (Nightingale), Jane Gillette (Marymount). Independent Voices-Ritu Banga (Marymount). Independent Visions-Browning, Marymount, Nightingale. JSA Meeting Hosts-Browning will host the January meeting, and Collegiate will look into hosting a meeting. December, March, April and May need a host. Volunteers are still needed to coordinate the Holiday Carnival.
Back to Top