SPRingman-Attea PTA with new Springman and Attea logos.
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SPAT PTA Meeting Minutes 04/15/2022

Springman Wildcats Logo and Attea Flyers logo

MINUTES

SPRINGMAN/ATTEA PTA COMMITTEE MEETING

Tuesday April 19th, 2022

Via Zoom

Attendees: Megan Russell, Mark Richter, Chelle Costianis, Robin Cohen, Leisl Jaberg, Rehana Haque, Ghizala Husain, Tara Call, Lynette Pollock, Alisa Cios, LeeAnn Christopherson, and Theresa Rasmussen.

  1. Welcome 
  • Meeting called to order at 9:15 a.m.
  • Chelle highlighted priority PTA positions to be filled for 2022-2023 PTA Board including Co-President Attea, Vice President at both schools, Student Events Chair at both schools, and Teacher Grants.
  1. Approval of minutes from the February 15th, 2022 PTA meeting
  • Motion moved by Tara Call
  • Motion seconded by Chelle Costianis
  1. Principals’ Reports

Megan Russell, Springman

  • Megan highlighted that there are a lot of fun events planned for the end of the school year including field days, year book distribution/signing, awards ceremony, talent show May 20th, service fair and graduation events such as Six Flags trip and graduation party.
  • Student Council is putting on an A to Z countdown starting this Friday. Fun, daily activities will be planned.
  • Construction is going well. The south gym and new entry are almost done. There was a video in the Wildcat Weekly from last week (April 14th) which shows the progress. Phase two will start as soon as school is over and will go through the summer.
  • IAR testing is complete and only MAP spring testing remains for 6th and 7th graders. 8th graders will not take MAP testing but will have a speaker and a GBS welcome (10-15 GBS staff will come and talk with them about what to expect next year).
  • Visits for incoming 5th graders are set to take place next week.
  • The next principal chat is May 10th at 1 pm. Parents of incoming 5th graders are also welcome to join.
  • Megan wanted to extend a big thank you to those parents who are doing the planning for the upcoming staff appreciation week.

Mark Richter, Attea

  • Mark echoed a lot of what Megan said as a lot of the same activities are taking place at Attea.
  • Transition to mask optional has been smooth all in all.
  • Some of the behavioral concerns typical for the beginning of the year lingered longer than is usual likely due to all the disruption caused by Covid, but Mark feels like things have settled down and the students are better adjusted.
  • New Attea principal was named- Diana O’Donnell and she has been on site a couple of times to begin her transition.
  • As far as activities, the musical and boys’ volleyball both wrapped up and went well. Track has started and there has been a great turnout.
  • The LRC is open after school for studying and math club is up and running.
  • Attea is also doing an A to Z countdown for the end of the year along with “I Belong at Attea” t-shirts for the students. 
  • The ambassador program was also restarted. Students in this program will be able to lead the 5th graders on their tours.
  • Attea is having a talent show on April 28th.
  • Members from band, orchestra and choir will be heading to a state competition soon.
  1. Treasurer update- Rehana Haque
  • Rehana highlighted that there is $2,500 in the budget for Teacher appreciation for both schools, but the goal is to keep spending closer to $2,000 for each school due to limited ability of PTA to raise funds this year. 
  • She also highlighted a few recent successful fundraising events: Portillo’s Dining for Dollars raised $225, shopping night at Notice raised $375 and Spirit wear sales of $706 for Attea and $3,489 for Springman.
  1. Committee Chair reports
  • Spirit Wear- Chelle gave an update. She highlighted the benefit of having Spirit Wear online. While the PTA still sells Spirit Wear at events, the online option means purchases can be made year-round.
  • 8th Grade Grad Committee- LeeAnn Christopherson- Graduation parties are being held after each school’s graduation (Attea May 25th and Springman May 26th) with the theme of “Let’s Glow Crazy.” There will be glow sticks, black lights, etc. There are separate planning committees for each school’s party, but they are coordinating with one another. Food services is catering both parties. So far 216 have RSVP’d from Attea and 210 from Springman, which is a good percentage of the students. They are hopeful more will come in soon. Yard signs are also available for families to purchase for $10. Distribution of these still needs to be figured out. A signup will be going out soon to get 6th and 7th grade parent volunteers to help chaperone the parties. 
  • Staff Appreciation Week- Lynette Pollock- Both schools have events planned for each day of staff appreciation week such as yoga/smoothies for Springman staff one day, Joe Donut for Attea staff, breakfast one morning, boxed lunches one day, gift card raffle, etc. A signup genius was sent out for supplemental items needed so be on the lookout for that.
  • Book Fair- Chelle highlighted that there were two book fairs this year- a virtual one in fall and an in-person one in the spring. Both school librarians thought they were a success and appreciated the parent volunteers. Attea made $3,349 from theirs and Springman made around $4,500, resulting in a $2,000 credit for the LRC. The Springman librarian is considering hosting a book swap for kids closer to the end of the year.
  • A to Z Directory- Lynette Pollock- A to Z is going to start charging a $300 service fee next year. Lynette said she has been doing some research and feels like A to Z is still the best company to go with for the online directory despite the added fee as they have excellent customer service and other companies charge a fee too. Chelle added that there is discussion at the PTA cluster level to see if the district could consider taking the lead on the directories in the future and just have a district wide directory. The district already has all of the contact info so this might be the most efficient option. The PTAs have said they would continue to pay for the service. This will continue to be discussed amongst the district and the PTAs. 
  • School Supplies- Chelle said that Angie Stevens is again taking care of this for both schools. She is working with the schools to get their respective supplies lists and info will be out on this soon.
  1. Old Business
    • Chelle said that the shopping night at Notice was a great success and she thanked Elly Koopersmith for organizing it and Alison Beitzel of Bab’s Boards for providing snacks. 
  2. New business
  • Chelle encouraged parents to get involved and volunteer with the PTA and/or spread the word about open positions. Anyone interested please reach out to spatpta@gmail.com.
  • Goal for 2022-2023 is to increase PTA membership from less than 25% this year to 50%.
  • Chelle is hopeful that meetings can move to in-person next year.
  1. Other
  • Alisa Cios asked what the Springman courtyard was being used for and if a Garden Club could be considered. 
  • Staff Appreciation Week- May 2nd– May 6th
  • Dining for Dollars- Lou Malnati’s Wednesday April 20th

Meeting Adjourned: 10:12 a.m. Chelle moved and Tara seconded.

Next PTA Meeting:  Tuesday, May 17th at 9:15 a.m. via zoom. Attea to host. This will be the last meeting of the school year.