Radburn School PTA

General Meeting - Minutes

Date: May 15, 2024

Time: 7:00 PM

Location: Radburn Elementary School, Multipurpose room (gym), 18-00 Radburn Rd, Fair Lawn, NJ 07410

1. CALL TO ORDER

• Given by Joy Bradway at 7:20pm EDT.
• There are 25 members in attendance; a quorum of 15 members or more was reached.
• The pledge of allegiance was held.

2. ELECTIONS

PTA board member nominations committee

Local PTA Bylaws Article 9, Section 1 A, B, & C was read by Natalie Lembesis.

Stefanie Moreno, chair of the nominating committee, read aloud the report of the committee and announced that all candidates meet the requirements of the Local PTA Bylaws:

• VP Culture: Oksana Lytvyn
• Corresponding Secretary: Dave Mosher
• VP Fundraising: Aura Showfety

The committee was thanked for its work. President Joy Bradway re-read the proposed slate of officers.

President Bradway went through the offices of Vice President of Culture, Corresponding Secretary and Vice President of Fundraising in turn and asked for nominations from the floor for each. None were offered and the president declared the nominations closed.

A voice vote was held, and the slate was elected unanimously.

Joy Bradway gave membership notice that Meghan Petzold will be appointed to fill Dave Mosher’s position as Recording secretary now that he is Corresponding Secretary and can no longer serve as recording secretary

3. OLD BUSINESS

Approve general membership meeting minutes from March 27, 2024

Draft minutes from the March 27, 2024 general meeting were distributed and accepted by membership . Adrianna Smithline motioned to approve the minutes. Lisa Hurzeler seconded the motion. The minutes were approved.

Approve Budget

Natalie Lembesis

Current budget:

• Current budget was presented to members and reviewed. Natalie noted everything was within budget.
• Fifty staff members getting field day shirts within budget this year, too.
• Liz Estersohn motioned to approve the current budget. The motion was seconded by Joy Yucht. The current budget was approved.

Estimated 2024-2025 budget:

• Estimated 2024-2025 budget was presented to members to assist in spending early in the school year.
• No tricky tray due to time involvement and no one willing to head committee.
• Tentative fall festival to replace Halloween Party, but at cost.
• Removed plant and pumpkin sale.
• $30,000 reserved for playground enhancements.
• Operating at a loss of about $15,000. Cash surplus will cover heavy expenditures, e.g. playground. Accepting ideas to amend budget through August; please reach out!
• Joy Yucht motioned to approve the 2024-2025 budget. Liz Estersohn seconded the motion. The estimated 2024-2025 budget was approved.

4. OFFICER REPORTS

President

Joy Bradway

• Thanked outgoing board members and welcomed to new board members
• Highlighted Sangeetha Ebeneezer and Jaime Frola for serving two terms
• Said teacher appreciation week (“TAW”) committee and Valerie Pheanis planned a great week
• Said the 5K was a success, thanked Kate Cedeno and the rest of the 5K committee
• Thanked Liora Seltzer for designing and ordering the Field Day shirts.
• Thanked all committees through the year for their hard work and dedication to our PTA and students.

Principal

Jill Lindsay

• Thanked the PTA for Teacher Appreciation Week, said it was amazing and the staff really appreciated it.
• Kosha Dillz came for Jewish American Heritage Month; thanked Dana Gabay and Bella Harriot.
• Said Read-A-Thon’s (“RAT”) Circus Day reward was a huge success and that kids loved it. Will be a good motivator for next year's RAT.
• Other announcements:

• Testing is this week and going well.
• Band and strings concert is May 22 at 1pm in the multipurpose room.
• 4th Grade/Staff Kickball game will be the afternoon of field day
• School is closed Friday, May 24 and Tues, May 28 — enjoy the long weekend.
• On Field Day Mrs. Lindsay will get slimed. Ms Brennan and Suero, who won, will do the sliming.

Teachers Report 

Jackie Lynn

• Thanked the PTA for the 90s theme TAW.
• Teachers loved the personal notes from children.
• Breakfast and snack cart was great, and the $10 gift cards for staff were very appreciated.
• For 90s trivia, teachers loved the prizes.
• Circus and ice cream prizes from the RAT were well-received from the students.
• Thanked the PTA for all the assemblies this year, as well as Teacher Mini-Grants.

Vice President

Dana Gabay

• School supply sale is in full swing - sale ends July 1st. Spread the word.
• Jewish American Heritage Month (“JAHM”) had its first time at Radburn. Liz Estersohn had a slideshow presentation, kids had challah, Kosha Dillz was a VIBE. Thanked Bella Harriot for helping with the assembly.
• Square One is now Art to Remember, which has free shipping.
• Please help with the fall festival.

Treasurer 

Natalie Lembesis

No additional update

VP, Fundraising

Aura Showfety

• Thanked all volunteers for fundraising efforts.
• Plant sale went well, thanked Sangeetha Ebeneezer for running the event.
• Asked volunteers and take on events if they want to see them continue — need new people.
• Announced work to create a manual for events so they can be transitioned seamlessly.
• Said the Tricky Tray is in danger of being canceled due to lack of volunteers next school year; anyone who wants to take that on should speak up.

VP, Culture

Jaime Frola

• Last year on the PTA board.
• Thanked everyone volunteered for culture events over the years.
• Said volunteers need to reach out if they want an event or heritage month to happen.
• Said June 1-June 7 is CPR week, looking into setting up a raffle to get teachers free certification

Corresponding Secretary

Sangeetha Ebeneezer 

• Read thank you notes Francesca Polli and Jilian Dela Sala for TAW, thank you from Dionisio for assembly for disability month
• Encouraged members to keep the Plant Sale going and volunteer

Recording Secretary

Dave Mosher

“Hi everyone, sorry I couldn’t make it — had a last-minute work trip to Texas. I want to thank Sangeetha Ebenezer for her service in this position, and to welcome Meghan Petzold for running for Recording Secretary. I have plans to change up how the PTA communicates, especially with parents, but more to come on that soon.

We are getting geared up for centralizing all PTA accounts this summer to Google Workspace, aka RadburnPTA.org. So if you have access to a committee email on a third-party service like Gmail, please get in touch asap: davemosher@radburnpta.org

E.g. I just made an account for the 4th Grade committee with 4thgrade@radburnpta.org (and yearbook@radburnpta.org) email addresses. Their work can live on in perpetuity for future committees, and we never have to lose institutional knowledge because someone forgot a password.”

6. Committee Reports

• Book Fair — Given by Joy Bradway. Book Fair is going on right now. Thanked Kim Justice for running it. Still spots to sign up to volunteer and help. Please shop the after school sale if you are around.
• 5K — Given by Joy Bradway. Thanked Kate Cedeno and committee for reviving this event and running it for the last 2 years.
• After School — Given by Liz Estersohn. All programs going really well. New vendor with soccer - very popular and very affordable. Grit Ninja is ongoing as well as Rising Stars for younger grades. Creative Cooks with Chef Angie moving along well. Chess is well attended. Pokemon club may get a mini session. If anyone has a program they think will be a great addition please reach out.
• Gifts to school — Given by Liz Estersohn. Kindergarten extra playground equipment and replacing the funnel ball. Adding a gaga pit. A lot of other schools already have one like Warren Point and Westmoreland. Will send to Mrs. Lindsay and Radburn Association for approval
• Teacher Appreciation Week — Given by Valerie Pheanis. It was fun and a lot of work! Teachers loved the notes. Need ways to raise more money to fund TAW and ask families for fewer donations.
• Half Day PIzza — Given by Joy Bradway. pizza and bagel sales for the end of year are here and should be going up soon on Givebacks (formerly MemberHub).
• 4th grade committee — Given by Lisa Hurzeler. Ready to spend all the fundraised money. We received a generous donation from a paint company in town (Lanzettel & Sons) to fund the senior legacy gift to school. The seniors will be painting the black top. Senior lawn signs are distributed and more are coming. Talent Show coming up May 30. The 4th grade committee will order more swag for students with their extra fundraised funds.
• The PTA board thanked Lisa Hurzeler for chairing the 4th grade committee and her service over the years to the PTA. The PTA board also thanked volunteers who will no longer have children at Radburn ceremoniously with the “Keys to Radburn PTA” to thank them for going above and beyond and they are welcome back anytime.
• TIC TOC — Given by Joy Yucht. Adrianna Smithline is now on committee.

Joy Bradway discussed a distributed committee list and showed vacant committees. Romie Sharma volunteered up for assemblies. PTA board will make bigger efforts going forward to thank volunteers.

7. NEXT GENERAL MEETING

September TBD 2024

8. ADJOURN

Holli Weiss motioned to adjourn. Jaime Frola seconded. The meeting adjourned at 8:12 p.m. EDT.