Cleveland High School PTA Meeting Minute

Location: Zoom video conference

Date: April 15, 2020

Time: 7:00 pm

Board in Attendance

Board Members: Amy Lewin, Cindi Carrell, Rachel Brown, JJ Heldmann, Michelle Domenico, Janet Morgan

Other attendees: Paul Cook, Jan Watt, Christina Marcoules, Eilidh Lowery, Elizabeth Lavenue, Melissa Banks, Kristin Sherwood, Colette Livermore, Cathy Mauger

Agenda Items

Call to Order

Meeting called to order by Amy at 7:02 pm

Principal’s Report

Paul Cook reported that the staff has been very busy for the past couple of weeks, with staff meetings, new class schedules, lesson plans, contacting students, posting educational resources. In addition to the challenges of helping the staff tackle the new learning curves associated with distance learning, Mr. Cook and his team have been working on the master schedule and staffing for the 2020-21 school year. They are working on bringing back some small bits of normalcy and are posting announcements on the Bulletin, have had a couple of staff meetings and are starting up department meetings and working on establishing new types of routines.

Things Mr. Cook knows:

1. The school conducted a survey related to the technology needs of the students and it went very well. Out of the entire student body, they were unable to connect with just 65 students, and they are continuing to try to reach those students.

2. Seniors that were passing on March 13 will receive a “Pass” on their transcripts. Teachers have input that information into Synergy and will be making lists of students that need assistance improving grades to reach graduation credit requirements. Teacher and counselors will be focused on getting those students “to the finish line.”  The staff desires that the seniors stay connected and will be posting educational resources to keep learning and social connectivity happening. The District has set a deadline of April 30 to notify students about their graduation status.

3. A sliver of hope remains in that the District hopes to figure out how to have some sort of graduation ceremony in late July or most likely August. It is yet to be determined what such an event will look like, but they are working on it. 4. The last day of school for 9th-11th graders remains June 5.

Things Mr. Cook doesn’t know:

1. Third quarter grading for students in 9th-11th grade is giving us angst. What do we do? Are they going to be graded for the third quarter? The entire semester? Will it be Pass/Fail? He doesn’t know. ODE is working on this and we thought we would have info last week but we still don’t have it. UPDATE: On Thursday, April 16, the Oregon Department of Education announced that all students would receive Pass or Incomplete results rather than grades for the rest of this academic year. See this document for more detail.

2. District-wide, 20% of students do not have access to technological devices suited for distance learning. PPS has enough Chromebooks for all students but has faced challenges getting them into the hands of the students. They continue to distribute devices to everyone who needs one.

3. The administration has been able to open the building twice for staff members to come in to retrieve items needed for teaching remotely. However they can not allow students in until they receive additional guidance from the state concerning an easing up of social distancing policies.

4. Not yet sure what budget reductions are going to mean for staffing for the fall. Mr. Cook was able to hire John Golden on as an Instructional Coach/9th Grade Academy Lead using Measure 98 funds just before schools were ordered closed. There are some additional positions open that he’s still hoping to hire for, but it will depend on the severity of the budget reductions. These positions include a half-time secretary for the IB program and a .83 time Culinary Arts teacher. If the Foundation can raise enough additional funds, he would love to increase that position to full-time.

5. The principal selection process is ongoing. He has spoken with the PPS Senior Director of High Schools, Elisa Schorr, a couple of times, and reported that she has connected with CHS parents, staff and students, and they hope to start interviewing candidates in the coming weeks. It would be ideal if a hire was made in May so that there is adequate time for Mr. Cook to work on transitioning with the new principal.

Amy thanked Mr. Cook for the update and for his leadership and willingness to flex with the unique situation we have found ourselves in this spring. Mr. Cook hoped that at the May PTA meeting we could talk more about what the PTA can do for students during this time and how they can support the first days of school in the fall.

Board Business

• President’s Report - Amy

Amy thanked Christina for the letter recognizing the PTA’s donation to the Foundation.

Colette provided an update on Buy-In Parties. A couple have been cancelled, a couple of others have been postponed, others are on track to happen as scheduled. Proceeds from these events will be split 50/50 between the Foundation and the PTA.

Brats and Brews has not yet been scheduled for Fall 2020 and we do not have a coordinator/lead for the event at this time.

Amy announced that she and JJ will be the CHS delegates for the Oregon PTA Conference.

• Treasurer’s Report - Cindi

Cindi sent the financial statement out to board members earlier via email for review. Despite the loss of our primary fundraising events this spring, we are in good shape financially and are set to end the year at about $60,000, due to a substantial carry-over from last year and the fact that the district found funds for a computer project we had budgeted for and for which the school was holding our funds in reserve. That money was scheduled to be returned to the PTA in June but that will likely roll into Fall at this time.  

She reported that as of yet, we have not been able to access any mail that has come in since the school closed, so there may be a few bills outstanding, as well as some checks which need to be deposited. Amy said that she would follow up with Mr. Cook to determine a process for retrieving the mail. Eilidh also said she would follow up with the district to find out what was going on, and later reported that an email had gone out that morning to principals detailing a plan for resumption of mail to the schools.

Cindi reported that we should vote to extend more time to the teachers to spend down their PTA grants. She suggested that the deadline be extended from June 1  to September 30, 2020. A motion was made and was passed.

She also stated that after the school closure was announced, the Board made an emergency approval for $1000 to be donated to CHS Gives Back for the purchase of gift cards that the school social worker Kate Allen then allocated to students in need. These funds were also matched by the Cleveland Alumni Association.

• Approval of Minutes - the minutes from the January & February meetings were distributed prior to the meeting electronically as linked, and approved as written.

New Business

• Principal Selection Process - Amy

A letter from the Equity Committee went out regarding principal selection. Eilidh said that that letter was received by the School Board and it invoked a discussion about how they can do better. A community committee is being formed to help with the principal selection. More information will be shared as it comes in.

• Senior Party Updates - Cindi

Cindi stated that the Senior Party has been cancelled and that she will work with Jan and Jordan to determine the best way to refund families. The venue is holding our deposit and will apply it to a future event. An organizer (or ideally a trio of organizers) is needed for the event next year.

• Class of 2020 Recognition - Board discussion

Given the circumstances of this spring, we really want to do something to celebrate the Class of 2020. A number of ideas have been suggested as possibilities but no consensus yet - lawn signs, drive-through graduation, drive-up photo booth, lighting up the stadium on a regular basis at 8:20 (20:20 military time), etc. A motion to allocate Senior Party funds towards some sort of senior celebration/recognition was proposed. Cindi expressed the desire to make sure that there was no cost to any students, that ALL seniors would be included. Michelle added that she thought parents would donate to this project if we asked them to. More discussion and research is needed but a motion to spend up to $2500 was passed.

• Volunteer recruitment for 2020-21 

We need many volunteers for the coming school year. Anyone who wants to volunteer, please reach out to Amy! She will work with Janet to start a volunteer recruitment committee and get it up and running in the next month.

• Remote learning & community role is on Amy’s radar but we may want to have more conversation in May. Need more time for deep discussion.

Motions

• Motion made by Rachel to extend the deadline for teachers to spend their PTA Teacher Grants to September 30, 2020. Motion seconded by Michelle and approved unanimously.
• Motion to approve January and February minutes made by Cindi, and was seconded by Rachel. Motion approved unanimously.
• Motion made by Cindi to allocate up to $2500 of the PTA budget line previously assigned to the Senior Party to be spent instead on a yet-to-be-determined means of celebrating and recognizing the CHS Class of 2020. Motion seconded by Rachel and approved unanimously.        

Notes and Announcements

Janet wants to make sure the eNews remains a strong vehicle for communication during these times, so please be sure to send any content or resources that should be shared with the community to her via email at cleveland.enews@gmail.com

Cindi thanked Jan for her work with the Alumni Association to procure and install the new sign in front of the school.

Next meeting will be Wednesday, May 20 7:00 pm via a Zoom video conference call.

Keep in touch: https://www.chspdx.org   |   https://www.facebook.com/chsfamilies 

Meeting adjourned at 8:35 pm

Minutes Approved:

May 20, 2020