1625 11th Avenue, Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, NY 11215         pta_info@ps154.org          www.ps154.org

G E N E R A L   P T A   M E E T I N G

JANUARY 27, 2021

6:30 PM

I.                 Jaymie Kelly, PTA President

-          Read-a-Thon is on, closes on February 14

-          Bookmark competition is on, closes on February 14

-          BINGO Night in the works – community-building event

-          Trying to get dates for school pictures

-          SLT has begun working on the SEL committee

o   There will be a survey coming out to assess the needs of families in the community

o   Input can be shared with SLT

II.                 Debby Wattenbarger, Parent Coordinator

-          NYC School accounts – a great tool to access students’ info for public school

-          Community Education Council (CEC) – in order to run for CEC, you must apply through the NYC Schools account

III.        Blair Kitchen, PTA Treasurer

-          December – we brought in $21K in donations

-          This school year: about $38.5K in donations

-          We are currently about $8.5K under budget, but we are confident that the events this year will make up that shortfall

-          We raised almost $5.4K for the Winter Warmth Drive; not a PTA fundraiser, these funds went directly to families in need

IV.        Sara Murphy, Chair of Fundraising

-          Read-a-Thon is a big fundraiser – encouraging donations

-          Spring Break Scavenger Hunt working with local businesses

V.       Principal’s Update

-          Parents have been asking about vaccine and implications for in-person learning

-          Mr. Foreman doubts that medical accommodations that have been granted will be reversed

o   So, unlikely that 154 would be able to open more classrooms with teachers currently teaching remotely

-          Mr. Foreman has tried to accommodate families that want to switch in, but currently in-person classes are completely full

-          Currently no more funds to hire substitutes

-          In-person teachers were prioritized by DOE for vaccine

-          Testing protocol

o   Random list of students and staff is generated

o   Classes go down to MMR and certain kids are tested

o   Kindergarteners are not being tested; other grades are tested

-          Questions about staff and students not wearing masks

o   Teachers may give students a mask break

o   Students eat in cafeteria and they take off masks

o   Students may take off masks when in the yard and distancing properly

o   Staff – difficult to constantly reinforce and police the masking directive. Jason tries to enforce

-          School cases are reporting just from DOE testing