HSA December 4th Meeting Minutes

St. Mary - St. Michael Elementary School

Home School Association

December 4, 2013 – Executive Board Meeting Minutes

Board:

President: Mark Adams
1st VP – Gina McKay	2nd VP - Charlene Shandrowski
1st Treasurer - Jen Shuart	2nd Treasurer - Denise Bottone
Corresponding Secretary - Suzanne Foley	Recording Secretary - Kelly Owens

Agenda:

1. Opening Prayer:

(a)  Opening prayer and special intentions were lead by Mrs. Coppola.

2. Principal’s Report:

(a)  The accommodation from the New England Association of School and Colleges “Commission of Independent Schools 2013” A 2-year interim evaluation was accepted.

(b)  The new blinds from Matthews’ have been installed around the school.

(c)  Coverage needed for the Teacher’s Christmas Luncheon on December 20, 2013 from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.

(i)             Kelly Owens will contact room parents and membership to coordinate coverage for each class room.

(d)  The school’s newsletter would be going out late this month.

(e)  Christmas concert will be Tuesday, December 10, 2013. Children asked to arrive for 5:00 p.m. (Due to inclement weather, concert was rescheduled to Wednesday, December 11, 2013.)

(f)   The Drama Club Dinner was cancelled due to lack of participation.

(g)  The Holiday Shopping Spree will be Wednesday, December 11, 2013

(h)  The teachers will be putting together their classroom parties either on December 18^th or December 20^th.

3. President’s Report

(a)  Letter for Outstanding Assessments

(i)             The final assessment letters did not go out.

1.     The board discussed letting the issue go at this point or possibly sending out with January report cards.

(b)  It is time to fill in the positions of the outgoing Board members.

(i)             Outgoing members are 2^nd VP, Charlene Shandrowski;
1^st Treasurer, Jen Shuart; Corresponding Secretary,
Suzanne Foley.

1.     Suzanne will be writing about this need in the January Newsletter hoping to recruit new members.

4. Treasurer’s Report

(a)  Income Statement

(i)             Jen Shuart handed out the Treasurer’s Report of Income and Expenses spreadsheet.

1.     The ending balance is $32,500. Already at our half-year goal.

2.     All fundraising up to this point has done well.

1.     Festival of Trees did very well, doubling profit.

2.     Only outstanding invoice is from the Book Fair.

3.     There were over 60 attendees at the Wine Tasting. The owner at 500 Degrees wants to hold another one when the weather is warmer.  They are also hosting Class Night.

5. Event & Committee Updates

(a)  By-law Committee

(i)             Gina McKay passed out a draft of the recommended changes to the By-laws, as discussed with the By-laws Committee.  The Committee’s focus was on creating and simplifying equality across families.  The Board reviewed the draft and discussed the proposed changes.

1.     Moving to a 400-point system, with each point equaling $1.00 or one hour of service versus the current breakdown of three separate structures-Bingo hours, Volunteer hours, Fundraising hours.  Bingo would still be carved out with a minimum of 10 hours.

1.     The Board expressed concern on the impact the proposed structure would have Bingo volunteers and overall volunteering from families as a whole. 

2.     It was suggested Bingo be reduced to 20 hours (from our current 25).  This proposed change will be discussed with the Bingo Committee.

2.     These additional responsibilities are to be made under the Corresponding Secretary:

1.     Press releases

2.     Promote events to local newspapers

3.     Calendar

4.     All handbook material

3.     In the 6^th paragraph under the HSA Guidelines: Mission, the word “current” is to be changed to “previous” in the first sentence.

4.     It was suggested the last sentence of the HSA Guidelines: Mission be omitted completely.

(ii) The Board was asked to review the proposed By-Laws in its entirety separately and submit suggestions and/or ideas to Gina.

6. Adjournment