DEER RIDGE PTC MEETING MINUTES – FEBRUARY 27, 2014
WELCOME AND INTROCUCTIONS: Emily Coolidge called the meeting to order – Leslie Palmer seconded motion. 15 people present. Vicki Heckman attended the meeting; she is president of the Covington
Elementary School PTC. Around 40 Covington Elementary students from the Chestnut Hills neighborhood will be coming to DRE next year as part of the redistricting.
SECRETARY’S REPORT: Minutes from the November 5, 2013 meeting were distributed and reviewed. No corrections noted. Mindy Mathison moved that the previous meeting minutes be approved as typed, Leslie
Palmer seconded this motion. Meeting minutes approved.
TREASURER’S REPORT: ( Leslie Palmer): Current balance in account $23,826.98. She recommended that all people with outstanding bills please submit them, so that we can make decisions on requests for funds.
PRINCIPAL’S REPORT: ( Jennifer Sprague): Mrs. Sprague discussed eLearning at length. With the implementation of this program, June 4 will be the last day of school for this year. This date will not change, even if we experience additional snow days requiring that school be closed.
This option was selected over other possibilities for several reasons. An attempt was made to avoid extending the school day (or expecting Saturday participation) in order to be respectful to parents who have paid for their children to participate in extra-curricular activities held during those times. SACS wanted parents to be able to honor those commitments for their children. In addition, the SACS school system is ranked an “A” and has the required amount of students with computer access to qualify for this eLearning opportunity.
This program will better prepare our children for the future. It’s forward thinking. Schools are moving towards utilizing computers even more in the curriculum. In talks that Dr. Yager has had with Homestead graduates, he’s learned that college requires certain skills our students weren’t exposed to in lower education. Things such as Webinars and submitting lessons/communicating with educators on-line are expected in college. More emphasis will be placed on strengthening computer literacy for all grades. To that end, beginning next year, students in third through fifth will receive laptop computers to perform more of their assignments. Additionally, the eLearning method could be utilized in future years to prevent the need to ever add additional days onto a school calendar.
Teachers/staff have been working diligently to prepare eLearning lessons. Should Monday (March 3) be a snow day, the first eLearning day will be implemented. Emphasis has been placed on utilizing materials that the children are familiar with, and items will be prepared in such a way that children should be able to work fairly independently with little parental guidance required. All teachers will be accessible during certain hours for questions/clarifications. My Big Campus learning has already begun for fifth graders in-house.
To access eLearning, go to the SACS website and click on eLearning link. Select your child’s grade level
“bubble” to view lessons assigned. Assignments are available there from specials teachers as well. Grade-level assignments will be similar for all teachers in that grade level; electronic work may be individualized by student
(as some work is tied to their NWEA scores). Intent is for this program to maintain the high quality education standards our school is known for.
Mrs. Sprague emphasized a number of times the need for parents to communicate with the school. Feedback is necessary for teachers/staff to assess this program. Are tasks being communicated clearly and in a timely fashion? Are students able to understand assignments? Is the workload too minimal or too excessive? Are due dates made clear? Are you having any difficulty accessing the system? As with any new program, there is an assumption that there is a learning curve, and modifications may be necessary as we go along. There will be flexibility initially. Please have patience, and please advise Mrs. Sprague and the teachers of your opinions.
In other business, Mrs. Sprague wrote a grant request and received ten thousand dollars for additional iPads.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT: ( Emily Coolidge): Emily explained that this is a transition year for the PTC – many two-year terms are expiring. She shared information about the many Executive and Committee positions that will be available next year. People are encouraged to consider filling one of the positions or nominating someone for them. Suggestion was made that we send list of open positions to incoming Chestnut Hills parents via Vicki Heckman.
Cindy Otten will be the new PTC President and is currently in the process of shadowing Emily to learn the position. A new position - Communications/Marketing person - has been added. Rachel Martin has accepted this position and will update and manage both the PTC bulletin board and Deer Ridge Facebook page, and may also work with Anita Bryan on other communication needs.
Discussion occurred regarding splitting the responsibilities of Vice President & Family Fun Fest Chairman - which have always been shared by one person. Splitting them would allow the Vice President to assist the
President more, and both tasks are too much for one person to handle. Lisa Render made a motion to have these responsibilities split, Anita Bryan seconded that motion. Current Vice President Mindy Mathison would like to have the incoming Family Fun Fest Chair shadow her this fall. Recommendation was made that all incoming chairs shadow the existing chairperson when possible.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
SNOWBALL DANCE WRAP-UP: (Anita DiGregory) : Thanks were extended to Anita DiGregory for chairing a successful Snow Ball Dance. Snow Ball needs a new Chairperson. This event requires minimal efforts. It is a well-attended event and the PTC would like to have it continue.
HOLIDAY SHOP: (Lisa Render): Lisa reported a successful Holiday Shop. They already have about 2/3 of their shopping done for next year’s shop. Holiday Shop has a Chair and Co-chair for next two years.
Lisa was thanked for her hard work as chairperson of the Holiday Shop.
BOX TOPS/CAMPBELL’S (Anita DiGregory, Aimee Myers, and Amy McGuire):
Campbell’s and Box
Tops contest just ended. Mrs. Ley’s Kindergarten class won. They brought in over 3,000 labels and points themselves! They won a lunch-time pizza party. Last contest of the year will take place in May.
BOOK FAIR (Anita Bryan and Leslie Palmer): Book Fair – March 10–14 th – Fiesta theme. They need volunteers - sign up genius went out. Discussed some confusion regarding book fair versus bingo night. Are they separate or adjoined committees? Should committee member attend both meetings and share emails so as not to duplicate effort? Chestnut Hills families will be invited to book fair bingo night and to Kindergarten reading night.
New Business:
Major discussion occurred over car pool issues and possible solutions.
It may be the weather, but more and more people are driving lately. Big desire to fix issues now, to prevent larger issues next year when additional students are attending. Administration needs to work issue. Emily Coolidge will have further conversation with
Jennifer Sprague.
Various comments: “PARENTS, DO NOT GET OUT OF VEHICLE”, “Don’t allow children to exit on passenger side and cross through line traffic”, “Pull all the way up to the end of the sidewalk, don’t stop at gym doors”, “Go out through SonRise, not through same driveway people are entering”, “No cell phones in car pool line”, “No 9 o’clock meetings at school because people attempting to park conflict with car pool traffic”.
Possible solutions: “Does someone need to go out and manually direct them for a few weeks?”
(Laura Gooding has offered to assist with this or other needs regarding this issue.), “Shall we put rules in writing and redistribute?”, “Can we open both gym doors?”, “Can we open doors five minutes earlier – 8:45 instead of
8:50 – to move traffic flow better?”, “Should we place a sign on sidewalk indicating where drivers should pull up to?”, “Can we have two incoming lanes from Scott, and require people to go out through SonRise?”, “Can we place arrows on parking lot?”, “Is there a liability issue if everyone exits through SonRise?”, “Can we construct an additional entrance/exit south of current one?”.

Funds needed:
Mrs. Caudill needs new keyboard – approximately $6,000 or $7,000. Can PTC possibly assist with that purchase? She has a proposal written up identifying her needs.
School sound system needs improvement – can we plan a fundraiser for this?
Leslie Palmer moved to adjourn the meeting at 10:30, Dave Guadnola seconded the motion.
Next Meeting: April 15 at 9:00 a.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Anita DiGregory for Alison Park