Barrington High School PTO Minutes
The seventh meeting of the 2010-2011 PTO Board
February 7, 2011
The meeting was called to order by President Sue Padula at 9:23 a.m. Approval
of the minutes from the meeting of January 10th was sought. Sue Anderson made
a motion to approve the minutes; Betsy Diamond seconded the motion. The
motion was voted on and approved.
President’s Report
Sue Padula
Steering committee notebooks, fillers, and district information are still available
for those members who have not yet picked them up.
Sue reminded all members to turn in their nominating forms for the 2011-2012
PTO Board and Steering Committee positions if they have not already done so.
Sue sought approval of PTO co-sponsorship with BHS of the upcoming all school
fund raiser to be held at Pinstripes on March 13th. The fund raiser is part of the
“IT” campaign, begun last year, to raise funds for organizations that support our
students through community outreach. Last year $13,000 was raised and given
to Barrington Youth and Family Services. The funds this year are being raised
to benefit Walk On Farm. Deanna Griffin made a motion to approve cosponsorship; it was seconded by Sue Randall. The motion was voted on and
approved.
The PTO President’s Council is sponsoring a “Candidate Forum” for the four
individuals running for the three open positions on the School Board. The forum
is being held on Friday, March 11th from 9:30-11:00 a.m. at the Barrington Public
Library. The three open positions are those currently being served by Brian
Battle, Cara Richardson, and Jeff Church. Only Brian Battle is seeking reelection. In addition to Brian Battle, Thomas Antoine, Joseph Ruffolo and
Richard Burkhart are seeking election.
Vice President’s Report
Lisa Nelson
There was nothing new to report.
Treasurer’s Report
Marilyn Kallimanes
Marilyn noted that a number of Staff Grants have been paid out.
Secretary’s Report
Jacqueline Husa Solosky
There was nothing new to report.
Committee Reports
Registration
There was nothing new to report.
Mailings
Lisa McCaleb reported that the next mailing will take place on February 15th at
8:00 a.m. in room C-271 at BHS.
Communications
Lora French reported that the newsletter is finished for February. The deadline
for the March newsletter is March 1st.
School Board Representative
Penny Kazmier reported on the targeted $2 million budget cut for the upcoming
school year. The cuts are being sought by the School Board because of the $1.6 $1.8 million cut in the state of Illinois transportation reimbursement. In that bus
transportation is mandated by the state, the district must come up with these
monies by cutting programs elsewhere. It is still possible that the State of Illinois
will provide these funds, but this information won’t be known until the end of
May. Our School Board cannot wait that long to make decisions on program
and staff cuts. Toward that end the School Board has been seeking input from
the community, as well as the administration and staff regarding potential
areas that could be cut. The board will be voting on all non-teacher reductions at
their meeting on March 1st; they will be voting on teacher reductions at their
March 15th meeting. Please see the District web site for the most updated
information on these proposals.
Freshman Welcoming
There was nothing new to report.
Academic Boosters
Lynnea Walsh reported that the committee has raised $43,000 year to date.
They still have an additional $2,000 to deposit. The funds received exceed the
funds received last year at this time.
College/Class Programs
The committee is going to be meeting with the College Counselors to prepare for
College Night which is going to be held at BHS on April 4th.
Directory
There was nothing new to report.
Fine Arts Boosters
Ann Kimes reported that the Fine Arts Studio Tour, which was to be held on
February 1st, is being re-scheduled to February 8th.
The Fine Arts Department is sponsoring a “Sound of Music” sing-along on
Saturday, February 12th at 7:00 p.m. and on Sunday, February 13th at 2:00 p.m.
Tickets can be purchased on-line at Barringtonfinearts.com or at the Barrington
High School Fine Arts Department. The cost of admission is $10.00
In addition, the Fine Arts Department is presenting, the “Sound of Music”
musical on Thursday, March 3rd and Friday, March 4th at 7:30 p.m., Saturday,
March 5th at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and on Sunday, March 6 th at 2:30 p.m. in the
Richard C. Johnson Auditorium at BHS.
Hospitality
Susan Laudick reported that their committee will be meeting with the college
counselors to discuss refreshments for the upcoming College Night to be held on
April 4th.
Hospitality provided refreshments for the Morningline program, Meet the
Electives. The refreshments were appreciated by all who attended.
Morningline
Betsy Diamond reported that the Meet the Electives program was very well
attended.
Kathy Conrad asked if, in the future, the Meet the Electives program could be
scheduled a week earlier and presented to sophomores. She suggested that the
information could be useful in course selection.
The next Morningline presentation will be Ask the Experts which is a college
information session targeted to sophomores and juniors. It will take place on
Wednesday evening, March 16th from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. in the BHS Auditorium.
The following schools will be represented: University of Illinois ChampaignUrbana, Seton Hall, Illinois State, Drake, Northern Michigan University, and
Harper Community College.
Nominating
Barb Karon reported that Nominating will be presenting their slate at the
March meeting. The PTO will be voting to approve the slate at our April
meeting.
Parent Link
Barb noted that Carol Dweck, author of Mindset The New Psychology of Success
will be speaking at North Shore Country Day on May 2nd at 7:00 p.m.
If you have any topics that you would like to see addressed in the Parent Link
section of the Newsletter, please contact Barb.
Barb reported that the BADPC, Barrington Area Drug Prevention Coalition,
forum that was cancelled due to inclement weather on February 3rd, will be re-
scheduled to a time in either April or May. She suggested, in response to a
question, that the forum will be appropriate for children in the 6 th to 12th grades,
but would strongly discourage bringing children younger than this.
Publicity
There was nothing new to report.
Senior Celebration
Karen Poglitsch reported that their committee will be looking for volunteers at
the beginning of March for the end of year boat trip.
Guidance Staff
Jill Fearday and Joan Bell noted that the Guidance Staff is actively involved
with staff and students in course registration for the upcoming 2011-2012
academic year.
Teacher recommendations for 8th grade student course
placements at the high school went out on Friday, February 4th. Appointments
between counselors and students are going well. In that we had two snow days
last week, on Wednesday, February 2nd and Thursday, February 3rd,
appointments are being re-scheduled as appropriate. The Guidance Department
does not know at this point which classes will or won’t run. They are telling
students to make their best possible choices at this time. Students also need to
list their first, second and third choices for electives. In the event that none of
the three choices are being offered, counselors will set up appointments with
students to discuss alternatives. In addition, successful summer school course
completion will impact fall schedules. The list of summer school offerings will
come out on February 28th, with on-line registration to begin on March 17th at
7:00 a.m.
Mid-year grades for seniors who requested them have all gone out.
Local scholarship forms are available for seniors in the Guidance Resource
Center at the high school.
The PSAE, the Prairie State Achievement Exam, will be given at the end of
April.
Again, because of the snow days, SAT/ACT prep course make-up classes will be
held. The last day of school, as of now, is being extended to Wednesday, June 8th
and the final exam schedule will be bumped back.
The June 3rd graduation date remains, as well as the first day of summer school,
June 13th. May 25th will be the seniors last day.
Jill and Joan noted that the incoming freshman class is larger than last year’s
freshman class.
Jill and Joan responded to a number of questions from Steering Committee
members. Ann Kimes asked about interscholastic team waivers. Specifically she
wanted to know the criteria for obtaining a waiver. Joan explained that 1) the
waivers apply to juniors and seniors who are participating in a junior varsity
or varsity sport, 2) the student will qualify for the waiver only if they are taking
six classes. 3) if the student is taking less than six classes the waiver will only
apply for the duration of the sport, and 4) the students will only qualify for the
waiver if they were on the team the previous year and in good standing with
the coach.
Kathy Conrad asked about registration and the gym leadership program,
whereby students are chosen to assist gym teachers in their classes. Jill and Joan
said that if it is not known at the time of registration if a student will serve in
that capacity, the student should register for a gym class. If they are chosen to
be a gym leader, the gym class will be replaced with the class that they are
leading.
Karen Poglitsch asked about Dance I and Dance II courses. Joan responded that
Julie Salk, Department Chair of Fine Arts, makes the decisions regarding
admittance into Dance II classes.
Administration
Principal Steve McWilliams said
planning for next year.
They
registration numbers, looking at
demand. The average course size
at 24.8 students.
that the administration is in the middle of
are currently in the process of compiling
every course that is offered and analyzing
prescribed is 25 students. They are currently
In addition, he has been actively involved with his administrative staff, the
secondary leadership team, which includes the middle school and elementary
school administrators, and department heads in regard to budget issues.
Specifically they are looking for cuts that would have minimum programmatic
impact. In addition they are looking for areas that can be “absorbed” into other
areas. Due to the salient nature of the budget issues, Steve opened up the floor to
members’ questions and concerns.
He also noted in regard to Young Hearts for Life that he will have the numbers
by the middle of this month.
New Business
Barbara Harris reported that the District 220 Educational Foundation will host
its annual “Chili and Music” fundraiser on Saturday, March 12th at 7:00 p.m. at
the Onion. Music will be provided by the band, “Way Past Curfew”.
Old Business
Sue Randall said that members of the President’s Council met with Lisa Stamos,
Editor in Chief of Quintessential Barrington, who will be featuring Wendy
Mogel, author of Blessings of a B- in an upcoming issue. Wendy Mogel will be
the guest speaker at Barrington High School on Wednesday, March 30 th at 7:00
p.m.
Lisa McCaleb motioned to adjourn the meeting. It was seconded by Vicki Perille.
The meeting was adjourned at 11:15 a.m.
Jacqueline Husa Solosky
BHS PTO Secretary
Present: Carol Levy, Lora K. French, Lynnea Walsh, Sue Padula, Deanna Griffin, Ann
Kimes, Kirsten Neptun, Sue Anderson, Meg Simmons, Kathy Conrad, Vicki Perille, Lisa
McCaleb, Karen Poglitsch, Connie Jacobs, Barb Laughlin-Karon, Sue Randall, Marilyn
Kallimanes, Jacqueline Husa Solosky, Barbara Harris, Betsy Diamond, Susan Laudick,
Claire Hamilton, Penny Kazmier, Marla Truitt, Helen Sheyka