Spicewood Elementary PTA Membership Meeting Wednesday, January 24th, 2024

Board members

Tammy Dendy, President | Satish Santhakumar, Treasurer | Crista Batt, Secretary | Sarah Yeager, VP Programs | Jenny Larsen, VP Communications | Natalie Fellows, VP Fundraising | Nidhi Parashar, VP Educational Competitions &Clubs | Caroline Williams, VP Service and Outreach | Kitty Woo Ham, VP Diversity and Inclusion | Megan Zellner, Parliamentarian | Melanie Solis, SWE Principal

1. Call to Order at 6:33pm

   1. Motion to open by Tammy (22 members present)
   2. Review of meeting etiquette - membership meetings shall be open to all community members, but the right to introduce motions, 2nd motions, debate & vote shall be limited to members of this PTA. - Only paid members can vote. Use the raise hand feature to vote. 

Agenda:

• The October 2023 meeting minutes were approved by a committee and are posted to the website. 
• Need a minutes review committee (2 people) for this meeting- Crista Batt
• Sarah Yeager and Natalie Fellows to approve meeting minutes for January meeting
• Welcome Mina Kabiri as Tres-elect
• Principals Report -Melanie Solis
• 684 students currently enrolled. Wrapping up middle of the year screeners, outdoor school planning in progress.

• Update from Treasurer on budget -Satish Santhakumar
• Conducted Mid school year budget update with Spicewood Staff.
• Motion by Satish Santhakumar to add $1500 (estimated) to the budget for a water bottle fill station in 4th grade portable – motion passes with 16 votes 

• Review of the SWE PTA Budget & Current State

• Current Balances:  -   
• Budget v Actuals:  - 
• Income and Expenses: 
• Notes on budget versus actuals:
• We paid sales tax of $1407.31 we under withheld sales tax by $348.87 
• Carnival brought in $13608 vs expenses of $7231 with raffle payout still remaining. 
• Marathon kids brought in $8974 vs expenses of $1044 
• We have currently spent 33.5% of our budget 
• We have currently only accounted for $10,000 dollars as carry over for next year we should increase that. We will definitely have more money than that. 

• Update from VP Membership on current membership and goals – No updates
  
  
• Update from VP Fundraising – Natalie Fellows
• $5600 estimated profit from Carnival, most ever raised
• Marathon Kids in process of being completed, waiting on donor matches 
• Auction is set for March 2,2024 at the Balcones Country Club. If you are interested in volunteering, or know someone who is, reach out to me so we can add you to the communications.
• In need of sponsors for event, in process of soliciting donations (gift cards, gift baskets, etc.) 
• Motion by Satish Santhakumar to have auction counted as 1 tax exempt day for this year (2024)- motion passes with 18 votes
• Box Tops - Caroline to “manage” for now. Recent check should be received by SWE for $121.30 for earnings 7/4/2023- 12/14/2023 (sent Dec 15th)

• Update from VP DEI – Kitty Woo Ham 
• Starting planning for One World One Night. Date is set for April 4 5:30-7:30pm. 
• Planning event leading up to OWON
• Looking for volunteers to help organize 
• PTA provided funding to the Special Education department for communication poster and will work to fund a communication board for the playground
• Upcoming cultural event:  Lunar New Year, Black History Month

• Update from VP Service and Outreach – Caroline Williams
• Looking for monthly volunteer for Clothes Closet. One Tuesday a month (only 2 hours @ Anderson Mill Elementary) Email Caroline @cdbonestee@yahoo.com if interested. 
• Westwood annual sock and underwear drive (new) Jan 4th- Feb 2nd look in front foyer for blue Clothes Closet bin for drop off.
• Also, in need for winter coats - drop off in bin for transport to Anderson Mill location

• Update from VP Programs – Sarah Yeager 
• Beautification - Boy Scout/ Eagle Scout Project looking to raise some money and then complete their project.  Also hoping to get some local news coverage.  Their goal is $1500.00 and they plan to power-wash, paint, garden etc. General update of the exterior. https://www.gofundme.com/f/eagle-project-at-spicewood-elementary?utm_campaign=p_lico+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer
• Art in the Classroom: Art in the classroom will be a day of Art in the Spring where students will make 2-3 art projects focused on the creative work and the enjoyment of process art.  Art will then be displayed and taken home on One World One Night
• Garden: Garden is back in action and Garden Club is always happy to have more volunteers if anyone is interested, especially as we enter into the colder weather when the garden needs to be wrapped and cared for.

• Literacy Library: Lit library is chugging along with the organization and re-labeling process of skills based books 
• School Supplies Sales: Have reached out to Kara to see if she has started the process for 2024/2025 year supplies order. The goal is to have the supplies list finalized and flyers prepared in mid Feb and place order in March
• STEAM Day: March 8th, 2024 Ybette will meet with Mrs. Bindell & Mrs. Cimo & Tammy next week. 
• Teacher Hospitality (merge TAW): Annie has been doing a fabulous job and her team has grown to add some more volunteers which is great. Meetings about Teacher Appreciation Week are going to be underway soon to decide the themes/ offerings for that week.
  
  
• Update from VP Communications – Jenny Larsen
• Looking for someone to takeover and manage PTA website and social media (facebook, Instagram and twitter) for the next school year. Reach out to Jenny Larsen or Tammy Dendy if interested. 

• Update from VP Clubs & Competitions: Nidhi Parashar
• Reflections 2024, there were 30 entries from SWES, evenly distributed between Primary (K-2) and Intermediate (3-5) level. 13 of these won awards at Council level. Further, 1 SWES student is proceeding to state for two of his submissions. Council Awards Ceremony is scheduled on March 4th, 2023 (Monday), please come out to support these amazing SWES talents.
  
  

Scoring Legend:

HM = Honorable Mention (Bronze Medal)

AM = Award of Merit (Silver Medal)

AE = Award of Excellence (Gold Medal)

OAE = Overall Award of Excellence (only one per age group/category, advances to State)

• The Spelling Bee SWES contest was held on campus on 1/12. There were 53 participants: 32 in 3-5 level & 21 in K-2 level. Becket Hatt (3rd grader) and Alan Ni (5th grader) are our spelling bee champions and will be going to regionals to represent our school. Becket Hatt, Alan Ni and Emery Rylander scored highest in grade 3-5 group, and Austin Xue, Ayan Saraf and Zeya Meredia in grade K-2 group.
• Science Fair concluded on 1/11. More details to follow.
• MOEMS Div E Olympiad test 3 was concluded on 1/17. 3 students on the SWES team got the perfect score (5/5). 
  
  
• Appointing a Nominating Committee for 2024-2025 Open Board Positions – 
• Sarah Yeager, Jenny Larsen and Katey Vitek volunteer for the nominating committee w/ Crista Batt as an alternate.
• Bylaws have to be reviewed every 3 years at a minimum, reviewed last year-
• Standing Rules Revisions-
• Vote on revision of Standing Rules as recommended by the board (Bylaws state: Standing Rules may be adopted by ⅔ vote of the members present & voting in general meeting – Pres, Parliamentarian cannot vote)
• Standing Rules - 7th VP DE&I role, adding Cultural Events chair, PTA Board recognition chair added, added Spelling Bee chair. Restructured Service and Outreach and Programs responsibility.  
• Vote to update standing rules – approved w/ 11 votes (2/3 votes of members present in meeting)
• Tammy Dendy will submit the Standing Rules Revisions to Texas PTA for approval

Standing Committee Reports:

• Art in the Classroom budget increase – Motion by Jenny Larsen to increase budget from $350 to $1000 for Art in the Classroom – motion passes with 11 votes
  
  
• Meeting close out at 7:52pm 

(FYI that Meetings need to follow Robert’s Rules of Order per Texas PTA: http://www.rulesonline.com/index.html)

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