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ELLIS PTA GENERAL MEETING
December 6, 2006
The December 6, 2006 PTA meeting was held in Room 111 at Ellis
Elementary, and opened at approximately 6:00 p.m., by President, Londa
Coddington.
Londa Coddington and Khoa Nguyen:
Welcome to Theresa Becker and Michelle Saab, the southeast area family
liaisons housed at Merrill Middle School, and who are available for us
to contact through the PTA or individually.
Also welcome to Estelle Matus of Lutheran Family Services. The
Lutheran Family Services assist refugees in helping them fit
comfortably within their community. They have after-school
classes on Wednesdays and Thursdays for 2nd-5th graders. They
also meet once a month. Their hope is that these parents will
come to the PTA meetings.
Additionally, welcome to Mari Dorschner, Marsha Gonzales, and Anita
Rickl of the Denver County PTA, who came to speak about the PTA.
Mari Dorschner, Marsha Gonzales and Anita Rickl:
A video was shown about the PTA and how it started. The PTA’s
primary goal is the students. There is a huge diversity at Ellis
– at least 24 different languages.
Kids have a better chance of succeeding with parent involvement
groups. Each of us should try to bring in other parents – they
don’t have to become members – and find out what they would like to do
to help the school. Try to get them involved. PTA is not an
exclusive group, but an inclusive group. It was suggested
that we should go to neighborhood business to bring them in and get
them involved.
The Colorado PTA can offer grants and has helped give back to the
schools. To get information on grants, go to their website at
copta.org, or call them at 303-420-7820. They do workshops in
grant writing.
Parents should keep involved even when their kids go to middle and high
school. Get involved with CSC’s and other parent committees in
schools. Also important to have the students get involved in
PTA. Make sure to ask teachers to get involved. Using
family liaisons can open doors for parents.
Khoa Nguyen:
Regarding the safety issues that have been discussed at the prior
meetings, everything will stay the same for now. Will look into
getting one more crossing guard at Iowa and Dahlia. They need
parents to help control parking lot with Eddie. Will look into
getting safety vests for parents who are helping.
Helen Leaver came up with the idea of “Dahlia Demons” to help with
traffic and parking on Dahlia, and requested anybody that is interested
in helping to let her know.
Khoa mentioned that over the Thanksgiving holiday, an Ellis student was hit by a car near the library.
On December 1, the school had a lockdown drill. They conduct
these twice per school year. The school passed the test –
maintained calm and people knew what to do.
Theresa Becker and Michelle Saab:
Theresa and Michelle talked about the Parent Empowerment Council.
These meetings are a good way to have your voice heard. It is not
DPS driven, but is parent driven. Their first meeting was in
September and 60 people attended. The next meeting is December 12
from 6:00-8:00 p.m. at DCIS, formerly known as Baker Middle
School. Child care and food are available, as well as
interpreters.
Announcements:
Gunther Toody’s Night earned $106 for Ellis. RIF and the
Scholastic Book Fair had outstanding results. Khoa requested that
PTA consider taking a leadership role in the Scholastic Book Fair next
year.
Reflections: Three individual judges will judge all artwork,
literature, music, etc., on January 15 or 16 at Place Middle
School. Ellis judges picked top 13. Ellis students will be
recognized at the awards assembly. Every child involved in the
Reflections art program will receive a certificate. The top
winners will go to Nationals.
Field trip transportation: We’ve had 2 requests to provide the
costs for field trip transportation. We are funded for 25 total.
The next PTA general meeting is Wednesday, January 10 at 6:00
p.m. The day of the meeting was changed because ESL classes were
also on Thursday evenings at Ellis. This will hopefully alleviate
any conflict and will allow these parents to attend PTA meetings if
they choose.
Khoa would like the PTA to consider putting together an Ellis
cookbook. It would be a good fundraiser. We have many
different cultures that could bring in great recipes. Khoa had
great success with the cookbook at his prior school.
November meeting minutes were approved.
Treaurer’s report: Helen reported the PTA’s net worth is
$4,000. The insurance is good. The bank books look
good. We have lots of handwarmers we need to sell. We can’t
overspend right now.
Catherine Garcia suggested that we do more elaboration on the PTA
notices that come home to the parents – tell more of what PTA is about,
etc. Jay, Catherine, and Khoa will look into it.
Helen advised that the 1st grade holiday concert is December 20 at
6:30. She has scheduled INEP (Integrated Nutrition Education
Program) to talk at the January meeting. At the February meeting,
the student leadership will speak. Regarding staff appreciation,
the teachers at the meeting thought most of the staff would prefer
lunch over breakfast. Kayti Pohlman has agreed to lead a
team for the Ellis Destination Imagination
Respectfully submitted by Karen Kah, Secretary.
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