Parents’ Association of P.S. 196Q
71-25 113th Street, Forest Hills, N.Y. 11375
Minutes – Executive Board Meeting
Tuesday, December 18th, 2007

General Meeting Agenda

• Dennis Mannarino – After School Program
• Recap of information from CEC Meeting of 12/12/07
• Jodi Freed proposal for Enrichment Program
• Committee Reports

The meeting starts at 7:30 P.M. with the attendance of 12 parents in addition to the Executive Committee members.

The minutes for the previous meeting are approved with a motion by Val Weintraub seconded by Sue Glazer.

D. Mannarino reports that the Cool After School program has 2 more students enrolled in the past month and that $2609 were generated as income , the amount includes holiday jewelry craft , 2 for 1, and wacky fun Friday. There were 36 extra children enrolled in the Holiday Jewelry, 51 in the Wacky Fun Friday. He also reports that the Fifth grade Ice Cream Party was a success
and acknowledge the kind collaboration of Sue Glazer. He mentions that Ms. Hughes would like to have a School Messenger system (cost approximate $5000) and that the Cool After School Program will start offering Wacky Fun Mornings starting in January with classes led by Ms. Volpe from 7:15 to 8:15 on Mondays. Wednesdays and Fridays.

Lisa Feinstein recaps the CEC meeting attended by various members of the PA on December 12th and emphasizes that more participation is needed. Brief discussion on various CEC issues including the imminent opening of PS3 running a PreK to 3rd grade program with a registration available for 230 children coming this September and its availability to PS196 School Community.

The committee Reports are next and the PA treasurer Christine Rupp distributes the Financial Report . She also request more participation distributing information for the ads in Spotlight.

Jackie Astacio from the fundraising committee reports that the ink jet cartridges will be accepted until January 13, 2008 and that the telephones fund raising is being already a success, she also reports that Retake of School Pictures will take place on January 15, 2008.

The upcoming Barnes & Noble fundraiser will have Ellen Maurer as reader. The Book Fair will be in the week of March 10 and the P.A. Member dues will be collected in January 2008. A book drive is discussed , details will be assessed by the Fundraising Committee.

The bookcase purchase for the School Library having been approved is again discussed as the school needs to contact the BOE Procurement office to order them as well as the Smart boards.

The lunch situation with the children being too stressed out by the lunch servers is discussed and it is agreed that the situation will be reported to Ms Hughes. The Bus situation, i.e. delays and
unreliability will also be reported to Ms,. Hughes in hope that she advocates for a better service.

The last item on the agenda is addressed by Jodi Freed who briefly describes the her Enrichment proposal for the After School additional services that could be available for children not currently enrolled in the program, it would cover Karate and Crafts lessons. The services would offer Karate classes given by a Sansei that she knows and crafts classes given by her. The cost for the children would be between $12.50 and $15.00 per class, depending on the amount of children registered.  The Karate Instructor would charge only $75 per hour/session . His fees are lower for exchange of publicity in the form of flyers.

The crafts instruction including the purchase of material would be given by Jodi Freed at the rate of $200 per class . That $200 fee would include any administrative paperwork. As well as any errands within and out of the school necessary for the functioning of the Enrichment Program.

There are various questions regarding the fairness of offering this program at an extra cost to children that are already enrolled in the After School Program when it is supposed to be part of the activities and given the various logistics it is agreed that a survey should be draft, and distributed and that the proposal should be more detailed . It is also discussed that the existence of this additional Enrichment Program be vetted by Ms Hughes before it is implemented as per BOE regulations.

The meeting adjourns at 9:00 PM