October 8th General Meeting Draft Minutes
Vestal General PTA Meeting
October 8, 2024 6:30pm-7:30pm
1 In Attendance
Board members present
Co-Pres. Jake Sepulveda, Co-Pres. David Jones, Treasurer Nicole Hochstrasser, Volunteer Coordinator Janice Lavy, Messaging Emma Koehler, and Secretary Justin Stoller
General public
Beth H. (member), Katie R. (member), Kelly S. (member), Sarah N., Galen G. (member), Meg S., Sabrina F., and Domie.
2 Welcome
Meeting convened at 6:35 by Pres. Jake Sepulveda.
3 Minutes
The minutes from the last General Meeting, held on September 10th, were accepted without amendment.
4 Principal Announcements
The school year has been off to a rocky start for Sabrina personally with her father’s passing. She wanted to convey her thanks to all of the folks at the school and especially call out Jessica Diaz and Brandan Burke for their amazing work this fall.
The last educational review was casual, but went really well. The district had many kind things to say including, the “Teachers are well prepared.” This year the teachers are trying to help the children use their voice in the classrooms to bring up academic standards. This was also noticed by the educational review. One teacher was asked to share their practices to a wider group because of their quality. The district will continue to do walk-throughs throughout the year as part of their normal oversight.
Sabrina talked about how and why the District does walk-throughs and explained that Vestal also does its own walk-throughs where teachers can learn from each other. Sabrina also discussed other ways in which teachers do professional development and learn from each other.
Sabrina also discussed the Site Council, which includes staff, partners, and at least three parents and discusses major events at and the general direction of the facilities at quarterly meetings throughout the school year. She encouraged parents interested in joining the Site Council to email her about joining. There’s no limit to how many can join (they already have 3 parents, so no one needs to join).
5 Treasury update
Nicole reviewed our finances from the month. Besides a donation of ~$180 there was nothing unusual.
Nicole led us in a review of the 2024-2025 budget. Katie R moved to approve the budget as submitted. Seconded and approved by unanimous vote of all members present.
Kelly S asked during budgeting discussion for clarification on whether the school was still doing field trips this year and if not, if the PTA could help fund field trips.
Sabrina explained that the budget for field trips had gone down with last year’s budget cuts ($100 per classroom) and costs had gone up (e.g. $600 per bus per day), so there will be few if any field trips and they likely will not use buses.
The PTA does not have additional funds to help pay for field trips, and we are struggling to meet our existing goals. We discussed how we are starting a grant writing program to bring in additional funding and how grants could also help pay for field trips. Katie R, Kelly S, and Meg S all volunteered to help with grant writing.
6 Upcoming Events
Walk and Roll 10/9
BiPartisan Day is 10/17
Movie Night is 10/18
Pie Sale is due 10/10
7 Standing Rules
Read by Justin, moved by Emma K., seconded. Passed by unanimous vote of all members present.
8 Closing
Our next meeting is November 12th!
Meeting adjourned around 7:40
