December 14,
1999
PA President Stuart Leigh
opened the meeting at 7:05 and thanked
everyone for coming out.
Announcements:
118 Intel projects were submitted, slightly
up from last year. A great deal of commitment is required by the student and a
great deal of growth can happen. The Intel Reception is scheduled for
tomorrow.
It’s very unlikely there
will be a transit strike. If there
is, the kids don’t come.
Brother David
presented
last week to 200 parents and helped them navigate the financial aid (FAFSA)
form. As scholarship notices come
in, check the bulletin board or call the college office for the latest
listings.
New
committee members -
we’re looking for new parents to continue the PA work, so please think about
what you would like to do.
Minutes were approved as
written.
Treasurer’s
Report:
$25,000 more has come
in = $298,000. The budgeted amount
was $273,000. So far, only 43% of the allocated money has been
spent.
A motion was made for the budget of the
Intel Reception to increase by $150. It was seconded and passed.
A motion was made for the PC Maintenance
fund to have $7000 restored to Mr. Kramer’s office. It was seconded and passed.
Committee
Reports:
December Bulletin just came out. There will be
no January Bulletin and it will resume in February. Discussion ensued on the website, that could include a calendar
and discussion forum, and provide a way to allow for broader input from
parents.
College
committee:
Update in the Bulletin.
Fundraising: The Phone-a-thon is
scheduled for May 8, 9, and 10th at the UFT building and will be
confirmed at the next meeting.
Intel, & Faculty
Reception:
Nothing new.
Membership
Outreach:
Calendar info will go out in three languages. There is a hope to arrange a
meeting for Chinese speaking parents, similar to the model of the Korean
parents. The parent mentoring program will start up after the first meeting in
March. There will be Parent Buddy Signups at the next
meeting.
Programs: Diane Grant has ideas for
programs on issues that affect our kids: stress, curfews, and discipline. The
guidance department is preparing a series of workshops in small settings about
these issues, that would take place outside of the monthly PA meetings. The
January meeting will be a Town Hall Forum to address a multitude of issues, so
please jot down some of your concerns. Parent inclusion is a serious commitment,
and the Phone-tree will be used for the January meeting to notify
parents.
Family
Orientation: They’ll get busy in
January, the event is March 4th.
Scholarship: We have a concept for a PA
sponsored scholarship and the question is out. There will be a first place $1000
scholarship, one $750 scholarship, and five $500
scholarships.
SLT Report: There is a meeting
Thursday to complete the Bylaws and the Budget subcommittee is meeting to
allocate the Bd of Ed money for professional development. A training day is
planned for the entire team on 1/16/00. The Gender Committee is researching all
of the issues. The SLT team will demystify the role of chairperson to make it
neutral. There are four constituencies and it’s a major issue that one
constituency can block something. They are coming closer to consensus on what
consensus is. They are working towards each person advocating for all
constituencies’ concerns.
There was no Old Business.
New Business: The building opened 7
years ago and the gym has had insufficient lighting. We share the building with
Battery Park City and they may partner with Stuyvesant and bring in the lighting
needed.
Battery City
Park starts
their use of the building at 6:30pm. The students can’t use the gym after school because there is no
paid supervision. The sports at Pier 40 will take 3 years to be in place.
Open School
Week: There
is an attempt to use Open School Week to build more understanding of parents and
it is hoped that more parents could observe and appreciate the excellent
teaching going on at Stuyvesant. More discussion followed on this
topic.
8:00 Program: Mr. Frank Mazetti
introduced the student leaders of the
Student Union, the Spectator, ARISTA, and the Big
Sibs.
ARISTA is based on character,
service, leadership, and scholarship. Members must maintain their average and
participate in activities in and out of school. There will be two more college
trips and they do peer tutoring. Any student can fill out a tutor request form
and they will be assigned a peer tutor. It is then the responsibility of the
student to come in for tutoring. They also hold group study workshops with
specific subjects on specific days and they are open to all students. They
volunteer for in school events and helping in soup kitchens. The applications
happen in January with a March deadline.
Big Sibs: They have 170 members and
they mentor to incoming students. There are 5-6 for each freshman and sophomore
homeroom. They help the kids feel welcome, to survive, and to get involved.
There are three orientation programs, and sophomores and juniors can
participate.
Spectator: It is the officially
recognized student run paper and carries ads and sells subscriptions. There are
over 200 students involved in the paper as editors, business staff and
reporters. It is published biweekly with 16 issues per year. It keeps you
informed with what’s going on and a major recruitment drive goes on in January
and February to involve students in its operations.
Student
Union: They
work to improve the quality of student life and deal with academic concerns.
They instituted test day policy with each subject assigned one day of the week
for its tests. They’ve worked on block scheduling, no gym for athletic teams
during the time they are playing, no 7th period science, and work with clubs, pubs, and teams to
help enrich the students. The SU is made up of elected student representatives.
Each grade elects 2 representatives in addition to the officers elected
schoolwide. There are special events coordinators as well. They have a
constitution and participate on the SLT. They facilitate student involvement: a
bus to homecoming, dances, student rock concert, winter ball, etc.
A Questions & Answer session was held
and it showed the commitment of each of the students and the value of each of
the organizations for our youngsters.
Motion to adjourn at 9:00.
Respectfully
submitted,
Elizabeth Schnee, Recording
Secretary