PTSCO Minutes

Wednesday April 2, 2025, 5:30-6:30 pm.

CHS Campus, LGI Room

In attendance: Tava Shanchuk, Cristina Garcia Glover, William Kresse, Danielle Gryzmala, Pam Fitzgibbon, Cassandra Seawell, Elizabeth Garner Masarik 

Called to order 5:35pm by Danielle Gryzmala

Welcome and Introductions:  

• Old Business/Past Events
  • Website Migration- Cristina Garcia Glover
    • PTSCO website is now on WordPress. Includes the calendar, meeting schedule, and other announcements.
      • Still a work in progress. 
  • Comedy Night Fundraiser-Pam Fitzgibbons
    • Pam and Danielle did A LOT of work and it was a wonderful event. 
    • Sold 101 out of 125 tickets
    • Total revenue $2689.26 (apx. $1,000 less than last year)
      • PTSCO cost apx. $1800
    • Each grade will get apx. $336
    • Full breakdown attached*
  • Class of 2029 (8th Grade)- Tava Shanchuk
    • 7th & 8th Grade Dance – Friday March 7th
      • Successful dance!! Made $1645
        • Tix were $15 each, $110 parent donations
        • 8th grade took 90%, 7th grade took 10%
    • Class Sweatshirts
      • Distributed last week. Only change this year was they put the full year on the back
      • 146 sweatshirts $4536 (apx $31 ea.)
• New Business/Upcoming Events
  • Treasurer Report: Pam Fitzgibbons
    • Comedy Night (above)
    • Deposited 7th & 8th grade dance money
    • Ski clubs were reimbursed for the year
  • Meeting with PTSCO/FMP Strategic Team- Danielle Grzymala
    • The meeting was held to figure out PTSCO and the Foundation can work better together
      • More meetings to come as each organization figures out how to best work together. 
      • Talk of PTSCO attending the Foundation meetings (Carli Todoro-Ruckus already attends). Cristina will ask her if she would be willing to represent PTSCO. 
  • Class of 2029 (8th Grade)- Tava Shanchuk
    • 5-8 middle school dance
      • May 9th, in gymnasium
      • Sneakers only. Theme: Spring to Summer- shorts and hawaiian shirts and summer dresses
      • DJ Lorenzo and photo booth 
      • Snacks and ice cream in atrium
      • Tix for sale at school the week before
      • There will be an email sent out to parents the week before
      • $15 per ticket
    • Field Days
      • Tuesday June 3 (rain June 5th)
        • WIll be on Fosdick field. Lunch will be provided for kids by 8th grade fundraisers.
        • Giant lawn Tetris game and plastic lawn darts 
    • Moving Up Day (everything is tentative at the moment)
      • 8th grade is asking the Foundation for funds for the function (the ask for Pathfinder wasn’t as large this year as in the past). Going to ask for about $5-6k
        • If this doesn’t come through, students may need to pay for their own tickets 
      • Tentative at RiverWorks. Kids would have access to the rides, ice rink, pizza and wings
      • Apx 11:30-2:30 
      • Parent tickets will be approximately $10 ea
    • Pathfinder May 22-25th
      • Volunteers and fingerprinting is still being worked out through BPS
        • The cost of fingerprinting is $100 (parents are responsible for this cost). Hoping there is some fundraising that can offset the fingerprinting cost. 
  • Spring Bazaar
    • Mrs. Hannah will let us know if we can host it before Mother’s Day
      • Jen Cox will orchestrate the event if we are able to do it. 
  • Teacher Appreciation Week
    • The first week of May 5-9
      • Mat Lowe will orchestrate the teacher appreciation breakfast

• Update from Administration – Dr. Kresse
  • 3 day IB site visit went well. They were impressed with the school and with our progress over the past years.
    • They gave us a preliminary report. There will be an official report by the end of the school year.
    • SAT was held for all CHS juniors. 
    • Spring sports are underway
    • Hades Town The Musical is running Thursday April 3-6th 
    • NY State assessments for ELA next week, math will be after the break
    • Hilltop Notes figured out now. Will be using S’MORES program
    • Letters did go out to accepted students but administration at CHS does NOT know who has been accepted.
      • This is a problem when student’s families call the school for information. As it stands now we don’t get those names until late August, which causes issues with welcoming new students and getting special needs taken care of. 
      • CHS acceptance of African American students is 5% down. CHS administration is trying to work with BPS to make the acceptance rate rise. Students are not being identified in the system to make sure those numbers rise. 
    • New Students Days- PTSCO would like to help with that
• SBMT- Tava Shanchuk
  • Review of the School-Based Budget
  • Discussed IB visit
  • Hosted swim league
  • Multicultural week
  • Autism awareness week
  • BTF calendar has been approved
  • SBMT teacher training- CHS is doing a good job vs other BPS schools
  • Remedy Hilltop Notes was discussed
    • Next Meeting: Thursday, April 24 2025 3:35 – 4:35pm Museum Room
• BPTO- Danielle Grzymala
  • Say Yes is coming to talk about summer camps
  • Shared Accountability will be talking about computer-based testing
    • Next Meeting Saturday, 4/5/2025
• Wellness Team – Danielle Grzymala
  • May is mental health awareness month
  • Tim Hortons leadership program for 5th graders
• DPCC – Danielle Grzymala
  • No updates
  • Next meeting Tuesday, 4/8/2025 at 5:30-7:30 in the Cafeteria 
• Pelion Garden – Cassandra Seawell
  • Fruit Belt Clean-a-thon 25th year. Friday, June 6th. 8:30am-2pm
    • Would be great for CHS to show up in large numbers
    • Beth Quiatec is a CHS alum, she is leading the organizing of the event
      • She will host two SLI to get the Futures School Garden up and running
  • Strawberry Social June 12th
    • This will be the tenth anniversary- going to make it a bigger celebration. 
    • Usually 100 people come through the event. 
    • Looking to invite the BookMobile and the BPS food truck 
    • The evening before is the Strawberry Moon, there will be a jam making event that evening
  • TLChores for Earth Month in April
    • Asking for volunteers every Saturday in April 
  • When the end-of-year survey comes out she is hoping it can be QR accessible so that alumni and parents can give their opinions about their time working with Pelion gardens. 

Adjourned: 6:35pm

Next Meeting Location: Google Meet 

Wednesday May 7, 2025, 5:30-6:30pm 

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