March 2025 PTA Minutes

March 2025 PTA Meeting Notes

                                                  

PTA General Membership Meeting Agenda                                 Charter Champion Awards

Friday, March 21st, 2025

ATTENDING:

  • Daliposki - Principal
  • Cohen - Assistant Principal
  • Ms Becco - Parent Coordinator
  • Carmen González Jiménez -  President
  • Khulood Haimed -  Secretary
  • Georgina Bates - Co-Treasurer
  • Saira Khan-Torres -  Co-Treasurer - EXCUSED

 

 

AGENDA:

  1. Welcome
  • Daliposki welcomed the parents and thanked them for attending the Charter Champion Awards, asking them to please stay for the PTA portion of the event. Ms. Cohen explained the Yale Ruler Mood Meter.

 

  1. Charter Champions Award
  • Students received their Charter Champions certificates and took a commemorative photo, receiving a gift shirt and pencil.

 

  1. Principal’s Report

  Events: 

  • On March 6: 84% of families attended a virtual parent-teacher conference, which is the same percentage as the fall conferences.
  • Grades 3, 4, & 5 participated in a traffic safety workshop.
  • Parents have been attending English classes on Tuesdays from 8:30 - 10:30 a.m.
  • Students participated in Musical IQ this week.
  • Parents attended Family Craft Night last week - thank you to Ms. John and Ms. Bryn for organizing it. We will have one more later this Spring.

 

 Upcoming Events: 

  • PS 199 STEM Fair is on Wednesday. Students will be showcasing their work. Parents will have an opportunity to see the amazing work between the hours of 4:30 - 6:30.
  • Next week is Open School Week. Parents will have an opportunity to visit their child’s classroom between the hours of 8:30 - 9:30 on the assigned day:
  1. Monday, March 24th - Kindergarten and Grade 1
  2. Tuesday, March 25th - Grades 2 & 3
  • Wednesday, March 26th - Grades 4 & 5
  • Spring Pictures are on Thursday. We are waiting for the pre-paid flyers. Parents can use the pre-paid flyer or purchase pictures online.
  • Schools are closed on Monday, March 31 for Eid al-Fitr. To all those celebrating, Happy Eid.
  • Cosmic IQ will be joining us the week of April 7th
  • Schools are closed for Spring Recess the week of April 14th.

 

After-School Clubs: 

  • We are wrapping up the first cycle of after-school groups. Interest forms were sent out last week and letters were sent yesterday. The new groups begin on March 25th.

 

  • Support our fundraiser: Selling Ice Cream for $1 every Friday. 

 

  • Daliposki added that he would like feedback from parents on what kind of events or after-school activities they would like to see. There used to be no art program, but now there is music, dance, and art—this came from a suggestion by a parent. You can send him an email to talk in person about any ideas for events.

 

 

 

 

  1. Past Meeting Minutes Approval:
  • The minutes of February’s general membership meeting were shared with the parents attending in-person on the screen at the auditorium and on Zoom for those attending online. Ms Cohen showed where to find the PTA section on the school website, how to change the language preference and how to access the minutes on the website.  February’s meeting minutes were approved by the assembly in person.

 

 

  1. Recap Past Events:
  • On 03/13 the teachers hosted the 3rd Family Craft Night, and we had a concession stand. We spent $77 and had $82 on sales.  We appreciated the support from the families that came to the event. However, we have decided not to proceed with the initially planned concession for the STEM Fair due to the limited profit potential.  No concessions will go to waste; the snacks left from this event will be sold at the upcoming Movie Night.

 

 

  1. Upcoming Events:
  • 03/27: Spring Picture Day. Volunteers are needed! If you're interested, please contact any PTA member or Ms. Becco.

 

  • 04/10: Movie Night – “Mufasa:  The Lion King”. 
  • 04/23: PTA General Membership Meeting, Virtual at 6:00 PM
  • 04/24: Spring Festival Potluck.  In collaboration with the school, we will sponsor a potluck to celebrate the Spring, various holidays (Eid, Easter, Passover, Holi, etc.).  We will be sending the flyer at the beginning of April.
  • 05/05: Teacher Appreciation Week.  We'll host a lunch for teachers and staff as a token of appreciation for their hard work.

 

We look forward to your participation and support in these upcoming events!  Please reach out to us or Ms. Becco for volunteering.

 

 

  1. Financial Report and Budget:
  • Georgina detailed the expenses and income for the month.
  • We currently have $5,621.66 in the bank.
  • We asked for approval of the following estimated expenses:
    1. 04/10: Movie Night Concession Sales ($550)
    2. 05/24: Spring Festival Celebration (Food for Potluck, $400)
    3. 05/05: Teacher Appreciation (Lunch, $550)

 

Proposed events and estimated expenses approved by parents in the auditorium.

 

  1. Q&A
  2. A parent asked how many times and how long are the recess periods in our school? What can we do to give the kids the chance to play more outside?

Mr. Daliposki explained that we try to go out for recess every single day after lunch. Temperature is not the only factor that determines recess.  Other factors are 1) if the ground is wet or icy and 2) if it’s extremely windy.   We try to give the kids 15-20 minutes every day outside, which varies depending on how long it takes the classes to tidy up in the cafeteria and form the lines to go outside. 

 

 He also explained that nowadays the kids don’t sit in the classroom all day long.  The instruction is broken by gym, art and music classes and additional time off in the classroom.  Also, we are a “Move-to-Improve” school, a DOE classroom-based physical activity program.  The kids get movement breaks after each period, especially K-2; they can do any activity they want to do ground themselves up.

 

Mr. Daliposki also stated that the school yard learning space on the corner of 39th St and Greenpoint Ave is cleared for use, allowing for additional class time outside to do science research, reading, gardening, or play.

Rachelle Lewis, Executive Director of Student Services in District 24 came in to observe the meeting and introduced herself.

 

 

  1. Carmen asked if the gardening in front of the school that students were working on in the fall will resume in the spring. Ms Cohen explained that we have a partnership with the Horticultural Society of NY. In Fall, there were only 4 classes doing the horticultural program.  For the Spring, each class will have a turn to do the hort program. There will be an after-school family engagement program on Earth Day.

 

 

  1. Another parent asked if the school could organize Debate Teams with kids and give them the opportunity to get involved in politics and civics. Daliposki thanked the parent for the suggestion about the debate teams and asked her to email him.   We are a Civics for All (CFA) school.  We have a class that is piloting and working with Ms. Turbin.  They have spoken and written letters to our Council member.  We hope to include more classes in this.

 

  1. She also suggested if the kids can have more room to practice writing and typing.  Mr Daliposki stated that we are using an app called Typing Club to teach the kids to type correctly, as the teachers have noticed that most of our kids only use 2 fingers to type (this started about a month ago). The kids also have a chance to practice more their writing, as they must write about what they learn in each period, even during PE.

 

 

No further questions or comments.  The meeting ended at 9:50 AM.

 

Thank you for your continued support!