South Boston Catholic Academy

Minutes from Home and School Association Meeting – 1.10.12

The first  meeting of Home and School Association in 2012 was held on Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 6:30.  Mrs. Carr was unable to attend, but Michelle Hynes, the President, outlined what was on Mrs. Carr’s agenda.  Summary is:

Catholic  School Week:  January 30^th  – February 3rd  

                Activities planned:

                1/31 – School Open House 9:30 – 11:00 and  4:00 – 6:00:   Volunteers are needed – 3-4 for the early childhood classes plus an additional 3 volunteers, for each session.  

                1/31 – Book Fair to begin – Patty Donovan will be heading this up once again and will send out reminders and a volunteer sign  up sheet as the time approaches

                2/1 – Teacher and Staff Appreciation Day – Maureen Murray will be heading the committee for the teacher’s and staff’s breakfast.    Volunteers will be needed to help with both preparation of the breakfast as well as standing in the classrooms while the teachers enjoy their break

                2/2 – Student Appreciation Day – There will be a basketball game between the faculty and students

                2/3 – Students will be going to Mass ; Last day of the Book Fair

More information about Catholic School Week and volunteer sign up sheets will be distributed as the time approaches.

Verizon Grant – SBCA is anticipating the Verizon Grant again this year “Thinkfinity”. News to follow

Fitness Program – in the process of initiating a before school fitness program called BOKs which is sponsored by Reebok to begin early spring.    More news to follow. 

Junior Achievement –  Members of the board of Junior Achievement would like to volunteer at South Boston Catholic Academy for a second JA in a Day event.  Emily Neil, JA President was very impressed with the school and the feedback received from State Street has been stellar.  This will be a new JA experience and the program they would like to implement is JA More than Money specifically designed for students in grades 3-5.   . This program teaches students about earning, spending, sharing, saving money, and businesses they can start or jobs they can perform to earn money.  There will be a total of 6 lessons.    (State St. visited Gr. 1-6 before Christmas)

Parking -   To help defray school costs, there are preliminary plans being made to offer paid, permit, overnight parking in the school yard. News to follow.

Other – Mrs. Carr has been working w/Archdiocese to identify dates to begin parent info evenings on Academic topics

Financial Update. Balance as of 1.9.2012 is $17,355.   $4,200 of this money is for the community “spirit” fund.  This money is set aside to pay for community building activities throughout the year.   The HSA has made its  1^st installment to Fr. Casey  in the amount $10K.  Additional Fundraising Updates 

• 5k Road Race and Kids fun run – raised $7,800 – CONGRATULATIONS TO MICHELLE & BRYAN!!!!    This is an increase of  over 40% from what was raised at last year’s road race.   This figure also does not include the money that was also made from the sale of raffle tickets for the Christmas Baskets for the teachers’ bonuses!!!
• Fun was had by all at Pizza with Santa.    A very big Thank You to Kat  Hogan for coordinating the event ,  Stacey Tirabassi for taking the pictures, Santa,  and all the volunteers that made the event such a great day.  

Other Fundraising Activities:

Coupon Books – ($25) will be available for sale in the office throughout the school year.  They make for a great gift.   Christmas is now over, but Valentine’s Day is right around the corner!!!!!   The coupons are good through December, 2012.      Stop by the office to have a look.  The school will make 50% of the profit sold. 

$1000 Club Tickets – If the Home and School Association sells all the club tickets, it will raise $13,000 for the school.  Tickets cost $60.  This is another great idea for a gift. If you are interested in purchasing a $1000 club ticket, contact Michelle Hynes*.

Community Building Programs:    

1. FAMILY BINGO -  Friday, January 13^th, 6:30 – 8:00 – $5.00 fee  (prizes) (Pizza and water will be available)  – VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
2. SAVE THE DATE:   Family Fitness  –  Friday, February 10, 2012 at 6:30

Parents’ Community Building: –   Plans are in the works for a parents get together in early March just for fun –  Preliminary plans for the meeting place will be Amrhein’s (they have shuttle service) and the tentative date is either  March 1^st or March 8^th.  

Survey Updates: 

• Curriculum Night Survey:  A survey was posted on SBCA facebook page and a link was included in the weekly email communication to parent looking for feedback on what type of information they would like to learn about and in what format they’d like to receive this information – e.g  meetings at the school, online presentations, etc.   The top 4 topics in order of interest:
  • Goals/Standards for each grade level and student assessment
  • Core Curriculum
  • Advanced Placement/Enrichment Programs
  • Preparation for post 6^th grade (ISEE)

Email and the web site are preferred vehicles for receiving communications.

At this time, discussions are ongoing to formulate a presentation  on the above subjects, and to determine what date and times would work best  to give the presentation to the parents.      

Facebook – There were discussions on whether or not we should use Facebook as another means for communication between the parents in the format as a “Blog”.     It was decided that a “Blog” will be created.  The posts to the blog are to be monitored. 

Volunteer Leads Needed:  Many of the wonderful parents of South Boston Catholic Academy who have been taken lead on planning some of our major fundraisers for the past few years will be stepping down in these roles at the end of the school year.    The HSA board is looking for volunteers to take on these positions.  Descriptions of each of the vacant roles and will sent home in the school information packet.    Here are some of the positions that will be vacant.

• Pizza With Santa – Katherine Hogan has done a wonderful job managing this community building event over the past few years.   If anyone is interested in taking lead on this event, please contact one of the HSA board members. 
• Golf Tournament   -
• Room Rep Leader – Patty Donovan will be finishing up her role as Room Rep leader at the end of school year.  She has done a fantastic job!   She is responsible for the  teachers breakfast, the scholastic book fair week, and organizes the Christmas baskets for the teachers bonus.  
• Home and School Association Board – looking for volunteers to fill positions.  These positions are 2 year commitments.

*Michelle Hynes,  minniehynes@comcast.net; Amy Burkart, amyharmanburkart@gmail.com; Alissa Long,  alissa_long@hotmail.com; Donna Potember, donna.potember@db.com; Tricia Harnan,  t.harnan@verizon.net

Next Meeting:   February 6, 2012 at 8:30.