THOMPSON PFA MINUTES

January 26, 2009

            The meeting of the Thompson PFA was called to order at 9:20 a.m. by Christy Weil, co-president.  The minutes from the November 17, 2008 meeting were approved.

             Principal:  Mr. Houston - Mr. Rinella is to be an Assistant Principal at High School South, subject to board approval on Wednesday.  He will be interviewing starting today to fill Mr. Rinella’s position.  After review by the Director of Facilities the soccer field is set to be aerated and reseeded.  Letters went out to parents of 80 8^th grade students who were randomly chosen to take a 90-minute national test of March 4.  We will not get the results.  Mr. Anderson is to meet with the coordinator for the state of February 9 at 9:00 a.m.  The PFA Gazette is now available.  Graduation is not yet set.  Mrs. Richards presented at a staff meeting on symptoms of substance abuse.  Mr. Houston and Mr. Anderson will be visiting all 4 sending elementary schools of February 4.  We are now in the midst of midterms in Algebra I and World Languages I & II.

             Mr. Anderson – There was a counselors meeting last week on the honors program.  Eighth graders received their course guide for high school and letters were sent home to parents.  If an 8^th grader is currently in honors with a B average, the student will stay in the program in grade 9 as long as the parents signs off.  If the student is not currently in honors, then they have to submit a letter of interest to apply.  They will have to meet the criteria with a writing sample, teacher recommendation, grades and NJ Ask scores.  This will work similarly for 7^th and 6^th grades.

             Joan Minnuies presented Thompson with a check for $1,025 from the Great Race.  There were 2,500 applicants and $31,188 was raised to give back to the schools.  There were 82 participants from Thompson.  This year’s event will take place on October 24, 2009.                                       

             Treasurer:  Sue Candio – Granny’s netted over $39,000 profit.  Some of that will be spent on teacher grants - $9,000, and library books - $2,000.  The Great Race earned $500 over budget.

             Vice President:  Denise Caminiti – Most of the teacher grant requests have been ordered.

             Board of Ed:  Joan Minnuies - The board meetings will be down to 1 a month.  There is a budget ad-hoc meeting tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. at central office in the conference room.

             Assistant Principal:  Mr. Baglivio – February 5 is diversity day.  There will be a lunch buffet set up for the 8^th grade.

             President:  Christy Weil – Thanks to everyone who helped with Granny’s.  Mira Winter and Barbara Podracky will be helping out with the contracts for next year.  We are very pleased with the amount of money made at granny’s this year and we already have a stack of contracts for next year.  The PFA increased the budget amounts for each of the 8^th grade events.  The dinner dance will charge $10 per student and there will be no favors.  The pool party will charge $7 - $10.  The breakfast is paid for by the PFA.  The PFA would like to hear opinions regarding the t-shirts for the 8^th graders.     

             The meeting was adjourned at 10:23 a.m.  The next meeting will be in February.