BEN W. MURCH HOME AND SCHOOL ASSOCIATION
General Meeting
Meeting Minutes November 5, 2018
HSA Co-Presidents Elisa O’Keefe and Jess Regan called the meeting to order at 7:03 PM on November 5, 2018 in Room B112 of Murch Elementary School.
- Executive Board Members present: Elisa O’Keefe (Co-President), Jess Regan (Co-President), Ashley Webb (1st Vice President), Julie Lobb (2nd Vice President), Diane Beasley (Secretary), Maurice Werner (Treasurer), Paula Cuevas (Assistant Treasurer), Meghan Duffy (Assistant Treasurer), and Jason Levin (Fundraising/Community Engagement).
Other Members in Attendance: Robin Groracke (Budget Chair), Leslie Rich.
- Approval of prior minutes – Diane Beasley
Diane presented the minutes for the October 2 general meeting, which were posted to BaseCamp for review on October 16 and sought the Board’s approval of the minutes.
Diane made a motion that the Board ratify the previously posted minutes for the October 2 meeting as the official record of that meeting. Jason seconded the motion, there was no objection, and the motion passed by unanimous voice vote.
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- President’s Report – Elisa O’Keefe and Jess Regan
- Parent Empowerment Program (Kent Withycombe and Jhonna Turner). Elisa introduced Kent and Jhonna, who presented information on Parent Empowerment Program (PEP), which is administered through the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs. PEP uses money donated from schools across DC to provide Title I schools with grants that support academic enrichments projects at the schools. To qualify for a grant, parent groups associated with the schools must apply and undergo an interview process. PEP grants match the money raised by the parent groups at the selected schools. The HSA donated 1% of our operating budget to PEP last year. Jhonna talked about some of the challenges for parents at Title I schools, and how PEP helps to empower and encourage parent involvement at schools by teaching financial literacy and other skills necessary for a successful parent-school organization. She spoke about PEP grants in action at Ketcham Elementary and other DCPS schools. Ashley noted that a report providing additional details on PEP was posted to BaseCamp.
- President’s Report – Elisa O’Keefe and Jess Regan
Jess made a motion that the Board approve award of the HSA Budget 1% Low Income Grant to PEP. Ashley seconded the motion, there was no objection, and the motion passed by unanimous voice vote.
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- Storage Unit Update. Jess stated that the HSA is out of the storage unit rental, and all items in the storage unit have now been moved into the HSA storage space at Murch. The HSA will look into purchasing storage containers to help organize the space this school year.
- SOS Campaign Update. Jess informed the Board that the SOS donations are almost halfway to the goal of $120,000 (at $58,775 to date). The SOS committee will continue to publicize the campaign throughout the year.
- Fall Fair Update. Jess reported that feedback from the Fall Fair was very positive and it was a great community event. She and Elisa noted that it did exceed the budget by approximately $4500, and it was related to spending on the inflatables. In order to prevent overspending in the future, all event contracts will be reviewed and signed by the HSA President(s). Discussion ensued regarding HSA oversight of events and the processes and procedures currently in place to manage budgets.
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Paula also discussed cash handling at the Fall Fair and made several suggestions for to improving the process in the future, including starting cash collections earlier in the event, reducing starter funds, and using pre-paid bands.
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- Murch History Project. Elisa stated that she and Jess met with Mr. C, Karol Keane, and Laura Kaiser several times since the last HSA meeting to discuss the Murch History project, but ultimately decided to defer the project until a later time (will revisit in the spring). In the interim, the HSA is working with the school to retrieve the historical documents and artifacts from Laura’s house and move them into HSA storage.
- Holiday Gift Giving. Elisa reported that holiday gift giving will be handled the same way as last school year: room parents will organize collections for classroom teachers and dedicated aides, and the HSA will take up a school-wide collection for floating aides, resource teachers, and other school staff (cafeteria workers, security guards, custodians, etc.).
- Presentations Committee Update. This year’s HSA budget includes $10,000 for school presentations and performances. Sue Guzman is leading the Presentation Committee and has several performances lined up. Elisa informed the Board that Step Afrika will be putting on two performances in January, and the committee is looking into securing Eagle Bear for storytelling performances in November. Other potential presentations include a showing of the documentary “Finding Kind” targeted to Murch 4th – 5th grade and Deal girls, and the Mr. Rogers movie (TBD).
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- Principal’s Report – Mr. Cebrzynski
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Mr. C was unable to attend this month’s meeting.
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- Treasurer’s Report – Maurice Werner
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- Review of Monthly Statements. Maurice provided a summary of the monthly financials. He first reviewed the Income Statement, which showed that the HSA has brought in a little over a quarter of our yearly budget to date, and is now in the black. He touched on the spending to date and Meghan requested that the Teacher Grants committee send the Treasury team a copy of the grant tracking spreadsheet so that they can reconcile the awarded grants against the grant-related purchases. Maurice also noted that the Board will need to approve the overage on the Fall Fair spending.
Maurice made a motion that the Board increase the Fall Fair budget by $4500. Elisa seconded the motion, there was no objection, and the motion passed by unanimous voice vote.
Next Maurice presented the Balance Sheet through November 2018 and noted that we are roughly in the same position as this time last year. He also stated that he is working on cleaning up the reserves by spending down some of the individual reserve line items and zeroing out the 5th Grade Promotion reserve since it is covered elsewhere in the budget.
- PTO Treasurers Meeting. Maurice noted that he met with Treasurers from several other DCPS schools to compare notes. He stated that the Murch HSA seemed to be in a relatively good financial position and that our procedures are quite well developed.
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- Fundraising/Community Engagement Update – Jason Levin
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- Giant A+ Rewards Contest. Jason noted that the Giant A+ Rewards enrollment contest has been extended through November 20. The class with the highest number of enrollments wins a cake party from Giant. The contest is already being promoted on the school website. He added that 99 families are currently enrolled in the A+ Rewards program. Jason also stated that he met with the Murch student council to discuss more ways of increasing program enrollment, and they will start to push enrollment through their own efforts.
- Guapo’s Restaurant Day. Restaurant Day at Guapo’s will be on November 15 in the upstairs dining room. The HSA will receive a percentage of the restaurant revenue for the entire day.
- Alton Lane Fundraiser. Alton Lane is a menswear retailer in Dupont Circle that offers bespoke suits, blazers, trousers, tuxedos, and shirts using a combination of 3D body scanners and hand measurements to produce fully custom clothing. Jason is working with them to hold an open event with a whiskey and bourbon tasting as a fundraiser kickoff in December. The HSA will earn 5% on first $10,000 spent on bespoke menswear (percentage will increase after this threshold), and the fundraiser will run through the school year.
Elisa and Jess adjourned the meeting at 8:19 PM.