SCHS PTSO Meeting

Type of Meeting: General Membership Meeting

Date of Meeting: September 9, 2019 @ 7pm

Meeting Location: SCHS Library

1. Call to Order. The meeting was called to order at 7:00pm. A quorum was present.
2. Review/approval of minutes from May 15, 2019 meeting

A call for corrections was requested. None were raised. Minutes were approved as written.

3. Officers’ Reports
4. a) President’s Report (Nannette Henderson)
5. Nanette Henderson opened the meeting with a request for help with events, highlighting the holiday Craft Fair as our largest fundraising event. She then highlighted the www.southcountyptso.org website as a way that parents can get involved and volunteer. If parents would like to get PTSO emails and are not already a part of the email list, they can sign up for correspondence via the website, as the PTSO doesn’t get a student directory until November 2019. Membership Toolkit, a part of the PTSO website, was reviewed as a way to purchase items via PTSO.
6. b) Treasurer’s Report (Julie Hopkins)
7. Julie Hopkins provided the 2018-2019 final report with audit and solicited questions. No questions were brought to the floor.
8. The new budget for 2019-2020 was presented and reviewed with attendees. A motion was made to approve the proposed budget.
9. A discussion was had regarding the Book Emporium at the Craft Show, and a change to how the event would be led. It was explained that a separate organization within the school will likely take over this effort. The line item for the 2019-2020 expense is representative of costs for both this and last year.
10. A question was raised about the $8,000 line item for the “School Unity Spirit Wear”, which was dedicated to purchase SCHS t-shirts for all students.

A call for a vote was raised to approve the 2019-2020 budget of $94,183 in revenue and $97,810 in expenses. It was a unanimous decision to approve the 2019-2020 budget.

4. Committee Reports a. Membership (Charlene Lane)
5. Craft Fair (Carla Olivo)

The PTSO currently has 54 faculty members and 800+ general members. Nanette discussed the importance of PTSO memberships, as it is a large part of the annual budget.

Carla discussed the Holiday Craft show event as a family holiday event, which was renamed this year to the Lorton Holiday Extravaganza and Craft Show. This event is always held the first Saturday in December; this year’s event will be held December 7. A fun run is held for children, followed by a visit from Santa on a fire truck, with the doors opening at 9am for the craft show. There are typically 170 vendors in attendance, with the vendors being the largest source of income for the event. The SCHS athletic boosters run the concessions for the event, and the SCHS band hosts the silent auction. The SCHS Swim & Dive club will lead the fun run. A Book Emporium will be available for book bundles, with books being donated by

1. ACT/SAT Prep (Nannette Henderson for Rebecca Bythewood)

the community. In 2018, SCHS had 2,000 visitors attend the craft show. Carla will not be running the event this year, and is looking for a new leader to take on this activity. Craft Fair planning meetings are held regularly and dates can be found on the SCHS PTSO website.

The company SCHS PTSO has used in the past to issue practice tests (and analysis of student tests) went bankrupt; the same company also provided weekend SAT prep bootcamps. The PTSO is searching for a new company to take these activities over. It may be unlikely that these activities are offered this year by the PTSO. The Minority Achievement Committee (MAC) offered an 8 week SAT prep session, but they have limited capacity and have closed enrollment for the fall.

5. Principal’s Report (Gary Morris)
6. a) Mr. Morris thanked meeting attendees for their attendance, and asked that the parents return for the next meeting (and bring a friend!).
7. b) The high school and middle school are trying to involve the elementary feeder schools to build a strong pyramid, and gave a recent example of having football players and cheerleaders attend elementary schools to get the elementary schools excited about Friday night football games.
8. c) An effort is being made with all SCHS staff to watch for specific kids who historically had low academics, attendance at school.
9. d) The school is working on Portrait of a Graduate; this year SCHS is focusing specifically on Communication, Goal Directed Individuals, and Connectedness. Every student should have a trusted adult in the building, with a goal of every student being involved in at least one sport, club, or after school activity.
10. e) Seniors in good standing can have lunch outside on the Senior Patio, built with funds from the previous senior class. This area will be monitored by staff. This privilege will be negotiated between SCHS staff and the senior class.
11. f) An anti-vaping initiative is beginning at SCHS, and an SCHS teacher is taking the lead to find anti-vaping ads to post in SCHS bathrooms, among other things.
12. g) Lastly, the SCHS Football Marshals are looking for new volunteers to help chaperone the football games (free food was promised!). SCHS is talking to the middle school about providing adult volunteers to help with this effort. Volunteers interested should contact Gary Morris directly.

6. Announcements

1. a) Club day - Scheduled for 9/30 during lunch for students to learn more about clubs
2. b) Parent coffees - The first one held was geared towards Freshman, and there will be 4 additional coffee meetings - 2 in the morning and 2 in the evenings. Next coffee will be held Oct 4th.
3. c) Giant A+ - Giant is no longer donating to SCHS via Giant A+ rewards, however patrons can purchase reusable shopping bags and the PTSO gets $1 per bag. 7. Adjournment: Meeting was adjourned at 7:58pm

After the meeting was adjourned, Lisa Muir and Emily Strong (librarians) spoke about resources available through the library (including SAT prep). RC Gamble (Security Specialist) provided an overview of various school security procedures.