PTSA General Meeting – May 23 @ 7pm
We had a General Meeting Tuesday from 7-8:30. We are grateful to hear from Mr. Zimmerman and Mr. Simoneaux with an end-of-year update on Honors for All. In the Commons. Slides from their presentation are below. Please also review the notes from the last General Meeting.
At the General Meeting will will also be reviewing the proposed budget – its a full budget, supporting most every corner of GHS. We developed this budget using the BLT proposed budget and merged it with our basic budget from this year. The BLT items were requested of us because of some changes to how funds are received and allocated to the school. For more information, email us or come to the meeting and we can answer questions.
On another budget related note, our large grant coordinator, Maureen Devlin requested feedback from a couple of our grantees and we wanted to share the feedback. The survey feedback – on Y Scholars and the Spanish class Americorp Volunteer- can be found here.
Please Join the PTSA Board. We have a few positions open and are happy to answer any questions about them. They are very satisfying roles and much needed by our students/kids. Contact president@garfieldptsa.org.
Join the GHS PTSA Board!
- Co-chairs (2)
- Secretary
- 1st Day Packet (2)
- Gala Chairs (2)
- Senior Grad Party organizers (2)
- Senior Reps (2)
- Junior Reps (2)
- 9th Grade Reps (2)
- Teacher Appreciation (1)
Huge THANKS to all our members who are leaving us or who have graduates. We appreciate all their contributions!
School Start Times. Here is a Seattle Times article about the proposed changes: http://www.seattletimes.com/education-lab/seattle-schools-seek-to-change-start-times-mayor-offers-millions-for-more-buses/. But as is everything, its complicated – and here’s information we received recently from the Ballard High School :
| Update as of 5/11/17: The Audit and Finance Committee of the Seattle School Board voted against accepting the grant from the Mayor to use Family Education Levy funds for the Two-Tier plan. Those in favor of the plan are hoping to find funding from another source.
The school board has had little input from the middle and high schools. The Seattle School Board – schoolboard@seattleschools.org 252-0040 Arrival Times email – arrivaltimes@seattleschools.org A 15 minutes later start seems ok but factor in the additional 20 minutes of the school day that was negotiated between the district and teacher a few year ago, to go into effect September 2017. The proposed Two-Tier plan adds that 20 minutes, plus the 15 minute later start ALL to the end of the day. Secondary dismissal times would be 35 minutes later than this year and 90 minutes later than 2015-16. |
| Possible effects of Proposed Two-Tier schedule:
Activities & Clubs may have to move, find space – maybe some might be cancelled?
Athletic schedules may cause the students to have to leave earlier. Other school districts get out much earlier. For SPS students to attend practices/games/meets out of the district they may have to miss up to THREE periods of school with the proposed Two-Tier plan. It may be difficult for students to get to jobs with a later release time. This is a real issue at the high school level. Students will be released during higher traffic times which lead to longer commute times. This affects yellow bus and Metro users. Students that go to after school music groups, rehearsals, practices, and clubs would be trying to get home around 5 pm or later. The traffic of rush hour would add a significant amount of time to student’s commute.
What are some alternatives?
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