PTSA 3/9 Meeting Recap

The March PTSA meeting took place last night via Zoom.  Thank you to Principal Shareef and the community members in attendance.

• Currently two candidates have applied for the new principal position and the earliest potential interview date is late March.  If neither candidate is determined to be a good fit, it is possible the principal search will be extended into next year. The results of the Principal Hiring Survey were shared with the Hiring Team.
• In budget talks for next year, Seattle Public Schools is budgeting Garfield for 1453 students, or a loss of ~300 students.  This necessitates eliminating three FTEs. The District similarly under-projected Garfield’s enrollment in February 2019 which resulted in over-capacity classrooms in Fall 2019 and a scramble to hire teachers.
• Parent Bonnie Rachman spoke to the Board about an effort among Seattle high school parents to lobby Gov. Inslee to allow in-person graduation ceremonies.  She shared a template letter and instructions for submitting it to the Governor’s office. Principal Shareef said that the school will soon be surveying parents and students for their input on a graduation ceremony.
• Theo Cielos, Grad Night coordinator, is moving forward with planning for an abbreviated senior Grad Night party and seeks input from seniors and their parents on interest.  The venue itself is large with both indoor/outdoor space and would comply with COVID capacity guidelines.
• To date the Annual Fund has raised $101,455 of the $130K goal (not including matching funds), with 204 donors.
• Sara Dickerman reports the PTSA has agreed to fund the purchase of a novel for next year’s sophomores.  The PTSA is also hosting a Teacher Appreciation drive-thru luncheon later this month.
• Planning is underway for a virtual spring auction to be held in early May with the theme of Garfield Community & Connections. Additional volunteers and help with procurement is welcomed.  We will start putting out calls for donated items.

Other topics of discussion included whether the PTSA can aid in fundraising for rental assistance for families and the ongoing effort by the governance committee to update by-laws and role descriptions in time for recruiting PTSA leadership team members for next year.

Kayla Epting, President, had outlined the following PTSA goals for the 2020-21 school year at the initial September meeting:

• Partnering with the administration to better communication with all families at Garfield
• Expanding capacity in funding and resources to our families in need
• Diversifying the PTSA membership

Interested in attending future meetings?  The next PTSA meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 6th at 6:30PM.  Garfield Community PTSA meetings are typically held on the second Tuesday of each month, except for April when the meeting is held the week before Spring Break.   Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, meetings will be held virtually for the foreseeable future. Garfield community members are welcome at all Board meetings but are especially encouraged to attend General Meetings.

PTSA meeting dates are posted online here and are subject to change: https://garfieldptsa.org/ptsa-meeting-dates