PTSA 4/6 Meeting Recap

The April PTSA meeting took place last night via Zoom.  Thank you to the community members in attendance.

• Mr. Gish, Language Arts Teacher, presented a proposal to the Board to invite Gholdy Muhammad, author of Cultivating Genius, to Garfield in the Fall to conduct an equity training workshop.
• Feedback from parents on Principal Shareef’s Return-to-School Town Hall has been positive and appreciative but many questions remain.  The deadline to submit students’ choices to the District (in-person vs. remote) was midnight Apr 6.
• The new Principal search continues with two candidates advancing after having been interviewed by a committee of Garfield teachers, students, parents and staff.
• Graduation will be in person and the traditional Grad Night party is ON, as well as other senior events (see senior events post).  We will survey parents about Grad Night once the contract is signed within the next week or so.  The Grad Night party venue itself is large with both indoor/outdoor space and would comply with COVID capacity guidelines.
• Planning is underway in earnest for the virtual spring fundraiser on May 8th with the theme of We are Garfield. The event will be free for everyone to join and offer food & cocktails and entertainment featuring members of the Garfield community.
• To date the Annual Fund has raised $103,687 of the $130K goal (not including matching funds), with 217 donors.

Other topics of discussion included senior yard signs, teacher appreciation events, and the ongoing effort by the governance committee to update the by-laws.

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, May 11th 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