PTSA 5/11 Meeting Recap

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

• Principal Shareef reports that ~250 students per day have resumed in-person at Garfield. There have been two reported cases of COVID in the building since in-person learning resumed. Both cases have been mild and unrelated to each other, and contact tracing has not revealed additional community spread from these cases.
• Garfield will host a walk-up vaccination clinic on campus Monday May 17 from 12:30-3:30pm in the Gymnasium with shots administered by Seattle Fire Department EMTs.  Shots will be available to students, parents and neighborhood residents ages 12 and older. Parental consent forms are required and will be sent to families by the school admin and nurse, or parents can accompany their child to the vaccination.
• Incoming principal Dr. Hart will visit campus this Thursday with time allotted for meeting with select students and PTSA leadership.
• Seniors are currently allowed four (4) tickets each for the in-person graduation ceremony on June 15 at Memorial Stadium. Seating will be assigned with intervening seats taped off. Theo Cielos reports that the post-ceremony Grad Night party contract is signed and paperwork will include a COVID waiver. The Grad Night party venue is large with both indoor/outdoor space and complies with COVID capacity guidelines, and seniors will have been screened prior to attending the graduation ceremony. Information about Grad Night tickets and procedures will be available soon.
• PTSA Board members discussed and approved updates to the Garfield PTSA by-laws proposed by the governance working group.
• Recruitment for 2021-22 PTSA leadership is a high priority for May and June.
• Feedback for the We Are Garfield online event has been very positive. After expenses, the fundraiser will have raised over $60K. The event website will continue to accept donations through the coming weekend.
• Tracy Reed gave an update on Annual Fund which has raised $114,908 of the $130K goal. She also shared an update on the student CORE with respect to their PTSA support.
• Funds have been approved to support a graduation ceremony for Spanish speaking families and nearly two thirds of the Small Grants budget remains available, as reported by Sara Dickerman. Teachers are encouraged to apply for Small Grants.
• Treasurer Steve Orser presented an initial draft budget for SY2021-22 for discussion.  It was recommended the Board pass an interim budget at the June meeting in anticipation of Dr. Hart’s arrival and input over the summer. A new co-Treasurer, Mary Murray, will join current co-Treasurer David Hoppe as Steve departs Garfield with a graduating senior.

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 and final PTSA meeting of the 2020-21 school year will be held on Tuesday, June 8th 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