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Minutes of General Meeting
Sandia Prep Parents Association
Minutes of General Meeting
May 19, 2008
Attending:
Officers: Joanne Schiabor, Rohini Arter, Margaret Duran, Tamie Conlee, Nancy McKinnon, Cathy Taylor, Linda Kier
Sandia Prep: Dick Heath, Susan Walton
Chairs and Parents: Shawne Blackburn, Irene Williams, Linda Byrd, Linda Mackie, Doris Buckman, Kerry Kinnick, Erin Masciotra, Cathy Dexter, Claudia Short, Laurie Hall, Martye Womble, Trisha Bennett, Andrea Levy, Anne Sapon
Call to Order:
Called to order at 12:03 p.m. by President Joanne Schiabor. Joanne thanked all the current officers and Susan Walton for their assistance this year and presented each person with a thank-you gift.
Review and Approval of Minutes:
The minutes of the April 21, 2008 meeting were approved as written.
Headmaster’s Report:
Dick Heath distributed copies of information pertaining to the graduating seniors, including the colleges they have chosen and the senior experiences they are conducting. Also included was a listing of which schools accepted Sandia Prep seniors, and which schools the students chose to attend (see attachment). Dick said that thirty-three of the ninety-four graduating seniors have chosen colleges in the western states, with ten students destined for Midwest colleges, ten seniors going to the Northeast and 31 staying in the Southwest states, including nineteen who have chosen to attend UNM (as compared to thirty last year). The colleges competed for the students by offering merit money, to offset the cost of tuition, in order to attract students. Most students applied to eight to ten schools. Because the schools are looking at their yield of students from different areas, they may still have empty seats and seniors may receive additional acceptance notices from colleges by mid-July. One student was offered $12,000 in merit aid for a school where they didn’t even apply. Dick said the report shows an interesting mix of schools and incentives. He reminded parents not to put savings in the child’s name since the schools look first at the assets in the student’s name and then the parent’s assets when they are offering financial incentives. The college counselors, including Bruce Hammond who is leaving Prep, are very helpful in working with Prep’s seniors to find financial aid or with counseling those students who are not certain about which colleges they might want to attend. This year six seniors were awarded athletic scholarships from their chosen schools.
The senior experiences were extremely diverse this year. Ten years ago, there were seventy graduates and twenty of them worked in law offices. This year, only two chose a legal experience. Many more students chose to work in the outdoors and many chose to work in medicine or research. Ten chose to work in business, and eight in social work. There was even a musical group that toured the southwest. All seniors will be back on campus on Friday, which is also Yearbook day (May 23).
If our baseball team does well in the state tournament, they may be playing in Isotope Park on Yearbook Day as well. Lorenzo Baca won state in Men’s 3A Division tennis, which was a first for the school. Bronson Duran was state champion in the Division 3A 800-meter run and also broke the school record.
The school is losing some faculty. Anton Brecek is going to teach English at Hope Christian. Peter Goss is returning to teach English and Kate Clarke is returning to the library after a leave of absence. B.J. Firestone is retiring from the library. Prep is hiring two new part-time library assistants who will be known as “rovers,” helping students where needed. Lynn Kozikowski is taking a one-year leave of absence and the school has hired a wonderful art teacher from Guadalajara, Mexico named Jessica Krichels. In the college counseling program, Bruce Hammond is already in China, at a school where he will work with graduating seniors applying to U.S. colleges. He will continue work on his Web sites and consulting to Prep. The other two counselors, Mary Anne Modzelewski and Dave Schindel, will reduce their class load to only one class each and Dick will also counsel a few seniors.
Dick said that the construction of the new Field House is nearing completion. It was supposed to be finished this week, but the wood floors have been holding things up, as the wood needed to dry and the floor must be finished in multiple stages. The lockers for the dressing rooms are being custom fabricated from sheet metal and the bleachers still need to be assembled. The parking lot is nearly finished and Prep intends to run SummerPrep from that location, using the new parking lot for drop-off and pick-up. June 4, the Wednesday after graduation, is the due date for bids on the new Performing Arts Center. After Prep accepts a bid, the new contractor has three weeks to start and a twelve-month contract to complete the building. Dick is anticipating a start date of July 1. This will leave a hole in the center of campus during the yearlong construction process. Previous students are asking for pieces of the old wood floor from the East Gym, which will be demolished soon, so the school will figure out some way to handle that.
Dick announced that 85 6th grade students have been admitted for the fall. It works well to have 5 sections of 17 each. There are 4 more girls than boys. Thirty-eight of the students are from non-public schools. The 85 students represent 39 schools: eight are new schools for Prep admissions. Thirty-eight of the new students represent minorities (44% of the entering class). Last year’s class had 39 minority students out of the 90 new students (also 44%). Grade nine has admitted 18 new students (of which 9 are minorities) and the ninth grade will have six sections of students instead of five, for a total of 99 students. This year’s ninth grade class had 108 students. Dick also presented figures for enrollment, attrition and tuition costs for 2003 through the next school year (2008-2009). The enrollment figures have remained fairly constant with an average 1% increase per year, and the school is currently at 666 students enrolled. The goal is to stay at about 670 students, with the small percentage of increased enrolment being offset by some students who may not be invited to return after finals. The attrition rate is low, averaging 4% during this time period, which shows that students and parents are happy with the school. Tuition has increased an average of 6% per year, to the current $14,700 for the next school year.
Dick asked if there were any questions and Laurie Hall asked about the drop-off area in the new parking lot. Dick said that there would be both an entrance and exit (drive through area) on the east end of the parking lot. The lot is paved and should be striped this week with 75 new parking spots. The official opening of the new building will be the Sunday after school reopens (August 17), as well as some type of opening ceremony for the students on the first Friday that school is open (August 15). The enormous, new fitness room will be open to the public this summer from 4:00 -9:00 p.m. daily, Monday through Friday, from June 2 through July 31. Brian Arndt (P.E. coach Lindsey Day’s brother who is CPR-certified) has been hired to staff the fitness room for the summer months.
Treasurer’s Report:
Linda Kier passed out 2 documents: the April activity, and a budget for YTD activity and the 2008-2009 budget. April showed $1,619 in income and only $400 in expenses. In May, we have an unexpected expense on the Parent’s Guide, which has gone from a budgeted $1,300 to $2,290. Susan Walton said the cost increase is due to ordering a two-year supply of books (enough for all SPS families this fall and for all new families in fall 2009) as well as a price increase by the publishers. Tamie said that Yearbook Day would have good sales from the Supply Store, selling items for signing the yearbooks. Linda said that the balance in the Supply Store account would have additional money to move out so that the PA should have more money to gift than was currently budgeted.
Linda said that it is very hard to plan a budget for the Supply Store, but that they did make more income this year due to the sales of film. The budget for next year will be $30,000 total income for the store. Some of the PA sponsored events have not had an increase in their budgets for several years. Homecoming expenses have been left the same, but they have been receiving more donations that help cover their costs. Grandparents Day has been increased by 6%, and the 8th Grade Dinner Dance and Faculty Appreciation Luncheons have been increased by 6% as well. The last 2 events have a $25 difference in funding on the budget, but the PA would like to make them funded equally at $2250.
Joanne asked for a vote and the Parents Association approved the budget, with the increase of $25 for the 8th Grade Dinner Dance.
Joanne said that total amount to gift was not certain, because there appeared to be more income than anticipated. Some of the budgeted gifts to the school have already been made and the PA did have the funds to cover those items included as line items on the 2007-2008 budget. That includes the Community of Concern Parent’s Guide books given to parents ($2,290), the faculty planners ($394), the $2,000 to the library fund and $1,000 for the faculty coffee fund. Those items total $5,684. The Richard L. Heath Speaker Series Endowment Fund is proposed to receive $3,500. Joanne proposed a gift of $500 for the 6th/7th Grade Anasazi Garden (for summer care) and $7,500 for 2 new security gates at the Field House, to be made in August 2008. She requested that a plaque be placed on the gates, noting that they were a gift from the Parents Association. The latter two gifts total $8,000, of which we have $7,000 available, but she believes the other $1,000 will be available once all the accounting is completed. Joanne asked for a vote to fund the proposed gifts to the school. The Parents Association approved the proposed gifts.
Committee Reports:
Supply Store: Tamie reported that everything in the Supply Store was going great. Only one volunteer was leaving this year. She had spent that morning ordering supplies with the wholesaler for the Back to School supply sale, which will be on Monday, August 11, 2008. The sale will be open for new students only in the morning, and opens to returning students that afternoon. The supply store would have a sale this Friday of supplies for signing yearbooks, as well as other discounted merchandise. Also, she asked parents to remind students to buy their blue books in advance for next week’s finals. The store will maintain a regular schedule during this last week of school. During finals week, they will only be open for forty-five minutes prior to each exam. Monies left in students’ supply store accounts will roll over to the next school year. Seniors’ families can opt to receive a check for the balance left in their account, or turn it over to a sibling’s account. It has been a great year for the store and the income is slightly increased. She would like to thank all the volunteers who helped with Supply Store during the year.
8th Grade Dinner Dance: Joanne reported for Mary Stiff that the dance was a tropical theme this year and they had good attendance. They used a lot of pretty “new” plants for decoration, but unfortunately they were borrowed and returned after the party. Cathy Dexter added that there were a lot of decorations that the parents should be able to use for other events, by recycling or repainting.
Faculty/Staff Appreciation Luncheon: Laurie Hall reported that they were ready for the luncheon on Friday, May 30. She has enough volunteers to work, but would still need some desserts. They will begin to set-up at 10:00 a.m., and should be done with clean up by 2:30 p.m. Laurie said there were plenty of napkins, but the PA closet was out of plates and cups and they would need to purchase them. Susan Walton said there were Styrofoam cups downstairs. Susan asked if the Jazz Club reception could have the punch and drinks left over in the PA closet. Although the Jazz Club reception is not a PA sponsored event, the decision was made to donate the drinks so that they would not be spoiled by summer storage. Joanne presented a gift to thank Laurie Hall for her volunteer work this year.
Graduation Reception: Cathy Dexter reported that the Parents Association funds a reception in the Quad immediately following the graduation ceremony. It is well attended by students and their families. They serve punch and mini-sandwiches. They have ordered imprinted napkins with “Sandia Prep, Class of 2008”. They only need 4-5 volunteers to help replenish the punch and serving trays for this really nice event. Joanne presented a gift to Cathy Dexter to thank her for her volunteer work this year.
Joanne presented a gift to Kerry Kinnick in appreciation for managing the PA closet this year.
New Business:
Parent Get-Togethers: Joanne said that Linda Byrd is in charge of the grade level parent get-togethers for the fall. She already has volunteers for hosting two of the grades. If anyone is interested in hosting a parent reception, please contact Linda.
Snow Cone Machine: Anne Sapon reported that the snow cone machine had arrived and needed to be assembled for use on Friday. She and Trish Bennet planned to assemble it that afternoon. Anne would make a checklist on how to order supplies and ice, and also how the machine should be cleaned after each use. She will be the contact person for using the machine. Joanne said that the snow cone machine was a donation to the school, using $1,368, which was left over from the Homecoming budget.
Tamie asked if leftover sets and decorations could be stored somewhere else outside the cage. It is getting very crowded and the space should be reserved for things that are valuable and might be stolen. Dick said that some items could be stored outside the cage, or disposed of. Also, Tamie asked if parents knew that they should send some money with students on Yearbook Day to purchase extra food. The grill items and snow cones would be free. Anne said she might need some help making snow cones.
Dick estimated that the assembly on Yearbook Day would let out about 9:30 a.m. or so. In response to a question from Laurie Hall regarding finals week, Dick said that students would not be allowed to leave campus for lunch if they have two finals on the same day. Parents may come to school and sign students out, but Dick discouraged parents from doing that unless it’s really necessary. The schedule for finals will remain the same: periods one and two on the first day of finals, periods three and four on the second day, etc. Finals are Tuesday through Friday, May 27-30.
Margaret said that during the past spring, the Booster Club has sold concessions at different athletic events. They would like to continue doing this over the summer months as a fundraiser. Interested parents could contact Margaret Duran or Linda Benavides. Students can help with concessions sales, but there must always be an adult present to supervise. It is totally volunteer work. The AAU basketball tournament will be held in the West Gym. The new concessions area in the Field House cannot be used until it is outfitted with equipment and cabinets. Dick acknowledged that the equipment was not available at this time. He indicated that if the Booster Club could not supply concession equipment for the Field House, the school would try and take care of it.
Joanne thanked all the committee chairs who met earlier that morning and turned over their notebooks. If new chairpersons have not met with their predecessors, please make plans to meet. Also, please turn in any remaining committee reports to Joanne.
Joanne introduced the new Executive Committee for the 2008-2009 school year.
President- Margaret Garcia de Duran
1st VP (President-Elect)- Anne Sapon
2nd VP (Programs/General Meetings)- Linda Byrd
3rd VP (Mailings/Public Relations)- Shawne Blackburn
4th VP (Membership/Nomination Coordinator)- Cathy Taylor / Trish Bennett
5th VP (Supply Store Chairperson)- Joanne Schiabor
Secretary- Martye Womble
Treasurer-Linda Kier
Meeting Adjourned: 1:00 p.m.
Next Meeting: Schedule for the next year’s meetings to be set by President Margaret Duran. The first meeting will be held in August 2008.
Submitted by Catherine Taylor