October 2024 PTO Meeting Summary // La Minuta de la Reunión PTO de Octubre 2024

Participants

Presentation Slides

Mr. Kent’s Presentation

Meeting Details

Welcome

• Meeting called to order 6:33 pm by Anana PTO President Angela Golden
• Icebreaker: What is a food that you disliked as a child that you love as an adult?
  • Lasagna, baked potatoes, onions, green beans, brussels sprouts, Swiss cheese, avocados, bacon and meats, guacamole, beets, vegetables, salmon and fish, cottage cheese
• We have a very full meeting planned

Principal’s Upate

• Anana Elementary continues to be a growing school
• Anana is one of the schools being considered in the upcoming referenda
  • Information about the referenda is available on the school district website (https://www.madison.k12.wi.us/about/2024-referenda)
  • The referenda are aiming to enhance the existing school
• Recently, the district completed the third Friday count day (annual student count day in Wisconsin conducted by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction)
  • This is a count related to enrollment which informs funding and staffing needs
  • At completion of this count, Anana Elementary gained one staff allocation for Kindergarten and lost a Special Education allocation
  • The school was able to move a teacher from Special Education to Kindergarten
  • The new Kindergarten classroom began yesterday (Monday, October 7); 16 students were moved to a new Kindergarten teacher
  • Smaller Kindergarten classrooms will help to focus on early literacy
  • The count occurred while Principal Elliot was on leave; Dr. Deborah Hoffman, Associate Superintendent of Elementary Schools helped to navigate the changes due to the count
  • A formula is used to determine how special education is allocated for each school

Drop In Speaker: Melissa Bennett

• Melissa Bennett presented on the upcoming referenda as a referendum committee volunteer
• There are two upcoming referenda; one relates to operations and the other to facilities
• Operations Referendum
  • $100 million over four years
  • Sustaining and building on staffing
  • Supports attracting good teachers and staff by offering competitive salaries and benefits
  • Improves access to behavioral and mental health services to students
  • Focus on early learning opportunities (e.g., full day 4k programs)
• Facilities Referendum
  • $507 million over 23 years
  • Focused on making improvements to the facilities of schools that need it the most
  • Improved heating and cooling systems
  • Modernizing spaces
  • Improving accessibility (i.e., ADA compliance)
• Funds to support the referenda would come through property taxes
• 192 districts are going to referendum this year because of how schools are funded
• Important to prioritize public school funding
• Educational sessions on the referenda will be held on October 22 at 6 pm (virtual; register here: https://www.madison.k12.wi.us/about/2024-referenda/october-22-virtual-information-session-sign-up) and October 28 at 4:30 pm (in-person; Doyle Administration Building Auditorium – 545 West Dayton Street)
• The MMSD website includes a calculator so that you can see your individual tax impact over the next four years
• Melissa brought yard signs that can be used to show support for the referenda. If you would like a yard sign, please contact Melissa or the PTO Board.

Meet Mr. Jason Kent: Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) Culture Coach

• Mr. Kent has worked at Anana for several years; prior to that, he worked at Leopold Elementary and lived in Denver before that
• Mr. Kent has two children, ages 2 and 8 months. His partner is the Principal at Kennedy Elementary. He also has a dog
• As a Culture Coach, Mr. Kent works to provide proactive support to students at Anana
• His work focuses on Social Emotional Learning (SEL), which teaches and develops tools and skills to be successful in social interactions
• In his work with students, Mr. Kent focuses on the Anana Attributes, which are a set of community norms and values, not just arbitrary rules
• For SEL, uses CREW curriculum
  • Weekly lessons
  • Unpacking Anana Attributes
  • Use of anchor charts that teachers make with students
  • Note that what an attribute means to us may differ depending on how we experience the world through the lens of our own identities (e.g., race/ethnicity, gender, age); for example, our individual lens of what “respect” is may be different from someone else’s
  • Discussion of attributes: What does the attribute mean to us? Why is it important? Why do values help us to coexist together?
  • What might each attribute look like in different settings (e.g., playground, classroom, cafeteria, at home)?
• You can contact Mr. Kent at [email protected] with any other questions
• Question from a PTO member: Do staff work through these attributes with each other (e.g., discuss what each means, why they’re important)? How do staff embody the attributes?
  • Noted that this would be a good exercise for staff; appreciation of the idea for staff to reflect on the attributes. Also, staff could reflect on learning they’ve gained through the year and how that changes their understanding of the attributes
  • The Anana Attributes were cocreated by staff
• Principal Elliot added the following:
  • There is a “Scholar of the Week” to highlight and celebrate students who embody the Anana Attributes
  • In the weekly staff newsletter, staff can nominate colleagues who embody the Anana Attributes
  • This is the second year of using the Anana Attributes, so they are still learning and fine tuning
  • There will soon be new banners throughout the school in Spanish and English that feature the Anana Attributes
• Each month has a focus attribute
  • The focus attribute can be used to drive how points are scored in Class Dojo
  • When giving feedback to students, use language that is specific to the attribute – for example, rather than saying “you did a good job” say “that was very responsible of you”
• Comment from PTO member: It would be helpful to have ideas for how to incorporate the Anana Attributes at home; are there tools to use?
  • Principal Elliot mentioned that information will be sent in the monthly newsletter to families and that information can also be added to Class Dojo
• Comment from PTO member: It would be great to receive information on why students are nominated for Crew Member of the week; this can help to build kids up and to reinforce values at home
  • Mr. Kent said that they would like to get this information out to families to help celebrate students. Currently, a certificate is sent home; in the future that certificate could include the specific attribute for which the student is recognized. Typically the nominations are for the attribute of the month.
  • Comment from PTO member: Specificity is helpful; this can help to make a specific connection for kids between the recognition and their actions. Tangible examples are easier for kids to grasp and can help them to apply the attributes.
  • Comment from PTO member: It would be helpful to receive a list of suggested activities to reinforce the attributes at home.
• Principal Elliot added that the attributes could be infused into the PTO; this is an opportunity to bridge the home to school connection
• Mr. Kent stated that he can share language/examples that you can use at home to reinforce the attributes (e.g., one way to encourage being responsible at school is…)
• Principal Elliot created a list of points of what each attribute could look like; this list is transferrable to school and home
• There is a full time Schools of Hope volunteer who coordinates volunteers at the school; these volunteers could assist with Crew Member of the week certificates

Question from PTO member: Could the PTO meeting be modeled after a CREW meeting?

• Treasurer’s Report
• Recent Fundraising
  • Anana Dash Sponsorships ($1,755)
  • Platinum-level Sponsors ($500): McDermott’s Service and Repair and Envision IT
  • Gold-level Sponsors ($250): Preiser Family in Honor of Michelle-Nelson Schmidt
  • Silver-level Sponsors ($100): Prairie Hills Neighborhood Association, Matt Winzenried Real Estate Partners, Orthodontic Specialists of Madison, Mendota Springs Dentistry
• Recent Projects Funded
  • Staff ad hoc requests (~$400); as of the meeting, there have been five requests including things such as a rocking chair, stools for the classroom, binders, folders, and a bookshelf
  • Treasure Chest for Anana Crew Member of the Week (Shout out from Mr. Kent for providing this for students)
• Upcoming Expenses
  • Anana Dash
  • Staff Grants and Ad Hoc Staff Funding Requests
  • Family Engagement Events
• BoxTops for Education is an ongoing fundraiser. As of the meeting, we have raised $32
  • Download the app, scan receipts (or upload digital receipts)
  • Friends and family can also support the PTO using the appff Funding Requests
  • One member asked about how BoxTops for Education information can be shared more widely with the school community. The PTO has a pinned post on Facebook and can repost it. It could also be included on ClassDojo or in the Family Newsletter.

Upcoming Events

• Anana Dash
  • This year’s Anana Dash fun run for students and staff will take place on Friday, October 11, 2024 (Rain date: October 18)
  • Students and staff will spend 20 minutes completing laps (e.g., running, walking, rolling)
  • Students will continue to collect pledges through Friday, October 18
  • There will be an all-school prize (pajama day party) if we meet our fundraising goals
  • We’ll need help from 8:30 am to 12:15 pm on the day of the Anana Dash
  • Please sign up to help at the Anana Dash at https://bit.ly/AnanaDash2024
  • Initial field setup at the school will take place on Thursday, October 10 at 5:30 pm – please join us if you can!
  • Looked at trends in fundraising between this year’s Anana Dash and the Anana Dash the last two years; as of the meeting date, we are ahead of where we were in 2022 but behind where we were last year (note that last year was an anomaly as the Anana Dash was delayed due to rain, so there was additional fundraising time)
• Election Bakesale
  • Tuesday, November 5, 7:00 am – 8:00 pm
  • Note that there is no school this day
  • We need volunteers to provide baked goods and to work the booth
  • Please sign up to help at https://bit.ly/2024FallBakeSale
  • In the past, items at the bake sale have been priced from $1-$5. There was a suggestion from a Board Member that we could ask for a flat donation. PTO members were invited to weigh-in on this suggestion.
    • One PTO member mentioned that this may be harder to implement in practice; for example, people don’t want to think about how much they should pay (e.g., concerns about decision fatigue)
    • The suggestion came from an observation that another group using this approach appeared to make more in fundraising.
    • Could consider moving forward with this approach and list a “suggested donation” per item
    • PTO Board will revisit this and will decide
• Otis Spunkmeyer Fundraiser
  • New fundraiser this year
  • Students will collect orders from November 6-20; product delivery will be the week of December 16
  • The flyer includes cookies, cheesecake, pizza, brownies; online there are more than 800 items
  • Funds raised will support staff grants
  • Products will be delivered to the school
  • This is a way to diversify our fundraising coming out of the Anana dash
  • PTO member comment: This fundraiser is an opportunity for families of 3k and 4k students to participate in fundraising
• Staff Grants
  • Different from staff ad hoc requests
  • Larger scale funding (e.g., ukuleles for music room, OnStage program for third grade class)
  • We will award up to $3,500 in staff grants
  • Applications are due by Tuesday, November 26
  • Staff will be asked to present their grant requests at the December 10 PTO meeting.

Meeting adjourned ~ 7:32 pm