Minutes of the Northwood HS (NHS) PTSA Meeting
I. Date:
October 15, 2013
II. Opening: Meeting called to order at 7:30pm by PTSA President Liz Dunn with approximately 25 parents,
teachers and students in attendance.
III. Secretary’s Report: Liz Dunn reviewed the Agenda and Sept 2013 Minutes; a motion was made to
approve the Agenda and the Minutes. Motion was seconded and approved by a majority of members.
IV. Student Interview: PTSA VP Danielle Gillon conducted an interview with sophomore Mariana Taitano,
who is the star of NHS upcoming musical production of “Annie”.
V. Principal’s Report: Ms. Charley-Greene discussed and provided the following information:
a.
Slide with recent accomplishments and upcoming important dates
1. Student Directory is complete and is available via Ed-line.
2. First issue of Red & Black, NHS Student newspaper is published. (Several NHS staff will attend a
conference at UMD for training/insight on helping students produce a newspaper)
3. Oct 18 school is closed
4. Oct 22, DCC Choral Concert
5. Oct 23, DCC Orchestra Cluster Concert
6. Oct 31, end of 1st quarter
b.
Parent’s Day feedback
Approximately 50 parents visited NHS classrooms on Oct 14 to observe and see the school in action.
There was a lunch time performance with NHS dance group. Ms. Charley-Greene stated parents are welcome
to observe a class at any time, simply sign-in at the front office and you’ll be directed to the classroom you
wish to visit.
c.
College Readiness Day – Oct 16, 2013
All grades are focused on college by taking the PSAT or a practice PSAT or engaging in college
preparation activities.
1. On Wednesday, Oct 16 all 10th graders take the PSAT.
2. 11th graders also take the PSAT for National Merit Scholarships
3. 11th graders not taking the PSAT take a practice SAT
4. 12th graders were taken by bus to visit local college campuses. About 120 12 th graders decided not
to take advantage of the college visits; those students were engaged in other college readiness activities such
as reviewing college essays.
5. 9th graders took a practice PSAT to have the experience of taking this test.
d.
Student Achievement, Eligibility, Staffing
1. 78% of seniors are in at least one Honors class and 50% of seniors are in at least one AP class. This
semester NHS offers 15 different Advanced Placement courses.
2. NHS has 1503 students with 1128 (75%) being academically eligible to participate in after school related activites (sports, theatre, clubs).
3. An Academic Intervention Plan is in place for the 25% of students who are ineligible. There is an
open slot for a .5 Resource teacher whose focus will be on working with ineligible students.
4. There is an open slot for .2 Musical Theatre teacher
e.
Question & Answers
1. A discussion took place on the Due Date vs Deadline for student submission of assignments. A
couple of years ago NHS changed its policy to make the due date and the deadline the same. MCPS policy is
that there is a due date established by a teacher but also a deadline that allows a student to submit an
assignment after the due date, but a penalty applies (e.g. automatic deduction in the grade). Ms. Charley Greene is working with staff to have a consistent due date/deadline policy that is clearly communicated to the
students. EdLine should have the Due Dates/Deadline dates. Per teachers contracts they have 3 weeks to
update EdLine, although NHS is encouraging teachers to update within 2 weeks.
2. Issue raised of students not doing well on final exams, even though the student did well during the
semester. Per Ms. Charley-Greene, they have begun to review how students are doing using indicators which
allows the teacher to intervene if there is a problem. The summative tests are one of the indicators used.
3. A 9th grade parent was disappointed by the behavior in classrooms visited during Parent’s Day. In
several classrooms visited, students were having open conversations not related to the course material while
the teacher was talking. Parent noted that the teacher had to attempt to teach through this behavior which is
very difficult for the teacher and for the students who were trying to pay attention. Ms. Charley-Greene
acknowledged the problem and stated the 9th graders have the largest percentage of issues/referrals. One
reason for this is that 9th grade is a difficult transition year. The 9th grade administrator, Ms. Smith, began
reaching out during the summer to incoming freshman who had been identified by their middle school as
having referrals. There is an open slot for a .5 Resource teacher who would be working with students with
referrals.
4. A parent asked about communication to parents in the event of a fight at school. Ms. CharleyGreene said a communication is sent to parents only if the event affects the safety of the students. The
number of incidents at NHS falls in the middle of the spectrum of incidents at other MCPS high schools.
VI. President’s Report
a.
Liz reviewed the possible topics for upcoming PTSA meetings
b.
Two Academic Resources were noted:
1. EdLine – if parent’s EdLine account is not activated or you need help, visit Mr. Brennan in the
Media Center and he will help you. He is available to help from 6:45am-2pm.
2. Writing Center – experienced peer tutors and composition assistants are available to help with
writing assignments.
c.
PTSA Fundraising.
PTSA funds are used to support Staff Welcome and Appreciation, Homecoming snacks/water, needs based scholarships, and After-Prom party. The biggest expense is the After-Prom party which will be held at
Dave & Busters and costs ~$18k. PTSA is currently running the Mixed Bags Fundraiser to help support
AfterProm. Catalogs were provided to parents and a there was a display of the types of bags available for
purchase. PTSA gets to keep 50% of proceeds when orders placed through catalog and 40% when orders
placed online. This fundraiser ends on November 2.
VII. Treasurer’s Report
There is currently $15k in account. A deposit of $1k was sent to Dave & Buster’s for AfterProm party.
VIII. Vice President’s Report
Danielle Gillion thanked parents for their support at the Homecoming Dance.
IX. Committee and Communications Reports
a. Fundraising Chair Jim Burke reported on fundraising activities which include:
1. Mixed Bags Fundraiser
2. Online auction will be held in early spring
3. Honey-Baked Ham fundraiser will be before Thanksgiving and Easter
4. Courtyard Brickway project
4. Painless fundraising which includes registering your grocery card with Giant & Safeway, and
turning in Snider’s receipts. Jim noted that the Safeway cards (run through the eScrip program) has made a
change in that we will no longer get credit for purchases made with a credit card.
Advertisements can be placed in the Yearbook which helps to offset the yearbook costs.
b. MCPPTA Delegate Andrea Abrams reported that there are ~50,000 PTA members in Montgomery County,
and the MCPPTA tries to speak with one unified voice on issues affecting students in MCPS. There is also a
county-wide membership competition; NHS needs to increase membership by 13 members to reach the
county goals.
X. Adjournment
Meeting was adjourned at 9:17pm.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Susan Luck