Minutes from the PA Executive Board 10/1/03 - Horace Mann School

HORACE MANN PARENTS ASSOCIATIONExecutive Board Meeting MinutesOctober 1, 2003A meeting of the Executive Board of the Horace Mann Parents Association was held onWednesday, October 1, 2003, in Room 132 Tillinghast.Attendees: Shari Adler, Judy Balsam, Barbara Weinstein Bernstein, Vivian Bernstein, LaurenBloom, Eui Yul Choi, Linda Ferber, Mindy Fleder, Cynthia Viole Frankel, Wendy Gold, LissaGoldberg, Ellen Hefter, Janis Heller, Mindy Heyer, Chris Holo, Jayne Janis, Farrah Kleiner,Lynn Koch, Suzan Kremer, Mark Langfan, Janifer Lighten, Ellen Lowey, Andrea Lustig, PattyManoff, Ronnie Parker, Lori Reinsberg, Elizabeth Rile, Elena Rothfeld, Joanna Sirulnick, SusanSteele, Wendy Stenberg, Pam Stuchin, Ock-Hwa Sung, Shari Turner, Edyse Vogel, Julia Wyatt,Janis Yoss, Mariko Zeitlin, Lisa Braunstein ZolaLinda Mandel, Eileen Mullady, Steve Tobolsky, Larry Weiss1. The meeting was called to order at 9:35 am by Parents Association President BarbaraWeinstein Bernstein. In a warm welcome she introduced the new officers of the ExecutiveBoard: Ronnie Parker, 1 st Vice-President; Janis Yoss, 2 nd Vice-President; Mariko Zeitlin,Secretary; Chris Holo, Treasurer; and Julia Wyatt, Assistant Treasurer. She gave a specialthanks to Linda Mandel, our Administrative Liaison and “the behind-the-scenes engine of thePA.”2. First Vice-President Ronnie Parker expressed her gratitude toward Lisa Fuld and CindyScheinfeld for the timely and expert production of the 2003-2004 HM Directory, which wasdistributed in August. She said that it was the most comprehensive and attractive directorywe have ever produced. She also gave a big thanks to Michelle Gluckow for her invaluablehelp with the printing of the books.3. Second Vice-President Janis Yoss introduced the chairs of the 2004 Benefit Committee:Shari Adler, Linda Ferber, Lissa Goldberg, Marla Helene, and Suzan Kremer. The Benefitwill be held on April 28, 2004, in the new Mandarin Oriental Hotel in the Time WarnerBuilding. The theme for this year’s Benefit is “The Year of the Teacher,” which parallels theoverall theme of the PA’s activities for 2003-2004. Janis and the chairs are very excited tobe a major part of this effort to express appreciation for the faculty. Janis hopes that manyparents, both new and existing, will attend the kick-off Benefit meeting at 10:00 am onOctober 27, 2003, at Suzan Kremer’s house, and help plan and carry out this importantevent. Everyone is welcome and any help is meaningful and appreciated.For the first time ever, the PA will underwrite the cost of the Benefit tickets for facultymembers and their spouses. This will be a sizable expense and anyone with ideas for helpingto raise these funds should please contact Janis. One idea which we are currently exploringis the marketing of HM logo merchandise at Homecoming and other major HM events.Because the event is centered on teacher appreciation, an essential new sub-committeecomprised of parents and teachers will be formed to devise activities to make the teachers1

feel welcome and valued. If anyone would like to join this important group, please contactJanis or one of the Benefit chairs.Janis said that we will once again hold a portion of the Benefit auction online. This was ahuge success last year, raising over $70,000 in the first online auction alone. One item thatwill be offered in the next month is tickets to the Aerosmith concert in November.4. Head of School Eileen Mullady wished good luck to all the new PA chairs for 2003-2004.She loves the theme of The Year of the Teacher and hopes that parents and faculty will lookforward to the Benefit. This was her first school opening without construction in 6 years andit went extremely smoothly. She feels that last year was still a recovery year from 9/11 andthis year it feels like students, faculty, and parents have “moved on.”Finding a replacement for Marian Linden is one of Dr. Mullady’s major responsibilities forthe year. The search will be both internal and external. In the next two weeks, the schoolwill place ads in major publications soliciting applicants. By January, she hopes to start theinterview process for the best candidates. Her goal is to select a new Head of MiddleDivision by late February or early March so that there is sufficient time to ensure a smoothtransition.2004 will be Horace Mann’s five-year NYSAIS check-up for accreditation as an independentschool in New York State. Dr. Mullady must write a report showing that the school hasfollowed up on any recommendations made by the NYSAIS team five years ago. She isexcited to use this report as an opportunity to “hang out” in the classrooms, just as she didlast year during her odyssey of all the grades. She will submit the completed report in fall,2004.5. Treasurer Chris Holo outlined the financial procedures for all members of the PA. They areas follows:All expenses must be pre-approved. Chris will handle all Upper and Middle Divisiontransactions, while Julia Wyatt will process all Nursery and Lower Division transactions.We typically do not have a specific budget for each event, however Chris would be happy tofurnish any chair with a report which outlines past expenditures for the given event. Whenrequesting approval, please furnish an original invoice from the vendor and allow at least 2weeks for approval. Once it is received, Chris or Julia will give you a Purchase Order tosend to the vendor. Once you receive the invoice from the vendor, submit a Check RequestForm, which must be signed by the PA division chair and vice chair. When makingpurchases, please make sure to use our NY State tax-exempt form. We do not have taxexemptstatus in New Jersey. Please do not pay for items personally as it becomes difficultto track event spending.The PA’s goal is to spend as little money as possible. We cannot pay for express deliveryservice. Please use the school’s facilities for photocopying as we cannot reimburse for this.If your event requires art supplies, try to obtain them from the school’s art department. Allfood should be requisitioned from school. Mailings should be arranged through LindaMandel. We are not allowed to tip any member of the HM staff because it is against schoolpolicy.2

Please submit any cash or checks collected during an event as soon as possible, using a CashReceipts Form. All checks must be made payable to “Horace Mann School – ParentsAssociation.” If a check is mistakenly made out to you, please sign it over to the PA beforeyou submit it. Chris must approve all event ticket prices in advance.If you ever need any form or have any questions, please contact Julia or Chris.6. Lower Division Head Steve Tobolsky announced that, as of this morning, 618 people hadsigned up for the Howard Gardner Lecture. He is extremely pleased that there will be such alarge turnout for this interesting, educational event.He believes that the most interesting news to share concerns the development of the newHorace Mann website. One year ago, a small web team was formed to find an outsidecompany to design and operate our website, which had originally been designed and run byour students. The company selected was Magic Hour Communications. So far they havecreated an elegant architecture for our website with a different pathway for each of oursubsets of users (students, teachers, parents, etc.). Right now, the company is developing 3 –4 different graphic designs for our home page, from which our web team will select afavorite. The next step will be training the teachers, administrators, and certain PA membershow to use Magic Hour’s proprietary content management software, MagicWand. Dr.Tobolsky’s goal is for teachers to have class pages on the website. He hopes that the webpages will become an important interactive part – an extension, not a replacement - of theclassroom experience.Dr. Tobolsky is very excited about the new Center For Exemplary Teaching, of which he wasrecently named head. It is a three-year pilot project to enhance the professional developmentof the faculty. This development will take place through two types of connections: digital,which was discussed above, and professional. The latter connections will occur throughmeetings with faculty of peer schools in NYC and the surrounding area. The subjects,participants, and venues will vary from meeting to meeting, but each gathering will stimulatediscussion and the exchanging of ideas on important topics in education today. The HowardGardner lecture is the kick-off event for this new center.7. Upper Division Head Larry Weiss said that feedback from the faculty was that this was thesmoothest school opening ever. After a period of extraordinary change, in which the MiddleSchool was separated from the Upper School and the school facilities underwent majorconstruction, we are now in a period of optimizing what we currently have. Areas which hehas targeted for improvement include faculty evaluation, the advising system, and thetransition between Middle and Upper School. Although the college admissions process hasbeen getting more and more competitive, he believes that our students were very successfulthis past year. Our ninth grade applications were up significantly last year as was theschool’s admissions yield. He expects this pattern to continue as his goal is that HoraceMann “should be the best school in New York.”Dr. Weiss expressed his gratitude toward the PA for taking a major role in sponsoring theHoward Gardner Lecture. If the event is successful, he hopes that it will become part of aneducational series that is offered at the beginning of each year.3

8. Barbara Weinstein Bernstein said that so far the PA has had a wonderful year of peopleworking together in a rewarding and fulfilling way. Barbara presented her vision of the PA,which she has dubbed the “FCC,” for Fundraising, Communication and Communitybuilding.Traditionally, PA fundraising has been a powerful and effective effort, however, Barbara stillsees new areas for potential growth. One area that has expanded dramatically over past fewyears is Textbook Recycling. Thanks to the efforts of Pam Stuchin, Wendy Kahn, DaleCohen, Elena Sisti, Leora Schmidt, Claudia Covo, and Lynn Aidala, we raised over $14,000this year. Another area for growth is HM Merchandising, which is not offered in anyconsistent or comprehensive way at the moment. As we learned from Janis earlier, we aretrying out the sale of a few key items at major events like Homecoming. Eventually, wewould like to sell a comprehensive array of merchandise on the web. Our RetailMerchandising Online effort also has significant upside if we can increase traffic through oursite and the number of quality merchants with which we have profit-sharing agreements.Barbara gave a special thanks to Daphne Kis, Shari Turner, and Edyse Vogel for their hardwork in this area. Our Annual Benefit remains our major fundraiser for the year. Barbarahopes that we can increase our proceeds by increasing parent participation in givingdonations, advertising and in the organization of the event. Most importantly, however, she4

hopes that more people will simply come and enjoy the Benefit, as it is the biggest party ofthe year.Facilitating communication between HM and parents has emerged as an important role forthe PA. Barbara said she was very pleased with the successful test run of the emergencynotification chain. She gave a big thanks to the division Notification Chairs, Mindy Fleder,Lynette Federer, Sheryl Jassen, and Ellen Lowey as well as to the Class Parents, GradeRepresentatives, and Mariko Zeitlin for their hard work in compiling the contact informationinto a working chain. It was the first time the notification chain was up and running, with allcontact information verified, by September 15. Given the importance of timely emergencynotification, over the summer we helped the school implement an automated voicebroadcasting system. Because the school must pay on a per call basis, for the moment theVBS will be used solely for closures which occur while school is in session. Barbarathanked Janis for the handy credit card-sized emergency notification cards which weredistributed over the summer. It was suggested that we consider giving out refrigeratormagnets imprinted with similar information and that we should also add the hotlines of thevarious bus companies and the phone numbers to call when a child is absent from school.Community building is Barbara’s priority for development and what she considers to be akey role of the PA. One of her major goals for the year is to do a better job welcoming newparents into the PA and hopefully enticing them to take an active role. As the face of theparent body, she wants the PA to be a welcoming, all-accepting family, where any parent canfeel comfortable. It is important that everybody be allowed to contribute and feel included,regardless of his or her resources or available free time.Like many who spoke before her, Barbara is excited about the Gardner lecture. It will be thefirst all-school event in Gross Theatre. She gave a big thanks to Tenth Grade parent BarryMarcus for contacting Dr. Gardner and setting the ball in motion for this great event.Barbara is also very excited about the overall PA theme of The Year of the Teacher. As partof this effort, we are forming a Teacher Appreciation Committee on the Executive Board.Members will be the chief architects of PA activities to honor the faculty. Anyone interestedin joining this committee, please contact Mariko Zeitlin. Everyone is welcome (you need notalready be a member of the Executive Board).Barbara is very pleased with the recent revamping of the PA website. She said that it wasboth user-friendly and functional and gave thanks to Robin Raskin, Kaare Christian, RobinAufses, Marjorie Kuhn, Lisa Fuld and Cindy Scheinfeld. We are trying to brainstorm ideasfor getting more people to visit and use the website. One idea we may try is mailing outmousepads imprinted with the web address. She hopes that everyone will visit the websiteand especially take a look at the new Student Services link, which Andrea Himmel has spenta great deal of time on, and is a great resource for parents looking for talented help. Any PAchair wishing to add information to the website should first have it approved by the divisionPA chair. After approval, information relating to Nursery or Lower Division should be sentto Cindy Scheinfeld, and information that relating to Upper, Middle, or all-school should besent to Lisa Fuld.5

9. Upper Division Chair Pam Stuchin said that she was thrilled with the great success ofTextbook Recycling. After spending the summer revamping the site, the team earned backover 3 times what it spent. Profits go to what she calls the “great equalizer in the school,” theStudent Assistance Fund. This fund enables students, who normally would not have theresources, to participate in activities such as prom, by paying for everything from the ticketto their share of the limo so that they do not feel left behind in any way. She gave a bigthanks to Cathy Rubin, Wendy Kahn, Leora Schmidt, and Elena Sisti.The Upper Division has a full calendar of upcoming events. The first U/M PA meeting willtake place on October 24, immediately following the Coffee Hour with Marian Linden. TheLD Support Group will meet on October 21. At this meeting, Dr. Barbara Tischler will bediscussing college application and college support systems. The Meet the Faculty nights arecoming up shortly, starting with Ninth and Tenth Grade on October 2. The last big event inOctober is Homecoming on October 25.10. Middle Division Co-Chair Cynthia Viole Frankel said that the biggest issue in her divisionis the upcoming retirement of Marian Linden. Cynthia and Co-Chair Lauren Bloom will beworking with Dr. Linden to ensure that the transition goes as smoothly as possible.Cynthia reported on the upcoming activities in the Middle Division. Meet the Faculty nightswill occur on October 9 for Eighth Grade and October 16 for Sixth and Seventh Grade. Thestart time for these events has been changed to 6:00 pm - refreshments and 6:30 pm - start ofprogram. Parents-in-Action meetings will begin with the Eighth Grade on October 22 atDebra Tanger’s. The schedule for P-I-A will be distributed shortly. Parent Visiting Daysare also coming up shortly, with Eighth Grade on November 6, Sixth Grade on November 7and Seventh Grade on November 14.Cynthia said that she and Lauren are looking for a few people to serve as Middle DivisionBenefit Representatives. If you have any thoughts or suggestions (or want to volunteeryourself!), please call them.11. Lower Division Chair Patty Manoff said that she was very pleased with the smooth start ofthe year in the Lower School. The first Parent Coffee Hour with Dr. Tobolsky will occur onOctober 3. Her PA board has started work on its Halloween Wonder Walk and Fall Party.They are also planning for the Family Caring In Action Day on December 13. This day willinclude both offsite and onsite activities to foster community-giving as well as the Book Fair,which begins at 12:00 pm. Work continues on fundraisers, such as merchandising and videosales, and important community-building efforts, such as Parent Outreach.12. Nursery Division Chair Ellen Lowey was pleased to announce that her division had 50 to 60new families this year. In fact, so many parents have attended the Parent Coffee Hours thatthey have been forced to search for a new venue with greater space. Ellen gave specialthanks to Nursery Division Community Service Chairs Shari Adler, Julie Gaynor and StacyKuhn. Thanks to their efforts, the Nursery Division has formed a partnership with theChildren’s Storefront School, an independent nursery thru 8 th grade school located at 129 thStreet in Harlem. The school will be the chief recipient of the division’s fundraising. Whatis exciting is that it is a true partnership, where both groups of children, both HM and CSS,6

will work together and give together. Dr. Zuroski is also working on a teacher exchange withthe school.Ellen reported on upcoming Nursery Division events. The Book Fair will be held onNovember 22. She said that traditionally they have always been lucky to have a family orbusiness willing to donate the food for this event. If anyone has ideas of a possible donor,please contact Ellen. On January 6, there will be another test run of the emergencynotification system. Ellen thinks that it is an important test of the chain as well as a goodopportunity to collect any changed contact numbers. At the moment, the Nursery classes areworking on a quilting project for a Nursery banner for Homecoming.13. Homecoming Liaison Jayne Janis reported on Homecoming. It will take place on October25. There will be family activities from 10:00 am – 2:30 pm. The athletics also begin at10:00 am. A complete schedule is available on the PA website. The festivities will includea parade of each division at halftime, something she hopes will become a school tradition.Jayne is looking for volunteers to help in the family activities tent. You can help set up from8:30 – 10:00 am or help in the tent from 10:00 – 2:30 pm. Anyone interested, please contactJayne. Jayne gave special thanks to Mindy Heyer, who is her right arm for this fun event.14. Barbara Weinstein Bernstein apologized that we did not have time for all committee chairsto provide updates. We will provide updates throughout the year on the website. Shethanked everyone for their participation. There being no further business, the meeting wasadjourned at 11:29 pm.Respectfully Submitted,Mariko Zeitlin7