Stuyvesant High School Parents’ Association
General Meeting, September 23, 2003
Minutes Recorded by: Dr. P. Banerjee, Secretary, Stuyvesant P.A.
Meeting was commenced at 6.45 P.M. in the auditorium
Linda Lam, Co-President, gave the introductory speech welcoming old and new parents. Linda mentioned about the November 14-16 college tour for juniors and seniors, about the consultant in college office and the consultant’s role to have individual meeting sessions with the seniors. She also mentioned about the school going back to previous schedule which is less prolonged over the day.
Linda introduced the new PA office bearers.
She announced the PSAT deadline (registration by 9/23 for juniors and seniors): a $16 check is required. She announced that the next executive board meeting would be held on October 7. All these dates could be found on the StuyPA.org website. She also informed the parents that the decisions taken at the Ex. Board meeting must be ratified by the general membership. The next general meeting would be held on October 21.
The parent-teacher conference would be held on October 23 evening and October 24 in the afternoon. Open school will be held from October 20 through 23.
On September 30, certificates on physics and chemistry mastery award (students with more than 85 average) will be given out.
For more information, parents can contact the PA and also the parent coordinator Harvey Blumm.
On October 21, WTC Health Research Conference will be held. For more information, parents can go to this website: www.nycenet.edu/chancellor/educationcounsel.
Treasurer’s Report
Paul Edwards reported that $40,000 was carried over from last year’s budget. He mentioned that there was a sufficient fund to cover basic PA expenses. However, because of the long wish list, there is a potential shortfall of $160,000. The Appropriations Committee will look at it.
PA provided discretionary funds to Principal Teitel.
There were two motions on the floor.
- Minor amendment to the budget with provisions for a $2,000 insurance fee to protect the PA officers from probable litigations. The motion was carried.
- The budget incorporates the wish list. The motion was also carried after the following discussion.
Criteria for the wish list: Guidelines adopted from last year – benefits a maximum number of students. Kiki said that last year’s wish list was ratified last year and Paul will give it to them who are interested. A Stuyvesant Student Discretionary Fund with a few thousand dollars is available. Elizabeth R. asked if there was any difference between the use of phonathon money and membership dues ($20 per family), and Paul said no.
Lori Pandolfo, Co-President
Introduced Liz Lee as the first vice president and Paul as the Appropriations Committee chair. She also introduced committee chairs with an intro about the scope of their work. The chairs introduced themselves too. These parents were: Karen Mooney, College Committee chair; John Ma, Communications Committee chair; Hyacinth John and Kathy Yu, Faculty Reception/Open Schedule week chairs; Hannah Li, Open House chair; Sam Siddique, Fundraising/Phonathon chair; Lu Ming Li, Hospitality chair; Jonathan Jakobi, Membership Outreach chair; Chairs for Chinese and Korean parents’ outreach; Chairs for Independent Research committee; Programs committee; and Scholarship committee.
Motion to confirm these chairpersons was carried.
Joy Schimmel, Chairperson for the 2004 Stuy Centennial Committee (and also a math teacher at Stuy), spoke to the parents. She can be reached at 212-312-4891. She mentioned about the October 19 kick-off event; she asked for help with food donation, transportation, decoration, silent auction and press activities.
SLT reps introduced themselves.
Ellie briefly spoke about the health registry.
Dave Newman spoke about Health and Safety and Emergency Preparedness. He mentioned about the August 21 media report (published in New York Times and other publications) about OIG’s report on EPA’s actions after 9/11/2001 environmental disaster. Dave mentioned that the OIG report was critical about EPA’s deficient cleanup and health issue concerns. For more information, parents can visit www.epa.gov/oig.
Lori announced the Academic Integrity committee, Public Affirs committee and Teams and Extracurriculars committee.
Dave Newman talked about the proposed bylaw changes and reported the proposed amendments.
There were questions from the audience on the above:
- Is it imperative that we go over the bylaw changes this evening?
- What is the procedure to do it?
Ed Griffith, Second Vice President brought motion that the discussion on the bylaw changes be defered until the October meeting; voting be taken at the November meeting. Motion was carried.
Lori introduced Principal Teitel.
The Principal’s speech reported that there was a $1.3 million budget for this year, which took a 6 percent cut. He said there would be no money for SING this year because of the cut and that alternative funding sources will have to be considered for the popular program. There was a number of questions from the audience on this subject.
Ed Griffith and Elizabeth R. announced the Fall elections for which nominations were taken from the floor. The elections will be held at the October meeting. Below is a list of the 17 candidates nominated at the meeting:
- Senior Member-At-Large (1 will be elected)
John Healy
Bonnie Song
- Junior Member-At-Large (1 will be elected)
Felice Perlman
Stephney Hinds Phillips
Barbara Zahler-Gringer
- Sophmore Member-At-Large (3 will be elected)
Mei Ying Chow
Barbara K. Gsouski
Gillian L. Smith
- Freshman Member-At-Large (2 will be elected)
Sharon Dupree
Yu Ming Li
Pamela van der Meulen
Keanam Park
- Freshman SLT Representative (2 will be elected)
Earl (Woody) Freiman
Gary Lincoff
Lauren Coleman-Lochner
Pamela van der Meulen
Michele Parker
Meeting was adjourned at 9.00 P.M.