September 17, 2021 Meeting Minutes

HSA Meeting Minutes
September 17, 2021 9:00 am

24 people live; 15 people on Zoom, Dr. Oates, Ms. Calandra and Ms. Finnegan

Welcome Back!

•  Welcome Back! We had a great start to the school year and a very successful Back to School Night! We had 30 new families/parents attend the BTS Night New Parent Dinner.

Updates: 

• Membership dues: We are at 50% participation with submitted membership dues at this time. Families who have formally joined the HSA and have a membership, will receive access to the School Directory on GROUPSPOT.
• BTSN Picnic will be on September 24, 2021 6-8pm.  It is a really fun evening for the kids, families and even Somerville alumni! Kids can wear their Somerville spirit gear and purchase more online gear this week online! Tickets for the picnic are on sale until Thursday, September 23 at 8pm.  Purchase tickets day of the picnic at the door for $25 per family.
• Somerville Spirit Wear: Students wear their Somerville gear throughout the school year and show their Somerville school pride in red and white! Somerville Spirit Wear store is only open for a LIMITED TIME, closes September 29, 2021.
• Birthday Book Gifting: 59 children have birthday books for the 2021-2022 school year so far. Birthday books are a really nice way to donate to the Somerville library and to also leave your child’s name for years to come inside the book jacket of a Somerville library book! All you do is complete the Book Gifting Program form on the HSA website and your donation of $20 can be sent in to child’s teacher or directly to Ms. Kaplan. On the month of your child’s birthday they will be called to the Library to select their “Birthday Book”. Please try to submit your form by September 24th to make this take an fun and easy one for Ms. Kaplan.
• Frosty Fridays huge success! Kids can purchase multiple ice pops for their friends or family members. 
• Teacher appreciation breakfast: First one of the year was for 4th and 5th grade teachers given by the 4th and 5th grade parents. Ms. Calandra gives feedback on behalf of the teachers. The teachers give a big thank you for the wonderful food spread and everything was delicious! Ms. Calandra also raved about the Juggling Assembly that was provided by the HSA. She said the kids loved it and it was very well done. Thank you again from teachers to the HSA!

Looking Ahead

• Picture Day is Monday, September 20, 2021. Must register online through the link on the HSA website or the Friday Feature to get a link sent to you by the photographer. If you do not pre register, your child will still have their photo taken, but you will have a hard time ordering photos. You may have to “jump through hoops” to get your photos ordered if you do not pre register. 
• Fundraiser: Charleston Wrap 9/20- 10/2 The wrapping paper is great quality and it is a one stop shopping for your family’s needs for the school year. With every $50 purchase a name will be entered into a drawing for a brand new kid’s bicycle 20’’ in size. Encourage your extended family to participate as well!  This is a new fundraiser and we have not had items like these in a few years. Hope everyone spreads the word in the community about the Charleston Wrap Sale! 
• Plant sale: The plants we get in the fall are amazing! They are easy to plant directly into your garden or to use in pots on your front porch. The sale will be on the HSA website from 9/27 to 10/2. Beautiful mums, purple cabbage, and combo pots. Check it out on our website next week! Plants will then be at Somerville’s front lawn on October 8th for pick up. 
• Book Fair: October 12-15th Fall Outdoor Book Fair. Parents are invited this year to join their children pick out books at the Book Fair. Your child’s teacher will be giving you their time slot (usually 20 minutes) and you can plan to visit at that time. The Book Fair will be held around the back of the school in the parking lot by the Art room. 
• Art Docent: For the fall Art Docent Day will be on October 6, 2021. Art Docent is a cultural arts program given by parent volunteers to bring a supplemental experience to the class. Parents of their own child, volunteer to come into the classroom and with the support of program lesson plans and materials, teach a short mini lesson about a form of art, artist, or cultural architecture. The children love to see their parents in this role and you really get a great experience learning with your child and their classmates. Definitely sign up now, or sign up early next year to get a spot on Art Docent! 
• No cook Francesca’s Pizza Night: October 15th. Order on the HSA website about a week in advance (watch for reminders in the E-news each week). You will pick up your pizza kit on a Friday (October 15th is the first one)  and “Make your own Pizzas” with your family. Please take pictures of your family participating and send them to the HSA for our website! 1 Kit feeds about 2 adults so purchase accordingly. 
• Social Services Monthly Donations: September is peanut butter and jelly containers/jars. October will be APPLESAUCES & INDIVIDUAL SNACK PACKS for Oasis of Paterson.
• Sidewalk expansion: Great feedback from meeting attendees. “So much more space and less traffic jamming on the route to Kindergarten doors.”   
• Curious Reader Fundraiser: The Curious Reader is A Unique Children’s Bookstore at 229 Rock Rd. in Glen Rock. Dr. Oates, “This book shop has great leveled readers and it is a true literature lover’s store!” Highly recommended by many meeting attendees. When you purchase from The Curious Reader and mention “Somerville” school 10% of your purchase will go to the Somerville HSA!! Happy book shopping! 
• Sign up for Art and Library classroom helper volunteer roles! You may also volunteer for other classes as well as your own child’s class if there are openings. Thank you for your assistance in these roles. Ms. Kaplan and Ms. Stankiewicz really appreciate the extra set of hands and your child loves seeing you in the class! 
• Progressive Porch Dinner: Sign up now for this one of a kind Somerville community social event! Meet parents of your children’s classmates and other neighbors! 

Updates from Dr. Oates

• Dr. Oates introduces Ms. Calandra as the HSA teacher representative for the meeting. We thank Ms. Calandra for being with us this morning. Dr. Oates also introduces Kate Finnegan, Somerville’s new Guidance Counselor. Ms. Finnegan is looking forward to working on a few programs this year. She will be meeting with each class for the Choose to be Kind program, she will also be leading a 5th grade Leadership Club. This club will consist of 5th graders leading morning announcements, participating in Safety Patrol, Ambassadors and other public speaking and service opportunities. Kate will be circulating the 5th grade classrooms to discuss this Leadership Club opportunity! All club sign ups will be in the E-news. Make sure you read the E-news each week so you don’t miss it!
• Book of the Month: Your Name is a Song. Beautiful story about the beauty and history of a given name and a real good back to school pick! 
• New Staff Members introduced. Looking forward to learning and growing with the new staff. 

Coming Up: 

Link-It Testing: The week of 9/20 (Wednesday and Thursday) This is an online assessment platform used by the teachers to guide their instruction. We went with this platform because it gives us immediate results that can be used right away to guide instruction and to assist students’ needs. It is also a great format that can be used across the grades as progress information for all of your child’s years at Somerville. Easy for the teachers to use, and to pick up the following year, or to even go back to monitor a child’s growth pattern. There will be a 1 hour English-Language Arts assessment and a 45 minute Math assessment. This Link-It test will be given 3x a year; fall, mid-year and spring. The results will also help guide parent-teacher conferences in the fall. There will also be reading assessments using the Fountas and Pinnell guided reading guidelines 3x a year as well. IEP and 504 accommodations will be made for these tests next week. 

State Testing: Fall State testing for grades 4&5. Used for district wide feedback on teacher instruction. Reports will be sent home, however parent reports are not extensive or very informative. There will be a 1 hour English-Language Arts assessment and a 45 minute Math assessment. There will also be state testing in the spring with a similar format. 

Covid-19 updates: 

• As of this moment, there is not a mandated travel quarantine requirement. There are recommendations for domestic and international travel but it is not a mandate. Traveling internationally will have Covid testing requirements from the US government to be tested before re-entering the United States. There are recommendations to be tested after domestic travel but it is not a mandate. 
• Staff is required to be fully vaccinated or will need to be Covid-19 tested weekly. Teachers are required to show the school nurse their proof of vaccination if they are vaccinated. Very few teachers are being tested weekly, because they have been vaccinated. 
• Preparing for a school closing if it is necessary. Hopefully it will not be necessary but just in case there is a plan in place. In the event of a whole school quarantine, pick up of supplies will occur on Somerville’s front lawn and a Zoom program will be implemented. The teachers and staff have done this before and will be able to shift to this method of education if need be. 
• Currently, the district has a teacher who will work with the individuals who have tested positive for Covid-19 and her teaching post is in Somerville. She will be in touch as needed with the student if they are asked to quarantine. The student will receive lessons from their own classroom teacher and will contact the Covid support teacher as a personal tutor for assistance and even 1 on 1 care when needed. 
• Lunchroom: Safety measures are in place in the lunchroom. Children are seated on numbered seat spots for contact tracing purposes and spacing. There will be a balance between spreading out and also being close enough to have social interaction. Social interaction is very important to a child’s social and emotional development. We are providing a very balanced yet safe lunch experience. We also have grades eating outdoors in the outdoor picnic space. We are in the process of obtaining a few more low seating picnic tables to be able to provide each student with a comfortable outdoor lunch experience. (A few meeting attendees offered their personal low seating tables to Dr. Oates. It was much appreciated!) The question of tents came up. Still looking at the pros and cons to tenting areas. Inside the lunchroom, classes are given 3-4 lunch tables to spread across as opposed to the pre-pandemic structure of 2 lunch tables per class. Snacks are taken outdoors whenever possible and outdoor learning is also happening in some classes. 

Next HSA MEETING:  October  @ 9am on Zoom and in person in front of Somerville. Thank you to all who were in attendance, on Zoom and who read these meeting minutes to stay up to date on school happenings.