Romig Middle School PTSA Board Meeting
January 14, 2008

Attendance:
Wendy Feuer, Jenny Redick, Janice Torres, Vice-Principal Shane Inch, Sondra Zimmer, Gloria Hanrahan ,Wendler PTSA President.

Call to Order:
The meeting was called to order at 1:08 p.m. Vice-President Wendy Feuer presided as President Valerie Marks was unable to attend. There was not a quorum present at the meeting, so official business could not be conducted.

Approval of Minutes:
A correction to the minutes from the December board meeting was made by Wendy. Approval of the minutes was deferred.

Presentation by Wendler PTSA President, Gloria Hanrahan:
Gloria and the Wendler PTSA are seeking an ASD policy change regarding charging of student lunches at the secondary level. Presently, unlike elementary students, secondary students are not allowed to charge lunches, and many students are going hungry. As the circumstances in some students' lives change rapidly, there are times when students who previously did not qualify for free lunches do not have money to eat, or students who qualify for reduced lunch cannot afford to pay the reduced amount. If students are allowed to charge lunches, school staff will become aware of who cannot afford to buy lunch and will hopefully find appropriate resources for those students. Gloria will speak to this issue at an upcoming ASD school board meeting. She asks the Romig PTSA to support her efforts by writing letters to the school board and/or by showing up at the school board meeting. Gloria provided Romig PTSA with a drafted letter to sign in support of this policy change.

The Romig PTSA board will decide on a course of action when a quorum is present.

Vice-Principal's Report:
o Information was distributed from ASD on the topic of extended instruction. While ASD continues to discuss this topic, there is presently no plan to implement extended instruction in the Anchorage School District.
o Copy paper is available to other schools at Romig while supplies last.
o The music department cake auction fundraiser is scheduled for March 4, 2008.
o The date of the upcoming Romig dance has been changed from January 24 to January 25, 2008.
o The Romig administration is working on an updated truancy policy to address chronic tardiness.
o Vice-Principal Inch would like to set up hand sanitizer dispensers near both cafeteria doors for students to use prior to eating. He will write up a proposal for funding these dispensers for the next meeting.

Grant Applications:
Two grant applications have been submitted for consideration:
1. A request for $80 to purchase two handset cordless phones, submitted by Mr. Inch and the Romig staff, because the school has difficulty installing new phone lines and there is a shortage of phone access in the building. The staff would like to use these phones to facilitate effective parent/teacher/student communication.
2. A request for $807.90 from Mr. Neel and Ms. Buswell to purchase calculators for two math classes that do not have classroom sets. These calculators will remain at school and are needed for use with a new math curriculum in these classes.

Proposals were tabled pending the attendance of a quorum of members. Wendy proposed doing a phone meeting and/or scheduling an emergency meeting to deal with the grant requests and the request for support from the Wendler PTSA. She will contact board members to determine which type of meeting will be best, and Mr. Inch will email his grant proposal to Wendy to facilitate further discussion.

Alternative Meeting Times:
As Jenny's schedule has changed this semester, she can no longer meet at noon on Mondays. Alternative meeting times of 8:00 a.m. or noon on Tuesdays or Thursdays were proposed. Jenny will contact other board members to determine which schedule is preferred.

Cake Auction Update:
Janice Torres and Sondra Zimmer are organizing this year's cake auction fundraiser for the music department. Solicitation letters should go out by the end of this week. The first flyers should go home with students by the end of January.

The meeting adjourned at 2:30 p.m.

Submitted by: Jenny Redick, PTSA Secretary