Your Cedar Park PTC Board met last week to go over final details of our June Community meeting, including preliminary prep for 2021-22 budget & chatting about volunteer needs moving forward.
Here’s a quick recap:
School Updates (Dr. Anderson):
Having kids back in school is amazing: Though a lot of work, it’s been awesome to see students in person. Being able to have conversations and hear/see students is reenergizing teachers for the end of the year.
Federal Covid money paid for teacher carts: Being able to move easily between classrooms & maintain safety in cohorting has been possible with the new carts.
Staff Appreciation Week was awesome! Huge thanks to Hannah, Jenna, and all the parents who donated to make such a fun, personalized week.
8th grade send off planned for Wed,6/16: No times have been finalized, but this will be a walk-thru event (similar to supply pickup in February) with fun, safe, interactive games. We will need parent volunteers to help organize & staff the event. High school principals will be unable to attend due to their own school commitments and school swag will be given at the beginning of freshman year at both Beaverton & Sunset. However, the counselors were given a grant for an 8th grade commencement t-shirt contest. Ideas tossed out for volunteers included asking Beaverton/Sunset leadership students to help (since it’s on a Wed). The PTC has a $2000 line item set-aside for this event. Interested folks can email Jenna (volunteers@cedarparkptc.org).
Team activities on the last two days of school: Each team is organizing fun activity and are committed to including CDL kids. Those at home will be able to do activities online with teachers, but all CDL students will be invited on the last day (transportation is being organized). The PTC has $2000 line item for 6/7th send-off to help support these events.
Rachel Carson Info Meeting on May 27th: Dr. A will be meeting with Rachel Carson families to help ease their transition to Cedar Park. Bettina mentioned that RC has their own volunteer coordinator, so the PTC may need to look at revising bylaws to incorporate.
Serious sub shortage in BSD: CPMS is doing their best to keep kids safe & engaged, but it has been an all-hands-on-deck situation as everyone has gotten creative.
State-testing starts next week: Small group being tested (less than 200). BSD and Cedar Park will not be held to the same standards, as this is unreliable data. BSD is required to offer testing in order to not lose state/federal funding. The tests themselves will be different this year with no essay.
PTC Updates:
K-12 School Experience Summit proposed: Bettina suggested creating some sort of leadership summit to feeder schools; some sort of meeting of the minds to discuss the broad strokes of how schools (elementary, middle, high school) interact with each other. How can we foster relationships through the whole K-12 experience? Dr. A. and Bettina will look to organize.
Director of Volunteers still needed for 2021-22: Aside from the vice president role (which has been vacant), the Director of Volunteers is the last position that needs to be filled. Jenna mentioned that the district provides training for the mIP system. Though the Director does not organize every event, they do work to input sign-ups into the system and connect with Cedar Park admins on specific needs that need to be communicated.
2021-22 Committee lead openings: CDL has made next year’s recruitment difficult. While we’ve enjoyed more people attending our virtual meetings, it’s been hard to actually meet people. Combined with the boundary changes, next year will be a reset of committee leads. Openings include 5K, Staff Appreciation, Science Fair, PACK store, Art Lit, and student socials.
Preliminary planning for 2021-22 Budget: The Board, led by Skye, worked through each individual line item to decide if needed next year and at what level. Actuals from pre-covid years were also considered. Though the final proposed budget is still being tweaked, the Board discussed lowering income goals, maintaining some sort of individual class experiences, retaining traditional programs like Art Lit & PACK store, and setting aside money for community building next fall. The 2021-22 proposed budget will be made public closer to our 6/2 community meeting.
Virtual vs. In-person Community Meetings in 2021-22: The turnout has been better for our virtual meetings, as it’s so easy to listen in from home or a parking lot. However, recruitment has been minimal and new community building has been difficult. The Board will look at options for next year that balances both convenience and community.
And that’s a wrap! See you at our final PTC Community Meeting of the year on Wednesday, 6/2 @ 6:30pm via Zoom.