Brookstone Parent Association Meeting Minutes September 9, 2013

Opening

The Board meeting of the Brookstone Parent Association (“BPA”) was called to order at 11:02 a.m. on Monday,

September 9, 2013 in the Passailaigue Founder’s Room of the Kirven Building by BPA President, Jackie Dudley.

Jackie Dudley welcomed everyone to the meeting. She also encouraged all parents to get connected to Google and to

add the BPA Google Calendar.

Present

Jackie Dudley, Kornisha Brown, Jeanne Hasty, Brian Kennerly, Jennifer Valadi, Allison Stephanouk, Alice Wade, Lori

Denson, Gantt Shadburn, Patti Simkins, Kim Drew, Jennifer Shaw, Ruth Calhoun, Michelle Blanchard, Karen Price,

Margaret McCormick, Nancy Burgin, Lauren Briscoe, Phillip Vongsavang, Darlene Sanders, Brittany Harris, Haley Arnold,

Meg Perkins, Lori Turner, Katie Bickerstaff, Kellie Alexander, Brenda Pawlowski, Jennifer Yancey, Kelly McKinstry, Mary

Roddenbery, Mitchi Wade, Whitney Pease.

Head of School Report-Dr. Brian Kennerly (slide show presentation attached)

Carpool: Brookstone has to be concerned about the safety of the students. The purpose of changing the carpool is for

better security. The carpool change also allows for additional teaching time. Day 1 of the carpool line was 42 minutes.

However, the carpool line is now down to 10-17 minutes. Next steps include an automated system and positive attitudes

by all.

Enrollment: Total Enrollment is 836. Upper School Enrollment is the largest in history with 322 students.

Cafeteria: The new company in charge of the cafeteria is Sage Dining Services. A 9-week-menu can be found online as

well as ingredients and nutritional information.

Additional Great Things: Faculty, Educational Travel, Financial Sustainability, Additional Athletics, Health, Cougar logo,

Enrichment Programs After School, Lunch and Learns for Parents, Lower School Reading Program, Lower School Writing

Emphasis, Character Development at every grade level, Google Calendars for homework, 21 Advanced Placement

Classes, 20 Honors Classes, Over 30 Clubs in the Upper School, and much more.

Secretary’s Report- Kornisha Brown

Minutes from the May 6, 2013, meeting were approved unanimously by the board without any corrections or additions.

Treasurer’s Report- Colleen Rustin: Report presented. Excel sheet included in minutes

⚫ Please review your BPA Budget and make sure expenditures are within the approved budget

⚫ -BPA- Funds are used for BPA budget and special project requests. BPA Special Projects are approved twice a year in December and April.

-Booster - Funds are used for Athletics (Athletics has a School budget, A Booster budget and approved BPA Special Projects)

*BPA Membership Fee $50 -$35 comes to BPA and $15 goes to Booster for Athletics (entrance to games)

Cougar Shoppe funds - Currently, 100% of Cougar Shoppe income goes to Booster for Athletics

PROPOSAL: Split Cougar Shoppe funds to give 50% to Athletics, which has already met funding for budget this year, and 50% to BPA, with recommendation for 2013-14 to go to Fine Arts.

➡ VOTE for approval of August Financial Statements:

Meg Perkins made the motion that the August Financial Report be approved as presented. The motion was

seconded by Kellie Alexander. The report was approved unanimously by all board members.

➡ VOTE for approval of to split Cougar Shoppe funds for 50% to go to Athletics and 50% to BPA, with

recommendation for 2013-14 to go to Fine Arts, in addition to the BPA budgeted amount (which was increased for this school year). This would not impact Athletics since we have already transferred $25,000 to the Booster budget.

Patti Simkins made the motion for the approval to split Cougar Shoppe funds for 50% to go to Athletics and 50% to BPA with recommendation for 2013-2014 to go to Fine Arts. The motion was seconded by Jennifer Shaw. The motion was approved unanimously by all board members.

⚫ Check Request: If you need an Advance or Reimbursement, please complete a Check Request. They are in the Business Office, or you can get one from BPA Treasurer or BPA President. Receipts and check request detail can also be emailed to bpa@brookstoneschool.org and a check request will be processed.

President Elect Report- Jeanne Hasty

Back to School Bash 2013

Sold 250 Five Guys Burgers, condiments, produce with our combos (chips, drinks, cookies, cheese). We had reservation for 180 combos. We could have sold at least 100 more burgers to people who did not make reservations.

Five Guys General Manager and Assistant Manager came to help serve. The fact that Five Guys catered was a favor from GM Humberto.

Total Income $1675

Costs: Burgers, condiments, produce @3.99 $997.50

Chips, Drinks, Cookies, Cheese $231.88

500 Promotion Cards $72.75

Tickets/Name tags $17.50

Cheerleading supplies $66.09

Credit leftover sodas and chips ($55.00) Total Expenses: $1385.72

-$55.00

Cost - $1330.72

Income: $1675.00

Profit $344.28

Ideas/suggestions for next school year:

Serving in cafeteria would be easier on maintenance staff (table, chairs) and Jimmy (first game is a little hectic).

Serving in cafeteria access to ice and tables. Use plastic table clothes

Indoor serving would not be subject to weather delays/cancelations, much cooler in August

Activities for children set up for MS cheerleader to facilitate

Band participation

Separate table to fill out name tags

Buy enough cheese for same number of burgers

Special thanks to:

Holle Kennerly, Michele Ivey, Brenda Pawloski, Janie Ramos, Debbie Harris, Jimmy Thompson, Jackie Dudley, Connie Mansour, Ricky Felts, Allison McGregor, Robert Mullinax

Diamond Mind Mobile Card Reader.

Brookstone School uses Diamond Mind for transactions. Diamond Mind has developed the only mobile card reader tailored to the needs of the independent school campus. With the mobile card reader you can accept payments anywhere at any time.

Costs: Mobile Card Reader $89.00

Monthly processing fee: $5.00

Monthly separate acct. fee: $8.00

Charge per transaction averages: 2.7%

School/Administrative Reports:

Middle School Rep- Jenifer Amos

WEB – Where Everyone Belongs 8

th grade WEB leaders welcomed 6

th grade students to the

Middle School and will continue to offer support and encouragement throughout the year.

Honor Assembly was held on August 20th

. Students heard from guest speaker, dean of students at CSU. Honor code signing took place on August 27

th.

First dance was held in the Jordan Gym on August 23rd

.

Meet & Greet Parent Coffees took place for each grade. 6

th grade – August 22 – grade chair, Stacy Pease

7th

grade – August 29 – grade chair, Glenda Yancey

8th

grade – August 30 – grade chair, James McKeel

Parents heard from Chris Moore, Hannah Mize, Vince Massey, and the grade chair.

Beta Club induction took place on September 6th

.

Classroom Visit Night is scheduled for September 10th

at 6:30

CTP Testing is upcoming: 8th

grade – Sept 9, 11, and 13 7

th grade – Sept 10, 12, and 16

6th

grade – Sept 18, 20, and 24

Brookstone Middle School Prides 2013-2014 Rationale: To facilitate community in the middle school through cross-grade and cross-gender interaction amongst Brookstone

Middle School students. The culminating event for Prides will be competing in Field Day at the end of the school year.

There will be Three Prides. Courage, Loyalty, and Wisdom (B. Kenimer, J. Sloan, and A. Smith will serve as advisors).

MS Beta Club Service to School: New for Fall Sports, BPA and the MS Beta Club students have partnered and the students are selling concession items at all MS sports! Go cougars!

Intermediate School Rep-Meg Perkins

Intermediate School Principal Trace’ Copeland gave greetings and highlighted the following activities that are going on

in the Intermediate School:

8/13 Classroom Visitation 8/14 First Day of School 8/16 Parent Coffee 8/21 Spirit Day, Back to School Bash, Family Night 8/23 Honor Assembly 8/26 Life Skills class begins with Kenneth Hoats 8/27 Fire Drill, Classroom Visitation Night 8/29 School Pictures

For the students, August is primarily spent learning procedure. This can be anything from class to recess to lunchroom to carpool procedure. Any and all foundation we lay now benefits us throughout the year! As always, thank you for all the work you do for our school!

Lower School Rep- Haley Arnold – The new principal/Head of School in the Lower School is Jen Foster. She introduced

herself to the BPA members and thanked everyone for the warm welcome that she has received from the Brookstone

family.

Committee Reports:

Book Fair- Kellie Alexander

The Scholastic Book Fair will take place during the first week of December. It will be held in the Lower School Library.

Booster Concessions- Phil Vongsavang, Debbie Harris, Jennifer Greene

Back and better than ever with parent-run varsity football concession stand and on-site Cougar Spirit Tent. Cougar Spirit

tent will be open before and through half time to sell all of our new and exciting spirit items. New items are also on the

concession stand menu. Water bottles, candy, and popcorn will be available for sale in the stands by our middle school

cheerleaders and upper school students. This is available for the fans who do not want full service concession items.

Communications- Kim Drew

Social media is a very powerful tool when used correctly. The opportunities for us to promote and raise awareness of Brookstone and our activities are endless! But it only works when we all play along. If you’re on Facebook, please “like” the Brookstone School (Official) page. When you see a post from the BPA – or the school – please “like” the post AND re-post it. That’s how we get the word out and create a larger audience. Spreading the word about Brookstone events, needs, news, should be the job of ALL of us, as representatives of all Brookstone parents. Remember: Keep it positive!

Cougar Cup- Margaret McCormick

The Second Annual Cougar Cup will be held on September 23, 2013, at Country Club of Columbus, and will be presented

by Headquarter Nissan of Columbus. Teams and sponsorships are still available. Margaret McCormick can be contacted

for more information.

BPA Cougar Shoppe-Nancy Burgin and Lauren Briscoe

BPA Cougar Shoppe is located in the lobby of the Kirven Building and is open Monday-Thursday 7:30am-4pm and Friday 7:30am-3:45pm.

Items also available at the home Varsity Football games. Please let us know if you or anyone would like to work at one of the games.

New items: pens, mechanical pencils, nylon folding fans, stadium cushions, koozies, foam footballs, frisbees & flashlights.

Popular Favorites: cheer uniforms, jerseys, stadium seats, photo frames, umbrellas, etc.

We also have some great items coming in each week: doll cheer uniforms, Nike cinch sacks, Nike gym bag, chill towels, kickballs, Tervis Tumblers, bow ties and neckties, sunglass croakies, luggage tags, canvas tote bags, Nike shorts for boys and girls, hats and visors, some different t-shirts, etc.

Please contact Nancy or Lauren if you have any good ideas for items you would like to see in the shoppe. Educational Assistance- Jennifer Yancey Brookstone parents are asked to continue to send in their box tops, as well as use/swipe the BPA Publix key tags when shopping at Publix grocery stores. Lunch and Learn Parent Series- Gantt Shadburn The date of the first Lunch and Learn Series will be held on October 1st. The speaker will be Bill Bain of Sage Dining Service. Other dates for the Lunch and Learn Series are December 3rd, February 4th, and April 8th. The speakers will be announced later. Magazine Drive-Jennifer Valadi Magazine Drive Kick-off will be held October 1-9. All magazine subscriptions ordered online from July 1, 2013 to the end of the sale will count toward all prizes. Simply go to www.gaschoolstore.com and follow the online directions to register your child. This allows us to credit sales to your child. It saves time, no order forms to fill out, and you can shop 24/7. If you have any questions, you can contact Jennifer Valadi at jfvaladi@hotmail.com or Allison Stephanouk at Allison.stepanouk@gmail.com. Our school code is 2582534. School Supplies-Avery Wolff BPA President, Jackie Dudley reported that $8,000 was made from school supply sales, and it was a great success.

Upcoming Events: September 10 MS Classroom Visitation Night September 16 New Parents Open House at home of Dr. and Mrs. Kennerly September 17 US Classroom Visitation Night September 23 2nd Annual Cougar Cup October 1 BPA Lunch & Learn Parent Series #1 October 1-9 BPA Magazine Drive October 3 Fall Festival/Cookout/All School Bonfire

Chill on Bradley Park Drive Spirit Day US Day of Service

October 4 Brookstone vs Pacelli at St. Anne/Pacelli October 11 Homecoming

Chic-fil-A Bradley Park Spirit Day 3:30-7pm October 12 Brookstone Fun Run and US Homecoming Dance October 14-16 IS Week of Service October 15 Fall Choral Show October 23 LS & IS Conference Day October 24 One Act Performance October 25 Chick-fil-A Bradley Park Spirit Day 3:30-7pm October 26 Once Act Performance October 28- Nov 1 LS “Make A Difference” Week of Service November 11 BPA Board Meeting November 18-22 “Thanks for Giving” Week November 22 2nd Grade Play December 2-6 BPA Book Fair December 3 BPA Lunch & Learn Parent Series #2

Jackie Dudley adjourned the board meeting at 12:00 p.m.

Minutes submitted by:

Kornisha L. Brown, BPA Recording Secretary

Approved: ____________________________________