Meeting called to order at 5:10pm by Mr. Needleman. 

Spanish and Korean translations were available for this meeting. 

The entire meeting was recorded. The recording is available at https://lausd.zoom.us/rec/share/TIOGwhXGqmNI_CQPguZrq4Csx9APYPklGrFgk8wR8JMSWSVGFqpfQ8zTgMjiwFs.GP_KS9Cvhsiv9Kmo (Passcode: A#uw#8R0)

PTO President Raj Raghavan gave updates on PTO:

Shout outs

  • Kairi Saan – beautification team – tinsel removal
  • Privacy fencing installation Feb 14
  • Parents can report graffiti on 311 app and let school know so it can be painted over
  • Working on banners or other options to help deter graffiti 
  • John Ennis – trash pickup around the school
  • Tracii McGregor presented a school-wide spelling bee recap. Reminder that the LA regional spelling bee is on March 13. Families can attend and cheer on Melrose students. 

Budget Update

  1. In regular years, total yearly fundraising should equal $250,000 which is also our operating budget for the above items.  This is achieved through a few avenues:
  2.  Annual Giving – we raised $128,000 this year, exceeding our target
  3.  Jogathon – more on this soon!
  4.  Banner sponsorship 
  5.  Grants – working on. We welcome any leads on this front!

 

PTO pays for: 

  •   Got Game – PE on Wednesdays
  •   Mr. Frank – audiovisual
  •   Ms. Amy – Art
  •   Garden Ranger Program
  •   1:1 technology
  •   Yearbook
  •   Special School Programming 
  •   Harvest Festival
  •   Family Fun Night (Mr. Aaron last week – great success
  •   5th grade trip to Catalina

 PTO this year is also paying for:

  •  The new privacy fencing for the school
  •  Upgrades to the audiovisual equipment in the auditorium. 
  •  PPE for staff
  • Keeps a rainy day fund should funding for any of our programs be cut by the district due to Title I changes or any other district budget cuts.

Bringing back Charity Buzz

  • Charity Buzz is a website that connects individuals all over the world with experiences and events that they may not necessarily have access to
  • Have a series of curated, themed auctions throughout the year – “Hollywood”, “Music”, “Food & Wine”, etc.
  • Examples of experiences that can be auctioned off – meeting with an agent or casting director for the “Industry” auction; tickets to a premiere or a walk on role on a show for “Hollywood” auction; meeting with a VC executive for the “Entrepreneur” auction. These can go for hundreds or thousands of dollars.
  • Charity Buzz takes a 20% cut and the rest goes to the PTO.
  • Contact me or put your name in the chat if you might have an idea

Upcoming Events

  •     Anti-racism parent meeting tomorrow evening
  •     Next Spirit Wear Sale – Weds 2/23. Need volunteers to help with sales!
  •     Next FFN – Tues 3/1 @ 6pm. Virtual field trip through a volcano, from the Bishop Museum in Hawaii. Restaurant TBD. 
  •     Next community coffee hour – Friday 3/4. Hoping to do in person in the park but will monitor conditions
  •     Book Fair – week of March 7 at Chevalier’s in Larchmont
  •     Jog-a-thon is coming, official announcement soon

Call to Action

  •       Valet volunteers – going great, could use more!
  •       Yearbook mentor
  •       Communications – helping with PTO comms and social media

Mr. Needleman introduced Social Emotional Support Advisor for Local District West, Irma Jimenez. Due to technical difficulties Ms. Jimenez was not able to speak and Mr. Needleman promised to distribute social emotional support paperwork to Melrose families. 

Coffee with Mr. Needleman

According to LAUSD numbers, 61.5% of Melrose students are fully vaccinated. (This does not include students who are vaccinated but have not uploaded vaccine cards to the Daily Pass.) 

It will eventually be required that students be vaccinated before returning to school. 

Covid Policy Changes

  • To keep up with changes as they happen, follow Melrose on Instagram
  • As of late January, no close contacts will be notified or asked to isolate. There will just be group notifications sent to classes. Don’t be too concerned about these notices as covid does not seem to be spreading in school. 
  • Assume that everyone is a close contact and send your child to school in an upgraded mask such as Happymask, N95 or KN95. If your child wears a surgical mask that is too big, you might want to put a cloth mask over it. 
  • If you test positive for covid you must stay home. 
  • You can return to school after 10 days or a rapid test on day 5 and call community engagement to be cleared. 

Current challenges to school

  • When there are teacher absences, it is really hard to get a substitute and students end up getting split between classes. It is hard on the whole school. 
  • Toys are not allowed at school. Please don’t send your child to school with toys as we cannot help if the toy gets lost. 

Upcoming

  • School Site Council budget meeting on 2/14.
  • Star party is 2/17. Every student will be sent home with a bag of supplies and join the event on Zoom. 

Good News

  • Next year we will have visual arts all year thanks to a PTO contribution to pay for the second semester. 
  • District gave $55,000 to improve library materials, including updating obsolete nonfiction. 
  • The district has money for tutoring and is setting up an online tutoring program. More to come on this. 

Meeting opened to parent questions

  • Will schedule a day for lost and found to be brought to one of the gates or both. 
  • Class photos have not come in yet. We don’t have a date. 
  • Any parent not on Shutterfly can be assisted by the grade level rep for that grade. 
  • Coach Andres is our permanent YS director but he was out for a couple of weeks for his college finals. 
  • After school enrichment is offered by LAUSD online but they fill up quickly. 
  • Privacy fence is scheduled to go up next week. 
  • To keep up to date with school events and deadlines, please subscribe to the school’s google calendar on the homepage of MelroseStars.org. 

Meeting adjourned at 6:04pm