October General Meeting Draft Minutes
Vestal General PTA Meeting
October 14th 6:30-7:45pm
1 In Attendance
Board members present
Jake Sepulveda, Emma Koehler, Reece Nitschke, Irina Stignei, and Justin Stoller
Community present
Sarah N*, Katie R*, Beth H, Rebecca G, Kelie S*, Janice L, Darcie B, Kristin C*, Christina M*, Abbie C*, Ileana & Ary from Grow Portland.
* Member
2 Welcome
Meeting convened at 6:30 by President Jake.
3 Minutes
Minutes from the last General Meeting, held September 2nd, were accepted without amendment.
4 Principal Update
Sabrina was absent but sent a note reminding everyone that dress up day would be October 29th and school would be out for October 30th and 31st.
5 Treasurer’s Report
Steve was absent so Jake gave a quick review of the budget.
We doubled the classroom grant this year and staff seem to be using it more
Sign expenses have not posted to our account yet - one of the signs was misprinted and is being reprinted
Questions from the community:
Q: Did we budget 4k for Grow Portland that we’re now not going to use?
A: Likely, will confirm with Steve
Q: What is our overall goal to spend vs what we have in our account currently?
A: We roughly want to break even, but we have a surplus that we’re willing to draw down slightly.
6 Upcoming Events
October
17th - Rock, Paper Soiree planning meeting
24th - Come meet the Board at Bipartisan
25th - Community Care Day
November
2nd-20th - Wreath Sale
11th - Next PTA General Meeting, remote only.
Lots of upcoming volunteer opportunities, please check the website!
7 Guest Speakers - Grow Portland
Jake encouraged everyone one last time to do the Garden Survey and then introduced Ary and Ileana from Grow Portland.
Ari is our site coordinator, and gave an overview of the Vestal/Grow Portland program.
The partnership is in its 10th year.
GP serves 16 programs, 15 schools, 6500 students in PPS and David Douglas.
Ileana and others teach at two or three schools every week.
Ileana has been here for 4 years working with kids. They’ve partnered with organizations including Coke-a-Cola and Multnomah College to improve gardens in the area. They feel like a celebrity at the school with the kids, are excited to spend more time at the school this year, and hope to engage more of the kids that usually aren’t seen outside of garden time.
Each class goes once a month, folks are also welcome to come at other times, Ileana is here every Wednesday.
Thank you to everyone that helped water the garden over the summer! Vestal does more Community Care Days than most.
To contact either of them or Grow Portland in general reach out to the Vestal PTA at our email address or to Ileana or Ary directly at ileana@growportland.org and ary@growportland.org respectively.
Question & Answers, Discussion:
Q: How should parents try to volunteer with Grow Portland?
A: Email the teachers to find out when your child has garden time and join your child’s class!
Q: Can parents help outside of their child’s garden time?
A: Yes, contact per above or swing by on a Wednesday. (Jake encourages folks to chaperone the Quiet Island, low sensory area for kids who need it)
Q: Is it possible to get more than one day a month for classrooms?
A: Not through Grow Portland, though SUN School classes have used the space and some teachers go to the garden independently.
Q: What is your (Grow Portland’s) wishlist for the gardens?
A:
More ADA accessibility: Laying rock can be a lot to do, looking into some garden fabric that makes the grounds more wheelchair accessible.
The sheltered area is great, would love it to be expanded however permanent structures are difficult to get by PPS. Maybe the PTA can help get a Canopy tent?
Lots of other nice-to-haves, including a new toolshed, more trees, etc…
8 New Business
Jake moves to reappoint restricted funds from restricted funds for only a covered play area to also be for grounds improvements. Katie mentioned that we should reach out to the Rutgers as they were one of the primary patrons. Beth says some grants need some money already committed to get it going. Motion rescinded, Jake to reach out to the Rutgers.
There will be several vacancies on the board next year, start thinking if you’d like to be more involved with the PTA!
We endorsed the Parks bond through an online vote since the last meeting.
9 Room Parents
Reece pitched room parents to the meeting. This is an iteration on the “Class Reps” that existed last year
Room Parents can help with field trips, Grow Portland volunteering, and get the word out about other School/PTA events (like the Book Bingo).
Hopefully we can use Honeycomb more to coordinate (a common chat for Class reps)
Contact Jake or Reece directly or via the PTA’s email vestalelementarypta@gmail.com if you are interested.
10 Open Forum
Can we get a stop sign at 80th and Flanders?
We’ve talked about getting one at 80th & Everett.
Would love to get anything but haven’t heard anything lately from PBOT/SRTS. Jake might lead a Walk Bus route across Glisan at 81st or 80th, interest in potential co-leadership from Rebecca and Emma.
Abby mentioned we should get “See Me Flags”. These are the flags used on Prescott/Fremont crosswalks.
Is there interest in helping lead or push on the covered play area? (If we’re not going to re-allocate the funds then we should keep pushing on the project)
Lots of interest. Potentially could get pro bono engineering, contractor consulting, etc.
PPS is very resistant to permanent structures and wants to see a site plan before approving anything.
Deciding on a vision for the exterior/property is apparently not a SITE council thing (SITE is apparently an acronym).
Montavilla Farmers market is trying to move to the School grounds. Trying to work with community members.
9 Closing
The meeting was adjourned by Jake at 7:45pm. We hope to see everyone at our next PTA meeting on November 11th!
