5th Grade Committee

Second 5th Grade Parent Research and Planning Committee Minutes - November 15, 2023

11/15 Second 5th Grade Parent Research and Planning Committee

Attendance: Yan Fang (Parent of LC), Jin (Parent of SC), Ting Cai (Parent of RW), Mr. Barone, Ms. Tiffany Tung, Ms. Yip, Ms. Lin, Ms. Helen.

Agenda: T-shirt design, bus/yearbook update, Q&A

-T-Shirt Designs:

  • Yip showed past T-shirt designs: white, black and more.
  • Jin liked the handwritten signatures with the black design (2022 design). Ting Cai liked white and signatures. Ting Cai liked the signatures too but not the black shirt. She thinks black is too hot for the summer and black is the color for funerals. (discussion in Chinese with Jin as representative again).
    • Helen: blue? LC’s backpack used as an example. (Navy blue).
    • Parents: white is probably the best paired with blue. And we want something different from last year’s which was red and white. So maybe blue and white pairing?
  • Barone shared potential logo designs. Many different templates from the vendor.
  • Parents are discussing potential logos. They like the design and logo used from black shirt. The falcon was very detailed too.
  • Barone: So we will stick with the old black 2022 design? Or we can choose something else.
  • Yip: What about shoulder designs on the shirt?
    • Helen: No, that costs more.
  • Parents: We don’t want a falcon in place of the “0” in the year on the back of the shirt. Just the number. Navy blue?
  • Conclusion: 2022 shirt logo design for 2024, navy blue, same logo, handwritten signatures, no falcon on the back.

-Bus Update:

  • Barone: I invited Ms. Helen to our meeting today to share an update about the bus for the Senior Trip. Last meeting, parents asked if they could have their own bus to the Senior Trip.
  • Helen: The buses we use are from the Department of Education. We negotiated with them for a 1:30pm return time instead of 12:30pm like in the past because not enough time. But no 4th bus for the parents because the bus company needs to pick up students from other schools. 3 buses only for the Senior trip for the students. Parents have to get there on their own.
    • Jin: Ok, maybe parents can arrange carpools. Just need to organize cars and drivers.

-Yearbook:

  • Barone brought old hardcover yearbook from 2021 for parents to see.
  • Parents liked the hardcover much more, more durable to last longer.
  • Yip not sure of exact price difference between soft cover and hard cover. Mr. Lin knows.
  • Barone: I spoke to Mr. Lin about this so the hardcover is affordable. I also spoke to Ms. Marsaggi the principal and we can do it.
  • Parents: Pictures in the 2021 yearbook are not very clear though. Low-quality.
    • Yip/Barone: 2021 was remote year with virtual classrooms so the pictures were lower quality. Computer screenshots, pictures from the students, etc.
  • Parents definitely want hardcover yearbook.
  • Barone: Yearbook will still be affordable. In the past, PTA covered all the yearbook expenses. Now the school pays for the teachers to create it. We won’t pass that expense onto the parents. Kids are only paying for the book itself (Senior Dues).
  • Meeting is wrapping up. Jin will contact the missing parents from the meeting: Minfang (Parent of JC) and Serene (Parent of PL). Minfang was going to join us around 3:20pm. Jin will send them pictures of the T-shirt/yearbook examples from the meeting.
  • Barone: I will email the rough draft of the T-shirt to parents for approval. Then we will send a letter to all families in January with Senior Dues information and payment plan option. Camp Colman requires a deposit in March. We will ask the PTA to cover for families who can’t afford it.

5th Grade Parent Research and Planning Committee Minutes - October 18, 2023

10/18 5th Grade Parent Research and Planning Committee

Attendance: Yan Fang (Parent of LC), Jin (Parent of SC), Ting Cai (Parent of RW), Serena (Parent of PL), Minfang (Parent of JC), Mr. Barone, Ms. Tiffany Tung,  5th Grade Teachers (Ms. Lin, Ms. Yip, Ms. Banome, Ms. Reynoso, Ms. Lee, Ms. Como).

Agenda: Decision-Making, Yearbook, Senior Trip, Q+A.

  • It is our responsibility to share what we have heard here with other parents. 8 parents registered to come but only 3 were present at the time. (2 came later on).
  • Decisions here are for the child, might not agree but we can come to a decision together.
  • Jin’s English is the best of the parents, they discuss in Chinese, Jin speaks in English for them as representative.
  • Consensus-Based Decision-Making: used at SLT already, will be used during our discussion as well, agreement rated on a -3 to +3 scale.
    • -3 to -1 = no, 0 = fine with either side, +1 to +3 = agreement
    • For example: School uniform was past issue in the SLT, had to keep meeting and discussing until last SLT member came out of the negatives and became a 0 to move vote forward to PTA and parent community, Parents voted no uniforms in the end.
  • Yearbook: 21-22, 22-23 yearbooks brought in as examples to parents. Issue: Outside company (Balfour) or in-house staff (Mr. Lin/Ms. Yip before) to make yearbook for this year?
    • Outside company provided software to design yearbook but still done by school staff.
    • Pre-pandemic yearbooks were done by PTA.
    • If outside company is chosen for this year, someone must gather pictures and input everything.
    • Leather yearbooks hold up better, parents feel the past yearbooks won’t hold up, had to put old ones in folders to protect them.
    • Possible company: Jolsten’s
    • Yip: last year’s yearbook maker has a hardcover option, Banome: will be more costly, Senior Dues last year were $110.
      • Plus Senior Trip = $78 per child, $14.25 for transportation
    • Barone: don’t want to burden families with costs, must balance what want with what we need, others’ economic needs, can research how much hardcover affects Senior Dues, $58 per parents for Senior Trip, teachers are free. Will ask about cost of hardcover yearbooks.
  • Senior Trip: currently Camp Colman in Long Island so we need buses, website shows more activities for their own camp, different from Senior Trip. Any other location suggestions?
    • Athletic Activities listed are only for Senior Trip
    • Serena: what kind of qualifications needed for trip? How was this place selected?
      • Barone: in general, anything for kids to experience, all schools are different, contained area for kids’ safety, in the past: Dave & Busters, with food, Camp Colman already booked with date.
    • Jin: Urban Air? Agility course, indoors, Brooklyn, less costly, about $50.
      • Barone: Can research other option, what is the cost per child, activity options
      • Serena: who is researching?
      • Barone: as the committee, any of us can research and decide.
    • Serena: can we get more information/statistics?
      • Jin: how many students went last year?
      • Banome: All students went.
      • Barone: Cost won’t exclude child, only way child doesn’t go is if the parent doesn’t want them to, we would find the money.
      • Banome: food was also included in Camp Colman price, BBQ style-burgers, etc.
    • Teachers: Camp Colman had lots of activities, kids were all very involved, each class got a counselor to explain games/supervise, all the kids loved the food/can get seconds.
    • Barone: Camp Colman=large space, not too confined, play stations are very large, how did kids feel about it?
      • Banome: got to try new games like kickball, new experiences, kids loved the food, kept eating.
    • Barone: no trip in 2020 (pandemic), no trip in 2021 (hybrid learning), no trip in 2022 (field trip ban lifted in Feb 2022 which was too late0.
    • Jin: more parents would want their kids to be outside, based on teachers’ experiences=+2 for Camp Colman.
    • Lucas’s mom: $58 parent fee also includes transportation?
      • Barone: No, parents must get there on their own, parents can’t get on bus, room for students on the bus is already tight, parents can take child directly home on their own from camp.
      • Serena: rent another bus for parents to use?
      • Barone: can look into that
    • Lucas’s mom/Jennifer’s mom/Rui’s mom: also +2 for Camp Colman
    • Teachers: +3 for Camp Colman
    • Camp Colman = May 24th
    • Banome: for trip, kids had to get here at 7:30am, left by 8am to avoid traffic, ok for parents?
      • Barone: probably same plan. No issues from parents.
    • Lucas’s mom: what if bad weather?
      • Teachers: they had indoor activities, some coverage.
      • Barone: Venue is very popular, they plan for things like that, option to pay in installments, money paid to teachers, main office collects/records payments.
    • Parent: Other schools there at the same time?
      • Teachers: other school was there but no activities were mixed. Lunch was at the same time as them but all separate tables.
    • Graduation pictures:
      • Tiffany: new change – back to cap/gown pictures, photography company will do separate cap/gown pictures for 5th grade, some date in January, separate from other grades.
        • Parents: whole class cap/gown picture?
          • Tiffany: no change for stepping-up ceremony, only cap/gown from company.
        • Barone: cap/gown changed before the pandemic, PTA purchased caps/gowns but was a lot of money to use for 1 grade, other grades didn’t get as much. Since pandemic: we moved from cap/gown and we stuck with new change and let PTA more evenly distribute money.
          • NYC only recognizes high school ceremonies as graduations. Elementary/middle school ceremonies are not. That’s why we say stepping-up ceremony.
        • Serena: can we explore if PTA can cover cap/gown for ceremony?
          • Barone: school decided no
          • Jin: (PTA co-president), can explore option if Jolsten’s can set up class picture/ceremony in cap+gowns, parents want both, some parents willing to pay extra cost.
        • Lucas’s mom: maybe PTA/school can buy/rent from school, can continue using for future years too.
          • Barone: some parents might want to keep it, what if some don’t want to buy cap/gown for class picture?, will speak to principal.
        • Jin: They surveyed parents, about 100/120 5th grade parents want cap/gown, costs about $20, someone can cover if financial hardship, school paid for pins but some might want cap/gown more, some will give cap/gown back to school like Lucas’s mom.
        • Barone: Pins are rewards, cost about $700-900, part of classroom award ceremony which is different from stepping-up ceremony. Ceremony only has about 10 awards from politicians, no pins=very few students get rewards, all students feel good being honored by teachers and don’t feel as bad, own son’s ceremony had no pins.
        • Next meeting- Senior T-shirt, all 5th grade decisions must be made by January.