PSFA In Person Meeting Minutes – November 3rd, 2022

1.) Call to Order/Pledge of Allegiance & Welcome: Current PFSA officers in attendance:

Kristen Cichon (2023) Colleen Stemetzki (2024), Debbie Rau (2023), Mary Ann Doyle (2023), Janice Karp (2023).

2.) Principal Gleason’s Report: Mr. Gleason- Hello everybody, thank you Charlie-Charlie always talks about some of the same topics that I will touch on. We had the third information session for possible incoming students-the SGA did a great job. We do have one more coming up on November 17th- so that part of the recruitment showing what CHS is all about will be over. An update about the cafeteria lunch payment program-the computer is in place, however the link to the bank is not in place so there is still one extra piece that needs to be put in place. Yes, students will be able to use their student ID, so it is moving in the right direction. I was told that it will be in place sometime next week, we are making progress toward having the POS system working for the lunchroom soon. Once it is in place I will send out an email to let you know it is indeed working. If you had money on the old system through Wall HS it will be transferred over at some point. NHS and NHTS induction will be held on December 7th, mostly for junior parents and those letters are being handed out to students next week. The Coffee House, a nice parent event is on Friday, December 9th. We are in the season of finishing up the marking period-which usually gets a little stressful. There are a lot of projects, papers, etc. due heading into midterm exams on Nov 14th and 15th. The students have a study period to begin the day and head into a morning exam, followed by lunch and an afternoon exam each day. Drama Club will be presenting on Friday December 2nd and Saturday December 3rd. There are a lot of activities on the calendar, it’s great. There is a dance tomorrow night.

3.) Student Government- Lucy Batista- President, Charlie Raynor-Vice President. Charlie presenting: We had a weeklong penny drive and raised money for the freshman class. The Friday before Spirit Week we had a Spirit Wear competition and had most of the students participating- it was hard to see anyone without a CHS item on. The Freshman and Sophomores tied for first place. The Seniors were in 2nd place, and the Juniors came in last place. The prize money was all from the PSFA and will go into each class’s bank and we’d like to thank everyone involved in the PSFA for the competition and prize money. The SGA will now be focusing mainly on our annual fashion show which is scheduled for March 10th 2023. We have a theme picked out and are starting to research and contact local clothing stores. We are super excited about this upcoming event. We had our third of fourth information sessions last Saturday and will be having our final session on Thursday, November 17th.  We are expecting it to be successful. That is all I have for the SGA. If you have any questions you can reach out to  chraynor@ctemc.org Thank you.

To start off our NHS report, I’d like to thank everyone who came out and participated in the Breast Cancer Walk a few weekends ago. We ended up exceeding our 5,000 dollar goal! On behalf of the NHS, we thank you so much to everyone who donated, bought merch, or participated in our walk. Our next event will be the Wreaths Across America event on December 17th. For the fundraiser, we’re looking to raise donations to buy 100 wreaths, and for every 2 we purchase, we get one free. So, the more wreaths we buy, the better it is for us. In addition to raising money for wreaths, the NHS is going to need help at the Fair View Cemetery in Middletown. There’s going to be a small ceremony remembering and honoring veterans, and then the volunteers will go out and place wreaths on veteran resting sites. CHS students don’t have to be the only ones helping out, and we encourage everyone to bring as many people as they can. Finally, the prospective NHS members will be notified if they were accepted or not next Wednesday. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me by email, chraynor@ctemc.org, or my co-chair Sarah Rau, sarau@ctemc.org. Thank you everyone!

4. ) Co-President’s Report: Kristen Cichon (2023), Colleen Stemetzki (2024). Kristen leading: We did send out the annual donation drive letter to your home, so this went out via old fashioned mail. It is our annual donation drive that starts in November and goes until the end of January. This one is a tax write off so any contribution that you can make we will send you a thank you letter via email with all of the pertinent information to use for tax purposes. We are still working on streamlining the Communique. I did send it out via Remind messaging today, if you did not receive it I do have some extra copies here on the front table. We are continuing to improve the content and have added upcoming event reminders on the back. Last month’s meeting minutes are posted on the website- motion to accept the minutes Kristen Cichon, seconded by Colleen Stemetzki.

We do have a general website that you can reach out to the PSFA www.chs-psfa.org if you have any questions, comments or concerns. Everything that we do to raise money is all for the kids. It goes for competitions that they compete in, transportation to events, and school events. Everything that you give and do goes back to the students. The meeting minutes are on the website and if anyone would like to see them they are under the PSFA tab.

5.) Corresponding Secretary Report: Janet Schneider (2025): (not in attendance) Kristen presiding: We did receive a thank you from Mrs. Vanderveldt with regard to the Poetry Festival and wanted to thank the contributing parents of the PSFA for help in funding the transportation to the Festival. If you have any questions that you’re unsure of who to ask-you may send them in to the chs.pfsa@gmail.com email and we will find out who you should contact and let you know, or get you the answer ourselves.

6.) Committee Reports:

i.Gift Auction – Debbie Rau(2023) –  Hi everyone, I am the chair of the Gift Auction. It is a traditional Gift Basket Auction with a sit down dinner; a fifty/fifty; birthday board games; cigar box shuffle and different games. It will be on March 11th, 2023 at Jumping Brook in Neptune. You may have seen the email ‘wish list’ full of ideas; please take advantage of any black Friday sales. We have started shopping and have some great gift items already. We are looking for any new kind of gadget that someone would like to win in a gift basket. We are looking for several people to help out again. I have a nice committee so far and just looking for some extra people to join us. It is a group effort. If you receive any gifts that you are not interested in keeping you can donate to the gift auction. We need people to help with gift wrapping when it gets closer; we need people to do some soliciting of restaurants and stores in your town, anywhere that you like to shop they can donate a physical item or a gift card. We have Donation Letters with information and our tax ID that can be given to the various businesses for their records. There are sign up sheets by the table where you walked in. One is to help with the committee, and the other is if you’re willing to donate any gift cards.

ii. Merchandise – Lina Esposito(2023)  – It has come to our attention that canvas bags  are trending and we wanted to take advantage of the talented students at CHS so we created a competition to use a student design on the canvas tote. Our teachers will judge the entries- Mrs. Ortner and Mrs. Fallon, and the winner will be given a $100 gift card. We are hoping to get the bags printed by December 15th. It will be a one color design on one side of the bag. We have some new sweatpants that will be available in December. You can place and order and it will be available for your student to pick up from the front office.

iii. Donation Drive – The annual donation drive letters were  mailed to your home.  Any donation that you make to this organization is a tax write off. You will get a receipt and an email will be sent to you with the information you need to use it as a tax write off.

iiii. Membership – Teresita Weiss(2023) Krista Kingsly (2025) – Krista- there are no updates- If you wish to become a member please reach out and we will accommodate you.  If you know of a family that has not joined please reach out to them and see if they know about the PSFA and to consider joining. If you have ideas of things you would like to see happen within the PSFA please reach out. All of the directories have gone out.

iv. Public Relations- We are working on getting more information out to the parents. We are working on gathering more information, even if it is not PSFA related and having a space to post it so people can find out about most things happening at CHS. CHS Facebook page and Instagram – We are looking for someone to help chair PR and publish any news that is noteworthy- please submit your name to  chs.pfsa@gmail.  Please submit events and activities that your students are involved in and we will post to celebrate events in your student’s life, send to chs.pfsa@gmail.

We do these chats frequently and try to find topics that appeal to parents of HS students and their parents. We are open to ideas and your suggestions, please reach out to me at the general email with your ideas.

6.) Treasurer’s Report: MaryAnn Doyle(2023):The P&L is available on the table. Not too much is going on. We did get some money coming in with the Spirit Wear sale-thank you to Lina/Merchandise and all the parents/kids for their purchases. Now the annual drive is starting and we thank you for participating- some companies will match your donations so please check with your employers. Amazon smile is another way to contribute to CHS by selecting CHS as your charity of choice if you shop with Amazon. Motion to accept the P&L; Colleen Stemetzki, seconded by Lina Esposito.

7.) New Business: i. We are doing a ‘club crawl’ on December 15th. It is an opportunity for you to see what your students are doing with their clubs. It used to be called a Wobble and Gobble or a Mingle and Jingle. It is an opportunity for each club to show what they do and to fundraise for their club. There will be a brief meeting on December 15th and then the Club Crawl. ii Teacher Grant Request from Mrs. Vandervelt for the Teen Arts Festival that happens on March 16th, the categories are for: Video/Visual Arts; Creative Writing/Poetry; Photography. Last year 50 students across all grades attended, it’s a county competition. All of our students competed on the county level and went to the state level. She is requesting registration fees and transportation expenses. So I want to put that to a vote. All in favor raise your hands. A majority is clearly voting ‘yeah’ and will let her know her request has been approved. Iii. Looking to get feedback on having a 30 hour Driver’s Ed course vs. the 8 hour course. The benefit of the 30 hour course is that some insurance companies will give you a discount for your new driver. The course materials can be covered successfully in the 8 hour time frame and many students would still be able to get a ‘good student’ discount. All in favor of 30? Nay.  All in favor of an 8 hour spring course? The ‘Yays’ have it. We will go forward with an 8 hour Driver’s Ed course for the spring.

Motion to adjourn: Kristen Cichon, Colleen Stemetzki 2nd.

Next PSFA Meeting is February 2nd, 2023 in person