1.) Call to Order/Pledge of Allegiance & Welcome: Current PSFA officers in attendance: Kristen Cichon (2023) Colleen Stemetzki (2024) Debbie Rau (2023) Mary Ann Doyle (2023) Janice Karp (2023) Janet Schneider(2025)
2.) SGA Report: Lucy Batista: President of SGA. The SGA Fashion Show was this past month and went really well. It was a lot of work, coordination and planning and was a great fundraiser for the school. We have just started planning for Color Wars, that is a long process that we have sent out the forms to our seniors who get to choose their teammates. The underclassmen are randomly assigned to the various groups. We are sending out forms to find out what size t-shirts are needed; we are also helping the PSFA with the Spirit Wear Competition, which is a chance for the kids to raise some money for their class, while showing off their spirit wear. We are gearing up for Spirit Week which will be two weeks after spring break, April 24th-28th. We have just secured all of our themes and events so that is all set. We will be having a meeting on Monday with the class councils to reveal to them the themes and events and then that will besmeared with their classes. If you have any questions please feel free to ask.
NHS Report: Sarah Rau: We are having a joint food drive with the CCC. It’s been going on this week and is ending tomorrow. You can still bring donations to the CCC festival tomorrow night and the donations will all be going to the Lunch Break in Red Bank. On behalf of the senior class we will have prom tickets available for sale in the lunchroom with week of the 17th-21st for the junior and senior classes.
3.) Principal Gleason’s Report: Thanks for coming out tonight. I would also like to thank the PSFA for getting the school three printers. The school budget is a little tight right now. One went to the math room, English room, and faculty room. So thank you so much it’s a great help to us. We are at the end of the marking period and I’m very curious to see what mid-terms are going to be like next week, because the calendars are a mess with all of the different schools taking spring breaks on different weeks. It hasn’t been this divided in quite a while. We are all looking forward to spring break. So end of third marking period, three out of four completed and we are rolling along. I know that Lucy talked about Spirit Week, that is a nice event for the students to participate in a little team building, that’s what we like to do here. We welcomed in the new class of 2027. Are there any new parents here? Congratulations. (Applause for those in attendance) We have freshman orientation on April 20th. Miss Colvin will serving as the class advisor for the incoming class. We look forward to welcoming the incoming class. Film festival – the TV-Film festival was added to the calendar on May 3rd at 7 pm.If anyone has any questions please feel free to reach out.
4. ) Co-President’s Report : It just so happened that there were some printers that were not working and we were able to help out and provide three new printers as well as the toners. A quick update on the Spirit Wear competition. We will come in the week before with merchandise and give the kids an opportunity to make any purchases at the school, or you can order it on-line. We sponsor a competition on the Friday before Spirit Week and then the top participating class wearing the most Spirit Wear will get $300 dollars toward their class bank, 2nd place gets $150, 3rd place gets $100 and 4th place gets $50. So it is an opportunity for them to help earn money for their class bank. We will be here selling the 14th – 20th with the competition on the 21st and Spirit week the 24th -28th. We have discussed different options for merchandise to see if we can get some stuff in quicker. I don’t know how many parents are on social media? We are posting things on Instagram and Facebook. Some of the things that are sent out via Remind, or that are sent out via email are also posted on social media as well-so you may want to check that out. Color Wars will be coming in June and there will be limited volunteers allowed on site. Let us know if you are interested in helping and then we will let you know if we can have you help out and when. Color Wars is on June 2nd. If you look at the Communique- there are dates on the back and the ones in bold are for seniors, so if you are a senior parent keep them highlighted so you can keep on track of them. We do have scholarships that get awarded to the seniors. The applications are going out tomorrow. You must be a PSFA member by April 7th, 2023 to be considered. The students need to fill out the applications and submit.
5.) Recording Secretary Minutes: Janice Karp (2023) Minutes from March have been posted to the website and need to be approved – motioned by Kristin Cichon, and 2nd by Janet Schneider.
6.) Corresponding Secretary: Janet Schneider (2025) – We did get thank you’s for the printers from all of teachers- much appreciated.
7.) Committee Reports:
A.) Fundraising: Debbie Rau (2023) -We’d like to thank everyone for coming, it was a very nice crowd that night and we all had a really good time. We had 150 gift baskets. We raised more money than we budgeted for so that was wonderful- thank you to all the parents. It was an amazing night and a lot of people helped out behind the scenes. We actually have someone who has stepped up to help out with the gift auction for next year. If Janelle is here? We do have a great team- people who have been soliciting, people who have done gift wrapping, all of the people who donated, and more. If you are interested in helping out, we can always use the help- it’s a huge undertaking and more people helping makes it more successful.
B.) Hospitality- Lisa Lipincott (2025) and Kathy Seetoo (2025) – We have Bagel Breakfast for mid-terms on April 5th and 6th, look for Sign ups. We will have light refreshments for Freshman Orientation night. We also have Color Wars coming in June- which is like a giant field day. Meg O’Brien will be sending out sign up sheets for supplies and food. There will be a survey going out tomorrow regarding food choices so please tell your student to fill it out. We are checking vendors for t-shirts. There will be a need for a some volunteers but it will be limited.
C.) Membership: Teresita Weiss (2024) – If your student is a senior they are eligible to apply for the 10 scholarships offered by the PSFA if you are a member paid in full. If you are unsure of your status please contact Teresita or the PSFA and we can verify your status. There are some qualifications to meet and an essay to turn in. Guidance has all information.
D.) Communique: For information to be included in the Communique please send information to : newsletter@chs-psfa.org. Look for updated links to information on the Communique & CHS website.
E.) Enrichment Education: No extra curricular at this time.
F.) Parent Chat: Marlaina Loushine (not available) (2024) – Kristen presenting: parent chat-There was a parent chat tonight that was geared toward sophomores, however it could be beneficial to hear as a freshman or junior parent to see what’s to come. We will let you know what is set up for next month as soon as we know.
G.) Book Club: Patti Riddle (2026) – If you would like to join, look for the sign up on the Communique. Next meet up is at Panera in Wall on Tuesday April 25 at 7 pm.
H.) Merchandise: Lina Esposito (2023) – We have a lot of incoming freshman ordering items. We do have Spirit week coming up and will have CHS merchandise available the week before. Some items are back ordered but hopefully all will be available for Freshman Orientation coming up on Thursday, April 20th- that is usually our biggest sale of the season. If anyone has any suggestions for items to sell please reach out to the PSFA.
6.) Treasurer’s Report: MaryAnn Doyle (2023) -We did really well with our big fundraiser of the year- the Gift Auction which Debbie will talk about. The expenses this month were the printers and toners as well as the trip for the students participating in the InkBlot trip to NYC.
7.) New Business: Emma and Jordan from the InkBlot, assistant sports editor and assistant news editor: We are here tonight to thank you so much for donating toward the Columbia trip. The Columbia trip was such an excellent experience, going to NYC and hearing the great lectures, hosted by experts in journalism who taught us a lot of valuable information about journalism that we will be able to bring to the InkBlot. We learned about how to bring our community together and build a stronger newspaper for next year. Thank you all so much.
8.) Adjournment: Diane Makin, Seconded by Colleen Stemetzki
Next meeting is May 4th.