Meeting Minutes April, 11, 2024 – CHS Parent Student Faculty Association

Communications High School – PSFA Meeting

April 11, 2024

Call to order at 7:01pm by Colleen Stemetzki

1. SGA Report: Sabrina Liding – SGA VP
  1. Spirit Week was a great success. The junior class came in first followed by the Seniors, Sophomores and Freshman.
  2. Thank you to the PSFA for breakfast treats during midterm.
  3. SGA Elections: Mandatory interest meeting will be held on Monday, April 22 and they will review the process with all candidates. Candidates must obtain 10 student signatures from each grade and two teacher signatures to be eligible. All classes (other than seniors) are eligible for SGA. Each class will also hold council elections.
  4. There are Skills USA competitions this week and next week.
  5. The CCC Festival will be held on April 26, 2024. Families are encouraged to attend.
  6. Prom will be held on May 17 and payments are due April 19.
  7. Color Wars will be held on June 7. Thank you to the PSFA for providing t-shirts to the entire student body. Seniors and advisors will be selecting teams in the week ahead.
2. Principal’s Report: Ms. Bonilla
  1. Please take a look at the school’s calendar. Some upcoming dates:
    1. Friday, April 19 – Art Show and National Honors Society ceremony.
    2. Friday, April 26 – CCC Fest
    3. Friday and Saturday, May 3 & 4 – Drama Club’s production of Little Women
    4. Thursday, May 9 – DV Club – Video Showcase
    5. June 19 – Graduation
  2. Freshman Orientation will be held next week to welcome the Class of 2028.
  3. We will be hosting a Mentorship Dinner to be held on May 7.
  4. She has been blown away by the amazing college admission letters that have been received by the class of 2024.
3. Grant Requests:
  1. Mrs. Ortner requested $6,000 for temporary panels and equipment needed to assemble a pop-up gallery for the school. It will be available for all teachers or groups that would want to curate their art including graphic art, digital art or any other visual arts.
    1. The parties discussed what approvals would be needed by the district. Mrs. Ortner has identified a current district vendor and will submit the necessary documents to obtain approval by the district.
    2. Mrs. Ortner has also considered the storage and durability of the displays and will be mindful of this going forward.
    3. The PSFA approved up to $6,500 to be spent by Mrs. Ortner on obtaining temporary panels and related equipment in connection with a temporary pop-up gallery which would be purchased from a district approved vendor.
  2. Mrs. Vander Velde, faculty advisor for the literary magazine and has been organizing participation by our students in the Monmouth County Teen Arts Festival. Three students were successful at the festival and have been invited to the State level competition. As such, they have the opportunity to have their work reviewed at Middlesex County College on June 5 for a State level competition. The registration fee for the three students is $150.
    1. The PSFA approved $150 for the registration fee for the 3 students who have qualified the State level competition.
  3. Mrs. Vander Velde would like to request funding for busing to the Dodge Poetry Festival held at NJPAC in Newark, NJ next Fall. 20-25 students will be able to attend on all grade levels. Students will be able to listen to nationally published poets, attend workshops and be emersed into the national poetry community. She is seeking bids and expects that it would be between $800-$1,300.
    1. The PSFA approved up to $1,300 to cover the bus contract.
  4. Mrs. Vanarsdale teaches Spanish 3,4,5 and Conversational Spanish. She requested funding for videos to be used in her class.
    1. The PSFA approved $100 to be used towards the purchase of videos for her Spanish classes.
4. Minutes: The March minutes were posted to the website and approved.

Gift Auction Report

1. 1. The PSFA Gift Auction will be held on April 13 at The Breakers in Spring Lake. We have sold all tickets to the events. We are holding a silent auction for parking passes and preferential seating for graduation. We could use some parent volunteers and encourage PSFA members to look at the Sign Up Genius page to see if they can help.

Spirit Wear Committee Report

1. 1. Spirit Week was successful and are anticipating more sales at Freshmen Orientation.

Membership Committee

1. 1. We are looking forward to new members for the Class of 2028. We increased the membership fee to $150 per family for four years and if there are additional siblings $75 per sibling.
  2. We would love to have a parent volunteer to co-chair this committee for next year.
  3. Scholarship packages have been distributed by the Guidance Department. The PSFA does not review the applications or make the determinations, we merely fund the scholarships. Good luck to each of the applicants!

Hospitality Committee

1. We would love to have a parent volunteer to shadow the chairs for this committee for next year as the two chairs will be senior parents next year. Please feel free to reach out Lisa Lippincott if you are interested.
2. We are in the middle of bagel breakfast days for midterms and will also host them for finals. We will also host a hospitality table for Freshman Orientation. We are very grateful for all our parent volunteers!
Color War Committee
1. To be held on Friday, June 7. We would love for someone to shadow the current chairs and volunteer to chair next year.
News:
1. A “Parents of CHS” Facebook page has been established. Thank you to Dominic DeMaio.
Next Meeting: The next PSFA meeting is at 7pm on May 2nd at CHS. Immediately prior to the meeting will be a college essay writing workshop which all Juniors and their parents are encouraged to attend. The workshop will begin at 6pm. The final meeting of the year will be on June 6th at CHS.