Ridgeway PTA Meeting Minutes

GENERAL PTA MEETING

May 13, 2025

7:00 PM

Location: Ridgeway

Attendees

Kelli Teglas

Taryn Friedman

Cait Webster

Rebecca Burnstein

Jessica Woodford

Gabi Flick

Tara McCarthy

Melissa Welsh

Lauren Reynolds

Alexis Rieger

Lauren Carasso

Jillian King

Lucia Renz

Loralee Stone

Liz Trepp

Joanna Efstathiou-Dittmar

And various members of the Ridgeway community

Welcome & Call to Order & President’s Report:

Old Business:

Outdoor Classroom -Structure will be delivered during the first week of July. The district has not responded to when it will be installed.
The library will be closed down for renovations. AC will be installed over the summer.
Playground refresh - SEL sign being installed soon
Tiger Mural for the Gym happening in July

NEW:

4/29- quorum met
- School board vote for the budget is Tuesday 5/20. Go vote for the budget to be passed!
Recap of the year so far
- PTA annual report with accomplishments. This will be sent out in the blast and on our website.
Recent Successes-
- Earth day
  - All students were able to plant one plant all over the school grounds.
  - White Plains Beautification Project gave us a small grant and will probably continue next year.
  - Also partnered with the student council.
  - Kids were super excited about this activity.
- Grandparents Day
  - Lovely day.
  - Next year, outside we suggest closing off the playground area so kids engage more with grandparents.
- Global dinner
  - profit was a little over $8,000
  - Most silent auction items went.
- Plant sale
  - Most items sold
  - Under $1000 profit
  - Suggestion to sell the same day as grandparents day - need to follow up
- Book fair
  - $16000 made, $8,000 towards scholastic news.
- Teacher appreciation week - huge success!
- One School One Book - Wonder
  - Have a grant from Friends of White Plains.
  - There will be an assembly at the end.
  - There are picture books for the younger classes.
- RRecess -
  - ZUMBA started this week through June 10
  - Backyard sports continues through the end of May
  - Sign ups are filled. We are getting great feedback.
  - Plan is to continue with these next year on a staggered schedule
  - We are using unused field trip money. We allotted for two trips per grade most are using in school field trips so we are using the remaining money for these programs.
Pretzel Day - Wednesday, May 22
- There will be gluten free & dairy free. All are nut free.
- Parents will sign a permission slip and be distributed to the kids.
$300 grade wide for end of year celebrations will be available
Executive Board- new nominees voting next meeting
- Nominating Committee- Amy Handlesman, Lauren Carasso, and Alex Scabelli (non executive board member). They provide their recommendations on the nominees and bring it forward to the executive board. Please speak to the PTA presidents if you are interested.
- Delegates at the National PTA Convention in June 2024 voted to raise National PTA dues by $1.00.
  - Vote on Membership Dues:
    - 1. Keep your current dues the same; if your dues are more than $5, you will retain $1.00 less per member for your local PTA
    - 2. Increase our unit's overall dues by $1.00 (which is the amount National PTA is raising their dues).
  - All attendees voted in favor of raising the Ridgeway dues by $1
Sasha Growick - Teacher Rep
- Teachers are very appreciative of all of the thought put into Teacher appreciation week. They feel appreciated.
Treasurer’s Report:

There will be a report in June
Fifth grade is allowed to fundraise up to 20% of our expenses.
Fifth grade has field day, a dance, a yearbook for each child, they are going to Edith Read and Chelsea Piers.

Principal’s Update

Food pantry is almost ready to serve families.
Will be open Mondays and Thursdays.
There is clothing, shoes, backpacks, food, and refrigerated food.
Launch is May 22.
No donations will be collected by families this year but will be next year.

Chair Report

School Supply Kits - Rebecca
- School supply kit orders (due 6/29). There is an option to donate to supplies to students in the school
- This year, school supplies will be recycled and reused in classrooms. There will be a notice to parents to allow them to opt out of this and get supplies sent home
Events - Jessica
- Zumba- Ridgeway moms 5/19 $20pp - some money will go back to the school.
- Ice cream party date 6/13
- Field day dates- June 10 & June 11 - weather permitting - Sign up genius going out soon
- K Round up date- beginning of June, date TBD - district planned
Spiritwear - Evis & Jillian
- Year end Sales at ice cream social and kindergarten roundup
Special Needs
- Sat 5/17- all district playdate for self contained classes, will have a sensory table and a speaker.
- There will not be a SEPTA next year in White Plains, instead we will rework and rebrand the committee we already have.
- Autism Awareness Month - April - a beautiful bulletin board was created, and a powerpoint distributed to the classrooms.

Assemblies - Melissa & Tara
- BMX assembly 5/30 outside
- Pop Up Circus 6/9 in the gym (2 sessions)
- One Book One School Assembly 6/12

Hospitality - Elizabeth & Jillian
- Teacher appreciation week successes - Our Teachers and Staff Rock
- On Monday each teacher received a custom T shirt.
- Tuesday kids wore their teachers favorite color or dressed like a rock star.
- Wednesday was the luncheon - they walked down the walk of fame. They walked the red carpet. Cooking by Jessica catered the event.
- Thursday was room service with a snack and drink
- Friday teachers received fan mail.

5th grade committee
- 5th grade committee for next year upcoming meeting: June

Questions ?

What happens if kids come to events without money? The PTA always makes sure kids have money to spend. For example at the plant sale each kid got $5 to spend.

Suggestion to make it more obvious to donate money towards this as well as donate a PTA membership

Meeting Adjourned:

June 10th - voting in new executive board members