General Meeting Agenda, 3/27/25

General Business Meeting of the Membership of the John F. Kennedy School PTA

Thursday, March 27, 7:30PM-9:00PM

Sartwell Ave Doors open at 7:15PM, Zoom opens at 7:20, Meeting Begins at 7:30

In-person at the Kennedy School Cafeteria or Online via this Zoom link: http://bit.ly/JFKPTA-MEET 

(If joining in on zoom, please sign in a few minutes early and make your screen name is your real name.)

John F. Kennedy PTA Bylaws at https://bit.ly/JFKPTA-ByLaws22

Quorum: 13 PTA members including Board members must be present to conduct business. All are welcome to attend, regardless of membership. Only current members can vote, make a motion, or nominate or be nominated for office.

Agenda

1. President’s Welcome and Approval of Minutes from 9/26/2024 general meeting

   1. 2024.9.26 (GM MTG 1) PTA General Business Meeting Notes - please read ahead of time. One member moves to approve, a second member to second the motion, membership votes by show of hands.

The following two items of new business will be taken out of usual order and be conducted at the start of the meeting:

2. Motion: Proposal to amend this PTA’s by-laws for the purpose of increasing the size of the board by two roles (1 co-president and 1 co-treasurer) 

➜(Please read the Proposal language in full here prior to the meeting. For reference, you can read the process for approval of the motion here if interested)

1. Overview of Proposal

2. Floor open to discussion, questions, debate, motions to amend the proposed language changes, necessary votes on any motions

3. Vote on the Proposal (affirmative vote by ⅔ of members present and voting by a show of hands) 

3. Nominations [review the process here]

   1. Overview

   2. Report of the Nominating Committee (chair Kimberly Durniak)

   3. Nominations Open to the Floor (YOU (PTA members) get to nominate anyone, yourself or another person, for any position! Nominee must be present and must accept the nomination)

   4. Nominations Recorded and Read

4. Reports of the Officers and Committees

   1. Report of the Treasurer

      1. Report of the Ledger

      2. Fundraising updates

2. Community Events

   1. Past (co-secretary & committee co-chair Alexis Orellana)

      1. Highlights of past events: Harvest Fest, Flatbread, BINGO

   2. Community Input: Give us your feedback and ideas

3. Upcoming (president Becky Lopes-Filho)

   1. Staff Appreciation Week (May 5-9)

      1. → Committee volunteers needed (signup here)

      2. Planning Staff Appreciation Week initiative(s) - could be one event or series of small fun things, nothing is planned yet, anything can be on the table! Share ideas now out loud, in the chat, or on this quick form

   2. Carnival (Friday, May 30, all day in-school)

      1. Based on last year’s, with an extra item or two

      2. → Volunteers Needed: → Carnival Planning Committee (signup here) staffing (supervision, popsicle/ice cream service) 

3. Front Lot Improvements (co-chairs Kat Johnston and Jess Perez Adams)

   1. Advocacy for Long-term rebuild and Short-term Beautification Committee 

      1. Where we are, next asks/days, volunteers, supplies?

4. 8th Grade (Becky, as liaison from Committee to the Board) 

   1. → Volunteers Needed: 7th grade parents to get involved and learn the ropes! (please email Becky at jfksomervillepta@gmail.com to get involved)

5. FY 25-26 PTA Budget Committee volunteers needed

   1. → Volunteers Needed: Help with analysis and envisioning our financial priorities for next year (signup form)

6. Advocacy (co-chair Andrew Sessa, co-VP)

   1. District Budget [district budget calendar]

      1. JFK PTA keeping tabs on ~bi-weekly School Committee Finance Committee meetings

         1. Next two meetings April 2 and 16, 6pm, Zoom, Zoom registration posted in weekly School Committee calls here

      2. JFK PTA rep attending ongoing SEU/SC contract negotiation meetings

      3. Through Sville PTA council, JFK PTA presented FY26 asks to School Committee, including Superintendent, plus district chief of staff and head of academics. Asks were coordinated with Mr. Marshall (full deck with requests from all school PTAs + PTA Council here) [JFK PTA requests here]

5. New Business

   1. Q&A open to the Floor (members and non-members)

      1. Not comfortable speaking? Put comments in the chat (for discussion now) or add them to this form (a member of the board will write back if you include contact info!)

6. President: Final Reminders, Adjourn

   1. Annual Membership Meeting and Election May 1, 7:30-9:00, same hybrid format

   2. PFLAG Training [flyer]: March 31 at 7pm over zoom. Pre-register at https://gbpflag-org.zoom.us/meeting/register/ZlG3eJ8XS92If5OvuzKCkA

   3. Fill out an updated COMMITTEE INTEREST FORM if you haven’t yet or if your interests have changed based on tonight’s meeting

https://forms.gle/R9DuSiwc2obbwg6e8

^ SCAN QR ABOVE or CLICK ABOVE for Committee/volunteer interest form

Stay tuned for event updates and volunteer needs via email, on our website jfkpta.org or follow our Facebook group by joining here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/KennedySchoolSomerville