September 12, 2022

Lost your umbrella? Had a conflict? No worries -- we've got you covered. Here's a recap of tonight's PTO meeting:

Katie Wunderlich (PTO President) welcomed everyone to our first in-person meeting since early 2020 (!!!). After a special shout-out to Andrea Anderson, Megan Bober, and others who have been forging relationships through events like last week's Kickball Pizza Party, we went around the room to introduce ourselves.

Principal Cofield and AP Holt also joined us, with encouragement to mark our calendars for upcoming events -- Back to School Night (this Thursday 9/15), Movie on the Green in October, and Trunk or Treat close to Halloween.

Melissa Shaull-Thompson (msthompson@bcps.k12.md.us), former K teacher and now IB Coordinator, shared an overview and update on Prep's International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program. Prep's IB program is in the candidacy phase, with hopes of achieving our official authorization later this year or early next. Ms. Thompson spoke about how the IB program helps our kids learn to be problem solvers, critical thinkers, and life-long learners. She went over the ten traits of the IB learner profile and talked about some of the other ways the IB program is unique, including the transdisciplinary themes that add to our math and ELA curriculum, and the inquiry cycle that encourages students to ask questions, research, share their findings, reflect, and act.

Nick Funk, chair of the Student Family Council, urged parents to consider joining. We need three new parents to join in order to meet the district's membership requirements. SFC is involved in the school budget process and in the School Performance Plan...no fundraising! This year, SFC is also coordinating classroom parents. SFC is looking for parents especially in Pre-K, 3rd, 4th, and 5th who might take that on. It might involve coordinating volunteers for the teacher, helping with field trips or teacher appreciation, coordinating with PTO on classroom needs, and relaying important messages. For more info contact Nick at nickfunk29@gmail.com.

Katie Wunderlich, on behalf of PTO Treasurer Matt Eskridge who was traveling, provided an overview of the PTO budget. She also posed a question to PTO members: We had planned to spend $10k for IB support that is no longer necessary. How might we "reprogram" that spending? Suggestions from membership included more money for student experiences, radios for school staff, and photo IDs for school staff and parents.

We had a discussion about school safety and protocols for drop-off and pick-up. Parents raised concerns about the number of people on campus in the morning, open doors and gates (including during instructional time), staff's ability to communicate without radios, lack of photo IDs for picking up kids, and young students wandering from the playground unattended in the morning. Principal Cofield and Katie Wunderlich committed to working together to address the concerns.

Remember to keep in touch by following on Bloomz and the PTO's Facebook page.

Next Coffee at the Crab: Friday, 10/7 @ 8:30a

Next evening PTO Meeting: Monday, 10/3 @ 6:00p

Check out www.federalhillprep.org/calendar for a new Google-based calendar so you can add events easily to your own calendar (just click the '+' sign at the bottom right). Thanks Katie Wolfe!