Minutes PA com meeting 11 October 2010

It is a pity that we have not managed to all meet together before today. The start of the school year was hectic and there were many meetings to fit in. Still things are not right. We seem to have lost the dynamic of the group and so work is left up to just a few of the group. It cannot continue like this. The voting procedures by email has helped and is a practical solution, but the discussions are missing. It was suggested that it would be easier for many if the committee meetings were fixed on the 2nd Wednesday of every month, and so people could plan ahead and keep this evening free . Of course some people cannot come to every meeting, but it will be easier to plan and they can send their imput on the various topics for discussion.

The Welcome Back Party was a great disappointment. One has to ask whether we should be offering such events. There are too few people willing to come to such events and so it has been suggested that the PA concentrate on the basics and only organise 1 or 2 events. Parents generally are reluctant to help and the school do not want to be involved at all, so we should leave this for the present.
The PA are willing to support events such as the GS Christmas concert by offering gluhwein and punch, but even here, you are all asked to help on one or the other of the days.

The following topics were also discussed:
Social Fund:
1. These guidelines have been set and once again agreed:
2. Confer with the school to establish the family‘s need for financial support.
3. If yes, then Cindy, Nathalie and Debjani will consider the application and make a recommendation to the committee (rules – maximum 50% of the costs to a max. of 100 Euros)
4. The PA committee will vote either by email or at the next meeting.
5. Cindy will inform the family by email on the outcome of the PA vote
6. ESK Accounts will be sent the information and/or the subsidy amount.
7. Kevin will transfer the money.

We have also received another 2 application forms for the Toskana school trip and have agreed to a subsidy of 100 Euros for each family. If there are no further objections, Cindy will inform the families of the decision. We have now supported 6 families (600 Euros) in total.

Subsidies for class trips and projects (separate from the obligatory school trips):
These are the guidelines agreed:
10 Euros per pupils to a max. of 200 Euros per trip.
The PA will pay either against receipts or by the number of pupils participating. Class trips that have been supported by funding from the PA include MEC, MUM and the Science Symposium. The question still outstanding if from which „pot“ will this money come from. One suggestion is to use the money from the school ID cards. This has to be discussed and voted on at the next PA meeting.
Mr Hodapp, geography teacher of Class 7 has applied for funding for a class trip to Berlin.
There are 9 pupils and we have already said that we can contribute 90 Euros. If nobody objects then it will be confirmed to him this week that he will get this funding.
Interparents
It was decided that each PA of the 14 ES should give 150 Euros to Interparents as a good will payment.

The ESK PA also request that ESK parents with experience in legal matters, finance, tax, etc who might be willing to offer their expertise on a voluntary basis, please contact the PA . Their help would be gratefull appreciated if they could offer advice on the various issues that can arise in the course of PA and Interparents work. This request is already on the PA website, however parents need to be approached individually, otherwise no one comes forward.

DELP: We will support Frau Bodain with max. 50 Euros. The school will pay for the other costs. Member of the PS whould be available on the 21 October at 3.45pm in the Aula. Who will represent the PA at this event?

AGM
The AGM will take place on 23 November 2010. The invitations should be sent out before the Autumn half-term break. It is important to know which posts in the committee are up for new candidates. The Class reps need to ask parents if they are interested in being a candidate. How can we best promote the AGM.
We need an up-to-date membership list. We still do not have a good system for managing the list, and so we do not have a good overview of the membership. Kevin Barbar and Ingrid Graham are requested to sort this out as quickly as possible.
With an up-dated new list, registration should be much quicker.
The annual report for the PA is almost complete. The English and German versions are finished, but only in draft form. Thanks to Sarah and Barbara W. for this. Nathalie will have the French version finished soon. If possible the report needs to be sent out to parents straight after the Autumn holiday. Kevin, Anja, Jacqueline, Flemming and Letizia are requested to send their reports as soon as possible, so that they can be included and translated.

The presentations for the AGM should be short and consise so that there is time left for discussions.
Many parents have a problem that the presentation is in English. It is a great barrier for some to take part. Perhaps the presentation should just be in German and simultaneously translate to English and French.

We still have to decide the voting procedures for members of the Canteen and Transport. When and how? It is still unclear.

Transport
There are many problems with Bus 11. Small children are not being let out at the correct bus stops or even let out into the middle of the raod. Frau Meyer has been addressing this problem, but the situation still remains bad. Flemming is requested to give us feed back on this issue.
Flemming has decided to resign from the the Translport committee. Is there anyone who is interested in taking this over? If so this person should be voted onto the PA committee at the AGM.

Dinnerparty:
We have already mentioned that we will organise a New Year’s party for parents, teachers, and staff. We could charge a entrance fee to cover some of the costs. Drinks, snacks and good music. What does everyone think? We would then not have the class reps and teachers/staff dinner.
The Education Council OS meeting is on 13.10.10. The Ed council meeting of the GS is on 21.10.10
Next meeting: 10.11.10 + 8.12.10
 

Present:
Cindy van Velzen, Letizia Dalle Donne, Barbara Bellossa, Barbara Weiner, Nathalie Beroard-Barth
apologies: Anja Bühner, Sarah Winthrop, Ana Gorey, Michel Messmer, Jacqueline Ribeiro, Ann Sierig, Madeleine Koch, Flemming Merrild, Kevin Barber,