PA Committee Meeting 13th April

CIndy welcomed everyone and opened the meeting.
The agenda was adopted.

School Policies
The Committee requested that school policies concerning bullying, drugs, child protection, ICT etc be made available as soon as possible. The recent incident concerning pupils on the school bus has highlighted that there are no set procedures for all parties, procedures and decisions are not well coordinated, there is poor communication, and many parents are still frustrated.
It was also requested that “aufsicht” students are chosen from years 5, 6 and 7 OS only as other students are too young for such a responsible position.

Summer fest
OS Teachers have said that it is unlikely that many will attend the Summer fest as the timing is bad and they are too busy.
It is suggested that the AbiBall team be invited to raise money at the event.
Although bouncy castles are expensive, these are very popular for the younger visitors. It was proposed that tickets be sold for each turn on the castle to help cover costs. Thorsten will contact the bouncy castle company for details.
Stage programme will take place again and teachers will be asked for details.
More cash tills are needed to reduce queues in the Grill tent.

Other entertainment
    face painting - Frau Ebert
    Swedish hear-dresses - Frau Herrmann
    ice cream bar - Frau Herrmann
    Burundi stall - Frau Herrmann

Fund raising activities
    2nd hand book stall (with donated books) - Mike Winthrop
    basket raffle (donations collected by each class) - Letizia
    Kinder Flohmarkt for children by children (small charge for each table)
    International cafe (donated cakes) - Anja
    grill - Michel
    EuroBoutique - Letizia

Sport activities
    Intersport - Cindy
    tennis - Jacqueline
    football match

Administration
    Red Cross - Frau Ebert
    Permission form for event - Cindy
    Cash boxes - Ute

Information
Website info - Sarah
Email info - Sarah

Coordinators
    General - Cindy van Velzen
    Grill - Michel Messmer
    International cafe - Anja Buhner
    Entertainment and other events - Fotini Morakis

EuroBoutique
Kinder marathon have ordered 26 t-shirts - this has been funded completely by Frau Ebert
The Bläserklasse and ESKADO and band will have t-shirts with a new logo for the Summer Fest. ITU will donate €250 and it was agreed in December 2010 that the PA donate €115 for the Bläserklasse.  ESKDO and Band have ordered 70 t-shirts. Parents will pay €10 for each t-shirt. ITU will donate €100 and it was requested that the PA donate the remaining amount (c.€50).
Proposal: the PA will donate the outstanding money to sponsor the choir and band. This was voted on:
13 - yes, 0 - no, no abstentions.

Treasurer’s report
EuroBoutique is now almost at break-even point.
€1600 profit was made from the International cafe on Open Day, thanks to the generosity of parents who brought cakes.
KiTa will also have a Summer fest and EuroBoutique will be open then.
There are still some outstanding payments to be completed for this year’s After-school Activities. 25 families still have not paid the course fees and this is being followed up by the PA. Care must be taken when dealing with the insurance cover for after-school activities.
Ute has drawn up guidelines for applying for school trip and project funding. These guidelines were unanimously accepted by the PA Committee and so they will be translated and sent to school management for distribution.
Mr Benson has applied for €1000 support for a play that he is producing. He intends to re-imburse the PA after the entrance money for the performance has been collected. Ute has been requested to get more information about the financial situation of the event and to check whether this can been done.
Book Prizes - the total bill for the books was c. €650. There is €350 outside sponsor money (ITU etc). It is proposed that the PA cover the cost difference; 13 - yes, 0 - no, no abstentions. The book prizes will be organized by the school in future. Mrs. Lomax has volunteered for this task. The school will find outside sponsors to cover the purchase of the books.
The payment of membership fees have to be revised as the current system is far too complicated. Nathalie, Ute, Thorsten and Veronique will form a working party to establish a new system for September 2011.

After-school Activities
There have been various organisational misunderstandings concerning the French AA club. This situation is regrettable and it was decided that the teacher who currently runs the course will be replaced with immediate effect so that pupils can continue with the course.
In future if teachers do not turn up for any part of a course, payment for that day/days will be withheld.
It was requested that the school inform the PA AA coordinator immediately if, for some reason, the course cannot take place on a particular day due to maintenance etc.

Canteen
Jacqueline informed the Committee that due to budget restrictions, Mr Hoyem is no longer willing to co-sign a new contract with Medirest. This situation can be reviewed again in November at the next Admin Board meeting. Uwe Zweigner (Canteen Committee treasurer) has now completed all outstanding issues with the finances. It has been established that the noise level in the canteen is too high and this must be addressed immediately. Fewer pupils and teachers are going to the canteen and if this trend continues this will threaten the viability of the canteen. The PA committee expressed concerns over the sale of chocolate and other sugary products in the Oberschule. Mr Hoyem has been asked to look into this situation. Jacqueline reported that a separate dining room is needed for teachers and guests to the school. This could be financed through sponsorship. Also a kiosk is being considered for use by OS students. The school management have been asked to re-examine the possibility of making the lunch break in the OS longer as this would relieve the problem of long queues. The PA asked that the canteen committee also check the quality and quantity of the food being served to students.

Due to lack of time, some agenda items were postponed. The request to meet the cost for a modification in the Website home page will be completed by written procedure.

Next Committee meeting: 11th May 2011

Cindy thanked everyone for attending and closed the meeting.

Sarah Winthrop
11th May 2011

Present: Cindy van Velzen, Nathalie Beroard-Barth, Thorsten Reineke, Anja Buhner, Fotini Morakis, Valerie Dujardin, Michel Messmer, Letizia Dalle Donne, Jaqueline Ribeiro, Veronique Needham, Debjani Basu, Hamid Betani, Sarah Winthrop.