OWNCS2 PTO General Meeting Minutes - March
Date, Time, and Location: Thursday, March 10, 2022 at 6:30PM Via Zoom
Meeting called to order by: President- Kathy Vergara at 6:32PM
Note Taker(s): Secretary- Esther Wallace
Timekeeper: President- Kathy Vergara
Attendees: President- Kathy Vergara, Vice President-, Vice President- Yaritza Cano,
Treasurer- Shaenne Toussaint-Islam, Secretary- Esther Wallace, Communications Officer-
Elaine Pagan, Teacher Representatives: Ms. Hayes, Ms. Valencia. There were 29 attendees
including (1) Guest- Principal, Mr. Wilkins; a quorum was reached.
ORDERS OF BUSINESS
I. School Updates
a. Treasurer Update
PTO account currently has a balance of $2,213, not including bank
fees/requirements
The Read-a-thon and Pi Day fundraiser as of 3/10 stands at $2,035. Thank
you all for your generous participation.
PTO goal is to raise $5,000 in order to provide unlimited rides wristbands for
the end of year Carnival that is being planned (date TBD)
b. Pi Day (Read-a-thon’s mid-month prize)
Pi Day will be held on Monday 3/14 ( π 3.14 )
Thanks to the generous donation we will have over 10 teachers lined up to be
pied by the students!!
The 3 classes with the highest donations will be invited to watch the Pi Day
event live in the multipurpose room and the students will have their names
entered in a drawing to do the pieing!!
As of 3/10 the current leaderboard is: 1 st Place- 210, 2 nd Place- 202, 3 rd Place-
206. Classes 217 and 207 are close behind. But there is still time to turn the
leaderboard around
The Pi Day event will be live streamed and recorded. The link for parents to
watch the recording will be placed on Instagram and Class Dojo
c. Read-a-thon
We are about half way through our read-a-thon and our kids have been doing
a great job with their reading
Reading logs should have been sent home with the children and should be
filled out and returned to teacher weekly
Read-a-thon leader board as of 3/10:
i. Upper Grades- class 220 (3,867 pages), class 213 (3,604 pages)
ii. Lower Grades- class 210 (999 pages), class 202 (975 pages)
Read-a-thon fundraiser will go on the entire month- funds will go towards end
of year Carnival
The classes with the highest read pages by the end of the fundraiser will
receive a pizza party (one for the upper grades and one for the lower grades)
The individual student, across all grades, with the highest accumulative read
pages will receive a gift card for scholastic books
d. Queens Borough President Visit
The school will be visited by the Queens Borough President, Mr. Donovan
Richards Jr. on Monday March 14th
Mr. Richards will receive a tour of our school and meet some of our classes
Topics of concern that we will discuss include topics such as truck congestion
on the street, better street lights near the rear entrance, crossing guard,
crosswalk, possible police presence during arrival/dismissal, etc.
Parents can email topics/concerns that they will like brought up to the
Borough president
e. School Carnival
PTO is planning on hosting an end-of-year carnival which will be located at
the park across the street from the school
The carnival’s tentative date is Saturday June 18 th . This is pending the
approval of our requested park permits
Once the park permit is approved, parents/kids will receive formal invitations
to attend the Carnival
The carnival will be opened to the public so students may invite family and
friends
Once fundraising goal is reached, OWN2 enrollees will be given wristbands
for unlimited rides. However, rides and games tickets will also be available for
purchase at the event for those who do not attend OWN
Volunteers- PTO is asking parents who are interested in volunteering for a
shift at a carnival station (collecting tickets, operating a game table,
concession stand, etc.) to please email the PTO pto_own2@owncs.org.
f. St. Patrick’s Day
PTO members will be at the school on March 17 th dressed in green and
handing out treats to the students.
Feel free to have your child dress in green on that day as well
g. After-School
Sylvan- as per Ms. Cekic, children in the tutoring program will receive monthly
reports on their child’s progress. Sylvan test prep students will receive a
report at the end. If a parent in the tutoring program has not received a report
please contact Ms. Cekic at amra@sylvannyc.com or 718-368-3613
Rising Stars- Ms. Braswell states that she made calls to all parents and all
questions and concerns have been addressed. Ms. Braswell will create office
hours going forward which will be on Tuesdays between 4:30 and 5:30pm for
parents with questions or concerns. The current cost for Rising Stars is
$40/week. Contact Ms. Braswell if you are currently paying more.
h. Summer Program
OWN2 is working on the logistics of this year’s summer program. The goal
will be to have a free summer program for all those interested.
Information for the summer program should tentatively be sent out to parents
around May
i. Middle School
The school is still in the planning phase of an OWN 2 middle school
There is no set date for a middle school to open at this time
j. Graduation
School staff will begin the planning for this year’s 5 th grade and Kindergarten
graduation
OWN2 will then include graduating parents in the planning process. If any
parent is interested in being involved in the graduation planning please
contact the school directly
k. Ukraine Support
Ruby, one of our OWN2 students, shared a very touching letter with our
principal, Mr. Wilkins
OWN2 will be working with Ms. Imam’s organization to provide first aid kits to
those who are in need in Ukraine
Parents can assist by sending in $5 per student to help with this effort
This coordination effort is with the purpose of showing support and
compassion to those in need. OWN2 does not take a political stance
II. New Business
a. Join Mr. Wilkins every Friday for Virtual Coffee and Conversation! Time slots are
available between 8am and 9am. Please call the main office to schedule.
b. Parent Contact Form- A Google Form was emailed out to all parents requesting their
contact information. Parent’s contact information is for the purpose of PTO use so
that school information/events can be communicated directly. If you did not receive
the Contact Form please email the PTO directly at pto_own2@owncs.org
c. Reading Wall- PTO will be setting up a bulletin board in the theme of a reading
garden. Flyers will be disturbed soon requesting students to provide the names of
their favorite books
d. Review Our School Raffle- Write positive reviews about OWN2 and as a thanks you
will be entered in a raffle to win one of 3 Visa Gift Cards! We are still taking
submissions. Email the PTO if you need more details on the contest rules.
e. Cocoa and Cookies- we continue to receive wonderful support from all our parents
and staff at our table! The cocoa and cookies table will soon be switching over to our
spring Lemonade and Lollipops theme. Stay tuned for new and exciting baked goods
that will be added.
f. Art Program- Mr. Palacio will be working on a Lego project with the students and
request parents to donate Legos to the art room. Any size or color Legos would be
appreciated
III. General PTO Meeting Guest Speaker(s)
School will continue to remain in communication with Department of Health
regarding COVID 19 safety procedure and guidelines. Updated information
will be sent out to parents on an ongoing basis
CLOSING
Next meeting is Thursday, April 14th at 6:30PM
Meeting adjourned at 7:42PM
Minutes approved by President, Kathy Vergara
PTO Email: pto_own2@owncs.org
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