[PC News] Parent Council Minutes - September 20

[Tammy Dance-Skinner]

Parent Council<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Meeting Minutes

September 20, 2005

 

Members present: D. Stallings, Agnor-Hurt; L. Porter, Agnor-Hurt; S. Cushing, Brownsville; S. Bashline, Greer; P. Hutchins, Cale; J. Jones and C. Wilson, Hollymead; S. Walker, Sutherland; T. Pajewski, Baker-Butler; M. Pawinski, Woodbrook; M. Marano, Murray High; L. Bradley and C. Deale, Crozet; K. Sinclair, Albemarle High; B. Dierolf, Western Albemarle High; J. and J.  Stein, Red Hill; S. Newman, Yancey; W. Ruschmann, Meriwether Lewis; J. Abate, Henley; R. Price, Stony Point; M. Noble, Jack Jouett.  

 

Guests present: Mary Huffard Kegley Scott, parent, Meriwether Lewis.

 

Albemarle County Public Schools staff present: P. Moran, acting superintendent; C. Dyer, director of community engagement; J. Zimmermann, executive director of financial services; J. Smith, coordinator of character education/youth service; C. Sinatra, communications coordinator. 

 

1.	Announcements and Consent Agenda - Chip Deale, president 

a.	Approval of Minutes of the August 30, 2005 meeting as corrected to include Stacy Walker among the list of members present. T. Pawjewski made a motion to approve the Minutes as corrected. The motion was seconded by K. Sinclair and the motion passed.

 

2.	School Division Report- Dr. Pam Moran, acting superintendent

a.	SAT Scores: We recently received SAT scores. Ours are again up and are the highest scores recorded. There has been a significant upswing in math over the last three years that the division attributes to the focus on introducing students to Algebra and compacting math in middle schools to help students achieve higher levels of math earlier. We now have kids that are topping out of Calculus at 10th and 11th grade. Last year, we had our first fifth-grade student pass the Algebra test. Two years ago we started offering Calculus 2 and 3 through a distance-learning or internet video class with the University of Virginia. This year the video class has been expanded to include Monticello and Western Albemarle. The division has a fund that parents can apply to for partial or complete reimbursement for students taking the classes for university credits. Eighty-five percent of our students take the SAT in our high schools. 
b.	Albemarle High School Teacher Carla Hunt was recognized by the Virginia Department of Education as the Region 5 Teacher of the Year. She will compete for the Virginia Teacher of the Year award in October.
c.	At the high school level, we started administering the PSAT about three years ago to build a trend for students to take the SAT. We give the PSAT to all students in 9th-, 10th-, and 11th-grades so teachers can determine where student strengths and weaknesses are and strengthen them for the SAT to ensure that doors open for them into college. 
d.	The World Languages program is expanding. Although some schools started earlier than others, this year the Spanish conversational program is built into all elementary schools. Another course has been built into middle school. We have added non-European languages at our three high schools. We now also offer Arabic, Japanese, and Chinese. Sometimes students will take Spanish and when they hit the eleventh grade will take non-European languages. 
e.	We are watching student enrollment carefully. Today she took a tour to view growth areas throughout the county. This fall we had a significant enrollment bump up at Crozet, Brownsville, and Henley. Henley had to do some work at the beginning of the year to re-balance classes. We also saw a bump up at Agnor-Hurt this year and were not anticipating it to go up as much as it did. Murray elementary is at capacity and an addition is beginning at Cale elementary to accommodate growth. The high schools are in good shape. Other elementary schools are generally in good shape, in a few cases there are schools under enrollment. We continue to work on smoothing out enrollment issues at schools.
f.	We are heading toward some resolution on redistricting for fall 2006. There was work done first by committee, then the superintendent, who made a recommendation to the School Board and now the School Board has solidified a plan and is presenting it for public hearing on September 29, 2005. Families that are potentially affected by the proposed redistricting received a letter from the division explaining the proposal and offering opportunities to provide comments to the Board. It may be that your child is not affected but others in the school who you know may be. There is more information available on the division website. 

 

Questions and Answers: 

 

Q1: How often does redistricting happen? 

A: Dr. Moran said Albemarle County has growth that's occurring on all different sides and it's hard to predict where that next phase of growth will occur. We know what's out there now. What we can't always anticipate is what will be out there two years from now. When Dr. Castner developed his redistricting proposal, he tried to take a median step because of concerns that staff have of not being able to predict out more than four years or so. Things could change in a year. What is built in the recommendations to the School Board is a new concept called a trigger that means we monitor capacity of schools and when we see a trend for increasing enrollment, when a school is at 95 percent of capacity, it means we need to monitor carefully, at 115 percent of capacity we begin planning, and at 120 percent of capacity, we make a move. We're trying to look at making it a much more systematic process. We expect to have a decision on the current redistricting plan in October so families will have time to plan. 

 

Q2: When will there be a decision? 

A: Dr. Moran said the School Board expects to adopt a redistricting plan in October. 

 

 

Q3: Does the current redistricting proposal take into account the growth caused by issues such as the Hollymead Town Center? 

A: Projects that are already on the books are included. Ron Price, a member of the Redistricting Committee, said one thing that makes it difficult for redistricting is that every time a dwelling is built, it doesn't naturally mean that every home will have kids. Many times in the neighborhoods there are retirees. Dr. Castner's plan that includes the trigger makes much more sense because before what we were doing was redistricting for today. Albemarle County staff that put the numbers together does a wonderful job but it's really tough to do so when you do public comments, don't just provide negative comments without offering solutions to the fix. If there are alternate solutions that are offered, people are more likely to open their ears. Dr. Moran said of all the things that often go on in our school division that bring parents out, redistricting is one of the most emotional. In this round, she thinks what the School Board wants to do is to give people a lot of opportunities to offer opinions and to balance those with the long-term needs of the division. Redistricting is a very tough thing for our division and always has been, but we're trying to be proactive. 

 

3.	Students Make A Difference Day Status Report - June Smith, coordinator of character education and youth-service programs 

a.	June Smith passed out a document that listed school contacts and projects for the October 22, 2005 Students Make A Difference Day. We had discussed a thematic approach and presented it to schools as a suggestion. Most schools are going with hurricane relief projects and because of that we will host a celebration on October 22, 2005 that celebrates service to recognize not just SMADD projects but hurricane projects, too, because many schools are doing both. We want to celebrate all the service schools are doing up to that point. 
b.	June asked that people contact her with the names of their school representatives. She also said we are asking for volunteers from Parent Council, the event co-sponsor, to help. At our event on October 22, 2005, we will be recognizing students and have some refreshments, etc. There are two different ways to volunteer to help with the planning part or day of the event. This year we wanted to celebrate the student service and get recipients of service to be there. The more young children are the more hands-on they need to be to engrain it. Ron Price said that because Parent Council is the co-sponsor, we all need to be at the October 22, 2005 event.

 

4.	Program presentation & group dialogue: Financial Do's and Don'ts for PTOs - Jackson Zimmermann, executive director of financial services

a.	He provided handouts including a PTO Discussion Points packet and information and forms regarding forming a 501c3, income taxes, and Employee Identification Numbers.  
b.	He noted that with donations, if a parent organization is not a tax-exempt organization, and most PTOs are not, they can't offer anyone who makes a donation a tax write-off. That will come to bear if the IRS decides to audit. If a donation is made directly to a school or division, it goes to the School Board to be received in a formal meeting and a letter of documentation required by the IRS will be given to the donor. It can be done as an anonymous donation and a letter will still go to a donor. 

 

Questions and Answers (Responses by Jackson Zimmermann unless indicated as otherwise): 

 

Q1: If you solicit donations, do you have to tell them you're not tax exempt?

A: You should and can put it on a flyer. Chip said the letter they use at Crozet for volunteer contributions to the PTO in lieu of dues includes a note with that message across the bottom.  

 

Q2: For something that is tax exempt, do you have provide a letter?

A: You have to provide them with some type of documentation that shows what they gave to you. If they give you an item, write a letter describing the item but don't assign a dollar value to it because if the IRS disagrees with the value, you'd be called in front of a judge to justify the value of the item, for example, a vehicle. It's better for that discussion to take place with the donor. Just acknowledge the receipt of a good but not the value of it. 

 

Q3: What if it's a gift card? 

A: In that instance, it's a clear value and it would be OK to assign the value of the gift card. In your letter, you could say, for example, the donor assigned a value of $50. You have to be clear so it doesn't look like your organization assigned the value. 

 

Q4: What about items people solicit for auctions, raffles, etc? 

A: Silent auctions and those types of things are typically PTO-sponsored events. If you write a letter to a donor, a donor may assume that letter works for IRS documentation. If the school accepts an item, we must dispose of that item as it calls for in State code and that's at county auction. If an item comes forward, for example, when someone expects to give a car to the division for a school auction, it then goes to county auction. If you're a tax-exempt organization and can give a tax ID number, then it's different and you're probably OK but you still shouldn't assign a value. If the donor has a dispute with the IRS, you could be called to court if you assigned values.  

 

Q5: Does those of you from PTOs that are tax exempt think it was worth the effort?

A: Representatives responded that it was absolutely worth the effort and it really makes donors happy.  

 

Q6: Is there someone in Parent Council who has done the process that could offer a tutorial? 

A: There are some pros and cons of becoming a tax-exempt organization. It requires some money, it requires record keeping, you have to file every year, and you must have bylaws and officers. He said he recommends that every PTO obtain an Employee Identification Number. You can get the form on the IRS website and fill it out on-line easily. It is a good idea to use this number on PTO bank accounts so the organization has a single number for reference no matter who holds the office. This identifies a single number for your organization so you don't have to change numbers every year. To become a 501c3 tax-exempt organization, you have to incorporate as a not-for-profit, non-stock corporation through the Virginia State Corporation Commission. He has provided these forms as handouts and there is more information on his handout titled "Discussion Points for PTOs." In this case, the PTO would have to have bylaws, three directors of record, pay a $25 registration free, keep three to five years of financial statements, and file each year.  

 

Q7: Our school just had a Family Night and ordered pizza and everyone paid. The PTO wrote the check and didn't pay taxes because it used the school's number. 

A: Food is automatically taxed. If they didn't charge you, they will pay the tax. 

 

Q8: We have a parent who has an art collection and wants to offer an English tea as a school fund-raiser. Should they just collect the money and give it to the school after? 

A: Yes. 

 

Q9: When I solicit donations, do I use a letter?

A: Don't use school letterhead but you can use a flyer that says the event is sponsored by a school PTO with the proceeds benefiting a certain school. Make sure that if you're raising money that's not for your school that the message is clear.  

 

Q10: The IRS has guidelines about tax-exempt organizations giving to other tax-exempt organizations. 

A: The school division can often facilitate things to happen within its umbrella but we can't do it ourselves. We can't go out and collect money for Hurricane Katrina relief and write a check and give it to another organization. We can help schools do that through PTOs and the benefit flows directly out to the organizations that needs it. If you get a check, ask them to write the check to the organization you plan to benefit. 

 

Q11: Some schools are gathering pennies for hurricane relief efforts. A bank counts it and turns it into dollars that we give to organizations. Is that how it should work? 

A: It's not a good idea to do that.  It is generally better to directly submit the funds to the organization that the collection is being made to benefit.  It is possible to take change to a bank to be counted, however many banks will not take unrolled coins.  Taking the funds to the bank also delays the receipt of funds by the beneficiary.  We do ask that school secretaries or financial staff not be involved in the counting of monies for these fund drives as it should not be construed that it is part of their regular duties.  Checks should be made directly to the beneficiary organization

 

Q12: Is there a filing requirement for PTOs?

A;  PTOs should be aware that if your organization collects more than $25,000 in a year, on the average, it must file with the IRS. That's gross revenue. You file a form 990 EZ. You do have to file whether or not you're tax exempt or have a tax identification number if you receive $25,000 or more.  If your organization regularly collects more than $100,000 per year, then you must file a form 990. 

 

Q13: In the past some PTOs have supported teachers' aides by providing contributions to schools. Is that different than a PTO providing support for something like a PE teacher conducting jazzercise after school? Can we hire a teacher within the building? 

A:  He recommends that if PTOs want to hire a teacher in our division it's possible to do so and we'd do it through our payroll system and the PTO would cut a check to cover the costs of the person involved. The downside is it's expensive. 

 

Q14:  What's a mechanism for doing that? 

A: You must get an agreement from a teacher to do it and the fee would be that person's existing hourly rate. If they are working in our schools and they are a division employee, the IRS would take a dim view. It would really have to be run through our system if it's our employee to really take care of their withholdings. It is doable and we have that happen with teacher's aides more often than teachers. 

 

Q15: We're doing Family Nights where we ask teachers to come in and help. How can we reward them?  

A: You can give teachers a financial gift like a gift card, as long as it's under $50.  

 

Q16: We had a Back-to-School Night and the PTO sponsored childcare. We had two people volunteer time and we paid them less than $50. Should that have gone through the school? 

A: It should have gone through the school so we are sure they are paid the proper rate and taxes are collected and withheld. 

 

Q17: We have a teacher's aide who will paint some things on school property and the PTO would compensate for time. Is that something that needs to go through school? 

A: Yes as that's how the IRS will look at it and compare it to fair labor practices. 

 

Q18: I would like to go to different companies to ask for donations for events. They are asking for something on school letterhead. Am I allowed to do that?

A: No.

 

Q19: If you hire a parent to do a six-week science program, how do you do that? 

A: If you pay the parent more than $600, withholding kicks in and so you need to determine if you're willing to withhold. Reimbursement for supplies is not income and it does not count. If it's less than $600, you're still responsible for a form 1099. If you can have the parent run the invoice through a business, then you can avoid the 1099. The 1099 is for individuals. If you're a school employee, it's not appropriate to accept an honorarium. 

 

Q20: If it's an employee of the county, who do I contact?

A: Work through the school secretary or principal. They can determine the person's hourly rate and then work out a donation to the school to cover that cost. Secretaries can help PTOs get the bottom line for this type of cost. 

 

Q21: Our PTO provides teachers start-up funds in the beginning of the year, is it OK to ask for receipts and reimburse? 

A.	As long as you keep good track of receipts. 

 

Q22: We had a dance and had teacher who has a deejay business. He charged the school $75 an hour to deejay the dance. Whether it comes out of school or PTO funds, should that take place? 

A: If he invoices it through his business, then it's OK. 

 

Q23: If we write a check to school and the teacher start-up fund reimbursement is managed by the secretary, is that OK? 

A: Yes and it's a very clean way to do it. Secretaries will not distribute checks without receipts. 

 

Q24: Is it better to give teachers gift cards? 

A: That would be perceived as a gift, so if it's under $50, it's OK, if it's over, teachers shouldn't accept it. 

 

Q25: If the teacher is not teaching something they usually do, like scrap booking, should that go through the county?

A: In the instance of someone being employed in series of duties of lower value than standard teaching it would still need to be passed through county process to determine what the duties are and the appropriate pay. We do have employees who work at two different jobs and have two different pay rates. 

 

Q26: If I hold a raffle, as a tax-exempt PTO, do I have to have a permit from county?

A: Jackson said he is not certain on county gaming rules and suggested people contact Ed Koonce in the county's finance department.  

 

Q27: PTOs run events like carnivals. Is there any reason why a school couldn't run it through its own budget if it's not meant to be a fund-raiser and the event is meant to break even? Is there a difference from the county view? 

A: Assuming it's an after-school event, Jackson said he doesn't see it as being much different than a school dance. You have to pay the people that are working that are school employees. Teachers and administrators are considered exempt employees so in a lot of ways they can go out and do this, but in a way it's something that they're doing outside their standard timeframe. For an exempt employee, there's one set of rules and a different set of rules for non-exempt employees. For teachers, there is an expectation that there's a partnership and that both are providing help for activities. There are some days in the contract that we do honor that teachers put time into night activities that are focused on parents. The rules are different for salaried and hourly employees. 

 

Q28. Liability insurance for officers was purchased by my last PTO in another state. Is there something similar here that I could see in writing? 

A: The division covers the officers of PTOs for liability and we can provide something in writing. Once you become a tax-exempt organization, it would be good to contact the division's financial services department to see if you can be added as additionally insured. He asked that the request be made in writing.   After checking with our insurance, our general liability covers all PTO and Booster organizations. 

 

5.	Idea Exchange on Innovative Ideas on Budgeting, Fund-raising, and Financial Activities - All Parent Council members

a.	Debbie said Agnor-Hurt is selling coupon books for $25. The book is called the 2006 Best of Charlottesville and Surrounding Communities and it includes coupons for attractions, dining and more. For information, call 1-800-897-1004 or visit www.attractionsbook.com <http://www.attractionsbook.com/> 
b.	Tom said an idea Baker-Butler is considering is taking parts of the school and selling them for naming rights to establish an endowment
c.	Ron said the Stony Point PTO rolls over funds every year into a Partners in Education Fund that is broken into several categories such as equipment. Every year the PTO starts with $2,000 and now there is about $30,000 in the fund.  
d.	Many PTOS reported seeing a drop in giving due to Hurricane Katrina Relief efforts
e.	Most PTOs reported asking for voluntary contribution for dues
f.	Chip shared some resources including ptotoday.com which has an on-line newsletter with good ideas. In October in Reston there will be a PTO Jam Session. 
g.	Many PTOs reported the high gas prices impacting their fund-raising
h.	Stephanie said at Yancey not many people knew what the parent organization did and they are making efforts to inform people of the little and big things the parent organization does. Her organization is a PTA and is required to charge dues. The PTA idea is that dues will pay for a school's activities but in a small school like Yancy, it doesn't work that way. 

 

6.	Good and Welfare - Chip Deale

a.	He introduced Craig Wilson as the Parent Council vice president of school engagement. Craig's role is to go out and try to cultivate relationships on behalf of Parent Council with schools who don't participate much. He was fortunate in that his first task was to recruit CATEC as members and they did. 
b.	Chip reminded members to sign the attendance roster
c.	The October meeting is a week late than usual and will be held on October 11, 2005 due to Rosh Hashanah. The program will be focused on anti-bullying and school climate issues. The idea exchange topic will be cultural arts and enrichment programs. Parent Council representatives are invited to bring their chairs in this are to the meeting and to bring in ideas, budget, and publicity flyers. If a school's chair in this area can't attend, please provide their name and contact information, and idea of the budget and what it pays for in this area. 
d.	The Parent Council is seeking volunteers to help out on the website. The volunteers don't need to have web experience. They will look at other websites and identify content for our site. This would be the homework and then everyone would get together to brainstorm a schematic. The site will then be built and every once and a while we'll take a look at it to decide if it needs to be updated. Tom volunteered. 

 

7. The next Parent Council meeting will be October 11, 2005 at 7 p.m. in Room 320 of the County Office Building. 

 

 

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