Parent Support Committee Monthly Meeting Minutes
Parent Support Committee Meeting Minutes
Email: [email protected]
February 14, 2025
Mission Statement: We are parents, grandparents, and community members dedicated to supporting staff, scholars, and programs at ASK. We accomplish this through fundraising, volunteer efforts, donations, and community events.
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Present |
Member |
Title |
|---|---|---|
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Giselle Bango |
PSC Co-Facilitator |
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|
Mary Harper |
PSC Co-Facilitator |
|
|
Shelly Kristensen |
PSC Secretary |
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Rafael Bango |
PSC Treasurer |
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Edward Garcia |
ASK CEO |
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Bill Barrett |
ASK HS Principal |
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John Keelin |
ASK MS Principal |
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|
Cybil Hott-Clark |
NHS & Scholar Gov’t President |
|
|
Aaron Lopez |
Scholar Gov’t VP |
|
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Angel Gajurel |
NHS VP |
|
|
Wyatt Calder |
NJHS Co-President |
PSC Update
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Club Support Financial Guidelines - viewable here: Club Financial Guidelines
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In order to provide equitable funding for ASK clubs/groups the PSC has created new financing guidelines. The details of these new guidelines can be found in the above document. These changes were created in collaboration with administration and were communicated to all staff today at their staff meeting.
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Microwaves in commons - Allison Opie found used microwaves on Facebook, purchased and donated them to the school for the commons. Thank you, Allison!
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Giselle was able to get a refund for the one purchased in August that died recently. When the check is received a new one will be purchased.
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Lost and Found is building up again. If your scholar is missing items please be sure to check the lost and found. Anything remaining at the end of the semester will be donated.
PSC Treasurer Report - Rafael Bango
To date this year - Pizza Thursday revenue is $28,991.41 and expenses are $20,189.13 which is a profit of $8,802.28. Funds generated from Pizza Thursday and events like Turkey Bingo are what allow the PSC to fund school initiatives and events. The PSC is working to create our own working budget to allow us to better help the staff, scholars and school community.
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Recently the administration approached the PSC about purchasing a Magic School subscription for the remainder of the school year for approximately $3000. Magic School is an AI tool created by educators for educators. It can be used to create differentiated reading passages, quizzes, PBL projects, lesson plans, IEP and 504 materials, grading rubrics - that can be easily modified to meet the needs of all scholars. It streamlines the administrative aspect of teaching, creating google forms etc. This will save teachers a lot of time and improve their work-life balance. Next year the school will purchase the full subscription as Magic School will replace a couple of much more expensive programs the school currently uses. Project Managers are already using the program and are very grateful to have access to this tool.
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Funds for the school nurse and counselors - providing food for our food insecure scholars.
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Non-club events - Poetry Night, Science Fair
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Monthly breakfasts for staff
Side note - PSC attended the Staff Meeting (also Feb 14) where changes to club funding were shared. It was pointed out by Mr. Keelin that Pizza Thursdays funded Magic School AI for all the staff. He invited managers to share stories of Magic School AI and here are several -
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Ms. Donlin - she has a surgery coming up and will be out for 2-3 weeks. She was able to use Magic School as a tool to help her create lessons and materials for all those lessons. She is so grateful.
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Ms. Cole mentioned it saves him at least an hour a week. Mr. Hurley countered that it saves him at least an hour a day.
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Mr. Margolis (a new first year high school teacher for math) says it has helped him create grade level appropriate math questions. Otherwise he would still create problems, but may learn after 2-3 quizzes that his levels weren’t quite right.
The managers are reporting better well being and time saved. They are all very grateful for the help.
Update, John Keelin, MS Principal - Uniform Challenge
Middle school has earned their movie night for completing the 15 day uniform challenge. Movie night will be February 27th. Mr. Keelin is asking that parents donate individually wrapped, nut free snacks and bottled water for the event. The students voted to watch The Sandlot.
The next uniform challenge is for 25 days and they will earn the spring dance. Scholars will vote for the dance theme once the reward is earned. Administration will rent the same gymnasium in Corrales as last year but the cost has gone up to $400. The DJ will be $100.
Guest Speaker - Dr. Jeanne Forrester, “Looking Into the ASK Academy Governing Council”
Dr. Forrester has been in education for more than 50 years from teaching, serving as a principal to working at the state level as an advisor to the Governor in Mississippi. She has been involved at ASK Academy for 15 years. Currently she serves on the ASK Academy Governing Council. The Governing Council is a volunteer board of 7 members. The Governing Council is approved at the state level and they cannot go more than 30 days with a vacancy. When there is a vacancy it is usually because the scholar has graduated, the council member has had a career change or the family is moving. The council regularly searches for potential candidates that can offer something to the school. Currently 2 members represent our BioMed population, 4 for engineering, and Dr. Forrester represents the educational aspect. 3 members are parents of ASK scholars. New members are vetted by the board and approved at the state level.
The Governing Council is a collaborative force. They are committed to having a working board. Board members are required to complete 8 hours of state training. New members have an additional 2 hours of required training. Pat Kelly, CFO,will also spend 2 hours working with them on the school finances.
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Dr. Jeanne Forrester - Chair - runs meetings, liaison to the CEO.
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Gary Feger - Vice Chair - personnel committee and liaison to the ASK Academy Foundation.
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Dr. Mistie Williamson - Secretary - board calendar and liaison to the parent group.
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Michael Smith - Director- Finance and audit committees.
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Lindsey Bomke - Director - Finance and audit committees.
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Tonya Ross - Director - Liaison to the Equity Council.
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Dr. Jason Harper - Director - Liaison to the academic administration and testing performance goals.
The Governing Council has 2 missions - 1. Select and supervise the CEO. 2. Keep the school legally and financially in compliance with state regulations. We have always been in compliance. When our last charter school contract was renewed it was renewed without any stipulations.
Governing Council meetings are strictly structured. Meetings are announced in advance and recorded and posted online afterwards. Meetings are open format. They only use closed format meetings for personnel and legal issues. They usually only have 2 closed sessions a year - one for the CEO review and personnel committee making recommendations for next year's contracts. They have not had a legal session in over 2 years. Scholars and Project Managers present at every meeting. They are committed to transparency and hope you reach out to them if you have any questions or concerns.
Some challenges of the Governing council. They are committed to sustainability and transparency. They are involved heavily in the plans for expanding the campus including the funding and getting capital outlay money approved by the legislature and governor. The Governing Council works to support Mr. Garcia when requesting more funding from the legislature. They also work with him to make sure the new building will serve as many purposes as possible. Currently they plan to break ground in June with construction taking 12-18 months.
Role of the CEO vs. principals - ASK started with classroom teachers who wanted to teach a different way. As the school grew they needed more organization. The principal at the time was doing all the administrative work in addition to the academic work. They moved to a 2 principal system, Middle and High School. The CEO position was created to handle building programs and funding opportunities, state legislature work. This allowed the principals to focus on academics and building relations with scholars and families. An example of a CEO initiative was getting the turn lane in front of the school approved and installed by the city and mayor. The CEO deals with the political aspect of running the school. Mr. Garcia will spend probably 10 days in Santa Fe working with the legislature this year.
The Governing Council works with the CEO to get input from the community in order to create working relationships that are mutually beneficial to the school and our community. Dr. Forrester believes that schools should be about more than keeping kids alive and would like to see the school and Governing Council offer more parenting support.
The Governing Council meets on the third Thursday of every month at 6:30pm. Please visit the Governing Council section of the ASK website to find council member profiles, meeting agendas and recordings of previous meetings. ASK Academy Governing Council
Events - Coming Up!
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Volunteer Process (ongoing)
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Monday, February 17, No School due to Presidents Day
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Full school day on Friday, February 21 - asynchronous
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February 27 - Middle School Movie Night - water and snack donations requested
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March 12-13 - Half Day School/Noon Dismissal, Afternoon SLATE, No Scholar Support March 14
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Spring Break March 17-21, 2025
Next Governing Board Meeting: February 20, 6:30pm, Commons
Next PSC Meeting: April 11, 2025, 8am, Commons
KEEP SCROLLING
Misc/ongoing information on the next page
Misc Information
How to be a volunteer at The ASK Academy?
There is a mandated state process to get approved as a volunteer or to be a chaperone for any school sponsored events. Please click on the hyperlink https://www.theaskacademy.org/
Or scan the QR Code, or go to https://tinyurl.com/
Once you click on the link, you will be emailed the steps on what to do once you complete the interest form. Stephanie Munoz is the point of contact for this process and her email is [email protected]. You will also receive information on the computer based courses and how/where to get fingerprints completed.
The PSC is comprised of committees with co-chairs to support each other at school events and roles. Any questions for the PSC please email us at [email protected]
Be in the know…
Middle school has newsletters for each grade. They are monthly newsletters and are released on the day of the month that corresponds to the grade levels. For example, 6th grade newsletters come on out on the 6th, 7th-the 7th grade, 8th-the 8th grade. Below are their respective websites:
6th grade: https://www.theaskacademy.org/
7th grade: https://www.theaskacademy.org/
8th grade:
https://www.theaskacademy.org/
Mr. Keelin’s page called Keelin’s Corner:
https://www.theaskacademy.org/
Pizza Thursdays:
Thursdays at ASK involve the selling of Dion’s pizza, drinks and desserts. Volunteers are needed every week to serve the scholars and keep this ongoing fundraiser a success. Please contact Kristina Calder at [email protected] if you can help. Even helping 1 Thursday a month is a great help.
Parent Support Committee Meeting Minutes
Email: psc@theaskacademy.org
January 10, 2025
Mission Statement: We are parents, grandparents, and community members dedicated to supporting staff, scholars, and programs at ASK. We accomplish this through fundraising, volunteer efforts, donations, and community events.
|
Present |
Member |
Title |
|---|---|---|
|
|
Giselle Bango |
PSC Co-Facilitator |
|
|
Mary Harper |
PSC Co-Facilitator |
|
|
Shelly Kristensen |
PSC Secretary |
|
|
Rafael Bango |
PSC Treasurer |
|
|
Edward Garcia |
ASK CEO |
|
|
Bill Barrett |
ASK HS Principal |
|
|
John Keelin |
ASK MS Principal |
|
|
Cybil Hott-Clark |
NHS & Scholar Gov’t President |
|
|
Aaron Lopez |
Scholar Gov’t VP |
|
|
Angel Gajurel |
NHS VP |
|
|
Wyatt Calder |
NJHS Co-President |
National Junior Honor Society Report: Wyatt Calder:
The application process for the 2nd induction of NJHS will start February 20th. All middle schoolers are welcome to apply and will need 20 community service/volunteer hours to apply. These volunteer hours need to be signed off by the volunteer supervisor. Any questions on the program can be directed to [email protected], Mrs. Donlin at [email protected] or visit the NJHS ASK website.
Update, Mr. Garcia, CEO - Food Truck
Mr. Garcia met with the food truck before winter break. They have agreed to remove caffeinated drinks and candy from the truck. They have already begun selling nuts, raisins and milk as substitutes. ASK Academy is a nut free campus so we will need to discuss removing nuts from their menu. Suggestions from parents in attendance were to include pumpkin or sunflower seeds and perhaps yogurt. The conversations with the food truck operator will continue and we hope to have the menu transitioned into the right direction as far as drinks and snacks by Spring Break.
Holiday weeks are approaching (no school on Mondays, 1/20 and 2/17). On the current schedule scholars would attend a full day in person on Friday of those weeks. As we have not used the snow days we have built into the calendar yet this year the administration is looking into making those Fridays be asynchronous learning days. The official decision will be made soon and shared with families once finalized.
ASK Academy recently made their capital outlay presentation to Sandoval County. This is a big step in moving forward with the new building. Construction is projected to take 12-18 months and Mr. Garcia is still hopeful to break ground in March or April of this year.
Update, John Keelin, MS Principal - Uniform Challenge and Mini Golf
Middle School Scholars are currently 5 days into their uniform challenge. The reward for reaching their goal is a movie night. Scholars have voted on a movie but will not find out which movie won until 3 days before the movie night.
A Rio Rancho Observer reporter attended the 7th Grade Mini Golf event and interviewed Mrs. Davis and several students. You can read the article here: RR Observer Mini Golf Article
Middle School Project Managers have started meeting at 7:30-8:00 on Fridays to conduct their own professional development. This is going above and beyond their required PD through the school. One idea they have is to start a monthly Lunch with the Principal for scholars. Scholars will be selected based on character traits instead of academic achievements. The first character trait being selected for is Responsibility. The following months will be empathy, cooperation and respect. They plan to continue this program next year. This year the program is being sponsored by Easy Fiber.
The game shelf has been set up in the Commons giving students the opportunity to play games or puzzles during lunch instead of watching videos on their devices.
Update, Bill Barrett, HS Principal
HS Scholars are moving forward with a community service club. A letter will go out Monday with more information and looking for support from community volunteers/parents for support and chaperones needs.
Guest Speaker - Dr. Jeanne Forrester, “Looking Into the ASK Academy Governing Council”
Dr. Forrester is sick today. Her talk will be rescheduled for another PSC meeting.
PSC Treasurer Report - Rafael Bango
Fundraising through Pizza Thursdays is going well. PSC provided gift cards to the homerooms that donated baskets for Turkey Bingo. PSC has also continued to provide a monthly breakfast for staff and water bottles and snacks for scholars to the nurse and support staff.
PSC Updates
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Thank you to Mrs. Potter for donating a microwave for scholar use in the Commons.
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Uniform Closet - If you have old uniforms or ASK zip up hoodies to donate to the uniform closet please bring them into the office. If your scholar needs a new size of uniform they are free to grab one from the closet.
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Lost and Found - lost and found is filling up again. Already! Please remind your scholars to check lost and found when jackets, water bottles, lunch boxes go missing. When the lost and found collection gets too big, Giselle Bango takes it all home and washes it before donating it.
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Leftover otter pops from an event earlier in the year are being donated to the Creativity Club to sell as a fundraiser later this month.
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Pizza Day Volunteers are always needed! We have a core group that provides the majority of the volunteer hours but we can always use extra people especially as back ups when illness starts to take out a lot of our volunteers. Details on becoming a volunteer can be found later in these notes.
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Walk-A-Thon Parent suggestion - can the school host a Walk-A-Thon as a fundraiser? This is a great opportunity to raise funds and promote physical activity. Suggestions included it being a competitive competition between groups and working it into Sports Fest in the spring. There are online platforms that can be used to collect donations/payments like 99 pledges or the school can set up a payment link as well.
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Teacher Appreciation, May 2025 - in previous years the PSC has provided lunches, gifts in mailboxes and grab and go type snacks during Teacher Appreciation Week in May. The PSC is looking for volunteers to help coordinate and plan this year's event. Please email the PSC at psc@theaskacademy.org if you are interested in volunteering for this committee or if you have any ideas.
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Events - Coming Up!
-
Volunteer Process (ongoing)
-
Monday, January 20, No School due to MLK Jr Day
-
Full school day on Friday, January 24
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Monday, February 17, No School due to Presidents Day
-
Full school day on Friday, February 21
-
Spring Break March 17-21, 2025
Next Governing Board Meeting: January 16, 6:30pm, Commons
Next PSC Meeting: February 14, 2025, 8am, Commons
KEEP SCROLLING
Misc/ongoing information on the next page
Misc Information
How to be a volunteer at The ASK Academy?
There is a mandated state process to get approved as a volunteer or to be a chaperone for any school sponsored events. Please click on the hyperlink https://www.theaskacademy.org/
Or scan the QR Code, or go to https://tinyurl.com/
Once you click on the link, you will be emailed the steps on what to do once you complete the interest form. Stephanie Munoz is the point of contact for this process and her email is [email protected]. You will also receive information on the computer based courses and how/where to get fingerprints completed.
The PSC is comprised of committees with co-chairs to support each other at school events and roles. Any questions for the PSC please email us at psc@theaskacademy.org
Be in the know…
Middle school has newsletters for each grade. They are monthly newsletters and are released on the day of the month that corresponds to the grade levels. For example, 6th grade newsletters come on out on the 6th, 7th-the 7th grade, 8th-the 8th grade. Below are their respective websites:
6th grade: https://www.theaskacademy.org/
7th grade: https://www.theaskacademy.org/
8th grade:
https://www.theaskacademy.org/
Mr. Keelin’s page called Keelin’s Corner:
https://www.theaskacademy.org/
Pizza Thursdays:
Thursdays at ASK involve the selling of Dion’s pizza, drinks and desserts. Volunteers are needed every week to serve the scholars and keep this ongoing fundraiser a success. Please contact Kristina Calder at [email protected] if you can help. Even helping 1 Thursday a month is a great help.