PS 130MPA - General Meeting Minutes - January 5, 2023

            PS 130M - PARENTS ASSOCIATION

一三零小學家長會

143 Baxter Street Room 101, New York, NY 10013

Tel: 212-226-8072

Email: ps130mpa@yahoo.com       Website: ps130pa.blogspot.com

__________________________________________________

Parents Association Board Members:           

Co-Presidents: Karen Ma & Joseph Li  

Co-Treasurers: Gloria Tsang & Alice Chen                                                               

Co-Secretaries: Amy Hu

Parents Association Events Coordinator: Lisa Wong

Parent Coordinator:  Diane Chong

Parents Association Email:                      ps130mpa@yahoo.com

Parents Association Website:                 http://ps130pa.blogspot.com

Minutes to PS 130M General Meeting January 5, 2023

Attendance: Mr. Renny Fong, Lisa Wong, Yvonne Moy, Gloria Tsang, Yanna Xu, Amy Hu, Joseph Li, Karen Ma, Alice Chen, and 21 other participants (see sign in sheet, in person)

Meeting Commence: 8:50am Translator: Ms. Karen Ma

1. Parents’ Association opening & Review

    a. Joseph Li – Co-Presidents
        Good morning, welcome back, Happy New year, feels like summer today.

        i. Here we have the minutes from our December general meeting for review and to be approved. It will be posted on the PA blog once its approved. 2 people approved the minutes, minutes are placed on record and posted on the PA blog site.

        Karen – asks if there are any objections? No.

        ii. Here we have our financial treasury report from our December general meeting for review and approval. 3 people approved the treasury report, the treasury report will be placed on record and posted on the PA blog site.

        Karen – asks if there are any objections? No. 

2. PA Fundraising for 2022-2023

• -  Bake Sale
• -  Candy Sale
• -  Annual Ask
• -  Photo day
• -  Scholastic Book Fair
• -  Spirit Clothes
• -  Holiday show
• -  Benefit Gala
• -  Mother’s Day
• -  Handmade Bead Sale                                                                            

3.  Upcoming events –

• Chinese New Year is coming up.

• • -  Bake sale – Wednesday, January 11, 2023

  • -  Welcoming of the Lunar New Year with Lion dancing – Monday, January     30, 2023 – 5:30pm at the main entrance.

  • -  Chinese New Year Holiday show – Thursday, February 2, 2023

                  -  The Annual Banquet is on 5/19/22

                  i. We will be selling raffle tickets soon. Anyone who wants to sell them or buy raffle tickets; please talk to Lisa and Yvonne in the PA room.  Lisa will be selling these raffle tickets outside the school soon.

                  ii. The banquet is one of our biggest fundraisers, please save the date 5/19/23. The annual banquet is our main source of donations, and we need your support with Ads sales and raffle prize donations or raffle prize ideas are welcome as well. All donations are appreciated.  If you have any questions, please come into the PA office, and ask.                                                                                        

Any questions, please stop by the PA office and contact Lisa & Yvonne.               

4.  More ways to support the PA.

      -  Corporate matching programs

      -  Support our numerous fundraisers such as bake sales and seasonal sales.                                                                                             -  AmazonSmile – Go to Settings ->AmazonSmiles->Choose”Ps130-M Parents Association on app. 

5. PA contact information

• • -  Email - PS130mpa@yahoo.com

  • -  PA room 101 – 212-226-8072

  • -  Blog site – http://ps130pa.blogspot.com 

We now welcome Mr. Fong, our principal.

6. Principal’s remarks

    a. Mr. Renny Fong – Good Morning, Happy New Year! Chinese New Year will be on January 22, 2023. We have two New Years in January this year, I just looked it up, it’s so early. 

2. ICN – they have provided chess; they also have a paid for program on Fridays. They provide free chess for kindergarten to second grade in the fall semester with 10 sessions. In the Spring semester they provide 10 sessions for the 3rd to 5th graders.

   1. Jenny, the Chess coordinator from ICN is here to speak.

      I’m the director of the chess program for 2 years. We started with 30 kids and now we have 70. We have never turned a student away even though it’s a paid program. ICN can offer scholarships.

   2. Mr. Fong said they have programs here on Sundays. He came in on a Sunday and it was full of students here for competition.

   3. Karen -Communication is key, students went home telling their parents that they need to come on Sundays and pay.

   4. Jenny – clarifies that, that’s not the case, they just want them to come and show support. You don’t have to pay for the tournaments, they are funded through scholarships. ICN will work with parents, even the traveling tournament programs.

   c.  Over the weekend we lost our dear beloved Howard Gerald Epstein, 10/9/1936 to 12/27/2022. He had a 50+ year career here at PS. 130, from teacher to assistant principal. PS. 130 meant so much to him and he meant so much to the school. The PA sent something to his shiva on behalf of PS. 130. We even dedicated the holiday show to him for when he was in the hospital. 

   d.  231 Grand Street, it used to be a hotel but now it is occupied by the Immigrant’s Asylum Program. Council member Chris Marte has asked district 2 to help support them. Over 130 students were enrolled in 1 school in district 2. There was a meeting about in the last 2 days, 30 students in PreK – 5 were enrolled in PS. 130. These families have nothing, we have been trying to support them especially in our community. Most are of Spanish speaking and 1 of Russian speaking. Thank you, Lisa, for her connections and for the donations from UA3 and Trinity church, they gave book bags to all these newly enrolled students. Chinatown Rotary was able to help donate some things to these families. Even Spanish speaking staff have been helping. We register 2 kindergarteners yesterday and she said she had the best first day of school. That’s a testament of how supportive our school staff and families are.

1. We asked the council member, how can we help them, what can we do as a community and school. We don’t want to bombard them with items they can’t use or need. We can’t donate food because they are in a hotel, they have no kitchens, but I think they have a microwave. We will be collecting new to gently used clothes, shoes, coats, diapers, formula, duffel bags, school supplies, hats and scarves.

2. Parent question – Are they permanent? We are not sure because their living space is only temporary. If they love the school and they find permanent housing they are welcome to stay.

3. Letters will go out to families.

4. Chris Marte’s office will be accepting donations at his office

   at 65 East Broadway, Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm. They

   want new stuff, and the PA will be collecting.

5. On Saturday January 14, 2023, we will open the doors for

   the Asylum families that are attending PS. 130 from 9am to 11am, here at PS. 130. It will be an event to welcome the PS. 130 families staying at 231 Grand Street. We will be distributing the collected items to these families. We want to do as much as possible for these families in an organized manner. A lot of volunteers have offered to help us that day, even staff members have offered to help. We would like to keep things under control so please contact the Lisa in the PA if you would like to volunteer or donate anything. thank you. It used to be mostly Chinese parents and now its Spanish speaking families.

   Parent Question – What about vaccinations, will they be required to have the same as everyone else?

   Answer – Any new students have 30 days to prove that they are fully vaccinated, otherwise they will be excluded.

6. Nurse Elyes upstairs, she speaks Spanish and she’s been working with the families. Some students in some other schools have students that were excluded due to not being fully vaccinated. They will be on top of this to make sure they won’t be excluded due to vaccinations. 

   e. Inside Broadway are here in the auditorium, that’s why we are here in the lunchroom. Mr. David, the teacher was a performer in the Lion King. He was here in the summer, and we asked him back. He loves it and is excited to be here. 

   f.  Dance to Unite are here with the 3rd graders upstairs. 

   g. Report cards will here in February. Iready assessments will be taken soon. Parent Teacher Conference (PTC) will be in March. 

   h.  Lunar New Year is on a Sunday, so we don’t have the Monday off. February 12, 2023, the Lunar New Year parade will take place and PS. 130 will be in it.

I fell asleep and woke up thinking how grateful I am for our community. Even though things are so busy, I’m able to sleep and read to my son. Otherwise, I can’t sleep without the help of the community. I’ve been waking up at 5am to run and only missed 1 day and 1 day of golf but because I wanted to.

Gary has been here for over 30 years and he’s running and it’s helping him stay healthy. 

   i.  The PA brings up Jenny from ICN, stating that the kids felt pressured about Sunday for practice and the tournament. 

Any questions? Thank you. 

Closing time – 9:25am – next general meeting is Thursday 2/9/23