Kindergarten Registration Numbers Concern Asst. Superintendent (May 5 B-W Council of PTA Meeting Notes)

The Challenge Program, Inc.

Janeen Peretin, a vice principal at , started Thursday’s meeting by providing an update on Baldwin’s 2010-11 competition in conjunction with The Challenge Program, Inc.

Peretin said that the high school’s participation in the national Challenge Program allows it to award $250 prizes to students (funded by GSP Consulting Corporation) who stand out over their Baldwin peers in the areas of academic improvement, attendance, community service and academic excellence.

One student per category in each participating grade level (10th, 11th and 12th) will win $250, totaling $3,000 in cash prizes.

At the end of the third grading period this year, Baldwin informed the top 10 percent of its students in those categories in each grade level that they were eligible to win one of the prizes.

The 12th-grade winners will be recognized at the end of this school year, and the 10th- and 11th-grade winners will be recognized at an assembly near the beginning of next school year.

This is Baldwin’s second school year participating in The Challenge Program.

PTA Summer Leadership Training

The council discussed whether or not to fund trips for its board members and committee chairs to attend one of the 2011 Pennsylvania PTA Summer Leadership Training classes.

The council eventually unanimously approved a motion to allow up to four board members/committee chairs per B-W PTA/PTSA unit to attend. (The Baldwin-Whitehall Council of PTA includes units from , Baldwin High and .) The council also agreed to allow the overall B-W council to send a four-person group.

The council agreed to move unused funds from other areas in its budget to cover the cost of the trip(s). A four-person group would cost the council $125 to register for one of the statewide sessions. Four four-person groups would cost $500.

No B-W PTA board members or committee chairs have committed to going to one of the sessions yet, but the council would like them to decide by June 8.

Dr. Lutz on Kindergarten Registration

Dr. Randal A. Lutz, the ’s assistant superintendent of elementary education, provided the council with a general update from his office.

Lutz said that registration numbers for B-W’s 2011-12 kindergarten programs is different than it usually is this time of the year.

“Kindergarten is a bit unusual right now because, at this stage of the game, we should be at about 80 (kindergarteners) registered for Paynter and about 140 registered for ,” Lutz said. “We’re at 110 registered for Paynter at this time, but we’re only at 120 at McAnnulty, which is concerning to me.

“That may effect staffing in both buildings, because the reality of it is that 23 (students) in a classroom in kindergarten gives me 115 capacity at Paynter with five teachers. You see that we’re at 110 already.

“And then, around 160 (kindergarteners) is our capacity for seven teachers over at McAnnulty.”

Lutz said that shifting a class of Paynter kindergarteners to McAnnulty for next school year might be an option that his office will have to explore.

Lutz said that he has learned that the , which will open in this coming fall and is recruiting B-W residents, has enrolled approximately 20 kindergarteners so far.

Lutz on Math Curriculum

Many meeting attendants expressed concern over Baldwin-Whitehall’s math curriculum given personal experiences with their children and, to lesser a degree, the district’s performance on recent Pennsylvania System of School Assessment exams.

Lutz expressed gratitude to the meeting’s attendants for sharing their concerns and ideas and informed them that next school year’s curriculum has yet to be finalized.

Lutz said that the district is aware of its students’ culture when it comes to learning.

“Generationally, kids don’t push through problem-solving as much anymore,” he said. “I think that’s just the nature of (their) attention span and (desire for) immediate gratification.

“I think that we’re seeing that generational effect, but that doesn’t mean that we have to accept it.”

Audit Committee

The council selected Carolyn Lewis, Debbie Clinton and Amy Murray as its newest auditors.