October Minutes

The October meeting of the CPS Parents’ Association Board was called to order at 7:00 pm.  In attendance were Executive Committee members Debby Barach, Flip Jubelirer, Janet Bensick, and Jerri Mariott, plus approximately 25 members of the CPS parent body, and Head of School Murray Cohen, CFO Rahul Tripathi, Development Director Mary O’Neill, and Librarians Peggie Hamilton and Kevin Leslie.

General Information:  The minutes for the September meeting were approved.  Motion to approve by Patti Kogan, seconded by Aixa Gannon-Siegel.

Guest Speakers: Our first guest speakers were CPS Librarians Peggie Hamilton and Kevin Leslie.  Peggie reminded us of the existence of the annual Faculty Booklist and distributed the few copies she had available.  Kevin gave us an overview of the many roles the Librarians have at CPS.  They are teachers, IT (information technology) technicians, and “oracles”, among other important tasks.  They help students find resources, both on the shelves and in the databases; they help them learn how to do research and how to safely and sanely navigate the web. They also help with software issues, including how to format documents.  The library added over 750 volumes last year, bringing us close to a total of 16,000!  Among this 16,000 are 54 periodicals, 4 newspaper subscriptions, and 17 on-line data bases.  Kevin acknowledged the Parents’ Association’s funding which enabled the Library to purchase some significant reference resources, including The Encyclopedia of Religion and History Behind the Headlines.

Peggie summarized CPS’s textbook ordering options for us.  There is the home-grown Bookswap Program, written by Elizabeth Fong (CPS 2005).  Bookswap is an online textbook sales mechanism that enables students to buy and sell their used textbooks to each other.   New textbooks can be purchased in a variety of ways, but Peggie specifically mentioned online bookseller K-12 Student Direct.  There were substantially fewer problems experienced by users of Bookswap or K-12 Student Direct this past semester. 

Parents made interesting observations about the difficulty of collecting books from the various Bookswap sellers, the need for more than one student to use a library book simultaneously, the tendency of many students to use online resources rather than actual books, and the wonderfulness of many of our local libraries.  Peggie and Kevin responded to these issues thoughtfully and indicated their guiding interest in teaching students how indispensable both books and librarians are. 

Our second guest speaker was Rahul Tripathi, CPS’s Chief Financial Officer.  Rahul has been at CPS since June 2006.  He is in charge of school finances and operations, including human resources and facilities.  He has met with several Parents’ Association Board members in an effort to understand what we do.  He pointed out that non-profit organizations, (like schools), are currently under the scrutiny of various government agencies, and that it is important that we all work together.

Rahul has recently completed the audit of Fiscal Year 2006, he is currently tracking the 2007 budget, and he is developing the 2008 budget based on input from faculty and many other CPS constituencies.  In addition, he is beginning the development of a ten year budget, paying particular attention to financial aid, affordability and faculty salary goals.

Murray added that one of CPS’s strategic objectives is to be in the bottom third of a group of 16 of our peer schools with regard to the cost of tuition.  Similarly, we’d like to be on the high end as it pertains to faculty salaries.  It is clearly difficult to manage both these goals – but over the long term, we need to think about how the rising cost of private school tuition affects a family’s educational choices.  The ability to do real strategic planning is one of the important talents that Rahul brings to CPS.

Head of School: Murray Cohen reported on the results of the 2005-2006 Parent/Student surveys.  These “every-other-year” ventures are an important part of CPS’s evaluation of itself.  The time frame allows for observation, reflection, analysis and change.  Murray noted the very high rate of return for both students (93.3%) and parents (203 returns, up from 177 in 2004).  Andy and Sharona have reviewed and analyzed the data and comments from the surveys, and have met/will be meeting with the relevant Department Heads and Program Directors to plan for appropriate follow up actions. 

Murray showed us summaries of many of the data categories.  Briefly, students ranked the following departments/programs highest: Japanese, English, Dance, Intraterm, and Debate.  (These are the top 5 only, the list was much longer)  The lows (from a student perspective) were: PE, Health Education, Peer Advising, Student Council, and Dances.  Parent highs were:  Dance, Debate, English, Japanese, and Library.  The Parent low was: Dances.  The top three “Best Things About CPS” from the students’ perspective were:  People/Friends, Teachers, Academics.  The top three “Want to See Changes” were:  Social Life/Dances, Diversity (especially political diversity), and School Communication.  For parents, the top three “Bests” were:  Academics, People/Friends, and Teachers.  The “Let’s Change” categories were: Workload, Assemblies/Forums, and Social Life/Dances.

Discussion of the various issues resulted in some suggestions, including trying to get more specific information from survey respondents so that we can understand more clearly what aspects of an issue are problematic for them.   Murray commented that last time he wrote a summary of the survey results and provided it to parents, he received very little feedback.  There was an expression of interest from those present to read a summary and Murray indicated he would be willing to try it again.

President:  Debby Barach noted with appreciation the efforts of the Sophomore Reps and parents in organizing a stellar Back-to-School day.  She also reminded us of the upcoming (Nov. 17 – 20) Cody’s Book sale.  We receive 15% of all the CPS receipts from that time period.

Vice-President/Safety Committee:  Flip Jubelirer reported that CPS students did an impressive job of following the procedures for fire alarms, since one was accidentally set off this past week.  Additionally, the Safety Committee discussed the importance of raising everyone’s awareness of strangers on campus.  The potential stop sign near the freeway entrance that we have been lobbying for these past few years continues to be “potential”.  Progress is being made in learning who owns what land in that area, with the hope that this information will help move the stop sign project along.

Recording Secretary:  Kathy Kenworthy subbing for Raleigh Klein.

Treasurer: Janet Bensick reminded committee heads to check their annual budget and let her know if the amount seemed appropriate. When submitting requests for reimbursement, please include receipts.  Janet suggested that we start to think ahead to who we would like to have as Treasurer for 2007-2009.  Janet’s term is almost up, and it would be good to try to find someone who can serve as Treasurer of both the Parents’ Association and the Auction, and who can stay for a two year term.

Nominating Chair: Nothing to report.

Auction: Jerri Mariott reminded us that the CPS Auction will be held on March 17^th at school.  The change in location will hopefully increase the attendance, make the occasion less formal, and lower our expenses.

Athletics:  Laura Stewart reported that Fall Sports are up and running, including Men’s Cross Country which is currently ranked second in the state in our division.  Some of the Senior men are fundraising to replace the Cougar mascot outfit.  Coed lacrosse will be back in Spring, with Doc Lane coaching.

Care Boxes: Forty-two boxes have been ordered thus far!  Bakers: cookie pickup will be on October 23 and 24.

Caring Committee:  No report.

Class Reps: Frosh – Freshman Potluck will take place Friday, October 13^th.  It sounds like most of the class will be coming.

Soph –Back-to-School Day was a great success.

Juniors – An October 22nd parent social gathering at the Manuso’s home is upcoming.

Seniors – Chris Werme reported that the Senior parents recently had a fun, non-college oriented social get together.  They’ve also been busy providing monthly treats for the faculty and are preparing to host the upcoming CPS Open Houses.

Corresponding Secretary: - Snack sign up sheets were circulated.

Development:  Mary O’Neil told us that Communications Director, Katherine Day Hase is expecting a baby in February 2007.  One of her current interests is finding some volunteers who are willing to photograph CPS events, especially sporting events.  If you are interested or know of someone who is, please phone Mary.

Diversity Committee: The Diversity Committee has many interesting events planned for the CPS community.  The Northern California Islamic Cultural Center has invited us to a Ramadan event on October 21^st, Multicultural Evening is scheduled for October 26^th (help providing food, performances, exhibits, etc. would be welcome), and November 3^rd at 6pm will be a group visit to the Gee’s Bend Quilt Exhibit at the DeYoung Museum.

Political diversity will be up for discussion at an upcoming Diversity Committee meeting.

Drama Dinners: These will be discussed at next month’s meeting.

Lecture Series: Livetalk Theater lecture tomorrow (October 12).

Membership:  Sue Fischer said that thus far approximately 155 families had signed up.

Oxfam:  Anna Urrea reported that Oxfam will be held on November 14^th (feast) and 15^th (fast). Mike Volk is coordinating the food donations and serving help.  Anna stressed that this is a student–run program – parents are in an advisory capacity.  This year’s money raised will go to Disaster Relief for India, Pakistan, and Thailand.

Periscope:  Flip Jubelirer reminded us that the deadline for the upcoming issue is tomorrow, October 12^th.  She’s hoping that many of you will send her some articles and/or photos.

Scrip: No report.

Zip Code Parties:  Done for the year.

Adjournment:  We adjourned at 9:15pm

Upcoming Events and Reminders: , Lecture Series – Thursday, October 12^th,  Multi-Cultural Night – Thursday, October 26^th, Junior Parents’ Social – Sunday, October 22^nd.  Our next Board Meeting is Wednesday, November 8^th, 7 – 9 pm in the Smith Room.  Our guest speaker will be Martin Bonilla, College Counselor.