Chestnutwold Parent Teacher Organization (PTO)

Meeting Agenda: May 6th, 2025

Attendees: 7 board members, 10 attendees, Mrs. Leach, 2 teachers ( 2nd grade), Dr. Horan

Welcome & PTO Highlight of the Month, Welcome Dr. Horan

Appreciate everyone coming with lots of other things going on (sports, fun fair, play)
Art Show was unbelievable this year - Ms Strawley and Sarah did an amazing job

Vote to Approve Minutes from Last Meeting (Approved)
VP Reports: Upcoming Events & Activities

Wrapping up spring clubs (Chatter, Run Club, Chess, Kickball, Bowling)
Art Fair - Lead volunteer Sarah did a terrific job
Field Day - volunteers mostly filled up, may need a few more volunteers for grapes/oranges
Bake Sale in 2 weeks, will start to feature that more - lots of last-min signups usually. Decided to not do clothing drive (off-year election)
Two upcoming assemblies - Hip Hop fundamentals 5/15, Bike Safety Assembly for 5th graders in late May
Last out-of-school event is Chestnutwold Chase - 5/17

Still collecting registrations (early registration is over), but still looking for a lot of participants
Fun sponsors this year - Gouldsburger’s is our new phoenix sponsor, along with Saty Desai and Peterson Insurance

Sneak peak into ideas for next year

Executive Board Election - See candidate Bios below

Sarah - new IDC rep. We do have room for a second, but needs to be a former board member
Motion to elect exec board members - Approved

VP of Events still needed, but we have an interested person

Treasurers’ Monthly Report (PDF)
Principal’s Remarks

Thanks to the PTO and parents - really great group effort this year for Teacher Appreciation. Really going well (coordination + organization).
Lots of fun, organized chaos with Teacher Appreciation, School Play
PSSAs done - did have one issue on day 1
Lots of upcoming events featured in the Smore
Altered schedule for the musical, and for field day
Lots of field trips coming up as well
Keep up with the Smore for everything that’s going on

Teachers’ Remarks

Fielded lots of emails from teachers thanking the PTO and parents for their support of the musical
Colonial Plantation field trip (even though we had rain)
Thanks for teacher appreciation week - loved seeing the theme in the lounge. Bright spot in the day.
Thanks for running clubs this year, nice to see how excited the kids get. Appreciate parents taking their time to volunteer

Intra-District Council Update

Met with head of pupil services (special ed falls under this, along with other student resources). Detailed notes were sent out already
Haverford’s model is student-driven (things that kids came up with). That’s the model they’re trying to encourage across the district

Bubble event at Linwood

Best Buddies program is one of the best in the state
Sports also available in the inclusion model
Dr Hayes uses the Haverford Happenings newsletter to share what’s important
Lots of community questions that were answered as well
Academics/Curriculum meeting topic will be next week

Dr. Horan Q&A

Transition process starts in December (gathering data on the kids, talking to central administration about numbers etc). Our district numbers are pretty stable. At this point in the year, starting to look at individual students’ data, and then will talk to the elementary school teachers. Counseling team from MS comes and talks to elementary school. Plan for family comes about a month before school starts. Kids share schedule with friends, want to see who’s in each other's classes. Families have about a month before school starts to discuss with Dr. Horan. Several self-guided open houses.
Recommendations process past 7-8 years has been pretty dialed in. Have a little more flexibility than the elementary schools - Quarter system. Every quarter, students can move up a level, we’re open to moving kids up. Multiple kids get moved up every quarter. Requests come from parents, teachers, or students. Happy to do that as long as the data is there. Kids are dealing with a lot of things outside academics during these years, so struggling academics can be a heavy weight. District is set up so students can double up in the High School if they’re in the highest level math. Most kids take algebra freshman year, calc senior year. Accelerated kids take it sooner, but should still take math every year. Most kids don’t need to push as hard for math based on what they’re planning to do in college. MS admin can share recs
Kids will be coming up for unity day - Very quick tour/intro.
First 2 days of MS - very structured orientation. After 2 days, majority of kids know where they need to go
Dr Horan sends weekly family message, ppt + zoom video - will start sending to 5th graders starting this week. Beginning of the year tends to be a bit longer. Communication is pretty good
What should Parents do differently? Google “Adolescense”. May need to shift your parenting skills (could be 6, 7 or 8th grade). One of the bigger challenges for parents. Kids are pretty impulsive in the middle school. Risk takers, don’t care about consequences, care about friends over family. Risk taking is actually very important - controlled failure, give support when they ask for support - builds resilience. Lots of kids are really smart, have great social skills, athletic, musical - they only face failure for the first time in college, which is problematic. Use the middle school years as a training ground (microfailures). Let your kids take the lead and be themselves. Now is the time to start giving some separation
Schedule: 7:50 homeroom, 10-min morning news. 8 periods in the school day (5 core academics). 47 min each period. 3 min to get from class to class. Kids who are late to class usually have a reason. 2 unified arts (specials) periods, 1 lunch period.
500 kids in a grade - lot of movement but everyone has a place to go
Student-led conferences, 20 min. Teachers jump in as needed. Over 90% of kids and families prefer this format. Focused on academics, goal setting, character. Some families we’d prefer to meet w/just the adults, so we set those up (not during conference week - any time of the year)
MS teachers have an extra period where they are available to meet with parents or planning for instruction as a team. Parents encouraged to reach out and not wait until conferences.
Will be getting some new info very soon about screen times
Phones stay in locker - get taken away if we see it. Some kids try to use it in the bathroom. 80% of time kids are texting their parents.
If kids are using smart watch as phone, then it needs to go into the locker as well. Haven’t had to deal with the smart glasses yet.
Starting something new this month - monthly parent forum - first one is about social media and what we can do together (PD juvenile detective will be there as well - works very closely with MS admin). Going to try and come up with some action items to help. Largest amount of grade level criminal complaints are for 3rd grade (in at least 3 of our elementary schools). Parents can work with their provider to be able to see everything on their kids’ phone. Current 6th and 7th graders - small groups have committed to not getting smartphones. They’re happy they’ve made the choice.
Small minority of people present a challenge - Some parents say they won’t take phones from their kids, even when there have been criminal complaints. Some parents want the admin to give the kids back their phones who had them taken away
Questions

Where do they go in? Maps are sent home, lawn signs are put out for each entrance. Courtyard on darby rd is 6th grade entrance (7/8th have a different entrance). We want the kids to exit out that same route. Lots of cameras along the route. 2 security guards as well who are constantly looking at cameras and walking the halls. Some kids have alerts when they sign out on a hall pass.
2 people outside the doors each morning monitoring kids as they come in. Mirrored glass on the inside with people watching. Lots of monitoring of the groups and typical behaviors of kids.
Kids know the structure. Hard to get away with anything. Most issues are around other kids. We do a lot of work to focus on being a better person, but if they’re not following the lessons, its reality time
Are most 6th graders separated into their own area? For the most part, they have no reason in terms of classes. We do it for scheduling reasons to keep classrooms close by. All 6th graders eat lunch together. 8-10x bigger than elementary school cafeterias. The kids pick their seat and then lock it in. If kids want to move halfway through the year, they ask an adult and the seating chart gets updated.
Parents will get a supply list - going to change it up this year - will encourage a luggage lock instead of a combination lock. Lots of kids forget their combinations and the locks need to be cut. Kids get a planner every quarter. As kids get older they may find a system that works better. Kids get a new chromebook when they go up to the middle school
Teachers in the MS are not that excited about chromebooks, and try to reduce screen time. State testing requires online, so need to prep kids for that. Math, science use chromebooks the least. More times than not they’re not using the chromebooks. Relied on more for homework. District will likely be communicating screen time expectations more clearly. May also restrict more content (videos). Piloted tool where teachers can monitor kids’ screens. Concerns around who is monitoring (issue in Lower Merion SD). Better tools are out there today, so district may be open to looking into this more. Kids in MS are more likely to not follow instructions for screen use. Parents + teachers are on the same page, but we need to have clear rules.
Question on homework - seems like pretty much all homework is assigned on the chromebooks. Need to get the top technology issues addressed first. Should be about 1 hr for 6th grade (goes up by 10 min each year). Is 1 hr a lot? It depends on the kid, but it’s hard to differentiate. There’s also a good amount of long-term projects that have to be planned out.
What’s the system to manage how much homework is given? Team teachers should be coordinating, but there are times during the year where they’re are a couple of heavy things. That's when parents should reach out to the administrators, b/c they dont always know unless it’s brought to their attention.
6th grade extracurriculars - only limited athletics, but it’s more clinics, track and field. Clubs are all available to 6th graders - club info is shared in the principal's newsletter PPT. Shared on the morning news as well. Teachers run every club. There is a point person who will help support kids who have special needs and want to participate in clubs.

Executive Board: Meet the Candidates

Grace Sullivan, Co-President

I am looking forward to my first year on the PTO Executive Board as one of your Co-Presidents! During the 26-27 school year, all three of my children will be at Chestnutwold in Kindergarten, 2nd grade, and 5th grade. I’ve loved being involved as a homeroom helper, chairing Phoenix Fun Day, and volunteering for and attending all the great PTO sponsored events. Professionally, I am a former fourth-grade teacher, currently working in teacher education and coaching. Having been in many schools throughout my career, I can tell you that our Chestnutwold community is unique! I am very excited to play a larger role in the amazing things happening here.

Katie Thomspon, VP In-School Activities

I have three kids - one going into 2nd grade at Chestnutwold this fall and two younger kids who will be at Chestnutwold in a few years. I have loved being part of the Chestnutwold community this year as a homeroom parent and a volunteer at several of the amazing events including Trunk or Treat and Evening of the Arts. My day job is working as a legal editor, and I've also done a lot of volunteer communications and social media work in the past few years. I'm looking forward to getting more involved in the school community and helping with all the awesome work already being done by the PTO to make each school year better than ever for our kids.

Miriam Manon, VP Clubs

Miriam has 2 daughters, a 5th grader moving on to HMS and an incoming 1stgrader who will be starting at Chestnutwold this fall. Miriam is a regular volunteer at PTO events, including leading various clubs (Yoga Club and Newbery Club) over the past 3 years. When not spending time with her kids, Miriam works as a Yoga teacher, leading weekly classes at the Haverford YMCA and the Yoga Garden. Miriam was previously a non-profit program manager and looks forward to lending her organizational skills to the VP of Clubs role next year so that even more kids and families can benefit from the amazing work of the PTO!