PLEASE SEE ATTACHED MINUTES FROM THE OCTOBER 24, 2019 PTSA GENERAL MEETING.

NORTHRIDGE MIDDLE SCHOOL PTSA GENERAL MEETING

Minutes 2019/2020   NMS Gymnasium
October 24th at 6:00pm

Presiding- Robin Cole – President

Call to Order/Welcome- Robin called the meeting to order. This was the second general meeting of the 2019/2020 school year.
Approval of Minutes- Leanne Byers motioned to approve the minutes of the PTSA general meeting and the motion was seconded by Mary Virginia Best. The minutes were approved.  The PTSA will be sending home information regarding a Holiday Food Drive. They will be accepting donations of Thanksgiving foods and/or money. It is their hope to collect enough food to make 50 bags to donate to families in need.
Principles month. Thank you to Mrs. Ingram, Mr. Hill and Mrs. Pee-Wee Childs

REPORTS

INVEST Report– Kathrine Heslop
Katherine took a minute to talk to everyone about INVEST. We have had 186 families and 51 faculty members who have joined PTSA so far to date. We have 830 students and were really hoping to increase PTSA participation with each year. We appreciate everyone who gave. So far this year INVEST has used donated money to go towards a fax machine and beautification of our school grounds. Katherine will also be INVEST coordinator again in the 2019/2020 school year.

CHOIR and STRINGS
Mrs. Smith and the choir sang a beautiful song. GREAT JOB CHOIR!
Ms. Lavendar and the strings students performed as well — FANTASTIC JOB!

PRINCIPALS REPORT – Lynda Ingram
Thank you to community members who donated the tables and umbrellas for outside. The students are already using them.
Northridge Middle School was given a grade of an “A”’ from the state of Alabama. Big THANK YOU to all of our faculty and staff for making this happen. This is a huge accomplishment that should be celebrated.

PARENT VISITATION WEEK
This week started with a presentation from PRIDE of Tuscaloosa. PRIDE is a drug awareness programs. There were two different times offered to parents who were interested.
Tomorrow club day and parents are invited to come to school for Clubs with their child. Also, the Glow Dance is tomorrow from 6-8pm. Any parent interested in chaperoning is welcome to come.
This Wednesday NMS started “Martin and Men”. Martin and Men is a morning program in which dads/men are encouraged to come in and welcome students to school. Mr. Martin is the former TCS Dean of Students. It is our hope to make this a regular event.

RANDALL HUFFAKER – guest speaker
Randall has an eight grader here at NMS. Mr. Huffaker teaches digital marketing at the university. Mr. Huffaker spoke to us about social media. honest conversations with our kids regarding social media.
How much time do we spend on line?? How connected are we??
78% of our kids have cell phones
7.5 hours of entertainment/media 8-18 year olds
Only 36% of parents look at the content on their kids phone
65% of teens send text in the middle of the night
X-Box and Play Station are now considered social networks.

APP RUN-DOWN
SNAP CHAT — everything put on snap chat is saved on server. Messages are not deleted as our kids believe. Parents should now – SHOWS LOCATION
TIK TOK – Teens and Over-seas adults are biggest users. Parents should now — CREEPY COMMENTS and kids try to outdo each other to get more likes
KIK — DANGEROUS APP for teens. Child exploitation and sexual predators.
WHAT’S APP — Exchanges are not saved so parents are not able to see conversations. Text, video, photo, etc. And texts can be encrypted.
WHISPER — no name, you can go on line and say whatever you want. A lot of adult conversations. Not APPROPRIATE for teens — lots of cyber bullying. Location based grouping and anonymous feature makes this app DANGEROUS
ASKfm — Question answer format used for bullying. Lack of privacy settings.
CALCULATOR% – App used for hiding apps you don’t want anyone else to find. A code must be entered to reveal secret apps.
HOUSE PARTY – video chatting app — random people you don’t know are selected to all talk together. Open to anyone, any age which is what makes it dangerous.

DANGERS OF SOCIAL MEDIA:
Teens are constantly trying to define themselves. “likes” of lack of “likes” is viewed as social rejection and can affect their self esteem.
Feedback is not always positive. Not everyone has good intentions. Kids need to be aware of that.
Kids are posting the same things we are. Their information is out there. They may not realize they are posting a picture in a school jersey therefore giving more information than they are aware of.
BRAIN CHANGES
5% of people can’t log off — brain is wired to look for reward.
Multitasking inhibits your brains ability to filter out distractions.

PARENTAL RESPONSIBILITIES:
Don’t assume the worst, protect your child from ignorance and foolishness.
Limit how much time they spend on-line and on devices.
Follow/friend/subscribe to your child’s accounts and their friend’s accounts.
Zero tolerance policy. Take phone and internet privileges away when rules are broken.
Teach children to seek feedback from genuine sources.
Reinforce that the most important and influential voice is the one within themselves.
Teens need to be connected — understand that as a parent.
Create media rules as a family.
Model appropriate use of technology
Know your kids passwords and monitor their use. Approve all apps before they go on their phone.

RECCOMMENDED APPS THAT MONITOR
Mobistealth.com
Mymobile watchdog.com
Netnanny.com
Life360
Parental apps will show screen time, what platforms being used and for how long. It allows parents to control websites and apps used. PC’s also have the same programs available.

IMPORTANT DATES-
October 2th – PTSA School Dance- 6:00pm NMS gym
October 28th-November 1st – Red Ribbon Week
Ocotber 31st -November 8th – Book Fair
November 4th – Human Trafficking TPD 5:30pm
NOvember 11th – Veterans Day Holiday – No School
December 2nd – NMS PTSA Board Meeting – time/location TBD
December 5th – NMS General Meeting – 6:00pm NMS gym
February 24th – NMS PTSA Board Meeting – 11:30 NMS
February 27th – NMS General Meeting – 6:00pm gym
April 13th – NMS PTSA Board Meeting – 11:30am NMS
April 16th – NMS General Meeting – 6:00pm gym