Takoma Park Middle School

Announcements

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PTSA Meeting Notes & the Elected 2023-24 PTSA Board

On May 9th, we held our final PTSA meeting of the year and took the time to elect a new PTSA board for the 2023-24 school year.

Elected were:

  • Ramata Diop- President
  • Rick Bacon- VP fundraising
  • Maira Martinez VP Membership and Volunteerism
  • Emily Modde- Treasurer
  • Jackie Quan- Reporting Secretary
  • Emily Pickren- Correspondence Secretary

Here’s what else happened in this meeting, read the minutes.

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PTSA MEETING – Last events of the year, Elect your PTA members, the School Improvement Plan, and what’s important to you

Tuesday, May 9th, 7-8:30pm – in person in the cafeteria

Dinner and childcare will be provided for this last PTSA meeting of the year.  

Learn about the 8th grade dance, Teacher Appreciation week.  Elect next year’s PTSA Board.  Tell us what’s important to you so that we can plan accordingly.   And learn more about the school improvement plan and deeper discussion about it. 

RSVP’s are encouraged but not mandatory. Complete this form to let us know how many family members will be attending the meeting and dinner, and how many children will participate in the childcare.

 

TPMS PTSA General Meeting Agenda 

Tuesday, May 9, 2023  

7:00 – 8:30 

TPMS Cafeteria (In-person) 

Translation 

Available in person in the following languages: 

  • Spanish
  • Portuguese
  • Amharic

Agenda 

  1. Welcome & President’s Report (7:00 – 7:10) 
  2. Clare Seelke, TPMS PTSA President and Other PTSA Reps
  1. Thank you to all volunteers
  2. Teacher Appreciation Week (May 8-12)
  3. Volunteering Opportunities – This Year & Next: Alice Weiss
  • 8th Grade Dance – 6/2
  • 8th Grade Promotion – 6/12
  • Committee Chairs- note the QR code to the volunteer form
    • Financial Audit – 3 needed for summer
    • 6th grade BBQ
    • 7th/8th grade socials
  1. Treasurer’s report (7:10 – 7:15) 
  2. Greg Swaluk, TPMS PTSA Treasurer 
  1. Financial Update / 2022-23 Performance
  2. Proposed Summer Budget

III. PTSA Activities and Votes: (7:15-7:30)

  1. Clare Seelke, TPMS PTSA President
  1. Election of Officers to run from the floor
    1. President- Ramata Diop
    2. VP Fundraising- Rick Bacon
    3. VP Membership and Volunteering- VACANT
    4. Treasurer- Emily Modde
    5. Recording Secretary- Jackie Chan
    6. Correspondence Secretary/Communications- VACANT
  2. Proposal and vote on summer budget

IV. School Improvement Plan, 2023-2024 Planning (7:30-8:15) 

  1. Erin Martin, TPMS Principal

TPMS PTSA Upcoming Events 

  • June 
    • June 2: 8th grade dance at TPMS, 7-9PM
    • June 12: 8th grade promotion at Blair High School 530PM

TPMS PTSA 2023-24 Volunteer Form:  

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Books & Basketball – A Big Success!

A big thank you to all the parents, students, teachers and staff who came out for the Books & Basketball event this past weekend, February 10 & 11. This FUN-raiser succeeded- and exceeded – in our goals of building community and raising badly needed funds for our school.  

This PTSA fundraiser raised more than $6,000 to be used to finance other school events, support and appreciate teachers, provide field trip scholarships, and a whole lot more.  Camaraderie, community, and sportsmanship were on full display with some amazing basketball performances by our 7th and 8th grade players, including standout basketball skills by our teachers (notwithstanding some seriously fun trash-talking by Mr. Miller and over-the-top performance by Mr. Baker!)  🙂 

Special shout-outs of appreciation are in order to those who made this event possible:

  • TPMS parents Dawn Taylor and Mary Hanisco and their enthusiastic leadership 
  • TPMS Assistant Principal Einhorn and Mr. Baker managing the basketball game
  • Assistant Principal Patterson-Breese managing student participation
  • Assistant Principal Jackson coaching the teacher team
  • Deandre Boggan coaching the student team
  • Mr. Goehring managing the Difference Maker volunteer support
  • Ms. Mickens-Hundley helping with logistics
  • PTSA Vice Presidents Jamie Iwugo managing the silent auction, and Alice Weiss managing the volunteer effort.  
  • Special thanks to Mayor Talisha Searcy for her fantastic rendition of Mama Llama at our Book Sale Storytime
  • A huge high-five goes to all the parent donors, adult and student volunteers who helped put these multiple events on and clean up, and the student volunteers.  
  • Finally, a huge thanks to all the businesses and parents who donated for our silent auction.   Please note them in the list that follows!

Silent Auction Donors (in no particular order):

Restaurants and Food

Fitness, Wellness and Sports

Photography, Music and Hobbies

Homegoods, Clothing and Accessories

Travel

Special Item donations

  • Steve Madden Purse donated by TPMS parent, Jamie Iwugo
  • Ninja Line donated by TPMS parent, Jamie Iwugo
  • Kindle donated by TPMS Parent, Alice Weiss
  • “Bucket of Meeps” hand made meeps by TPMS teacher Maura Moore!
  • Grossman Solutions Executive Search Services by Britt Cocanour   
  • Lunch with Montgomery County Executive, Marc Elrich 

Hope to see you at this event next year!

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Volunteer Opportunities !

TKPK5K Race Co-Coordinator Needed- 6th or 7th grade parent

The City of Takoma Park is restarting a fun IN-PERSON 5K race on May 7, 2023. Pre-covid, thousands of students from the local elementary schools and TPMS participated in the race, got local sponsors, and raised thousands of dollars to support health and fitness-related events at each of the schools. The City needs each school (including TPMS) to have 1-2 reps at monthly meetings in Feb and March and then probably more frequently in the leadup to the May 7th event. Some of the tasks involved would probably involve having you search for race sponsors and volunteers, etc. Contact Alice Weiss (aliceweiss@rocketmail.com)f or more information.

Corresponding Secretary Needed

The PTSA is currently in need of a Correspondence Secretary: The TPMS PTSA is seeking a Correspondence Secretary to help with managing community communications. This person would serve as a member of the board and help draft emails and notices to the community and listserv contents/support. Any background or interest in communications? This exciting position helps us get the word out on PTSA activities, events and announcements to connect parents with information and fun. Requires attendance at monthly board meeting and work on a weekly basis to compose and review weekly messages for the PTSA. Contact: aliceweiss@rocketmail.com

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TPMS Citrus Sale – ACT NOW !

TPMS Difference Makers and PTSA: Fresh Fruit Sale Fundraiser

The Takoma Park Middle School Difference Makers and PTSA are working together to raise money for TPMS students through the Fresh Fruit Sale Fundraiser.  Our vendor is Florida Indian River Grove.

Dates of Fundraiser:  September 30 – October 24

Why Participate?

  • Students who sell at least one case of fruit will be entered into a raffle through which over $500 in prizes will be raffled off and will also help their grade level, as the grade level with the highest number of sales will be recognized with a grade level celebration.
  • Sales proceeds will go to support TPMS student-centered activities which may include but are not limited to the following: field trips, student recognition programs, school dances, student passion projects, and afterschool programs

Why Purchase?

  • To support the many wonderful things that occur at TPMS 
  • To support students in raising money to pay for school functions
  • To donate the fruit to Tommy’s Pantry – You can purchase a case or two of fresh fruit and donate it to Difference Makers who will then deliver it to Tommy’s Pantry, which provides food resources to local families.  Just indicate “donate”  on your order form when you purchase online. This type of purchase will support a student’s participation in the event, Takoma Park Middle School, and Tommy’s Pantry. If you purchase online, just indicate donate in one of the address fields.
  • To provide a healthy food choice for families that will arrive just before the Thanksgiving holidays.

Ordering and Collection Procedures:

  1. You can order by:
    1. Filling out the space on the seller’s sheet with the items you desire – We will be collecting from students in the morning (in front of the school store) on the following dates: October 4, 6, 11, 13, and 18 – Our final collection date will be October 20.
    2. Coming to Takoma Park Middle School, 7611 Piney Branch Road, Silver Spring, MD and filling out an order form which will be available in the main office.
    3. Ordering online, through our e-commerce site: https://bit.ly/tpmsfruitsale2022

*** An order is not complete until payment has been received.  All checks should be made out to “Takoma Park Middle School PTA” or “TPMS PTA”.

Delivery and pick-up:

  1. We will have a few distribution dates for you to pick up your fruit order at Takoma Park Middle School.  The tentative dates for distribution are November 17, 18, or 19.  All orders placed manually (on paper) will be shipped to the school.  Orders placed online will have the option to have fruit delivered directly to their home (“ship to recipient”) or to have it shipped to the school (“ship to organization”) for distribution.  Pease note that there is a flat $ 9.95 shipping charge for orders delivered directly to the recipient through USPS and no charge to pick up at the school.
  • If you have questions, please give Bryan Goehring a call at 240-740-5220 or send an email to bryan.s.goehring@mcpsmd.net

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Attention 8th Grade Parents – High School Choice begins…

MCPS will be broadcasting a High School Preview Presentation tonight, September 21, 2022 at 7PM.  Please see the info and timeline below, from the MCPS website.

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Grade 8 High School Regional and Countywide Programs Timeline

  • September 21, 2022 – High School Preview Presentation – Broadcast on the MCPS website (available 9/21/22)
    • English Presentation (link will go live at 7pm on 9/21/22)
      • Cable – 34 & HD 1071 (Comcast), 36 (Verizon), 89 (RCN) – 7:00 pm
    •  Presentación en español (el enlace se activará a las 8 p. m. el 21/09/22)
      • Cable – 33 (Comcast), 35 (Verizon), 88 (RCN) – 7:00p.m.
  • October 7, 2022-  Application opens on ParentVUE
  • November 4, 2022- Application deadline
  • First Week of February 2023- Notification of results
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https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/curriculum/specialprograms/high/

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TPMS Parents at Lunch (PAL) Progam Announcement

Dear TPMS families,
I hope each of your families had a great first week of the school year. I’m writing to you as a fellow parent of an 8th grader. I’m writing with an invitation to join in helping to build a strong and healthy community across the families, students, and staff at our school.  Last year a group of us worked with school staff to launch the TPMS Parents At Lunch (PAL) program. PAL is a group of volunteers that support a healthy, safe and vibrant lunchtime experience at Takoma Park Middle School.  As PAL volunteers, we are encouraged to get to know staff and students, support healthy interactions, ensure the cafeteria and outdoor areas are cleaned up, and help make lunchtime fun!
For those of you who might have the occasional (or regular) time to volunteer for 30-min (the length of one lunch period), this is a GREAT way to get to know staff, to support our students being able to make use of outdoor space at lunch, and just generally to have a better direct sense of what the school day is like.
To become a PAL, you must first complete the required online training and the COVID vaccination attestation (which takes less than an hour) if you haven’t done so before. If you’ve done this in the last three years you don’t need to do it again. Then you can sign up for volunteer shifts that work for your schedule. The TPMS PAL handbook (which includes the link to sign up for lunch shifts) is here: https://bit.ly/tpmspal
For those of you ready to jump right into signing up to volunteer, this year we’re using this tool (no need to create an account to use it): https://signup.com/go/bnRKuWH
The signup allows a person to select “all lunch periods” for a day or specific grade levels. Once you’ve made that selection, you can share if you have a preference for outside, inside, or the door. If you’re ready to commit to a recurring time slot (for example, PAL extraordinaire Susie Bailey will be at all three lunch shifts on Fridays), please just send an e-mail to tpmspal@gmail.com and I’ll add you as a recurring volunteer and you’ll get a reminder in advance of each of your shifts.

No worries if you’re still getting into the rhythm of the year and aren’t sure of your long-term ability to commit. Here is my gentle ask of all of us… let’s get the first month of the year fully staffed up (TPMS – like most schools – is still hiring for vacancies in a number of positions and so our support will go so far in helping staff not be overwhelmed as the year is getting started). If you’re not sure if this is your thing, think about signing up with another TPMS parent and coming together. I assure you it is easy, fun, and so rewarding.

If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Here’s to a great 22-23.   Here we go!

Jaime Koppel
TPMS PAL Coordinator