Destination Imagination Funding Meeting and Vote: Tuesday, May 5th at 7:00 p.m.

Please mark your calendar for Tuesday, May 5th at 7:00 p.m. at Whittier (in the gym) to attend a special PTA meeting being called to vote on a motion made at the April PTA general membership meeting. The motion is detailed below, along with other contextual information that may aid members as they consider how they will vote at this meeting. Free babysitting will be available during the May 5th meeting in the art/activities room at Whittier.
 
What is the motion on the table?
Three Whittier teams (18 Whittier students total) have been selected to move on to the Destination ImagiNation (DI) Global Finals competition in Knoxville, Tennessee from May 20-23. The cost to attend the event is estimated at $1,000 per person.
The team leaders of these DI teams have requested that the PTA sponsor the teams ($250 per student participant), with a total cost to the PTA of $4,500. The proposal was moved and seconded at the April 21st PTA meeting.
Per PTA policy, any monetary request for over $500 must sit with the membership until the next meeting for voting.  Due to the time-sensitive nature of this request for funds, it is necessary to hold this special meeting in advance of the regularly scheduled May PTA general membership meeting.  There will still be a PTA meeting held on May 19th as previously scheduled.
 
How will the May 5th meeting work?
The meeting will begin with time for discussion surrounding the current motion on the floor. Voting on this motion will follow. Paper ballots will be used for the vote. There must be majority support in order for the motion to pass.
The Whittier PTA bylaws prevent voting by proxy, so please plan on attending the May 5th meeting if you wish to vote. Also, you must be a member of the PTA in order to cast a vote. A quorum (at least 15 members, including 2 officers) must be present for the vote to count, so please encourage your friends and neighbors to attend this meeting.
You may wish to review the minutes from the April 21st meeting in advance of the vote on May 5th. Here is a link to the PTA meeting minutes from the April 21st meeting for further background on the discussion that was had at the meeting:
https://whittierschoolpta.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/PTA-meeting-minutes-4-21-15.pdf
 
What is DI?
Destination ImagiNation is an international non-profit organization which fosters academic enrichment, team-building, and competition and that believes in the importance of play, learning by doing, and inspiring more students to get involved in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), Improv, Visual Arts, and Service Learning. DI offers seven new Challenges each year for teams to select from and work through. Each Challenge is open-ended and enables students to learn and experience the creative process from imagination to innovation. Academic tournaments take place around the world at the regional level, state level, and finally global level.  During these tournaments, teams have the opportunity to present their solutions to trained appraisers. Students have fun while gaining confidence in their ability to solve any challenge and to collaborate with others in doing so. For more information about DI, visit www.destinationimagination.org orwww.illinoisdi.org.
 
How has the Whittier PTA supported DI in the past?
The PTA, for the past several years, has supported any team wishing to participate in DI by paying for each team’s program materials. These materials are used by the teams to understand the challenges available and to help them to prepare their solutions.  The amount required to purchase each team’s DI packet of materials is accounted for in the PTA’s annual budget.
In addition, in 2012, two Whittier teams went to the Global Finals and the PTA gave a total of $500 ($250 per team). In 2009, one team consisting of seven students and one parent were given a total of $1,600 ($200/student and $200 for the parent supervisor) to offset the costs of attending the Global Finals tournament.
 
Questions prior to the meeting? 
Pleases contact PTA co-presidents Rita Brezina (erbrezina@gmail.com) and/or Valerie Hardy (valerie_m_stone@yahoo.com