🌿The BUGS PTA extends a warm welcome to all new families!! We are so happy to have you in our school community!🌿
About the BUGS PTA
The BUGS PTA aims to connect BUGS families, build community, and help BUGS students grow and thrive inside and outside the classroom.
Every caregiver of a BUGS student, as well as every member of BUGS staff, is automatically a member of the PTA!
Contact us at bugspta@gmail.com
Join our PTA Facebook Group, “BUGS PTA Community” BUGS PTA Community Facebook Group and scroll down for how to connect by grade level too.
Join Us!
THE PTA NEEDS YOU! The BUGS PTA runs on family members’ love and commitment to our school community! Please join our meetings, become an officer or committee member, pitch in as a volunteer at our events, and donate if you can - we need everyone’s support to help our community thrive!
What Do We Do?
The PTA supports a wide range of activities for BUGS students, families, and staff. We fund school field trips and support supplementary enrichment programs. We sponsor school celebrations and family community-building events. We help caregivers stay sane and navigate family life with guest-speaker events, and offer supportive resources for families of students with learning differences. We gather family interests and concerns, and serve as caregiver representatives in school governance on the BUGS Board. We sponsor activities to show appreciation for BUGS teachers. And on the first day of school we provide a BUGS uniform tee to every 6th grader as a welcome gift!
Monthly Meetings
PTA General Meetings take place on the 2nd Tuesday of every month, 6:30-7:30pm
The next General Meeting meeting is on: January 14, 2025
Unless a change is announced, all meetings take place on Zoom, at the link below.
BUGS PTA General Meetings Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81039696110?pwd=TuuBjl71M1subm8RTTrK7yGQEa8Ud7.1
Meeting ID: 810 3969 6110 and Passcode: ca0qjU
Minutes from recent General Meetings:
Draft agenda for upcoming General Meeting:
Get Involved!
There are many ways to participate in the PTA’s efforts! We are all working families, so we do our best to keep things efficient, effective, and fun!
Committee Membership
Want to contribute your ideas or expertise to a particular effort or cause? Please consider joining a committee.
Executive Board and Officer Roles
Want to contribute to governance and planning? Can’t make as many in-person events, but still want to play a part? Please consider becoming a member of our Executive Board.
We also still have space for additional officers as Co-President, Co-VP, Co-Treasurer, and Co-Secretary. Email bugspta@gmail.com if interested in one of these roles!
Event-Based Volunteering
Want to help in a more time-bounded way? Contribute your ideas/expertise to making one of our events particularly successful and fun! Sign up to co-lead a specific event (or two!).
Our efforts also need lots of ad hoc volunteer support! We have a wide range of options, including both at-home, and in-person help. Please pitch in when and where you can! See the Upcoming Events and Activities section below for the latest opportunities and sign-up sheets!
How to Donate
Financial support is one valued way to contribute to the PTA’s work at BUGS. Funds donated to the PTA go into the annual budget to provide support for a wide range of activities.
These donations help the PTA sponsor academic field trips, family game nights, DE&I events, school dances, enrichment activities, and teacher appreciation events. They help us buy t-shirts for incoming students each year, and bring expert speakers to our students, and to our school community.
While the PTA organizes a range of small-scale fundraising activities throughout the year, direct donations are our biggest source of revenue. In order to support our efforts, we suggest a donation of $40 per year for each enrolled student.* Please consider donating if you can - your donation impacts every child!
Tax-deductible donations can be made:
Via paypal, or credit/debit card at BUGS PTA Paypal
Via Zelle to bugspta@gmail.com
By check payable to “BUGS PTA” - mailed to: 500 19th Street, c/o BUGS PTA, Brooklyn, NY 11215
Does your employer offer a corporate matching gift program? We are a registered 501(c)(3) - look us up! Our EIN is 47-3077480.
Find BUGS PTA’s Benevity Cause Profile here. Our Benevity Charity # is 840-473077480.
*Note that donations are NOT a requirement for PTA membership and will NOT affect a member’s ability to vote or to run for office.
*Additionally, note that BUGS, as a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization also does its own fundraising - raising money for a wide range of additional efforts at the school. For more on those broader efforts, see this page.
upcoming events and activities
January 27, 7pm: Families of Students with Learning Differences Affinity Group Meeting
Via Zoom: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88913627573?pwd=caR3c2VBqJ5HkgDI6z9RiIxv03TKmq.1
This month’s meeting will focus on plans for a Neurodiversity Empowerment Month contest in March. Sign up here to get involved with the committee!
January 30, 6-8pm: Caregiver Cocktail Night
@ home of BUGS family, Suzanne and Paul Chadwick; 313 Vanderbilt Street, btw 19th and 20th Streets
Join us for a night out - enjoy a beverage, get to know other BUGS families, and raise funds for the PTA! More details coming soon! Please RSVP to help us plan!
February 7, 5PM: Friendship Dance
@ BUGS, 500 19th Street, Brooklyn
Hosted by the BUGS OSA, and supported by the PTA, this event will celebrate friendship, inclusivity, and community among our students.
Sign up to chaperone here!
Sign up to contribute baked goods or prizes here!
February 28, 7pm: Student Movie Night
@ Kent Theater - 1170 Coney Island Ave
We’re working to plan a student movie night at Kent Theater - stay tuned for details, and sign up to chaperone here!
Special Initiatives
Caregiver Speaker Series
Each year, the PTA supports a series of guest speakers on topics of interest to BUGS families. We are currently planning our 2024-25 school year series. Tell us what you’d like to hear about, or suggest a speaker here!
Support for Students with Learning Differences
The BUGS Families of Students with Learning Differences (BFSLD) group aims to be a supportive space for caregivers in our community whose children have IEPs/504 plans and for those with questions about obtaining additional academic or social-emotional support for their children, with or without a diagnosis or formal plan.
Our goal is to share experiences and strategies with each other and to raise awareness within our community about learning differences, neurodiversity, ADHD, and mental health. We hope to provide opportunities for families to problem-solve with each other and to collaborate with school leadership to promote inclusion and destigmatize neurodiversity. All are welcome!
On Monday, December 2nd we held a powerful dialogue led by BUGS Parent and special education & literacy expert, Elizabeth Epstein on the “Science of Reading” and how new developments in reading instruction impact middle school students.
Our next meeting will be on Monday, January 27th at 7pm over Zoom. We will be focusing on plans for a Neurodiversity Empowerment Month contest in March. Sign up here to get involved with the committee!
Enrichment Action Group
The Enrichment Action Group is a committee of the PTA that is working in partnership with the school to expand equitable and accessible enrichment opportunities led by specialists in sports, art and music at BUGS.
This fall, we’ve launched a new BUGS Basketball program, and explored interest and options for a Theater/Improv program - details below. We need volunteer support to keep this effort going! New program ideas are always welcome! Sign up for the Enrichment Action Group Committee to get involved!
Here are the latest updates on each program:
Fall Basketball
This fall, the committee launched a new BUGS Basketball program for 7th and 8th graders. After a very successful Fall/Winter season and some excellent youth fundraising, we are continuing for a Winter/Spring season AND have expanded to include a 6th grade program.
For the fall season’s final game, the BUGS 7th/8th grade team took on school staff in a Student/Staff game. A huge thanks to all the teachers and staff who volunteered to play, and families who came out to help! We hope to have a rematch this Spring! Proceeds from this fundraiser will help support scholarships for the new afterschool Enrichment Action Group program.
Spring Basketball Teams
6th grade: If interested in participating in the 6th Grade Spring team, fill out this form: 6th Grade Basketball. Practices are on Tuesdays at 5:45pm at PS10. Fee is $250 for 11 practice sessions, 2 games and a Sports United T-shirt. Scholarship funds are available for any family who needs them.
7th/8th Grade: If interested in participating in the 7th/8th Grade Spring team, contact Megan Demarkis at megan.demarkis@gmail.com and share the player's name, grade and parent contact info. There is currently a waitlist but we will do our best to accommodate all interested players! Practices are NOW ON TUESDAYS at 6:45pm at PS10. This is a change from the previous schedule due to a permit issue. Fee is $250 for 11 practice sessions, 2 games and a Sports United T-shirt.
Theater/Improv
The EAG explored interest and options for an afterschool BUGS Theater/Improv program with Brooklyn Acting Lab. While we don’t have enough interest for a BUGS dedicated program, BAL has asked us to share that TWO Improv groups for middle schoolers launched at the beginning of January and BUGS kids are invited to join! See the Information below!
Improv and Sketch: WHO: 6th-8th graders WHERE: 56 Windsor Place WHEN: 6:15-7:30pm. Mondays, January 6th – June 16th COST: $750 REGISTER HERE
Improv Troupe: WHO: 6th-8th graders WHERE: 56 Windsor Place WHEN: 5:00-6:15pm, Tuesdays, January 7th – June 17th COST: $825 REGISTER HERE
Enrichment Programs Guide
View the EAG’s guide for Local Enrichment Programs Worth Checking Out. If you have programs to suggest, you can submit them to be included via this form.
Stay Connected
In addition to our meetings and events, we support a variety of ways to stay connected with other BUGS families!
Sign Up for Grade Contact Sheets!
Request to share your contact info with other families in your child’s grade!
Join a Grade Caregivers WhatsApp Group!
These are great for connecting, sharing ideas, and sourcing quick info from other families (“What’s tonight’s math homework again?” or “Does anyone have a recommendation for an afterschool dance class?”)
Join our PTA Facebook Group, “BUGS PTA Community”
See pictures from our events, and get and share info with the BUGS PTA community by joining our BUGS PTA Community Facebook Group.
2024/25 Monthly Newsletters
PTA newsletters are sent monthly via TeacherEase - keep an eye out! In case you missed one, they’re archived below:
2024/25 PTA Executive Board Members
including Officer and Committee Chair roles
Kate Hohman, President
John Johnston, Vice President
Elizabeth Epstein, Secretary; BFSLD Committee Co-Chair, Fundraising Committee Chair
Kirsten Kelly, Treasurer; BFSLD Committee Co-Chair; Budget Committee Chair
Megan Demarkis, Enrichment Action Group Committee Chair
Maria D’Agostino, Nominating Committee Chair
Chloe Gorga, Member-at-Large
Ingrid Gomez-Allen, Member-at-Large