PTO Meeting Minutes – May 12, 2008

 Present:  Monica Ostby, Lynne Baechle, Moira Daly, Donna Sullivan-Macdonald, Lisa Hebert, Diane Schwaigert, Rick Ebel, Agnes Clift

1.       Agnes Clift – School Board

Agnes Clift, School Board Member, reported on information to be discussed at the upcoming school board meeting. 

• The school board is considering raising the price of school lunches to pay for the Enterprise Program and equipment that needs to be replaced. 
• Kindergarten registration has been ongoing. 
• A new policy regarding funding for field trips will be implemented for fall 2008.  If field trips are deemed part of the curriculum funding needs to come out of district money.  Nothing that looks like a “bill” can be sent home to parents, and there can be no formal request by teachers to parents for field trip funds.  Fundraising can be done, not door to door by kids, and parents can still pay for field trips informally, but can’t be asked directly.  Agnes suggested this was a good question for Superintendent John Everett, who is putting together a committee to address this issue.  Allyson Downing asked if the PTO can raise funds for field trips, and if teachers can request funding from a “field trip pool”.  Rick Ebel indicated that there has to be a district-wide policy, and that the direct communication on this from the superintendent’s office is pending.   Any policy has to be fair to all schools.  While there may not be a district pool of funds, there has to be a district policy.  Rick anticipates schools will have some information on this prior to the beginning of the school year.  Monica Ostby suggested information requesting funding from parents (in the context of supporting the PTO) needs to be worded to reflect that change.  Lynne Baechle expressed concerns regarding how to fundraise and allocate funding for more costly curriculum activities like trips to France, Spain, and week long trip to nature’s classroom.  Anything that is tuition based needs to be funded by the district.   Agnes Clift suggested the PTO should suggest a member to sit on the district committee addressing these issues.  Rick will offer this to John Everitt and see what he says.  Any further information on this will come from the district level. 

2.  Allyson Downing asked if was permissible for PTOs to have a bake sale on Election Day on school grounds.  Agnes Clift has not heard anything otherwise, but suggested contacting the city clerk’s office for an answer. 

3.   Minutes from April -  Moira Daly

Minutes were summarized and accepted.

4.  Enrichment – Rick Ebel

A proposal from Linda Lembke indicates the budget for the Enrichment program on story booking would be $4596, which would included a 5 day residency for 19 classrooms.  As we get closer and start developing this, Rick wants to consider having an additional day, which would be an additional cost.  There is money in the PTO budget to support additional days if needed.  Allyson Downing motioned the PTO fund add additional day to cost of $500, and Monica Ostby seconded.  The residency would be the week of October 27.  Rick is requesting an Orchard family house Linda for that week.  (Diana Schwaigert offered her home). 

5.  Math Resources – Monica Ostby

Nancy Pollack,  Orchard parent and math coordinator at another school, has used a particular math resource and has offered to place an order for materials for parents at Orchard who may be interested in purchasing these materials for use with their kids over the summer.  Rick has discussed this with Nancy, and suggested she talk to Todd Jameson, Orchard math specialist, for his input.  Rick will raise this with Todd and get back to Monica should we want to pursue this.  Additional information can be found at Summerskills.com.

6.  SLIMY tag sale is coming up.  Information has been sent home.

7.  Lake Monsters Game – Donna Sullivan MacDonald

There was a typo in the information included in the recent PTO newsletter as Donna had used last year’s information.  There is a revised date of Thursday, June 26, and a flyer will be sent home.  Donna needs 8 volunteers to sell 50-50 tickets, and hopes to get 4 teachers, 4 parents.  Students can only volunteer with a parent.  PTO volunteers include Allyson Downing, Diana Schwaigert, and Lisa Hebert. 

8.  PTO Officers – Lynne Baechle

Four officer positions are open on the PTO for next year.  Lynne has contacted all

chairs to determine if they will be staying on.  Lynne hopes to host a PTO Open House on August 25 at which all chairs will need to be present in order to promote their events and recruit volunteers.  A similar presence will be had on Curriculum night.  The first PTO meeting will be on September 8, which will also include volunteer training.  Kathy Fox has volunteered to help at open house.  Kate Cunningham has expressed interest in chairing the Harvest Festival.  Other chair positions include Bookfair, Pizza Unos (Lisa Hebert will do if necessary), Skate Night, School Pictures, Pizza Night.  

9.  Election Emails – Monica Ostby

The school email system will be used to remind families of the upcoming May vote. 

10.  Staff Appreciation Lunch – Anticipate receiving a request to make a donation for the staff appreciation lunch on May 19.  Jennifer Cohen is coordinating this. 

11.  Email list – Monica Ostby

An email will be sent home to ask for permission to use current information for the upcoming school directory and email distributions.  Monica will strongly encourage people to include emails as part of their contact information. 

12.  According to Rick, an alerting system, including phone and email, is being implemented at the district level. 

13.  Scholarships – A request has been received for a $1000 will go to one graduating senior, not necessarily to Orchard graduate, as in the past.  Allyson Downing will explore this further and share specifics with the PTO as to whether we want to make a donation to this scholarship fund. 

14.  Budget –

Monica wants to request French and Spanish club go up to $750. 

The Spring Fling made $2000, expenses were $550.  While this was not intended as a fund raiser, turnout was good, the food was inexpensive, and T-shirts were popular.  A lot was also learned from this first experience that will be implemented in future.  Additional t-shirts will be ordered for the upcoming fall open house. 

A thank you note was received from Ronald MacDonald House for a donation received. 

There being no further items, the meeting was adjourned. 

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