PTO Meeting Minutes – October 14, 2008
Attendees: Moira Daly, Mara Hayes, Cinder Thrane, Donna Macdonald, Tonia Karnedy, Nancy Vetters, Ryan Simpson, Aimee Marti, Susan O'Brien, Andy Pearson, Dora Sudarsky, Andrea Houlihan, Kerry Farrell, Leah Burke, Lisa Kunin, Rosalind Saunders, Don Wright, Leslie Capano, Kate Cunningham, Megan Houston, Monica Ostby, Lisa Hebert.
Opening
Co-President Monica Ostby welcomed everyone to the PTO meeting and Secretary Megan Houston read the meeting minutes from September 8, 2008 which included a review of the officers elected at that time. To summarize: Co-President Monica Ostby ran the elections; then-Treasurer Lisa Hebert was elected to Co-President and Tonia Karnedy was elected to fulfill the Treasurer’s role; Leslie Capano and Nancy Vetters were elected Co-Vice Presidents; Megan Houston and Kate Cunningham were elected Co-Secretaries.
Updates
Co-President Ostby briefly reminded everyone about Harvest Fest on Thursday, October 16th. She thanked the committee and volunteers for their hard work and encouraged additional volunteers to come forward.
As French and Spanish Club Chair, Co-President Ostby announced the first meeting of French Club for K-2 and Spanish Club for 3-5 on Monday, October 20th. She reported that a few last-minute registrations had trickled in recently, and introduced Leah Mital-Skiff, a kindergarten parent, as this year’s Spanish instructor.
Co-Vice President Nancy Vetters reported for the Outreach committee that a group of interested parents had formed to attend School Board Meetings and more volunteers were welcome. In addition, the committee is regularly contacting the Other Paper with Orchard news to keep the greater community informed about our school.
Co-President Ostby reminded the group that new fundraising rules had been adopted district-wide, and Treasurer Tonia Karnedy indicated that she will be attending a meeting this coming week to gather more details which will be shared at the November PTO meeting.
Co-President Ostby asked attendees to volunteer and recruit volunteers for upcoming events including the Book Fair, the Election Day Bake Sale chaired by Heidi Hopper and Allyson Downing, and the Bookmaking Enrichment Program occurring the week of October 27th. Volunteers for the Bookmaking Program are organized by art class times to ensure adequate coverage; contact Dora Sudarsky or a PTO officer if interested.
A suggestion was made to send an email to Orchard parents requesting volunteers for the various upcoming events.
Drama Club
At this point, Co-President Ostby introduced the topic of Drama Club, thanking volunteers who had stepped up to learn to carry on the program next year since we have a number of 5th grade parents this year. She announced a vote at the end of the meeting concerning the use of funds for the Drama Club, then introduced Director Don Wright to present this year’s production of The Sound of Music.
Don Wright explained that 4th and 5th graders are assigned speaking roles, while 2nd and 3rd graders make up the chorus. He emphasized the tradition of the evolving script to include as many children in speaking roles as possible. He asked parents to help children cope with their role assignments in the event of any disappointment, urging kids to stay involved beyond the first few weeks. Co-President Ostby added that the PTO fully supported this sentiment and is available for support with any issues in this vein. Don Wright named the themes of the play as staying true to our hearts, the gift of music and what it means to us, and WWII history specifically within the context of the story. Initial auditions will be conducted with Don and without any participant’s parents, where the kids will be asked primarily to improvise. Secondarily, they will visit with Music Director Ashley O’Brien. 2nd and 3rd grade chorus members will have targeted rehearsals.
Co-President Ostby recognized the tremendous effort and time the Drama chairs and volunteer leaders give to make the program not only succeed, but to exist in the first place. She reiterated that the PTO will support their efforts, and be available to help with any issues. The group was also informed that two agreements will be enacted this year and going forward. First, no parents will be in the audition room during the audition process. Casting decisions (as they always have been in the past) will continue to be made solely by Director, Don Wright. Second, the last performance of the series will include a final curtain call for all involved 5th graders – whether their work had been on the stage or off. This is an important tradition of recognition initiated last year, and will continue in the year’s to come. It will be up to Don how it is executed.
Drama Club Co-Chair Rosalind Saunders publicly thanked Don Wright for his 9 years of service. Kerry Farrell and Ralphine O’Rouke were named as understudies with this year’s chairs to ensure a smooth transition. Kerry and Ralphine addressed the group; Ralphine is particularly focused on learning to administer the Drama Club budget and fundraising while Kerry will absorb responsibilities in other areas. Volunteers were urged to mentor parents with younger children involved in the production to keep the Drama Club strong in upcoming years.
Drama Club Co-Chair Lisa Kunin welcomed input and feedback on the Drama Club. Last year’s budget served as the basis for this year’s budget, and Lisa will contact volunteers individually concerning budgets for their specific areas. Significant funds are required to pay for the Drama Club so the Club is considering asking parents for a suggested donation if their child is involved in the production, similarly to the way parents are asked to support other PTO events such as Chess Club and French and Spanish Club, through participant fees. The necessary upgrade of a new curtain could require as much as a $2,000 investment. Acoustic upgrades such as panels would require a much larger sum.
All present debated whether a carry over Drama Club balance of $10,000, currently invested in savings and for future shortfalls, could be used to pay for the acoustic tile upgrades. The vote at the end of the meeting specifically asked whether this money should be tapped for this purpose. Andy Pearson, employed by the district for lighting and sound, was asked to provide further detail on the proposed upgrades.
Andy Pearson explained that the purchase of sound equipment was no longer under consideration because equipment was easily borrowed and because the district operating budget could likely accommodate this expense at some point. Regarding acoustic panels, Andy had solicited quotes from various area businesses. Advance Systems, a division of Advance Music in Burlington, quoted 35% coverage of the gym walls for a $5500 investment to include installation by Advance. Andy then secured a commitment for installation from district facilities personnel. The resulting redirection of $1200 for more panels would cover a total of 42% of the wall space. Don Wright pointed out that this investment would serve the community for a long time to come, that many other groups and assemblies would benefit from using it, and that the kids in Drama and many other activities would be able to concentrate much more easily with background noise reduced.
Attendees explored the issue through discussion. One attendee asked if this project could be done in stages, citing concern for maintaining the PTO budget contribution to the Drama Club. Andy worried that this would discourage the facilities personnel from their commitment to install the panels, yet someone else believed that volunteers could accomplish installation. Another attendee pointed out that purchasing in stages would delay the benefit, and that although the panels may be subject to damage from hard balls used in athletics and gym classes, the larger initial purchase would benefit the whole school immediately. Another person asked what percentage of the walls truly needed to be covered by panels in order to achieve a noticeable improvement, which is an unknown quantity due to myriad factors such as placement, etc. An attendee asked if treating the ceiling in the gym with banners or panels had been considered, which was not included in this quote and could be a secondary follow up phase.
Discussion continued regarding the pros and cons of purchasing the panels. One person asked if the $10,000 account would remain available if not used for this purpose; the funds were donated without conditions and could be used for other purposes. Another person wondered if corporate donations could be solicited for the acoustic expense in order to preserve the $10,000 savings account as a back-up source of funds for the Drama Club. Another attendee cautioned the group to consider the perception of the expenditure by community members and parents in light of programs in jeopardy due to recent fundraising regulations, even though the topics are independent of each other. Another person wondered whether the evening’s vote should go before a larger group, but the vote would continue as planned since it had been well publicized. Someone else pointed out the purchase would also benefit those with hearing disabilities.
At the conclusion of this discussion, Co-President Ostby conducted the vote by ballot addressing whether to use the $10,000 savings account for the imminent purchase of acoustic panels to benefit this year’s Drama Club production. The vote approved the expenditure with a 22 to 5 vote. Drama Chairs Lisa Kunin and Roz Saunders will proceed with the plan to install these tiles in time for this year’s production.
There being no other business, the meeting was adjourned.
Page created by PTO Secretary Megan Houston and Orchard Library Media Specialist Donna Macdonald.
This page last updated: 01/22/09.