Call to Order the General Membership Meeting of Evergreen Mill Elementary PTA Was Called

MINUTES

Call to Order– The general membership meeting of Evergreen Mill Elementary PTA was called to order by Kevin Arcano, Vice President at 9:00 a.m.

Approval of Minutes-Lisa Krepich, Secretary presented the Minutes from the January 8, 2013 General Membership Meeting. Motion for approval was made by Juana Kazmierczak, and seconded by Kelly McKnight. Minutes were approved without change.

Principal’s Report – Mr. Pellegrino reported that all is well, the main challenges right now were delays and changes to the learning day required by our many snow days this winter. The math assembly for this week will probably need to be rescheduled a second time. Multicultural Night is coming up on February 27th at 6:30 p.m. He has asked the PTA to support through attendance. We will also contribute to some of the prize and decoration budget for the evening.

Report of the Executive Committee

• Treasurer’s Report, Juana Kazmierczak, Treasurer, presented her financial reports to the group and highlighted some of the main spending line items. Our Skate Night was a great success with 199 skaters; the PTA contributed approximately $850 toward the EMES Morning Show Computer; $382 has been paid so far for classroom books in the approved Reading Program Support (5th grade so far); and so far 25 teachers have collected their allotment funds to help provide supplies in their classrooms. Juana made the motion to approve the report, it was seconded by Kevin Arcano. Motion carried.

Report of Standing Committees

• Communications & Marketing Committee – Newsletter will be published Sunday, 2/16, please provide any content to Kathy Goodhart as soon as possible.
• Volunteer Committee – Kevin Arcano, Chair. No report.
• School Events Committee – Kevin Arcano, Chair. No report, all is well.
• Outreach Committee – Sally Dunleavy, Chair, shared that Backpack Buddies is in need of volunteers. We are currently supporting 126 children each week. Packing the food is on Wednesday mornings at St. James’ Episcopal Church and she will provide the link to our newsletter author for inclusion. Preparation will begin soon for the Used Book Sale we are holding in conjunction with Spring Bingo. Sally will be bringing in collection boxes and informing teachers and parents.
• Outdoor Classroom Project Committee – Notes from Sally and Angie Tomaszewski that the OC Committee is meeting with a Master Gardner this week to discuss the installation plans.
• Membership Committee – Lisa Krepich, Chair. No report.
• Staff Support Committee – Lisa Krepich, Chair. No report.
• Education, Arts & Athletics Committee – Julie Sprinkle
• MATH COMMITTEE. Angie Tomaszewski followed up on our electronic vote to support a math team of 4th and 5th graders with $250. There has been very good interest in this math program and at their Thursday practices at least 20 children are participating. Mathnasium, a new business in Leesburg, has offered to support the team by giving $200 toward team t-shirts. We will explore options for using our current Spiritwear and adding the Mathnasium logo. In response to the very positive interest, EMES PTA would like to support additional teams since there are enough current participants (involved as alternates) to do so. Kevin Arcano made a motion that we approve $400 in additional funds for the EMES Math Teams ($300 for additional teams + $100 incidentals). This represents support of 4 math teams to upcoming tournaments. Motion was seconded by Maureen Kirk. Motion carried.
• ASEP-Winter After School Enrichment clubs have begun. We are offering 13 unique clubs serving 172 students. This represents a 17% growth from fall and an 85% growth from last year. 12 scholarships were awarded (chosen at random from 20 applicants). This success was based on very good feedback from a survey conducted through Survey Monkey. The free version of Survey Monkey is very limited and having the capability to survey our membership could be very useful as we begin planning for next year’s program year (in all areas and programs of EMES PTA). Chandra Bittner made a motion that we approve $200 for a one-year subscription to Survey Monkey to collect data for EMES PTA planning and for receiving feedback. It was seconded by Kathy Goodhart. Motion carried.
• Ways & Means Committee – Maureen Kirk, Chair and Courtney Gatlin, Silent Auction Chair brought us up-to-date on current planning for the EMES Silent Auction coming up in May. Flyers will soon be going home to advertise our need for items and this year they would like to ask each grade level to contribute ONE themed basket to the auction. They will ask for one volunteer per grade to collect and assemble each basket. The Silent Auction will also solicit “Teacher Experiences” since those are always very popular. An online silent auction tool is being researched, as well.

Report of Special Committees

• SPECIAL COMMITTEE FOR FINANCE PROCESSES IMPROVEMENT. A written report was distributed by Chandra Bittner. No issues for discussion this month.

New Business

• Formation of Nominating Committee: A general call for volunteers to serve on the Nominating Committee will be included in the 2/16/14 Newsletter.
• Concessions committee: Please remind all event chairs who plan to serve food that our concessions committee is ready and willing to help. Kim Cheshire, Chair.
• Committee descriptions: Maureen Kirk has volunteered to help update our committee descriptions and we will work with Chris Rawls, EMES Webmaster, to get those posted to the PTA tab as soon as possible.
• Multicultural night – Mr. Pellegrino will let us know if they require any further PTA assistance.

Announcements

• Spirit Day on Thursday, February 27th.
• Multicultural Night is Thursday, February 27th at 6:30 p.m.
• Muffins with Mom is coming up on March 5, 6 and 7.

• Next PTA General Membership Meeting: Wednesday, March 12, 2014 at 7:00 p.m.

Adjournment – Meeting adjourned at 10:10 a.m.