PTO Minutes

January 17th, 2013

  1. Introductions
  2. Principal’s report and Teacher’s report-Ann Schroeder and Staff
  1. Teachers Barb Trapp and Cheri Hiller were in attendance.
  2. Barb Trapp
  1. reported that 91% of second graders are making their benchmarks in recent testing.
  2. They are looking forward to a trip to the Chazen Museum of Art on February 15th.
  3. Ipad Training on Monday with Carol Greg. The library will now have 30 ipads to check out for the staff of Winnequah School for their classrooms
  4. Kindergarten was hoping to request chair pockets for PTO money
  5. They are hoping for snow for Winterfest coming up on February 28th
  6. Winnequah will be spotlighted at the School Board meeting on February 27th
  1. Cheri Hiller
  1. 1st grade is still figuring out needs and may be requesting funds to put a nexus tablet in every first grade classroom.
  2. Dinosaur unit is coming and it is a favorite integrated unit culminating with an open House/museum on February 21.
  1. Ann Schroeder
  1. Thank you to PTO for supporting a program for minority parents that happened this month. They had pizza, guest speaker that spoke on sharing their story, and hopefully they can do some more outreach to these parents one more time this year.
  2. Enrollment is being figured out now. They have approximately 98 kindergartners next year which would mean 4 sections of kindergarten.
  3. Next year we will be the largest elementary school in the district
  4. They are still working on dates of registration, orientation, and summer school. Ann said she would post those dates as they became available. She also would like to encourage many families to use the online fee payment. It really helps the administration staff.
  5. Safety in Schools Audit-The district hired an outside consultant to do a school safety audit in our district of every school. He went through each site, handbook, training, etc. He will give a report on how to make our schools safer.
  6. Chief Ostranga will come from the Monona PD to do an intruder drill with the staff.
  7. After the drill and feedback, we may start to have intruder drills in our school.
  1. Charlotte Condie
  1. Charlotte Spoke on a group called WatchDOGS which is a group that encourages male members of the community to volunteer and be a presence in the schools. At this time, Ann still welcomes the volunteering of anyone who would like to apply.
  1. Treasurer’s report-Michael Truman

A. Michael spoke about the status of our finances. Many of our fundraisers have or exceeded their goals. We are at the halfway point and we have been able to raise $10, 646.10 this year. This has not met our goal but has us on target to meet it or exceed it.

  1. Events, Fundraisers and other business
  1. Market Day and Extra February Sale-Beth Briddell

1. Beth said this fundraiser is going well. When we do special “pie month” it raised the amount of people participating. We hoped to do this again next month when we have cookie incentive month. There will be no special sale this year of cookie dough or pizza just encouraging the purchase during our incentive month in February.

  1. Monty’s sale-

1. Chris Marsh told us that the total number of people participating dwindled this year. We profited only a little over $300. She suggested that it may not be the best fundraising venue for us next year.

  1. REAP Sale-Erin Staver

1. This sale did well for us. It exceeded our goal. There are families that really appreciate this as a way to make a contribution to PTO and help local small businesses.

  1. Bucky Book-Kate Schiefelbein
  1. We are going to sign a letter of intent on this fundraiser. We will continue to do it the way we did this year by selling to families of Winnequah on an “on demand’ basis.
  1. Direct Donation Campaign

1. We will begin our direct donation campaign soon. This will allow families to donate directly to PTO and circumvent our other fundraising options.

  1. School Supply Kits-Kate Schiefelbein

1. The office is collecting supply lists from teachers. This will go out to families in April. The kits will be distributed to families at registration.

  1. Bingo Night

1. Bingo Night is next week. We have enough prizes that we will be able to not have to purchase any items. The only expense should be plates, if needed. Also, Peggy Small reported we are in need of more parents to volunteer at the event and for baked goods.

  1. Parent Conferences Wrap Up

1. This is a well received thing from the teachers. The only caution was if there is not lunch the next day, less food would be needed. The teachers often have the leftovers the next day.

  1. Spring Book Fair-Beth Briddell or Nathan Reuter

1. Nathan has been contacted and given a timeline of completion of items.

  1. Sock Hop Recap

1. Profits were greatly increased. Otherwise a fine event and a fine tradition. It is speculated that the raise in glow rope prices help with the bottom line on this event.

  1. Hoot Hoot Hustle Recap-Cathy Bernards

1. This event had 318 people. It went very well for the first year. The partnership with the recreation department was a good one. There is going to be another in the fall of 2013 and we hope it continues to grow. Suggestions of the event is a few more volunteers at water stations and to tap into some of the high school teams for volunteers.

  1. Box Tops, Labels, and Milk Caps overview-

1. Kathy Darwin continues to transition this fundraiser to new families. It has been a good transition.

  1. Culver’s Night-Cathy Bernards

1. Culvers NIght will take place on February 12th from 5-8 pm at the Cottage Grove Culvers. This is a popular event for students.

  1. Terra Cycle

1. Still working on getting the word out on what is collected with this fundraiser. Maybe better “visuals” on what is all collected would be best for bulletin boards.

  1. Fund for students in need?
  1. it has been agreed that we will give $250-300 each year to a social worker in charge of our school to help with extra expenses of families of this school. This would be an ongoing donation. It would come from our general funds.

Attendance: Cathy Bernards, Kate Schiefelbein, Peggy Small, Michele Miller, Michael Truman, Ann Schroeder, Beth Briddell, Barb Trapp, Cheri Hiller, Maelanie Kuzma, Jackie Johnson, Charlotte Condie

Minutes by Cathy Bernards