WHE PTO Board Meeting

Monday, November 1, 2010

Attendees: Jackie Pelino, Lindsay Monchecourt, Amy Gay, Annie Livingston, Liana Weller, Joan Stolberg, Erin Clark, Cristy Wagner, Karen Mathiason, Mr. Todd

Absent: Alycia Stewart

Joan- Went over the budget. Still awaiting book fair figures.

Mr. Todd- Talked about his leadership meeting and the Site Improvement Team. Provided a sheet with the top priorities according to the WHE teachers.

  1. Letterland supplements for kindergarten and 1st grade. Mr. Todd took care of this with funds from McDonald’s nights.
  2. Creation of an additional computer lab to contain a smart board, laptops/netbooks for student use. Current lab is used for enhancements and only available on a limited basis. Estimated 37k needed for hardware (30 computers). This may be completed in phases. It would also mean moving a class to a trailer.
  3. Scanners
  4. Digital flip cameras – Mr. Todd purchased these with funds from school pictures.
  5. Replacing and maintain classroom computers.

Board asked about smart boards/projectors for classrooms. Mr. Todd feels the teachers would forgo this if we could provide a computer lab. Jackie suggested possibly doing Capital needs campaign next year specifically for the computer lab. If we did this now, we would use all of PTO funds, nothing left for needs that may come up – we need to have a reserve.

Annie: Sally Foster starts today. Will look for new vendor for next year. Entertainment book sales went well.

Cristy: Met with teachers- thanks for the the school beautification project. It looks great. Hospitality committee asked if teachers could do their own cookie exchange this year rather than it being a part of the holiday luncheon.

Lindsay: Hand Up project- for one month let’s try to collect new or gently used clothing and/or toys. Working with Rose Steele or identify needs within our school. Will be confidential. Will also work on gathering teacher perks, i.e. gift cards or gift certificates that Mr. Todd will use for morale builders.

Liana: SIT Meeting update from Beth Packman:

I find it very exciting when our excellent staff continually strives to make our school an even stronger educational environment and experience for our children. As parents we are not always aware of all of the work our staff does behind the scenes. I would like to share with the PTO board the following items that we discussed in the last SIT meeting on 10/14:

1) The staff held a workshop between grade levels (K-1, 2-3, 4-5) to discuss curriculum and skill expectations (ex: math skills expected of a kindergartener entering 1st grade). This gave the grades a chance to discuss learning gaps and what may be missing from the existing curriculum. The staff found these discussions extremely beneficial and plan to do it again later this year between other grades (preschool-K, 1-2, 3-4, 5-middle school).

2) Character Counts: there will be monthly pep rally’s to introduce the next character trait. Students will be recognized from each grade level as having exemplified the previous month’s charactertrait. Winners will be invited to come to a “sock hop” recognition party before the pep rally. Great way to keep the momentum of this program.

3) Four 3rd grade teachers are piloting a program called the “Daily 5” which is a literacy program using differentiated/focused reading groups to work on comprehension.

4) Also, please note that the School Climate Survey is only going to be online. This is an opportunity for staff, parents and students to share how they feel about our school. Would you please share the link (via your room mom’s network) and recommend to parents that they participate in the survey?

Soup and Salad Luncheon11/10/2010Stacey Leweski

Held in the Science Lab. All items need to be in by 10:30 am on the 10th.

Luncheon is from 11-1.

Holiday Cheer11/20-12/10Romy Minaya

Holiday Staff Luncheon12/15/2010Michelle Gilliland

Teacher Appreciation Week5/2/2011-5/6/2011Sam Cappelli

Annie: Benchwarmers night was not very successful. However, they want to do it again, maybe on a weekend.

Amy: Will pick date for Celebrate the Arts night. Tricia Winton does not want to sell the artwork because it did not do well. Discussed various ideas with board, Art by Me, framed art, etc. Francis Calhoun doing bingo night in January.

Erin: Have two restaurant nights coming up – Freshberry and Golden Corral. Asked Mr. Todd if we have partnerships with specific restaurants? Discussed if we should do more McDonalds and Chic-Fil-A nights or spread it out to other places. We could use partnerships to help with food for teacher meetings and gift certificates for teacher morale, etc. Requested a list of partners from Mr. Todd. PTO currently only receives funds raised from Chic-Fil-A nights; all others go directly to Mr. Todd.