April 4, 2012 PTO MEETING MINUTES

April 4, 2012 PTO MEETING MINUTES

ATTENDANCE: Mr. Kennedy, Dr. Caldwell, Cindy Sharkey, Coleen Conroy, Laura Carlson, Caryn Rinehart, Kimberly Judd, Brenda Krushinski

MARCH HIGHLIGHTS:

*ES Kids Night Out “Silly Sports/Book Drive (March 9) It was EXCELLENT! The gym was open for the kids to just play whatever sport they wanted. Something was said about a flip by Mrs. Conroy?? Girls were cheering. There was a heated whiffle ball game between the kids and the dads. The question was who had more fun the dads or the kids? Many parents have responded very positively that they would like an activity like this again next year. A BIG thank you to our High School Volunteers!!

*Thank you to everyone who came for a very small meet and greet of the prospective new principal. A BIG thank you goes to Carolyn Monaco for baking such wonderful goodies. I heard Joe Dispenza trying to talk her into opening a bakery down on Main Street!! Both candidates would be wonderful to join our Elementary School. Now the big question is, which one is it going to be???

*The 8th grade lock in this past weekend was really good. Thank you to all of the parents for volunteering to be there and helping the kids to have a fun time! The kids were all very well behaved and only a few bloody noses!

*The 8th grade vs. MS faculty was kind of disappointing as not many of the teacher’s came. But they sent in their ringer….Mr. Kennedy, to help beat the kids!

FINANCE REPORT:

Caryn reported that she had just paid some of the bills: The Scholastic Book fair, the 8th grade Dinner Dance, the 4th and 8th grade trips. She is waiting on some bills from the Board of Ed for the teacher’s grants. Please take a look at her report on the web page.

MR. KENNEDY (MS Principal):

The Fourth marking period has ended and report cards go home tomorrow. The Honor Roll Breakfast will be on Friday, April 20. The students gave a FANTASTIC performance of “Annie Jr”!! Softball and Baseball started their scrimmages today.

MR. KENNEDY (Superintendent):

*The Board has narrowed the Principal search down to one and are now working with him on a contract. He will be officially approved at the April 23 BOE meeting. Mr. Kennedy asked if the PTO could have a meet and greet at our June 4 PTO meeting, if the new principal can make it.

*Mr. Kennedy went over the 2012-2013 Budget Information Summary. He talked of the student enrollment being down as we are graduating 60, 8th graders and there are not that many Kindergarteners coming in. As you look at this sheet available on the BOE pages, you will see the words “maintain” and “continue” which means that there are no new initiatives. There is money already set aside for the new curriculum for next year. The state aid came in at $7950 which is more than most local schools received but was far less than the BOE was hoping for. The budget is smaller next year than this year. Gail Woicekowski has been studying the electricity and gas usage and has come up with ways to cut those bills. Technology wanted more money next year but will be doing with less. The BOE decided to cut legal expenses which is risky. Since the student enrollment will be less, we will need fewer teachers. They will be notifying those people in the coming weeks. High Bridge’s ratable has gone down for the second year in a row which means that taxes will be going up. There will be a public meeting on the School budget on April 26 at the firehouse with Borough Council. Since the budget is not going up more than 2% it does not need to go before the voters (new regulations this year). The budget is now being sent to the State for their approval.

*We have 4 BOE members whose terms are up in April. Since the elections will now be in November, their terms have been lengthened until the end of the year. Those new BOE members that will be elected in November will start in January 2013.

DR. CALDWELL: (ES Interim Principal):

*Yesterday the 4th grade was given their Pizza Reward for the Reading Challenge. There were several guests in the building during the day and he stopped by the 4th grade classrooms several times to show off his good readers and praise the children.

*On March 16, Dr. Caldwell went in to the lunchroom and talked with the children. He talked of a disagreement that had happened between some 4th and 5th grade students that ended up with 2 bullying reports being filed. He told the students that he now came to them with a “heavy heart”. He talked of the tremendous “Topper Spirit” that he felt when he was working here before. He talked about getting along and the new bullying law. He then asked them all to take three big breaths and on the third breath this matter was now closed. There has been no recurrence. The school has been working with the parents of the children involved. On Friday night, there was a meeting involving the parents of the students involved, Chief Bartman, Mr. Kennedy, Dr. Caldwell and Sue Vogler. He does NOT want the concept of bullying to take root here, but rather wants to have a “TOPPER SPIRIT”.

*He mentioned that he thought that the assembly by “Dr. Drill” was worthy of a repeat performance.

*He talked of having had a Field Day planning meeting with Mrs. Waldron. They have decided that there are 4 activities where they could use some parental help. The PTO will be getting two inflatables to help “pizzazz” the program. They are a Single Lap Obstacle Course and a World Sports Game. There is a 10% off coupon and 10% off for being a repeat renter which will be used in renting these inflatables. Shop Rite will be providing ice pops. There will be more water stations, manned by parents. Dr. Caldwell wants to enhance more school spirit, so he suggested T shirts, but he does not want the parents to have to pay for them. So his company, Skylands Ed will be donating $500 towards the purchase of the shirts and the PTO will pick up the rest of the cost. We appreciate his GENEROUS donation in our student’s behalf! There will be a notice going out for the children to draw “what field day means to me”. Dr. Caldwell and Mrs. Waldron will decide which design will be used for the T shirts. We will hang up everyone’s drawings in the hallway. The T shirts will be given out on the morning of Field Day. There will also be speakers on summer sun safety and water safety. It will be a different kind of field day than usual but definitely memorable! Cindy Sharkey will be contacting the Democrat.

*Dr. Caldwell mentioned, just a few times, that he would like a nice projector for the ES. Apparently the projector we have is really good quality and it is shared between the two schools. We told him to do some researching and to let the PTO know what he finds.

NEW BUSINESS:

*Mr. Kolton, Mrs. Mickel and Laura Carlson will be meeting together after Spring Break to discuss the Smart Board that Scholastic has to see if it meets the specifications needed for our school.

*There will be an opening on the PTO Executive Board for a new Secretary. We will be sending out for nominations shortly.

*Spring Concerts: May 10 for MS and May 24 for ES. The front row seating tickets will be drawn at next month’s PTO meeting.

*May 10 will be the Teacher Appreciation luncheon for both schools.

*May 11 or 18 will be the reward for Box Tops during lunch.

UPCOMING EVENTS:

*Market Day orders due on April 11 with pick up on April 17.

*MS Scholastic Bookfair: “Buy one Get one” the week of April 16 from 8:45 to 1. Thank you to all that have signed up to help with this event.

QUESTIONS/COMMENTS:

*Brenda Krushinski asked Dr. Caldwell if he had given any thoughts on recognizing children that have made the Honor Roll. He said that he has no plans to do so at this time. Coleen Conroy mentioned that Mrs. Howell used to give out two colored cards with report cards to grades 4 and 5. One was for High Honors and one was for Honors with words of praise from the Principal. Dr. Caldwell said that he would leave that suggestion for the new Principal.

Respectfully Submitted by Kimberly Judd