Harper General PTO Meeting

Harper General PTO Meeting

September 27, 2017

Call To Order/Approval of Minutes - 9:04AM

Approval of May 2017 General PTO Board Minutes – Motion to Approve (Maria Konosky), motion seconded (Ali Pearson), minutes approved.

Principal Reports: Dr. Kick

New school secretary Ms. Murphy. Going really well; kind spirit and great skills. Transition has been very smooth.
Brick border ready to be installed in garden. Once they are installed, Dr. Kick will let us know so we can see bricks.
Curriculum nights went really well. Weather was perfect.
Looking into some possibilities to add onto Harper playground equipment. Writing a grip grant for part of the project.

Faculty Report – Jesse Kerber

Thank you for the luncheon at the beginning of the school year. Not much to report. Good start to the year.

President Report – Sissy Polacek

$3000 away from our iGNITE goal. iGNITE is our only fundraiser for Harper School. To donate, go online to A to Z or our website, and the amount is per child. Goes directly towards enrichment activities, school crossing guards, etc.
Community Service Committee will be holding six drives this year to collect for charity.
D39 luncheon is tomorrow and funds go towards D39 Foundation which supports D39 activities. Luncheon and fashion show is at Michigan Shores. Please sign up and join us!
By – laws are posted on-line. Please go on-line and review. Two new positions were added: Harper Historian (Sophie Candido) & Auditor (Justin Shepherd) to review Treasury activities.

Treasurer Report – Annie O’Brien

Annie gives out the money, and Ali Pearson takes the money in. Healthy balance of over $100K. We have budgeted over the year at $55K. We like to keep about $50K in reserves. If you want money from Annie, always do an expense voucher which needs to be signed by a board member. To make a deposit, please fill out a deposit slip, which can all be found on our Harper PTO website. Any purchase over $1K needs two signatures. Tax exempt letter on the website for purchases related to PTO.

Fan Report - Emily Primosch

FAN Nothing else like it in the country. Invaluable information with a lot of great speakers. Lonnie is very well connected and very good at getting influential speakers. Keep an eye on Facebook page and maybe sign up for the newsletter regarding anything coming up through the spring or fall. Renne Brown is tonight, and tomorrow is a researcher from NW talking about marriages.

Hoedown Report – Sissy Polacek on behalf

Volunteers are down so volunteer sign up soon and often! Older kids can also run older games. Still need 50 more volunteers.

Environmental Committee Report– Aimee Stolz

Working with Hoedown to make it more green. Could use help in composting and use food scraps after Hoedown volunteers are all filled. Next week is EAW. Tuesday is going to be waste free lunch. Educating students and parents on what can be recycled, composted, and put in a landfill. Kids have to do this themselves. Walk to school is on Wednesday. Routes run from Ridge to Thornwood, Kenilworth, and Beechwood. Aimee would love to expand more routes if there are volunteers? If there are any other committees that would like to partner with the EC, please contact Aimee.

Parent Social Report – Elizabeth Whittle

Friday November 3rd 8 – 11PM. $40 per person includes Von Houten (all bands’ kids graduated from Harper); played at Hoedown (return tour). Performing live with drinks, dancing, and hors d’oeuvres. Keeping local at Kenilworth Club. Tickets are available for sale now. At this time, cannot buy tickets at the door.Buy tickets before the event night so we can cover the right amount of drinks/food.

Garden Report – Beth Karnes

Garden Club started September 18th. Ms. Levinson and Ms. Max are teaching the garden club. Kids enjoying it and will continue through November 6. Two upcoming garden events - Decorate Halloween and fall cleanup to beautify the garden. Keep an eye on HH for details. Volunteer in the garden; we now have a volunteer in the garden everyday (first time ever). Another space where kids can be quiet, arts and crafts, read, etc. There will be an activity for just the kindergartners, letter hunt in the garden tomorrow at 12:15. Can do your own activity in the garden or just volunteer. Younger children are able to come as long as you are able to manage your child to volunteer. Shed with arts and crafts and discovery bags. Can pull them out and shovels to weed.

Enrichment Guest – Ali Pearson introduces Katie Kolbe from Full Bloomed Lotus.

Mindfulness Presentation. Showing what students will work on during her six sessions with them over three months. Theme this year is exploring mindfulness and having a very hands on experience of each of our five senses for anchor. What it means to pay attention.

New Business – Sissy Polacek

We will be welcoming back the Mindful Team to our January General PTO Meeting in case you missed this one. Showing what will be practiced in the classroom.
November is our next meeting and Dr. Lechner will be attending. Please bring questions for him. Meeting will be in the cafeteria.

Meeting adjourned 9:47AM.

Harper PTO General Board Meeting