PTO Meeting October 5, 2015
1. Call to Order
2. Approve September’s Minutes- Dina Maddern motioned, Cindy Barnett -second,
group approved
3. Principal’s report:
1. School has enacted procedures to improve noise level in the building
1. Baskets for students to place lunches- reduce noise from lockers in and out,
teachers drop off and pick up from recess/lunch
1. Marked difference in noise levels- teachers have been fantastic, teachers with
students have connection and students are more respectful in the hallways
2. Several teachers have had positive feedback, very helpful
3. Gearing up for Halloween- procedures will remain the same. Only parents signed
up to work parties will be allowed in the school during the party. Asking parents
not to wear masks if they are dressing up for the parties. Make sure costumes
are children appropriate. (G-rated) Hoping for good weather for the parade.
Working on procedures for rain/bad weather.
Mr. Herlocker- MAP testing
2nd-5th graders were tested in reading and math. Used laptop carts, and students took tests in
their classrooms because we don’t have learning space in library, nor do we have extra
classrooms. Students did well in their own environment. Didn’t disrupt library time for MAP
testing. Everyone is done. Kids weren’t aware of carts. Went smoothly. Will continue this
process for future MAP testing. PARCC may be done differently in spring.
Teachers Report
Mrs. Wells- Teachers had a good time walking with their classes. The walk-a-thon went well and
they were enthusiastic. When students think about how funds will benefit the school, they have
some great ideas.
Will the date for grants be extended—had a question from a teacher.
Ms. DohenyPTO is doing book fair next week. Ms. Doheny will be coordinating a Barnes & Noble book fair
in December. No cost to PTO. Barnes & Noble does everything. We just have to provide
volunteers and decorating supplies for cookies. They will give each child a cookie. Face painting
volunteers to do face painting station. Meet & greet with Buddy the Bulldog. Story time. Every
15 minutes do a story to keep the stories continuous. Scavenger hunt throughout the bookstore.
Free gift wrapping, but need volunteers to do that. Tuesday December 8- closer to holidays.
She will sit with B&N rep to go over details. Looking for volunteers. Emily- ideas about
volunteers—high schools have resources, prefer not to ask parents to volunteer so they can
enjoy it with their kids. Teachers reading might be a good pull for kids. High school football
players could possibly read, too. We will help promote it. 5-9? 5-8? Kids have school the next
day…4-8 might be better to get younger and older kids in the stores. Do we get a %? Yes, we
do 10% cash back, 15% gift cards $2000, more than $2000, get 15% back, includes online
sales. Nooks are available, too. Christmas gifts—good idea. Profit from the sales from 4-9?
Restaurant is in the store(?) Determined that is Starbucks. Christina Sachs said that it was a
great experience and the staff was fantastic at a daycare event there. For volunteers, Emily has
NHS, Rotary, Stevenson has a database. Seniors- Ela seniors 55+
Mrs. Lummis- A sample lesson from the math series. Online program, Origo. Showed lesson
plan. States objective at beginning of the plan. Use place value (hundreds chart) to add 2 digit
numbers.
Every child has a copy of the 100’s chart. Two tags- how do you add the tags together to get a
total. They talk about it. Use base 10 blocks. Students and fingers. Today we will learn to use a
hundreds chart to add these. Go through journal page together. Go down means adding a 10
and going to the right means adding a 1. Start with bigger number and break down the smaller
number. The series emphasizes showing their thought process. Class was able to do this pretty
easily. She had students show her how to add using a hundreds chart. There is a lesson. You
do some work together. There is a practice component. Teachers assess in groups,
performance tasks and problem solving.
Eagle Scout Candidate- John Venetos project for Sarah Adams
Junior at LZHS. Attended SA. He noticed that behind the school the patio area wasn’t used
much. It would be nice to build new benches and provide better learning area and space.
Teachers could go outside. Isaac Fox has 2 spaces outside similar that he can model from.
Good place to be outside to learn. Would PTO be able to fund part of the project costs? Imageslots of open space. Brick patio with dilapidated benches currently. The space is large and could
be more usable. The Boy Scout Troop approved the project. He needs more monetary support.
Laura Rogers- Have you done your homework to estimate cost. Projected cost is $500. Raise
funds by fall, could complete benches this fall. Won’t build the benches in winter, but would
have them done by Spring. Four additional benches. 7 in total. Benches evenly spaced around
a circular patio. Enough seating for a class. Ideally his troop would help him build. Family and
friends. No outside work would be involved. He will use pressure treated wood. Paint will cover
it. It will need to be repainted. Cub Scout Pack 237 can help maintain it since they are chartered
through the PTO and need to do service for the school.
President’s report- Mrs. Mall did approve the Eagle Scout project. Emily has the proposal and
overall cost. Part of his responsibility as an Eagle scout candidate is to raise money for his
project. We’d like to have him fundraise first and then tell us what he needs after that. Mostly to
make sure he fulfills his parts of the project. Mrs. Mall believes he did some fundraising already.
Cindy Barnett wants to know if we should determine a timeline. Then we give him a timeline to
fundraise and then we give the remainder. Emily will go back to see what he has done. Give him
a timeframe. We can ask him to promote our events to help get him funding, ie, share our
Culvers Restaurant night with his friends/family/troop.
Everyone should have their buzz book. Sally Stall, thank you! Sally is thankful for Terri Williams’
help, too. Talk about doing Buzz Book online with Jean Malek. Thanks to Lisa Smith for the
Walk-a-thon. Lots of smiling faces and walking feet. Mrs. Mall has asked for us to put together a
playground committee to work with the funds. Rebecca Morrison and Christina Bos and Mrs.
Mall and other staff will work together. Going to check Isaac Fox and Spencer Loomis to see
what equipment they have.
Emily wants to do an internet safety night. Actually a program where digital citizenship is taught.
Jean Malek and others through the district are looking into it to see if it is something we can use
district wide. Emily still would like to have an evening to have someone come in and talk about
internet safety for us and the kids.
Does school have curriculum that aligns with digital citizenship? Mrs. Mall thinks Ms. Doheny
does cover some of it, but not sure if any true curriculum. Just the things to know to look for.
How to talk to your child and have those conversations about what is safe/what is out there on
the internet. Apps on phones and iPads. Teaching parents and children about the permanency
of the internet. Emily will keep posted.
VP report: Cindy Barnett- If you are advertising, put it on the bulletin board and put it on colored
paper with a tack. You have a bulletin board at the left at the office entry that you can use, too.
Tracy Coletta- Class funds. Sent an email reminding about PTO meeting. Some rooms only got
a handful. Send reminder out to class. Teachers did help solicit returns and forms. Also thank
the classrooms for volunteering. Plan Halloween party and think about auction basket.
Yearbook liaison is new position. Take pics of your kids and submit to the yearbook. More
pictures provided, the more they have to choose from and can get kids in there.
Treasurer: Dina Maddern- Large month for reimbursements and checks. Funded field trips up
front. $7500 for reimbursements. We are still waiting for Oberweis check. Walkathon will bring in
quite a bit of cashflow.
Secretary: Lisa Smith- Adrianne sends out PTO posts. Dina asked if it is possible to get the
mission statement fixed on the posts- it is cut off. Lisa will look into it. Get emails for families not
receiving PTO Express to Lisa Smith. PTO express is ad hoc and only goes to those who opt in.
Krista Evans- Oberweis was great. 50/50 raffle at Culvers. Culvers on 10/20. November 17 or
18 for restaurant night. Week of PTO meeting and conferences. Jersey Mikes. Would we want
to try to have a restaurant night at Deer Park the night of the B&N fundraiser? Deer Park wanted
to stay away from the restaurant nights in December. Savers drive started today, 10/5. The
truck is on the north side of the building by the water station. It’s a plain white truck. Krista asks
that we put it in the truck or next to it. Someone will load it. Description of items and tax letter for
donation will be posted on SA website. We are doing 3 Savers drives. Another after the holidays
and then one in spring.
Jenny Cotsiomitis -Box tops. We finished our contest. 4019 for a check for over $400. Coletta
family won the contest with 497 tops. Campbells soup labels. Jenny redeemed for gift cards on
9/29, 5 $25 and 3 $50. She would like to use the money for the kids, since they raised the
money. Maybe it can it be used for Buddy Bench. Visa prepaid cards. Playground renovation
might include a Buddy Bench. Could use it for this. Also, Jenny suggested that when contests
run, families paste box tops to sheets or cut out neatly.
Yearbook- Carol Tarnawa talked about liaison. We need loads of pictures for the yearbook, and
we need help from everyone. Hoping for a yearbook liaison from each class that can take
pictures or coordinate pictures from field trips to help take care of classroom pages. The
yearbook team will work on outside activities. First deadline- 10/26 deadline for first day of
school, family fun day, walkathon, ice cream social, book fair. Carol will check to see if Family
Fun Day is public folder. Email Rebecca Morrison with questions. First two pages of yearbook
are personalized and all personal photos should be set to “private” so the school doesn’t use
them elsewhere in the books. Emily suggested tutorial for TreeRing.
Walkathon- Lisa Smith said it went successfully. No injuries. Kids seemed to love to be moving
and walking and talking. Most adhered to the “walk” portion of the walk-a-thon. Get collection of
donations into school. Due October 16. Will likely have one extension. Then will order the “free”
t-shirts for participants whom raised at least $15. Lisa thanked all of the volunteers.
Bookfair- Kim Klunder , Sally Stall and Ro Conway are in charge. Kim and Sally will be at school
on Friday, 10/9, as long as it takes to set up. It usually takes about 5 hours to set up. Transform
gym into a store. Needs to be ready to go when they leave Friday night. Book fair is 8:30-4
every day. Friday 10/16 need after school help. Classrooms come in twice a week. Once to view
and once to buy. Long week and need to have help and new faces. Sign up genius is out on
virtual backpack. Emily is helping with volunteers. We got some Friday night help from
Stevenson because LZHS has homecoming. Ice Cream social is that Friday night, too. Mrs.
Wells please remind teachers to sign up for a slot. Taking presale orders for Wimpy kid. Some
order forms are in office and online. This is our big profit winner for book fairs. We get our
Scholastic Dollars through this fair. We had a good fall fair last year, so we were able to give out
teacher gift certs. Library gets $1000 worth of books. Books are from book fair. Classroom
wishlist board for each of the teachers. You can grab slips to purchase books for teacher
libraries. Run a teacher raffle with a prize. All students come home with bookmark. Brand new
this year is an online fair. Shop up until 10/18 online. You can do wish lists to send to family. If
we sell out at the fair, you can order it online and have it shipped. More options online than in
the fair. Teacher certificates can only be used in the fair. All for books and loose change
donation. Send in, if possible, some loose change. We run a classroom contest, classroom wins
Book fair Buddy. He stays in the classroom. WE have raised over $400 to pay for books for
children in need. It is a busy week, so they appreciate any help that they get.
Ice Cream Social- Follow book fair. Have a small amount of volunteers needed. Signup genius
was sent to kindergarten first, and they almost got it full. Krista thought she could share clean up
crew with Bookfair.
Red Ribbon Week- Trish Radaj is running it. This year is “Respect yourself, be drug free”.
District wide effort. Theme every day. Week of October 26. Packet goes home- coloring contest
for Sarah Adams. Pages posted by grade during the week. Office chooses winner from each
grade. Gift basket for each grade winner. Red pledge card is going home to be signed. Last
year every day had a trinket. This year students will get ribbon on Monday, and then they will
get one Sarah Adams pencil. If weather is permitting the Sunday before, Trish needs help to put
up ribbons and chalk the sidewalk, red cups in the fence, to get the message out. If anyone can
help, let Trish know. There are themes for each day on district website.
Teacher Grants- There were 3 submitted. Apparently there are some others out there. Ms.
Doheny wants pillows. Reading specialists want books. Kindergartens want listening centers.
Do we want to do spring grants? Kelley reaches out to other teachers to see if they want
anything. Then we are done. Fall is busy time. We want to get it together and get it in, might be
better to do it in spring. October 9th is the deadline. If we don’t get more, then we will open up in
spring.
Cultural Arts- 11/2 Imagination theater is presenting show some respect. 2 performances. 1 k-2
and one 3-5. Ties with social/emotional learning initiative.
Joanie’s Closet- SA PTO was thanked at PTO presidents’ meeting for donation of $500.
Operation Warm Coat Drive. 130 preorders for coats. Gave out over 300 school supply boxes.
Expect need for more winter coats. Any students and any family members in the home. If you
know anyone in need, have them preorder so they have good idea of coats. Providing
waterproof hat and gloves for every coat provided. Order forms are on website. Everything is
private.
Next meeting is November 16. Thank you!