Seth Paine PTO Meeting Draft Minutes
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
7:00 pm in the LMC
Agenda
1. Meeting called to order at 7:03 pm – Beth Slaughter
Introductions around the room, stated name, children grades and teachers
2. Roll Call taken from sign in sheet - Debbie Theys-Dice
Present: Babcock, Baltes, Bertrand, Brawley, Chialdikis, Choi, Elder, Kopp, Maas, Malin, Miller,
Mirock, Roalkvam, Shapiro, Slaughter, Steeves, Suykerbuyk, Theys-Dice, Troutman, Washburn
3. Approval of Past Minutes – Debbie Theys-Dice
Motion to Approve May 2, 2012 minutes was made by: Kara Baltes
Seconded by: Tara Elder
4. President's Report – Beth Slaughter
There has not been a PTO presidents meeting yet, it is scheduled for 9/7. Beth read the PTO mission
statement the executive board came up with over the summer.
Mission Statement: An organization of parents and teachers working together to enhance students’ lives by
promoting a sense of community and supporting health, arts and academic enrichment through in-school
and after-school programs and activities (supported by fundraising and/or fees).
We have organized the meeting agenda, budget and volunteer forms to align with this statement. We can
then see what areas we should try and focus on.
We have started a Seth Paine PTO facebook fan page. Only those with administrator rights can post
information. See Beth or Debbie Miller if you would like something posted.
5. Principal's Report – Cameron Shapiro
Testing—MAP testing is taking place this week and next. There are changes due to the Common Core
standards.
ISAT scores/Map Scores—They will be coming home late September/early October.
Building Performance
ISAT SCORES—we performed well again last year. Our Reading scores were over 92% meeting and exceeding standards and
Math was over 95%.
School Improvement Goals – Seth Paine’s goal this year will be a continuation Literacy based goal that is
based on the district mission which in short is “creating continuous learners who are responsible caring citizens
in a global community”. To do that we will be focusing on literacy again this year. Our SIP team is meeting to
analyze data from our ISAT and MAP scores while focusing on our internal building programs and curriculum
to see what can/should be done to best meet the need of our children. Shared Data chart from 2011-12.
New Security Measures—New lanyard system was explained. The upcoming Raptor System was explained as
well. FYI: Visitors will need to give their Drivers License to Diana to receive a Visitor Badge.
New Classroom Technology—All 1st through 5th grade classrooms are outfitted with 3 HP laptops and an
IPAD with a multitude of APPS.
Important upcoming dates
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Sept. 19—Picture Day
Sept. 20—Early Release
Sept. 28—No School (Institute Day)
Monday, Oct. 8—Columbus Day (No school)
Wednesday, Oct. 17th—Early Release
Girls on the Run—Questions about cost, etc.
PTO funding
Thank you for everything this summer…the Back to School picnic, Teacher Luncheon, Spelling City,
Brainpop, etc.
Money donated to the Foundation was allocated to add more IPADs to the building available for
checkout by all building staff.
12b Taft Fundraising was moved in the agenda because Christine had to leave early.
The Manna Card Fundraiser is going to be implemented for Taft. To participate you purchase gift cards
that are available from many local merchants. For each one purchased the school gets a percentage back.
Each gift card gives back a different percent and they also offer specials each month. They are planning on
having orders due the 3rd Monday of the month, with the gift cards to be distributed the 1st week of the next
month. The information on how to order will be on the Seth Paine website. Orders can be submitted by
filling out a paper form or placing an order online. Payment can only be made with cash or check, no credit
cards will be accepted. The company will send the gift cards to the school to be distributed they can not be
mailed to an individuals house.
6. Treasurer's Report – Rita Washburn
Rita presented a list of the events for the year along with the income or expense expected for the event. She
also presented a chart to get a pictorial view of the same information so we can easily see where the money
is coming from and going to. We are bringing back the Fall and Spring Grant Programs, $5000 is being
offered each time. The money to pay for this is coming from savings that have accumulated over time.
Committee chairs will be receiving an email from Rita outlining last years income and expenses for their
event, along with the procedure for reimbursement.
Motion to Approve the Budget was made by: Emily Kopp
Seconded by: Trudy Roalkvam
7. Teachers' Report – Katie Brawley/MaryBeth Mirock
Thank you for the back to school lunch, for spelling city and brain pop licenses, and for the scholastic
dollars. It was asked of the teachers to have someone spend their scholastic dollars now because they will
be expiring and will be gone before the book fair, which is when many of the teachers were going to spend
their scholastic dollars. It was also discussed that it would be helpful to parents if there was a central place
to find the logins for text books and other online tools that school has access to.
Here is the login information for Brain Pop. 4th and 5th grades logon at www.brainpop.com K-3rd should
logon at www.brainpopjr.com.
For both websites use the following login information username: sethpaine password: dragons4
8. Operations
a. Volunteer Coordinator – Cindy Malin
Cindy passed out the updated volunteer list that includes the chairperson and the planning committee.
Many events will need additional volunteers and they will be solicited at the time of the event. If there
are events that you can no longer do or events you want to be added to get back to Cindy.
b. Buzz Book – Tara Elder
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Emails will be included in the Buzz book this year and Diana will be gathering all of the name, address,
phone number and emails and providing that to Tara. We need to remember that the information is to only
be used for school use.
Beth will provide Tara with the PTO meeting dates.
Cindy will provide the volunteer information.
The Trash Your Treasure dates should be included and that information will have to come from Sharon
Salmon, Liesl Kochanny or Susan Brown, they met today with Sue Richards to transfer over the duties.
Once Tara figures out newsletter deadline dates and publication dates those should be included as well.
When the room parent, copy parent and grade level representatives are decided those need to be included.
c. Newsletter – Tara Elder
Nothing has been decided yet, Rita needs to just touch base with Tara to transfer over the duties.
d. Room Parent/Copy Parent Coordinators – Tara Elder
Volunteer forms were sent out at Back to School Night and they are due 9/7. Tara and Kathy will be
meeting 9/10 to go thru the forms and fill the various positions.
9. Community Relations
a. Back to School Picnic – Beth Slaughter
Was a great success, we had 436 people RSVP and about 380 people checked in. Thank you to Bellalukes
for handling the hot dog prep for 500 hot dogs. They were able to get all the buns donated by Alpha
Baking Co and gave us a price of .30 per hot dog. We had about 100 leftover hot dogs which were brought
over to the police department. There are leftover chips which can be used for bingo night. Thank you to
Leader Ace Hardware for donating the bounce houses. They also donated two of the large water jugs and
we purchased an additional 2 more. These can be filled with water to be used for various events at school.
b. Bingo Night – Debbie Miller
Date is scheduled for Thursday 10/4. There was discussion around the time either 6-7:30pm or 6:30- 8pm.
It was decided to have the time 6-7:30pm and we would offer for prepay only the option to purchase a pizza
for your family. Cameron is looking into prices from Little Joey's and will get back to Debbie.
c. Freaky Friday/Spooky Saturday – Debbie Miller
Christy had asked for quotes from various companies for the games. We received 3 quotes. One from
Mega Event included the option to do a fundraiser, which is not what we are looking at so we didn't think it
would work for us. Another quote from Fun Services for the same price as last year stating that they can
change the games available. The third quote was from The Fun Ones and Christy seemed to get the best
response and information from them. It was mentioned that instead of getting the bounce house thru one of
these companies, we should get it thru Leader Ace Hardware, so we can give them back some business
since they donated them to us for the picnic. They will look into that and see how that affects the price
from The Fun Ones.
They had 2 quotes for DJ's. One from Mobile Music, who did the picnic, for $300 get the DJ, one dancer
and one additional person. The second quote was from the person who did it last year $150 for one person.
It was asked who is in charge of the Spook House. We believe it is the Clouse Family. They will contact
the family to make sure they will be handling the construction, the volunteers and the running of the Spook
House.
d. Service Projects – Debbie Theys-Dice via an email from Sue Richards
Hospitality provided Panera Bread lunch for the teachers back to school lunch. And we did receive a thank
you card from Panera.
10. Health Enrichment
Red Ribbon Week – Trudy Roalkvam
Red Ribbon Week is the week of 10/22. All the schools will be doing the same thing each day of the week.
There is a meeting planned for this week to discuss more details.
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11. Academic Enrichment
a. All School Assemblies – Ruta Troutman
A bullying assembly is scheduled for 9/13.
Face to Face Productions will be coming in 12/23 to do the Lewis and Clark show. It was asked to make
sure when that show was last seen, so the 5th graders aren't seeing something they might have seen as
kindergarteners.
Ruta and Ida attended the Assembly showcase in Skokie, and saw many options. They will be looking into
dance and music assemblies for sometime in Jan – May. If anyone has any suggestions let them know.
b. Revolutionary War – Colleen Bertrand
Susan Brown will be making the flags. They are waiting to hear back from the person in charge of the
demonstrations so a date can be chosen. Once a date is decided they can look for volunteers and get the
rest planned.
c. Reading Challenge – Cindy Malin
Since the library has changed the program to be 40 books and not too compete by school, it has been
decided to shift our program as well. It will now be an after-school book club. The first book has been
chosen Clemente for K-3rd and King of the Mound for 3rd – 5th. Third graders have a choice of attending
either one. More information will be coming.
d. Grant Program – Beth Slaughter
The Fall and Spring Grant Programs have been reinstated this year. We plan on giving out $5000 each
time. All staff will be receiving a packet of information outlining how to apply. The Due date for the Fall
Grant is 10/1. All applications will be reviewed by 2 members of the executive board, 1 member of PTO
(Susan Short), Cameron and a teacher.
12. Fundraising
a. Innisbrook Fundraiser - Beth Slaughter via an email from Jen O'Gara
Sale dates are 9/27-10/9. Will be looking to put some items in the display case on the 19th or 20th. If there
are any volunteers to help it would be appreciated and anyone who would like to run the program next year
should help out now to see how it is run. Delivery will be around the conferences.
b. Taft Fundraising – Christine Chialdikis see page 2 in the minutes
c. Your Trash/Our Treasure – Beth Slaughter
Beth stated that Liesl, Sharon and Susan met with Sue Richards today to transfer duties. They will need to
establish collection dates so they can be included in the Buzz Book.
13. Old Business: none
14. New Business: none
15. Adjournment
Motion to Adjourn: Debbie Miller
Seconded: Laura Choi
Motion Carried.
Meeting adjourned at 8:52pm.
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