Harmony PTA
General Membership Meeting Minutes
January 20, 2011
These minutes document the Harmony PTA Board meeting which was held on Thursday, January 20, 2011,
beginning at 7:00 p.m., at the Harmony Middle School Library. These minutes were prepared by the Secretary of the
Board.
The General Membership was provided with an agenda, an income statement, and last month’s minutes.
Board Participants
Title
President
Vice President
Treasurer
Secretary
Principal
Standing Committees
Membership Committee
Fundraising Committee
School Store/Spirit Wear Committee
Events Committee
Special Committees
LEAP
Affinity Programs
Website
General Members
Board Members Present
Annie Carlson
Dawn Earles
Kathy McCleary
Kristen Thatcher
Sherron Gladden
Dawn Earles
Sherry Zoldos
Lauren Lynham
Kim Chatfield
Maura Walsh-Copeland
Ashby Snare
Ainsley Brooks
Lisa Sikurinec
Sheila Van Vleet
Agenda
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Call to Order
Opening Ceremony
Approval of Minutes
Report of the Treasurer
Report of the Principal
Reports of Standing Committees
Reports of Special Committees and Coordinators
Old Business
a. After School Homework Club (Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3:45-4:45 pm)
b. Empty Plate Event Coordinator Needed, March 24, 2011
c. Mardi Gras – set date
d. Results of two votes on expenditures (Identikid and Kiln)
9. New Business
a. Will Photo fundraiser bring in enough money for our Spring fundraiser or do we need to consider another or
a different fundraiser?
b. Hoops for Heart, March 15th.
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c. Coke Affinity Program
d. Daytime PTA meeting request
e. Donation to Unsung Educators Scholarship Fund
10. Announcements
Next General Membership Meeting Thursday, February 17, at 6:00 p.m. in the Library
Other announcements
11. Adjournment
Minutes
Approval of Minutes
The minutes were approved and were provided to the Website Structure Committee for inclusion to the PTA section
of the school’s website.
Report of Treasurer
Kathy McCleary stated that total income for the month was $42,383.00, with expenses of $26,958.00, for a net
income of $15,245.00 for the month. She also stated that she has paid the spirit wear invoice and received additional
income from the fall fundraiser bringing the total raised for the fundraiser to be $12,424.67. Ms. McCleary is also
going to work on obtaining the tax exempt letters so that we may provide to vendors who have donated items to
various events the letter for their tax deduction.
Report of the Principal
Ms. Gladden reported that report cards will be sent home on February 4rd and not February 3rd. Course selections
for next year will be starting in mid-February. There will be an information night for parents of rising 7th/8th grader
parents on February 2nd and Woodgrove will be having an information night for rising 9th graders on February 8th.
Ms. Gladden also mentioned that there will be an assembly on Bullying for the 6th and 7th grade on January 28th and
is looking into another assembly with the New Wilderness Group working with other schools to bring them to the area
to reduce costs for each school.
Standing Committee Reports

Events Committee – Kim Chatfield met with the Student Council today who will be helping with the Mardi Gras
Party. The date is March 4th and will be from 7pm-9:30 pm with a DJ, inflatable obstacle courses and food. The
Student Council will take pictures as their fundraiser and will help by advertising the event and selling tickets
($5.00). They also talked about a family movie night, maybe outside with hot dogs, popcorn and drinks and are
working with Ms. Gladden on picking out an appropriate movie that the school has license to show. It was
suggested to contact Parks and Recreation to see if we could use their outside projector and screen. The Date
is not yet set because they want to coordinate it with spirit week which is not yet set.
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
Fundraisers – Sherry Zoldos reported that the spring pictures will only earn $2.50 per child and even if all
children get their picture taken, the amount raised is not enough to offset the time to do this and the disruption to
the school schedule. It was determined that this would not be the spring fundraiser. There was discussion
about an “armchair” or “no bake, bake sale” fundraiser which would ask families to donate money to the school.
It is 100% profit to the school and 100% tax deductible to those who participate. Ms. Zoldos is going to prepare
a flyer that explains what the PTA has done and is planning to do to help parent’s understand the impact of their
donation. She is also trying to set it up where parent’s can pay by PayPal.

Membership - Dawn Earles reported that there are 522 members to date.

Spirit Wear and School Store- Lauren Lynham reported that the store is doing well and the students seem to
like it open. There was discussion about school supplies at the beginning of the year and the membership
confirmed that the current organization that is providing the school supply service does an outstanding job and is
affordable and helps the school store understand what supplies student s need.

Communications – There was no report this month however, there was a question about prioritization of the
information on the website and if there is a way to push things, like Box Tops up, so we can have more parents
send participate in supporting that effort.
Special Committee Reports

Affinity Programs – Ashby Snare reported that the school received a check for $127.00 and has another
request for reimbursement for $67.00. She mentioned that it is such a easy program to raise funds if people
could just send in their box top. A competition amongst the classes was suggested to try and get students
involved in bringing in the box tops. She is also accumulating points in the Campbell Soup labels to purchase
school materials from their catalog. There is still not a great deal of parents signed up for GIANTS A+ Bucks to
Harmony. Ms. Carlson will check with Mr. Dillon about the status.

LEAP - Maura Walsh-Copeland reported that the topic for the January LEAP meeting was, “Innovative
Educational Options in NoVA”. She will have information about the meeting posted on the website as soon as it
becomes available.
Old Business
After School Programs – There was much discussion over the homework club. Ms. Carlson suggested that if
we could offer a stipend to a teacher or teacher’s assistant, since it is very difficult to get a volunteer, would that
be something that the PTA would consider. The membership decided to send out a survey to parents to see if
there is an interest and if parents might be willing to help pay for the instructor. That survey will be given out at
the information night and posted on the website.

Empty Plate Project - The Empty Plate Project fundraiser, planned for March 24, 2011, is in conjunction with
“Family Arts Night.” The PTA has many volunteers (including a Girl Scout Troop) to help with the dinner
however, we are still looking for a volunteer to lead the efforts for the PTA.

Mardi Gras – As mentioned in the events report, the date is set for Mardi Gras Party. It will be held on March 4th
from 7:00 – 9:30 pm.
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
Results from online votes – Last December’s meeting did not have a quorum for two expenditure items (the
kiln for Art and the Identikid software). A vote was taken by email and the majority voted in favor of supporting
both items.
New Business

Photo Fundraiser – As reported in the fundraising committee report, this fundraiser will not raise enough funds
for the work and disruption and therefore, the group determined that it would not be a viable fundraiser.

Hoops for Heart – Hoops for Heart will take place on March 15th and is a basketball tournament for students
that culminates with a game between the students and the teachers/staff. Mr. Royce is leading the effort for the
school and will let us know how the PTA can help.

Coke Affinity Program - Ashby Snare explained that parents can sign up online and then dedicate points to
Harmony. There was concern by the membership that parents may not have the time to login and in put in the
code for points. However, the site doesn’t allow one user to put in more than a certain amount of points and
therefore parents will really need to take charge of donating the points to the school from their own accounts.

PTA meeting in AM – The membership discussed if an AM meeting were possible but due to work conflicts,
many of the parents cannot attend an AM meeting. Children are welcome to the PM meetings.

Donation to Unsung Educators Scholarship Fund - Information was provided to the membership regarding
this fund used to provide scholarships to Loudoun County Public School Staff’s children. Ms. Carlson asked for
people to review the request and be prepared to discuss and vote at next meeting.
Announcements

Annie Carlson announced that Family Connections Dr. John Walker’s presentation about parenting
teens and pre-teens will be rescheduled for March 22, 2011 at 6:30 pm in the auditorium. This
presentation is open to all area parents.

NEXT PTA GENERAL MEETING – The next general meeting will be on February 17h at 6 PM in the school
Library.

Adjournment - The meeting adjourned at 8:20 pm.
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