Pflugerville Middle School (PMS) PTO Minutes 7/11/14
Time: 7-8:30 P.M.
Members present: Mr. Stell (PMS principal), Sue Flores (PTO president), Claudia Alvarado (PTO vicepresident), Sonia Colley (past PTO president/vice president), Van Richter (PTO Treasurer), Sherry
Whatley (PTO Secretary), Gloria Macias (PTO), and Maddie Flores (student).
1. Sonia gave the locked box and other items needed for the treasurer to Sue. Sue also gave
Van the sign-up sheets and money to be deposited for the 6th grade camp and for the student
P.E. uniforms. Sherry gave Sue the RBFCU PTO account forms that Sue signed, and she will
take them to the RBFCU to turn in so she can add her name on the PTO bank account.
2. Mr. Stell stated that Marilyn, the secretary at PMS, has the key for the PTO locked box. The
locked box is behind the door in the PMS office. He also indicated that the PTO has a mailbox
where the teacher’s mailboxes are. Claudia agreed to pick up mail for PTO next Thursday to find
out if more forms are in the PTO boxes for the 6th grade camp and for P.E. uniforms.
3. Sue announced that Gloria Macias will be the Box Top coordinator for PMS.
4. We discussed the 6th grade camp on Wednesday, August 6th, beginning at 8:30 A.M.. Ms. Paula
Hall and Ms. Mary Zell will likely help with 6th grade camp. Mr. Stell will ask Ms. Kathy Bullard
to help with 6th grade camp and Ms. Rueda (Spanish Club). Sonia will contact Ms. Amy Prowell
to find out if students who have been in her theater class will volunteer to help with the 6th
grade camp. We also discussed obtaining student volunteers for 6th grade camp from AVID (Mr.
Dan Dower), and from student council (Rose Bartlett). Mr. Stell also announced that Ms. Lisa
Helfin has agreed to be the cheerleading sponsor.
5. Sonia stated that pizza from Little Caesar’s Pizza was ordered a few days in advance of the 6th
grade camp. She reported that children at the 6th grade camp ate pizza and drank water for
lunch in August 2013.
6. Sue reported that 30 kids have signed up for the 6th grade camp so far. Mr. Stell reported that
about 360- 375 6th graders will start in August.
7. Mr. Stell stated that August 16th is the date for PMS students to pick up their schedules. He
reported that the times students in each grade can pick up their schedules are listed on the PMs
website.
8. Mr. Stell indicated that PTO can have a table set up on the schedule pick up date that provides
information about the Shoparoo app. Mr. Stell discussed how this app works. After users sign
on, they can take a picture of their grocery receipts. This information is used for marketing
research for companies to find out about purchasing trends in an area, and we earn money for
sending a picture of our grocery receipts. He indicated that we can black out any items we
purchase if we do not want this to appear on the receipt. He stated that the school has earned
$20 from the Shoparoo app already. He indicated that additional information about Shoparoo
is available on the PMS website. Gloria agreed to research how to use Box Tops for Shoparoo.
9. We also discussed placing volunteer data sheets for PTO and Box Top label sheets in the front
of the information in the Student First Day Packets. We will arrange with Joanne about when
to meet to place these sheets in the First Day Packets.
10. Mr. Stell indicated that Ms. Hanlon is looking for a photographer for the school yearbook.
Claudia will contact her about using an alternative to Life Touch photographers.
11. Sonia reported that Sams has better choices for concession stand food than most other stores.
Van volunteered to look into healthy food options for the concession stands.
12. Mr. Stell asked about the goal for PTO. Sonia indicated that the goal in the past was to pay for
the end-of year trip for 8th graders, and to have money for Teacher Appreciation. She stated
that PTO generally earned around $5,000 dollars. We discussed a goal of PTO to earn $9,000 to
$10,000 this school year.
13. Sue reported that PTO will buy concession items for the school dances, and we will take 20% off
the profit to pay for the items. She stated that we will split the profit with the groups who
work at the concession stand. Sonia indicated that they only used two student workers from
each group to work at the dances in the past. Mr. Stell indicated that the groups that worked at
concession stands in the past included the following: NJHS (National Junior Honor Society),
Choir, Spanish Club, Students Council, Spirit Team, and the Cheerleaders. Sonia stated that at
the concession stands, she generally made about 16 hotdogs for volleyball games, and she
made about 32 hotdogs for basketball games. She stated that she made chili and cheese for
basketball games. She also stated that an administrator needs to make sure that the locked box
with money earned from the events is safely stored.
14. Mr. Stell indicated he will approach community businesses to form a business partnership with
PMS. He indicated that A+ Credit Union has expressed an interest in this partnership. Sonia
suggested that RBFCU may be interested in a business partnership with PMS because the PTO
uses their credit union for banking. Mr. Stell will check with First Texas Bank, Jiffy Lube, Quick
Lube, Pflugerville Vision, and maybe RBFCU. He will also check with ARC and the new medical
facility in Pflugerville to find out if they will offer discounts for student’s physicals, etc. He
indicated that he may be able to put information about the companies that participate in the
partnership on the PMS website that people can click on to find out about discounts the
companies offer. He also stated that we can thank the businesses on the website that have
contributed to PMS to provide advertising for the businesses.
15. Van agreed to contact the owner of My Vision to find out if she will be willing to give cash back if
she receives a certain number of PMS customers.
16. Sonia indicated that school newsletters usually do not make it home with students, and that
other means of communication are more effective for PMS students and parents.
17. Ms. Stell will check with the school nurse and social worker to find out about local businesses
that may be willing to work with us in a business partnership.
18. Mr. Stell stated his long-term goal for PTO is to have a digital sign in front of PMS on Settler’s
Valley Road for PMS announcements and advertising. He stated the projected cost for the sign
is about $20,000. He indicated that if the PTO could contribute a certain amount for the sign,
local businesses might match funds. He indicated he would like to run messages on the sign in
English, Spanish, and Vietnamese. Sonia added that phase one of the project may be to get a
non-digital sign for messages for students and parents.
19. Mr. Stell reported that PMS will have no school-wide fundraisers for the 2014-2015 school year.
He is asking for every family to donate $5 to the school to raise money. He indicated that if
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every student’s family donated $5, we could raise $5,000, and this donation would be tax
deductible. Mr. Stell indicated that anyone can make a donation to PMS on the website using a
credit card. We discussed the possibility of having a competition between grades 6, 7, and 8 to
determine who can raise the most money.
Mr. Stell announced that September 4th is Open House for PMS, and this is on the website. He
also discussed having a parent orientation for 6th graders.
Mr. Stell stated that he is going to work with teachers to get grants for technology. He stated
that schools will move toward students brining their own devices to school, although he is
concerned about devices getting lost, stolen, or not used at appropriate times. He stated that
students can use their cell phones in the cafeteria or in class at their teacher’s request.
Mr. Stell indicated that he will have a Principal Chat once a month, and this will be an open
forum for parents to attend. He also discussed CAC meetings where businesses will be invited
to come to the school. He wants to schedule PTO meeting at the same time. Mr. Stell stated
that these meetings would be from 6:30 to 7:30 P.M. on Tuesday or Wednesday nights, and they
will be posted on the school website.
The next PTO meeting will be on Friday, August 15th at 7-8 P.M. in the library at PMS.