9/1/11 PTO Minutes

Union Sanborn/Southwick PTO Minutes September 1, 2011 In attendance: Rick Honer, Julie Nieder, Cindy Cilley, Heidi Carey, Rich Hines, Julie Swain, Brandi Drinkwine, and Judie Milner. Meeting was called to order at 6:35 pm by Rick Honer. Introductions were made around the room. Attendees reviewed the minutes of the June 9, 2011 meeting. Cindy motioned to accept the June 9, 2011 minutes. Julie Nieder seconded. Motion carried. Cindy Cilley presented the Treasurer’s report for June 30, 2011. Balance is $10,628.44. Judie motioned, Rich seconded to accept the Treasurer’s report. Motion carried. Attendees discussed various school needs for the 2011/2012 school year. Each school needs $1000 for the RIF programs. This was the annual appropriation for the program. Each school needs $500 for the PBIS programs. This amount is half of the annual appropriation for this effort. Cindy will send out checks to each school next week for these programs. Cindy reported that because of the price of cotton, the spirit shirts cost has increased by $.50 per shirt. Dee Dee is in the process of ordering Union Sanborn shirts. She is waiting for sizing from Southwick to order shirts. The artist in residence program was discussed. Rich explained the Smirkus Circus program that builds teamwork, self-esteem, problem solving skills and positive attitudes among students. Rich explained that funding for these programs has been reduced in the school budget. He thinks they will need about $2000 to run the program. Many attendees expressed support of the artist in residence program and desire to assist if we can. Rich is to bring back more concrete numbers for the board to discuss. Sue Collins is coordinating box top collection at Union Sanborn. Heidi will approach Dawn Cilley about coordinating Southwick’s box top collection. Otherwise, we will need another volunteer. The snack program was discussed. Ms. Roy does her own shopping & submits slips to Cindy for reimbursement. This seems to be working great. Cindy will monitor Union Sanborn’s snack needs. Rich discussed the before/after school homework helper program. Funding for this program has been cut form the school budget however teachers are volunteering their time to keep the program going. Rich is requesting assistance with afternoon snacks for the students who attend the homework helper program. He estimates about $200 per year and will submit slips for reimbursement similar to the snack program discussed above. Cindy moved, Heidi seconded, motion carried. Fall Fundraiser will run form 9/16-9/30. Product delivery will be about 4 weeks after orders are submitted. The volunteer sign up slip was briefly discussed here. We should clarify that background checks are not required for PTO sponsored events and are for school functions. The Board will discuss further possible changes to the volunteer form briefly after this meeting. Fall fundraiser packets are supposed to arrive this week so Cindy is expecting them tomorrow, 9/2. Cindy explained that there will be a BMX show on Friday 10/21 for those children who sell >15 items in the fundraiser book. The contract is all set with the company doing the holiday cake sale. This company had the best variety of holiday food with a 35-40% profit to the PTO. There is a $50 fee to package our order by student which was agreed to be worth it. The delivery date for the holiday cake sale is 11/17. Rich said it was OK to leave fundraising brochures in the teacher’s lounge. Cindy Cilley is doing a fundraiser kick off meeting at each school on 9/16. Union will be at 9:15am and Southwick at 2:45pm. Open house at Union Sanborn is scheduled for 9/6. Southwick is scheduled for 9/8. Heidi and Cindy will man the PTO booth at Union. Rick and Julie N will man the PTO booth at Southwick. We will have a PowerPoint presentation and trifold brochure. Heidi will look for the leftover brochures from last year. Rick has name tags for PTO volunteers. The PTO received some literature from Hannaford regarding raising money for the schools. Rick will review and report at the next meeting. Attendees discussed the teacherwishlist.com program from PTO Today magazine. Teachers can sign up for things they may need and parents can view the lists, purchase items and send them to the school. Rich will discuss with teachers to see if they would be interested and report back. The fall festival was discussed. Julie had run into Jodie Gallantwho had explained previous year’s planning processes which were well underway before now. Attendees discussed whether or not to hold the fall festival this year. Attendees discussed the possibility of hosting a mid-winter “cabin fever” event like tubing at Gunstock instead. General consensus is to keep the fall festival but also keep it simple. Julie Swain explained that Sanbornton did something with game booths that were manned by high school students. It seemed to be a hit. Discussed getting a tent, janitorial from the school, jumpy house, face painting, pumpkin painting, hayrides, Fire Dept. for refreshments, fall picture, cookie decorating, bake sale, paper cutting (Tilton School Volunteers) and games (also manned by Tilton School Volunteers). PTO Board will discuss further after meeting. Attendees discussed doing both the Teacher Valentine Breakfast in February and a breakfast with Mom in May (around Mother’s Day). Rich will check with teachers to see if they would volunteer with breakfast with Mom. Rich moved to adjourn, Cindy seconded. Meeting adjourned at 8:04 pm. The PTO Board (less Rick Honer who had a previous commitment) met briefly after the full PTO meeting regarding toning down the fall festival. Heidi will make a list and send to Board. The Board reviewed and edited the Welcome Letter, Volunteer Form and Calendar of Events. Julie will send files to Judie for revision in time to pass out at the school open houses next week.