Madison PTO
 
August 2011
Dear Madison Elementary Families:

Welcome or welcome back!  It’s hard to believe that school is starting already!  I don’t know about you, but this summer went by really quickly in our house. 

The PTO is really excited about the upcoming year and we hope that you will be as well.  In addition to continuing with some of our traditional fundraisers like Little Caesar’s, Café Noel, and our twice-yearly book fair, we will begin offering Madison Elementary T-Shirts in the fall.  The proceeds from these fundraisers (not all of which I listed) go to underwrite our mission of working with the staff and administration, the school board and the community to create an environment where children and their families flourish.  The PTO focuses its resources on areas that are not funded in the school budget.  In the past, these have included field trip funding, small classroom stipends, teacher appreciation activities, and books for each student.  We have also added a climbing wall to the curriculum, bought playground equipment, and paid for the Snow Day bus so that our students can enjoy that outing for a longer period of time.  We are planning on conducting a survey of staff, parents, students, and the community to determine what other kind of investment we should make in our school.

In addition to fundraising, the PTO is committed to the notion that our dedicated staff needs as much support as we can provide.  We have instituted a Room Parent program to give each classroom teacher access to whatever kind of help she may need – be it copying, reading with students, fundraising for a specific class project, or merely an extra pair of hands.   If you are interested in being a room parent, please contact us. 

PTO meetings will be held the second Monday of each month at 3:45.  They usually last about an hour and there will be (healthy) snacks this year.  We also have babysitting available during the meetings. 

If you’d like to find out more about the PTO, check out our webpage on the .  If you’d like to talk to me directly about an issue or an idea, please don’t hesitate to contact me.  I can be reached at 986-6354 or sarah_parsons19@yahoo.com.  On behalf of the Madison Elementary PTO, thank you for everything that you do.  We look forward to seeing you at our first meeting. 

Sincerely,

Sarah Parsons

President, Madison PTO

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In attendance - Melissa LaRoche, Cheryl Brooks, Amanda Doherty, Linda Burke, Julie  VanDyne , Sarah Parsons, Anne Gillis, Linda Lawson, Christie Catino, Catalina Kirsch.                        

Meeting called to order @ 5:34pm.

Minutes were motioned for approval by Cheryl with Linda B seconding.

RIF update-Sarah will run again next year. There will be one more hand out before summer this year.

Teacher appreciation- Cheryl is up for June.

Website update- It is now live! Catalina mentioned that someone should be in charge of website updating for next year.

Busy Bees- Sloane made $230.00 from Busy Bees this year.

Original works- Melissa worked out a plan with the Art teacher for 4 Friday nights to get this done. 2 will be in February and 2 in March. Catalina would like to help out with this as well.

Bulb Fundraiser- brought in $325.00

Book Fair- We brought $1,738.37 which is under the amount for cash reward, but we do get $900.00 worth of books. It was decided that $273.83 will be given to Library now. The remaining $695.35 does not expire, so we can decide at a later date what to do with that.

Mulch update- Mr. Ernest will be using a grant to pay for all mulch that is needed. We may help out with other upkeep or repairs to playground if needed. He will let us know if anything comes up.

PTO BBQ- Julie will still coordinate but will not be able to be there for this. Invitations will be with report cards. Brian will also try to get an email together for this as well. Catalina and Sarah think it would be great to have RIF at the BBQ as well. Also, Mustang Academy sign ups and even invite Rec Dept. to join us if they would like. Gillis family will bring a cake!

Hannaford Dollars- Linda L and Christie will be in charge of this.

Nominations- 

President- Sarah Parsons

Liaison- Linda Burke

Treasurer- Cheryl Brooks

Secretary- Stacy Petell

Vice president- Catalina Kirsch

All approved new board!

First meeting for officers only will be Thursday July 28th @ 6pm. Not sure where yet. Officers will be in touch on that.

                               

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Introductions/ Welcome/ Sign In-

 In Attendance: Linda Dockham Burke, Amanda Doherty, Melissa LaRoche, Cheryl Brooks,  Stacy Petell,  Gretchen Arnold,  Vicky Sanborn,  Rebecca Chase,  Catalina Kirsch, Brian Ernest

Approval/Change of October Minutes- Melissa approved, Cheryl seconded

New Business:

Update on RIF program- No update, awaiting Sarah’s report. Melissa will check with Sarah on distribution options.

Little Caesar’s Update- Stacy reported that the PTO made a profit of $1165.00 minus one pending payment of $27.50 which is in the process of being collected. Next year we will keep the fundraising length @ 4 weeks, maybe recruit a few volunteers to bring order forms to some businesses, and keep it @ 1X per year.

Book Fair- Gretchen said posters will go up Monday, going to attach Library Matching Grant information to Book Fair Order forms and newsletter. Linda will give list of potential volunteers to Gretchen.

Christmas Fair- Cheryl reported we are on track with last years’ tables so far.  Melissa will give the raffle tickets to Cheryl. Flyers are being posted around town. Melissa suggested doing a press release to save on advertising expense. Also it was suggested to put the information on Charity Chatter. Cheryl is going to check to make sure there are enough tables, will maybe need art room tables. The new “tree” will be stored at Cheryl’s house this year.

Café Noel- Student Council will serve food and 3rd graders will do the cooking.

Babysitting Request- Holly asked to add this onto agenda per Mr.Ernest. The PTO has been asked to cover the babysitting expense for several meetings this school year.  There is currently  $100 in the PTO budget which works out to be $10 per meeting for 10 meetings.  Melissa has asked Catalina be in charge of writing these checks to the babysitter).  The PTO will cover babysitting request for Dec 6th as it is so near but does not have the money budgeted or available for all the other babysitting requests.  The PTO has suggested Mr. Ernest contact the Key Club at Kennett middle and High school for this request  as they need community service time.

 

Old Business:

Room Parent Update- Linda reported all is going smoothly and that a letter was sent to the teachers and Room Parents this past month resulting in positive feedback.

Snow Sleds- Julie is going to contact the new sport shop in Conway

Scoreboard- The scoreboard is up and looks great

6th Grade Field Trip Update- The 6th Graders are going to Exchange City and Canobie Lake. Applying for Peqwuaket Grant . Goal is to try to get the cost down to $20/Student per field trip

Open Discussion-

Melissa asked for clarification on the money that was loaned to Mustang Academy at the October Meeting. Money will be back in the PTO account by February.

Respectfully Submitted by Stacy Petell
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Introductions/Welcome/Sign In- Meeting was called to order @ 5:40 PM with Catalina Kirsch running it in Melissa LaRoche’s absence. In Attendance: Stacy Petell, Linda Lawson, Amanda Doherty, Anne Gillis, Linda Burke, Sloane Jarell, Sarah Parsons, Gretchen Arnold, Brian Ernest, Nancy Spaulding, Vicky Sanborn, Cheryl Brooks, Catalina Kirsch.

Approval/ Change of September Minutes-  September Meeting Minutes were approved by Sloane and seconded by Linda Lawson, all in favor.

New Business:
Update on RIF Program-  Sarah Parsons stated that there should be two RIF distributions this year, she will be working to choose a package of new books as our supply is basically gone. The tentative dates are during Read Across America Week and possibly Thanksgiving week.

Current Fundraiser Updates-
Little Caesars- Stacy reported the packets have been distributed, reminders will go in the weekly newsletters, Nov.4th is the last day of fundraiser, and delivery is set for Nov. 15th, she will be looking for volunteers for distribution day as it gets closer.

Book Fair- A new idea was brought up to do a “matching grant” for new library books. Basically, the PTO will match up to $250 from money raised during a promotion during the Book Fair. Gretchen will work on this. Gretchen reported addressing the need of volunteers from Room Parents to fill Book Fair time slots. Linda voted in favor of a matching grant of $250 and Gretchen seconded, all in favor. See attached.

Christmas Fair- Cheryl reported invites to crafters have been sent out. Cheryl is working on a new wooden Christmas tree for out in front of the school as the old one is gone.

Babysitting Budget- It was mentioned further discussion will need to take place to decide if PTO will put more money in the babysitting budget. Parent Info Night next year, as well as several other meetings Mr. Ernest mentioned would be the recipients.  Mr.Ernest will inform the PTO of  the meeting dates etc.

.

Café Noel- Nancy Spaulding said 3rd Grade will continue to do Café Noel this school year and is all set.

Directory- Sloane is finishing up the directories and passed the rough draft around.  She will need approx $120 for paper and Gretchen 1st, Sarah 2nd, and Cheryl 3rd- all in favor. They will be sent out ASAP.

Open House- Oct 26th 6-7 PM -Gretchen will do up an information board, Deb Meader has a trifold and will update it. Melissa and Linda Lawson possibly being available for that night.

Update of Teacher Appreciation Month’s- Linda Lawson needs email list, Stacy Petell will forward that to her. All months are now covered.

 

Old Business:

 

Room Parent Update- Linda Burke has sent letters out to teachers and their respective Room Parents and will send out a general email within a month. All is well.

Playground Equipment- To discuss at November meeting to possibly focus on winter bags for Primary and Intermediate grades as budget allows, will need further discussion.

PTO Website- Paul is ready for the PTO page and will wait for Melissa to forward information.

Madison Recreation Department Scoreboard- Catalina will give $250 check to Cheryl.

Fundraising Goals/ Technology/laptops/2010-2011 budget- Mr.Ernest thanked the PTO for the smartboards and informed the PTO that they will be in use in the classrooms shortly. The school has purchased the music room TV. Stacy was in favor of giving $25 to 22 staff ($550) for teacher supplies now as budget allows and to revisit a possible $25 more each later in the year. Linda Lawson seconded, all in favor.

Open Discussion:

Stacy Petell thought it important that the PTO addresses the budget and to continue discussions on a possible new fundraiser instead of cutting budgeted expenses too much. Some ideas were brought up such as Sloane… Madison apparel, Sarah parsons… Cookbook, etc. More discussion to follow at November meeting.  Catalina asked that ideas were brought to November meeting.

Catalina requested that the PTO loan $54x2 ($108) to the Mustang Academy for background checks for two employees.  The PTO would be reimbursed after the employees worked 10 days.  Sarah noted that this could be anywhere from 2 weeks to 10 weeks time as the employee working 1 day a week would take 10 weeks before 10 days were worked. Linda Lawson was in favor, Gretchen seconded, all in favor.

Meeting was adjourned at 7:05

Respectfully Submitted by Stacy Petell

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