PTO Meeting Minutes – September 14, 2010
Richmond Consolidated School
PTO Meeting Minutes
September 14, 2010
By: Tracy Olsen Crawford
Attendants:
Jayson Tanzman, Jim Biancolo, Tracy Olsen Crawford, Grace Daley, Pam Glass, Vicky Layden, Cathy Gamberoni, Bianca Daigle, Michelle Smith, Shannon Smith, Kara Smith, Jen Yohalem, Sarah Hogue, Bill O’Gara, Bill Travis, Louise Brogan
Treasure’s Report
Per Grace Daley there is $15,866.94 in the current budget to date.
A line item should be added into the budget for each class as to what their spending needs are for the year, Grace will use last year as a guideline.
Grant money has been given to Kindergarten and 3rd Grade, that money must be used for those grades.
Fundraising
Jayson Tanzman gave some background information on the issue of consolidating all class fundraising under the umbrella of the PTO.
Last year the administration asked the PTO to take over fundraising for RCS make it school wide, each class would no longer be responsible for their own fundraising. The idea being that each class would no longer be doing something different creating less over all fundraising. This would remove the burden on teachers, room Mom’s and parents.
We currently have about $15K but need $19 for the year; our goal is to be fundraising for the following year. If we end up with extra money in the budget then the PTO would like to ask teachers/staff if they have any needs for their class.
The biggest concern on the table is that each class has always had its own budget and should fund their specific events. Would the fundraising now be school wide? How does each class get its money?
The question was raised by Cathy Gamberoni and others was how the budget would be handled for the 7th and 8th grade classes as their needs are so much larger than the other classes. The 7th & 8th grade trip is not included in the PTO budget and therefore they would need to raise money for those events.
The 5th and 6th grade classes have already started their annual magazine drive.
How will the fundraising be handled this year?
Each class is welcome to run a fundraiser but all money raised will fall under the PTO with each class having a budgeted line item based on the teacher’s requests.
The PTO feels that this issue was not communicated clearly enough to the staff and parents.
Dr. Travis said he would bring this up at the next faculty meeting and ask teachers to supply a breakdown of their budgetary needs for the year as well as an inventory of any current fundraisers they have planned and all past fundraisers that they have done in the past.
Principal’s Report
Dr. Travis said that the new Kiss & Ride was a work in progress and that plan A had been attempted…there is a plan B & C that may be tried soon.
The Math night was cancelled due to too many other conflicting local events, it will be rescheduled.
BBQ
Dr. Travis mentioned that there was an issue with a refrigerator being turned off at the BBQ and $75 worth of food was lost. Dr. Travis feels that the PTO should reimburse the kitchen? A vote was taken and all agreed to pay the $75 to the kitchen. An email from Tammy to Dr. Travis will serve as an invoice to Grace.
Overall the PTO feels that the BBQ went well and seemed to have a good turn out. A big thank you to all for your efforts and hard work.
The issue of the night seemed to be how to move people more quickly through the food line…it was mentioned by many that the condiment station was were the line got backed up. An idea for next year would be to move that station or place the condiments on the picnic tables. Another idea would be to have double lines through the salad station.
Fund Raising
Grace Daley who ran the bake sales said she is willing to have them for the school instead of just for the class.
The PTO agrees it would be good to have more fundraising events for parents and kids and less selling of merchandise.
Bianca Daigle will put up a sign in the Teachers lounge and the school lobby to announce the date of the next PTO meeting each month.
Craft Fair
There will be a separate meeting to discuss the craft fair on Tuesday, September 28th at 5:15pm…please join us as people are still needed to help run and volunteer at the event.
Fall Fundraiser
Joe Corbi Catalogue is in; Jayson Tanzmen is in charge of this fundraiser.
The room parents will be responsible for getting the materials out to their classes.
The direct donation letter will go out with this fundraiser.
Spring Fundraiser
The PTO will be doing a spring fundraiser but nothing has been set at this point. Ideas still need to be discussed at later meetings.
Parent Enrichment Committee
Cathy Gamberoni spoke to the PTO about the objective and the goals of the PEC; the goal is to promote social and educational events for the school (speakers, a presentation on the responsive classroom etc.) It was set up a last year and the attendance has been very low. There was a wonderful presentation with the Pre-K through 4th grade and only a few people showed up for the event.
The idea is to merge this program with the PTO to help with input and attendance. The hope of the PEC committee is to put on a fall and spring event (such as the Dr. Johnson round table discussion this fall)
A great idea was to mix a PEC event with a movie night. On a bigger scale it would be interesting to collaborate with other schools to bring in bigger events that can possibly be used as a fundraiser as well.
Room Parents
Cathy Gambeson said that we have representation for all the classes. Thank you to Cathy for handling this for the year.
PTO Closet
There is a PTO closet that Tammy showed to Jayson at the BBQ and it needs to be cleaned out.
We need a person to handle cleaning out the closet once a year, Jen Yohalum volunteered for this year to work with Tammy to make this happen.
Babysitting at PTO meetings
Babysitting will be available at all PTO meetings; our goal is to make it accessible for anyone to attend.
It will cost $2 per child with a max of $5 per family.
It was agreed that the PTO will guarantee each Babysitter a minimum of $10.
Cathy Gamberoni will try to get a count on the number of kids attending for each PTO meeting.
The next PTO meeting will be Tuesday, October 12th at 5:30pm