Notes from Kellie Defelice, PTO Corresponding Secretary
Meeting started at 7pm
PTO Update and Overview (Brian)
- Overview and what help we are looking for: Raise money for school.
- Two people volunteered to be corresponding secretary: Amy Warren and Natalie McMenamin will split the role as the communications team. Brian H will provide guidance on who does what.
- Looking for Citywide Reps: Dave Blaton and Jen Bergin volunteered. Others are welcome to attend any meeting as they are open to public.
- Mr. Sylvia will take care of childcare manager for upcoming PTO meetings.
- Looking for Picture Day Manager …Julie Hart volunteered.
- Looking for Bake Sale Manager, help plan, staff, flyers, etc. … Sarah Wood, two others offered to help. Trish Am and Moi. Kenda will help them get started to create the plan for Nov 4th.
- Community Events Coordinator… Amy Warren volunteered and will work with others including Dave Blaton (movie night)
- Corporate Donors/ Grant writer organizer: Liz Tolini to lead. Dave Blaton, Kellie Defelice and Jen Bergin will help Liz.
- Pennies for Patients: Sharon Pierce volunteered to help Deb Dyer. Colleen Downey has also volunteered to help.
- Raffle Item Finders: Looking for People to donate items for Halloween Dance and multicultural night in the spring
- Snacks and Drink Coordinator request was denied by the group
- Restaurant Night Planner: Eric and Chip Volunteered
Upcoming Fundraisers and Events
- Bricks: PTO in general is responsible
- School Store Ideas: Jessica Manning will lead
- Monster Mash: we are looking for volunteers/raffles/food/ extra stuff
- Square Art: Personalized Catalogues/ Students do art/ one free item and can order more with your child’s art on it.
Financial Report (Torrey)
- Went over Bay State Textiles and what it was (donate at back of school)
- Went over Target Credit Card and linking it to debit card (get 5% back to school)
- Brain Pop renewal/ new subscription includes use at home now (squantum/squantum09)
- Teacher Stipends = $100 apiece
- Field Trips/ Workshops and curriculum enhancement and Mrs. Kiley is the liaison for that.
- Vote/Discussion to see if everyone is on board with coffee for teachers, stipends and field trips. All voted for it. No against.
- Book Fair Money: Money left is $467. Can take $1765 book credit or $882.66 cash from Scholastic. All voted on taking book credit for classroom libraries and extra on library.
- Field Trip: Kindergarten would like Lifecycle of Raptors: Should not be a problem. Less than regular allocation that they usually get. Approved.
- Mr. Sylvia is requesting an In Focus Machine. One is having technical issues. Mrs. Salas needs one. $299 Technician says beyond repair. Andrea Coughlin will try to get it covered but in case it is not… All in Favor for one.
Principal Update (Mr. Sylvia)
- Need updated math and geometry supports. Wish List may come. Requesting to earmark funds for that. Not an easy subject to describe. Talking about $500-1,000. Approved up to $1000.
- Fun Friday fundraiserswas suggested. It is a possibility, need to investigate further.
- Talking about keeping money together/ separate, keep it together and decide what to use it for as a group.
- Big project every year… Long term fundraiser project … Mobile computer lab. Maybe an IPAD and dock that teachers sign out. Mobile Units.
- Someone asked if the kids could borrow books yet. Not yet because we are switching to a software, probably in a week or two. Julie Hart volunteered to help with it.
- Mrs. Hourin is working on a Donors Choose project . Looking for Ipads for the classroom. She is explaining what Donors Choose is and how it works. A few teachers are doing them. Way to get funding. Can share it on Facebook. Only can do two at a time. Goal is to share them in classrooms. If you can share it and make it public to get word out there, it would help. Also, all three teachers submitted a mini grant application to QPS. Each class was about $1100. So PTO will promote this and mention we are seeking older iPADs as well.
- Also seeking donations for any Technology Devices : Phones, Kindles, IPads, etc.
- Safety/Parking/ Crosswalk Reminder – don’t block driveways.
- MCAS Reports mailed today , should receive this week.
- School Improvement Plan started today.
- Outdoor Classroom is almost complete. Few glitches but is coming together. In good shape, almost fully funded. Still looking for bricks. Need to sell 25 more to engrave a new batch.
- Need contact cards returned for email systems (ASPEN). Should be getting emails directly from Mr. Sylivia (look for aspen), example on the virus.
- Topic of Fingerprinting: Can’t get mobile fingerprinting at the moment. Maybe November and December. Need at least 30 people to get them to come here. Best scenario is for people to go to the Hingham (Derby Street) location if they plan to volunteer.
- Request for speeding to be addressed/ dangerous. Mr. Sylvia is addressing the issue along with Kathy Hubley who was in attendance..
- Question about possibility of keyboarding for 5th graders. Parents are interested. Mr. Sylvia will look into it as well as possibly in school with librarian.
- Interest in Boks program/ huge popularity – yes we will do it again this year.
- Docent Art and Reading Counts Program: Went over what they are. Parent Volunteers are welcome and needed. All Parent run/ during school day.
- Reading Eggs especially Kindergarten needs Volunteers
Next PTO Meeting: Oct 28th 7pm