Monroe Elementary PTO Meeting Minutes September 15, 2011 6-7 p.m.

Attendance: Anne Rydesky (President) , Diane Blanco (Vice President), Kevin Bower (Treasurer), Sarah Vrem (Secretary), Swaniee Grubb, Cortney Peters, Sara Rasmussen, Chris Boyd, Kimberly Clause, Marnie Fetzer, Tina Burnett, Irma Parra, Ines Valderrabaro, Lori Smeltzer, Michelle McKie, Susan Haas. 1. Welcome to PTO 2011-12. President thanked everyone for coming and was pleased with the increased attendance. 2. Introductions/Sign in sheet Sign in sheet passed around to take attendance. 3. Assign roles (time keeper, process checker) Anne volunteered to be our time keeper and Michelle volunteered to be our process checker. Time keeper will help us keep track of time so all agenda items can be addressed within our hourly meeting. Process checker will identify when we are off topic from the agenda and keep us focused on agenda items. 4. Review of Agenda-additional items. Two additional discussion items were added. 1.Wellness Grant Update (Chris Boyd) 2. Discuss Check In-Check Out (Chris Boyd) 5. Review of Goals for 2011-12. (increasing participation, communication, and fundraising). Anne discussed that PTO Board members will be coordinating the following 2011-12 PTO goals. Anne and Kevin will be coordinating together on increasing participation in PTO as well increasing our volunteer base for school functions. Sarah will be working on increasing communication about PTO to parents and teachers (email, facebook, website, etc) Diane will be coordinating the fundraising component of PTO. 6. Minutes. PTO secretary provided the August PTO meeting minutes for review. No additions or changes were recommended.

Standing Reports Financial: Kevin (PTO Treasurer) gave the following budget report. Treasurer is currently working on development of 2011-12 budget with no formal budget available at this time. i. Target: received check for $330.97 Funding Items Discussion Discussion about procedure for teachers when requesting funds from PTO. Meeting members agreed to the following procedure: 1. Teacher fills out a request form and submits to Principal 2. Principal decides if request is appropriate to submit at a PTO meeting 3. If the Principal decided the request is appropriate, the teacher will be invited to present their request at next PTO meeting for a vote by the members present Mrs. Rasmussen will present the form and explain procedure to staff once we have an approved form.

Funding Request 1. Ms. Fetzer requested PTO funding to help support reading incentives for our students. This money would allow her to purchase small prizes/rewards for children that are working hard to improve their literacy skills. Motion: Diane made a motion to approve $50 to fund this request. Kevin seconded. Meeting members voted in approval to fund this request. Participation-list of Volunteer opportunities, volunteer coordinator. Volunteer Opportunities o The following opportunities were proposed by the PTO President. 1. Copy Assistant: This would free up our Faculty Assistant and Principal Rasmussen agreed that this would be very helpful and expressed the need for some basic copier training when a volunteer is identified. *PTO president expressed interest in following up with teachers to get input from teachers on their need for classroom volunteers. She is looking into creating a form that could be used to identify these needs and then PTO could help coordinate these needs. Volunteer Coordinator o Our Volunteer Coordinator (Jamie) was not able to attend this meeting. Anne reported for Jamie. Expressed that she has been able to get volunteers for upcoming school functions. Suggestion was made for Volunteer Coordinator to vary where she starts on the volunteer list (not to always start at the top). Suggestion was made to add a times available to the volunteer list. Sarah will relay this suggestion on to Jamie. In addition, Jamie will be given additional names from the September PTO meeting to update the volunteer list. As Jamie phones volunteers, she can update their availability. Communication-Website/Newsletter, Facebook Page Website The following items have been put on our school website: September PTO meeting notice, September PTO meeting agenda, August PTO meeting minutes. Sarah is working with Mr. Arakaki to learn how to post items to the website and on gaining access to our PTO email account. Newsletter We have a new email account that will need to be updated on our Mustang Messenger: MESMustangsPTO@gmail.com. The newsletter will be sent home with students the beginning of each month and will be posted to the school website. (Diane is developing the newsletter. If you have information that you would like her to include in the newsletter please contact her). Other Suggestion made for PTO to have a mailbox in the Teachers Lounge. Principal Rasmussen reported that she believes there are extra spots and agreed with this suggestion.

Suggestion made to place a sign out by the North side of the school (on the fence) to advertise the PTO meetings. This is a high traffic area for parents and great spot to do some advertising. Signs will be placed each month on the main door to the school announcing the upcoming PTO meeting. Cortney (SAC chair) asked if we could add SAC meeting to the sign. SAC to begin at 5:00 and PTO meeting to follow on the 3rd Thursday of each month. Diane showed us a PTO meeting sign that she plans to laminate so it can reused each month. Feedback to add Childcare provided as well as request to add SAC Meeting.

Facebook Page Kevin discussed his idea for a Facebook page. This page would be targeted to Monroe Alumni. It would allow us to reach Alumni and ask for donations on items like box tops and Campbells Soup Labels. In addition, pictures of the school could be posted to show changes and additions. Kevin will be developing this Facebook page so if you have any questions or suggestions feel free to contact him. Fundraising-upcoming events September Spirit Night-9/22 for Baskin Robbins 5-8 p.m. Teachers will be serving ice cream. We will do another Baskin Robbins Spirit Night in April. Cookie Dough/Butter Braids. Diane is coordinating this fundraiser and the timeline is Oct/November with more information to follow. Parent/Teacher Concerns/Ideas 1. Wellness Grant: Mr. Boyd reported that the school was awarded a $1500 grant. He expressed that a coordinator is willing to do a presentation at a PTO meeting if we would like. This presentation could include such topics as a snack policy for our school/healthy guidelines. Anne asked if they needed anything from PTO at this point, Mr. Boyd expressed interest in coordinating with PTO if we plan a Walk-A-Thon in the spring. The CanDo Grant would pay for the t-shirts. More follow is needed by PTO board to determine if we would like a presentation and how we can support this grant. Mr. Boyd expressed that he is available for any questions we may have. 2. Check In-Check Out. Mr. Boyd explained this program is used at the school to work with students that need guidance with appropriate school behaviors. Students that are identified have behavior goals that are set and these funds are used to reward positive behaviors as goals are reached. PTO has provided funds in previous years to purchase items to be used in a rewards incentive program. No funding request is necessary at this time. 7. Adjourn Next Meeting October 20, 2011 6p-7p